Tickets … Tickets, Please …

Wow, they seriously butchered the outline of Texas for that All-Star logo. And is that star supposed to be the location of Dallas or an apostrophe on the 10?

Also, the “Takacheck” name reminds me of that neon sign you find in every Steak n Shake restaurant. It’s supposed to mean “Take home a sack”.

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The only good thing about the computer print-out tickets is that you can save the original ticket in pristine condition and have the duplicate, too.

[quote comment=”330087″]Wow, they seriously butchered the outline of Texas for that All-Star logo. And is that star supposed to be the location of Dallas or an apostrophe on the 10?

Also, the “Takacheck” name reminds me of that neon sign you find in every Steak n Shake restaurant. It’s supposed to mean “Take home a sack”.

link
Speaking of Dallas…

Pucky chicken nugget > link.
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5 comments so far? Guess I’m not the only one having trouble accessing the site this morning.

I can only hope that the yankees deny the request of MLB/new era and take the field wearing either their regular caps (with flag patches)or the navy stars and stripes caps from last season.

I know the yankees get hammered on the blog and on cris creamers site for defying most modern uni-fads, and being ‘too good’ to do what everyone else does, but honestly this red-cap garbage is too over-the-top.

Until now it had infuriated me to no end to see yankee jerseys with names on them, but at LEAST I could take comfort in the fact that they were being worn by asthetically-challenged fans with no clue. The actual team taking the field with these red caps would be tough to stomach.

My thought is: does the organization actually have the ‘power’ to say “no” to the league??

Can’t wait to check out that book! Got to get some actual work done first…

Paul, the Paris subway system (RATP) has these nice card-stock tickets that they use…in fact my first observation was the weight of the ticket as opposed to, say, one of the old BART tickets or a MetroCard.

I think I have a few extra at home, I’ll drop one in the mail if I can remember.

That room was phenomenial. The extra time with the stripes made it look absolutely perfect in my opinion! I also love all the SI Steeler covers hanging on the wall. I’ve kept all of mine just for when I have a room to do something like that in.

Re.:”Football as Never Before”

This sounds like a film that documented the actions of Zinedine Zidane as he played a complete match when he was Real Madrid in 2005.

[quote comment=”330090″]the Indians “patriotic” hats are just so, so wrong.[/quote]

Yet they look, so, so conservative. I mean, come on, Chief Wahoo is not good in star and stripe form.

Speaking of which, Could somebody tell the guy who runs New era to consider giving the Jays a maple leaf hat, or nothing at all instead of having the canadian flag on the blue jay? it looks like garbage.

Jeff’s Steelers room is great! Reminds me of the “What’s with the lamp?” ad NFL Pro Shop put out last year

[quote comment=”330096″]Did anyone watching the Wings-Hawks series notice Nikolai Khabibulin’s jersey for the first two games? Did you see how much thicker his black sleeve stripes are than anyone else on the Blackhawks? Is this a “goalie cut” or sumthin?

What’s up with that???

I actually sorta like it myself.[/quote]

Yes. It’s been like that for two seasons now. All of the goaltenders in Chi-town wear the thicker stripes (Huet had them on before he lost his starting job).

The Steelers room makes me kinda wish I was a Pittsburgh fan with the matching team colors and all. I’d love to do Bears stripes (home and road) on two walls of my basement and Blackhawks stripes (again, home and road) on the other two.

But you’d need welding goggles to be able to relax in a black/navy/red/orange/white room.

Try to think of the New Era Stars & Stripes caps (and their other gimmicky caps) from the business side… Can the company really survive just selling the same old traditional on-field cap year after year after year? Probably not, and especially not now-a-days.

So New Era comes out with a different “special” cap -> the players wear it on field -> people see the players wear it so they buy it -> New Era makes money -> repeat next year.

If we have to suffer through a few days a year of mis-matched colors in order to keep the high quality traditional New Era caps around, no big deal.

And in my opinion, SOME of them actually look really nice standalone, it’s just when they mix them with their uniform it looks bad.

Those red hats are disgusting looking, the last year ones were decent at best. If we have to be so patriotic put a little flag on there I liked that idea just make sure they stick on this time.

Thanks for all the kind words about the room. The frames for the magazines are simple aluminum document frames (8.5×11) from the local Walmart. About $3 each. I can’t find them definitively online. I often buy out the local stock just so the look will be consistent in the future. I have room for a little less than 10 more Super Bowls on that wall (SB L, I suppose).

Used to have about 40 old baseball issues on the wall in another room that later became my sons’ bedroom. They’re still in frames, just not on the wall now.

I think New Era was better off with the hat patch concept, instead of the stars-n-stripes gig. I see the point that New Era can’t make money selling nothing but regular 5950s. But they have the 3930 spring training caps, which they change every 3 or 4 years. And if they wanted to create a variation for the on-field hat to sell extra product they had the hats with the American flag patches, or the hats with anniversary patches (like the Mets and Yankees, or the American League anniversary a few years ago), or the special series hats (like Montreal’s Puerto Rico Series hats), or the one-game-thing hats (Nationals first game in Nats Park). Screwing with the overall color scheme for hats and having them clash with a team’s uniform is not the way to go.

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[quote comment=”330120″]I think New Era was better off with the hat patch concept, instead of the stars-n-stripes gig. I see the point that New Era can’t make money selling nothing but regular 5950s. But they have the 3930 spring training caps, which they change every 3 or 4 years. And if they wanted to create a variation for the on-field hat to sell extra product they had the hats with the American flag patches, or the hats with anniversary patches (like the Mets and Yankees, or the American League anniversary a few years ago), or the special series hats (like Montreal’s Puerto Rico Series hats), or the one-game-thing hats (Nationals first game in Nats Park). Screwing with the overall color scheme for hats and having them clash with a team’s uniform is not the way to go.

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Apologies, the first link is supposed to be this:
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Bryan — Do you still frequent the BSNYC blog? There was a question the other day from a new reader about what “RTMS” meant, the responses made me think about folks asking here on Uni Watch about helmet dots, etc.

On a recent trip to the United Arab Emirates, I was able to catch some cricket matches, which having never seen one in person before was great. I was able to catch up on the action through an American expat who I was working with and gave me some of the finer points on the gameplay, and even the gear. Things like they use da red ball for day games and a white ball for night games. The ball will be used the whole match, even as it gets beat and banged up. I have since been following things like the India Premier League, very casually and today saw the following picture. I have seen lots of wicketkeepers wearing what look like the batsman helmets, but this is the first “baseball style” mask.
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[quote comment=”330125″]Somebody explain this one to me, please? Was there a bird team mix up at NewEra?

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Part of New Era ingenious “Twisted” line.

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[quote comment=”330108″][quote comment=”330096″]Did anyone watching the Wings-Hawks series notice Nikolai Khabibulin’s jersey for the first two games? Did you see how much thicker his black sleeve stripes are than anyone else on the Blackhawks? Is this a “goalie cut” or sumthin?

What’s up with that???

I actually sorta like it myself.[/quote]

Yes. It’s been like that for two seasons now. All of the goaltenders in Chi-town wear the thicker stripes (Huet had them on before he lost his starting job).[/quote]

Thanks, Teebz! Two years?? Wonder why I never noticed that until now…

Ryan Connelly’s DIY Steelers-themed project just makes me depressed…

I have shared a few time my NAFL pictures ( link) but at one point I had created actual helmets for several of the teams (Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Memphis, Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, Denver, Portland, Honolulu & San Diego).
It consisted of either driving around or calling all sorts of sporting goods stores and making contacts with people who had extra football helmets laying around. I couldn’t afford brand new helmets (we’re talking about real game helmets here), so I had to search for used ones, and this was before the internet (1992?), so it was phone calls and face to face meetings.
I finally found a guy in Santa Rosa who for some reason had about 50 helmets, I think they were from a local high school team. They were black with red face masks, and were definitely “used”.
He was charging $20 each so I only took the 11 least beat up ones.

I loaded them in my my car and took them home where I removed the face masks, stripped the stripes & logos and concocted various chemically based removal solutions to get the god damn glue off the helmets, by far the most difficult part of the project.
Finally having cleaned up the helmets, I decided which teams I would create the helmets for. Generally sticking to the most basic designs, I selected the 11 teams listed above.
Determining paint and decal material was next. Did you know that finding a deep true purple spray paint is a very difficult proposition? I don’t know about now, but back then it was!
Anyways, based on the colors available for purchase, some of the team colors changed (most notably Portland, who had always been a kelly green went to a much darker green because that was the green paint I could find).

My first attempt was for Memphis. Simple huh? link
Just a yellow lightning bolt on a black shell.
Well due to the curvature of the helmet, it probably turned out the worst. I couldn’t ever get it to look right. The ‘notches’ in the bolt were always wrong, and the bolt itself had large folds i couldn’t get rid of.
In hindsight I should have used small pieces of decal paper to make the large bolt rather than one piece.

Anyways, I continued on with the project, using an already large assortment of drawings to base the logos on. But I also changed many of the logos while putting this project together, namely Detroit link.
Those drawings are based on the helmets, rather than basing the helmets on the drawings. Other helmets turned out pretty much exactly how I had always drawn them, like Jacksonville link and Indianapolis link.

Once I had finished all 11, I cleared off a large bookcase I had and displayed them for all to wonder who the fuck those teams were. Try explaining they are are representations for a dice football league that you play by yourself to bunch of “normal” people!

So the depressing part? Well due to moving from place to place so often, I finally had to get rid of them all (after toting them around in my car trunk for a couple years). And even worse than not having them anymore, I never took even a single picture of the project, either before, during or after! This is probably among my top 5 or 6 regrets in my LIFE, up to this point.

Anyways, if you have more questions about the project or the NAFL itself, feel free to ask.

Good work Ryan…

Lee

[quote comment=”330133″][quote comment=”330112″]Try to think of the New Era Stars & Stripes caps (and their other gimmicky caps) from the business side… Can the company really survive just selling the same old traditional on-field cap year after year after year? Probably not, and especially not now-a-days.

So New Era comes out with a different “special” cap -> the players wear it on field -> people see the players wear it so they buy it -> New Era makes money -> repeat next year.

If we have to suffer through a few days a year of mis-matched colors in order to keep the high quality traditional New Era caps around, no big deal.

And in my opinion, SOME of them actually look really nice standalone, it’s just when they mix them with their uniform it looks bad.[/quote]

Wondering if any PhotoShop experts out there could throw together some prototypes for a ‘compromise’ stars and stripes set: Keep the hat/bill/button in standard team colors, but overlay the stars n stripes on just the logo. Similar concept to the teams using their own team colors in the logo… or maybe its the inverse idea of that, but you get my drift… Right?

That would at least solve the problem of the Yankees wearing red hats, or the Giants wearing blue hats, and would also allow New Era to have their “special” hats for sale.

Anyone?[/quote]

Edit: meant ‘Similar concept to the teams using their own team colors in the MLB logo…

“One thing the Candela project taught me is that I need to become a better researcher, especially when it comes to things like library archives and other primary sources, which is exactly the skill Angela’s assignment was designed to build. Maybe I should have been in that class.”

I blame the Google and the internet. I work with a lot of young professionals who I ask to do research from time to time and if they can’t find the answer from their desktop on google, they’re flummoxed. They look shocked when I suggest they get on the phone, head down to the city or provincial archives, the public library, the university library, and actually look in a book.

Research (other than googling) is rapidly becoming a lost art.

[quote comment=”330136″][quote comment=”330103″][quote comment=”330090″]the Indians “patriotic” hats are just so, so wrong.[/quote]

Yet they look, so, so conservative. I mean, come on, Chief Wahoo is not good in star and stripe form.

Speaking of which, Could somebody tell the guy who runs New era to consider giving the Jays a maple leaf hat, or nothing at all instead of having the canadian flag on the blue jay? it looks like garbage.[/quote]

The problem is if New Era did a maple leaf hat, they couldn’t just do it in red and white, they’d have to do it in green and yellow, and blue and white, and orange and black, red and blue…[/quote]

It’s hard to picture in my mind, but would it look better to keep the hats the same color, but just have the stars/stripes inlay for the cap logo? Would it look stupid for the A’s to keep a green hat, but use the stars/stripes logo?

[quote comment=”330090″]the Indians “patriotic” hats are just so, so wrong.[/quote]

ain’t that the truth brother. it makes an already bad thing jump up and punch you in the nuts.

Not uni-related, but when I read this story, my first thought was “Did Paul test that toilet?” (link courtesy of Rob Neyer):

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[quote comment=”330144″][quote comment=”330118″]Thanks for all the kind words about the room. The frames for the magazines are simple aluminum document frames (8.5×11) from the local Walmart. About $3 each. I can’t find them definitively online. I often buy out the local stock just so the look will be consistent in the future. I have room for a little less than 10 more Super Bowls on that wall (SB L, I suppose).

Used to have about 40 old baseball issues on the wall in another room that later became my sons’ bedroom. They’re still in frames, just not on the wall now.[/quote]

as nice as the whole thing is, my favourite part is the duffel. i have been trying to find an olde baltimore colts duffel to replace the one i had as a kid, seeing yours made me nut sack punched jealous.

two groin punch references in one day. is that a record? as note worthy as pitching out of the most full counts in a game i grant you, but none the less.[/quote]

Shirt of the Day?

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There’s a medium sized set of photos of Conn Smythe up on the Life archives. They’re from a 1951 essay on Smythe and the Leafs. A few uni related photos.

link (At least, I think that’s who he’s talking with. He’d have been a rookie in Feb 1951.)

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Anyway, it’s filed under link. About 93 photos of mainly Smythe in the stands or meetings.

[quote comment=”330144″][quote comment=”330118″]Thanks for all the kind words about the room. The frames for the magazines are simple aluminum document frames (8.5×11) from the local Walmart. About $3 each. I can’t find them definitively online. I often buy out the local stock just so the look will be consistent in the future. I have room for a little less than 10 more Super Bowls on that wall (SB L, I suppose).

Used to have about 40 old baseball issues on the wall in another room that later became my sons’ bedroom. They’re still in frames, just not on the wall now.[/quote]

as nice as the whole thing is, my favourite part is the duffel. i have been trying to find an olde baltimore colts duffel to replace the one i had as a kid, seeing yours made me nut sack punched jealous.

two groin punch references in one day. is that a record? as note worthy as pitching out of the most full counts in a game i grant you, but none the less.[/quote]

Holy shit, seeing that Steelers duffel just jogged my memory. I used to have that exact Steelers bag as a kid (not from Pittsburgh, not a fan – I think I liked the black and yellow), and the best part is that I’m pretty sure it’s still in the attic at my parents’ house. Next time I’m there, I’m digging that sucker out.

Also, that room is fantastic. Makes me wish we had basements in this part of the country.

serious question

is the “thug” market that big a deal? not saying it is or isn’t…just don’t know

can new era really be making a killing marketing to “urban/thug/gang lifestyle” markets?

*sigh*

i guess im just extremely naive about this

[quote comment=”330151″]serious question

is the “thug” market that big a deal? not saying it is or isn’t…just don’t know

can new era really be making a killing marketing to “urban/thug/gang lifestyle” markets?

*sigh*

i guess im just extremely naive about this[/quote]

I think the actual thug market is pretty small. The wanna-be thug market, rich white kids trying to look thuggish at the suburban mall food court, is pretty big. Kids who would wet themselves if they ever actually ran into a real gangster.

[quote comment=”330151″]serious question

is the “thug” market that big a deal? not saying it is or isn’t…just don’t know

can new era really be making a killing marketing to “urban/thug/gang lifestyle” markets?

*sigh*

i guess im just extremely naive about this[/quote]

As I understand it, it’s not the thugs proper who are the market. It’s the suburban teenagers who wanna be the thugs who are the market.

Kinda like punk music. Real punks have no money and can’t buy a lot of product. White suburban punks (as referenced by Otto in Repo Man) are the market.

How many Ramones shirts were sold to teenage girls at trendy boutiques vs. number of actual Ramones shirts sold at shows?

[quote comment=”330148″]It wasnt too bad last year for some of the teams wearing blue. I mean, the navy worked out for a lot more teams than bright red, like NYY, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, ChiCubs, Milwaukee, St Louis, Seattle (debatable), and Texas.
The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that the new red caps would look okay with are LA/Anaheim/California, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, Minnesota, St Louis, and Texas.[/quote]
I’m thinking they’ll look OK for the Red Sox at home. And they should look almost palatable with the Cubs’ road unis. I’ll go so far as to say that there’s even an outside chance for them to look halfway decent for the Dodgers (home or road).

[quote comment=”330150″]New Era sold its soul to be the unofficial outfitter of the urban/thug/gang lifestyle. Why do you think they sell all those hats in the funky colors, where do you think that concept came from? For guys in gangs who wanted to sport their team caps, but wanted to make sure the caps were in their gang colors. They’ve even had to scrap a couple lines in recent years because they were blatantly marketed toward gangs.

Might not be the best PR move for them, but they now have plausible deniability because the sales soared elsewhere (mainly because of them being used heavily by gangsta rappers which trickled down to the urban lifestyle which trickled to the black culture which trickled to the white kids who think they’re black). In retrospect, they hit the proverbial gold mine.[/quote]
You’re a moron.

[quote comment=”330140″][quote comment=\”330138\”]
Plus you might get to see this bowler play for Somerset…he is like the CC Sabathia of Bermuda and a trip and a half to watch, although that might have been the rum drinks.[/quote]

It\’s good to know that overzealous uniform design extends to cricket as well.[/quote]

International cricket is unusual in that there are different styles of uniforms for different types of matches.

For example, in traditional test cricket England looks very link. For one-day internationals and Twenty20s (shorter, newer versions of the game), link.

[quote comment=”330098″]New Era. They must be the biggest necessary evil in licensed sport apparel. The Authentic On Field line is their only redeeming quality. (I buy a new A’s cap, every other year.)

Those Stars and Stripes lids are stupid.

Whenever I see a cat wearing a New Era lid (that isn’t an Authentic On Field,) I think, “whatta douche.” The guy could be a frickin saint, but the first impression is douchebag.[/quote]

One amendment: The authentic on-field line WAS the company’s only redeeming quality, until they douched themselves by ghetto-fabbing every ballplayer (save Papelbon, and even he has apparently caved). The major malfunctions imparted upon League headwear are an insult to the most historic game still being contested. Black underbrims? Idiotic. As addressed astutely by Paul in the past, an idiosyncratic nuance of the game has been destroyed by erasing the canvas on which players customize their lids. Not to mention blackening the internal sweatband as well, which eliminates the beautiful contrast that a hint of white peeking out above the ear created. The charring of the cap’s guts ranks third among “New Errors” MLB sombreros.
Short and sweet, and utterly stupid: The puffy raised batterman logo on the cap’s heel. Save this stupid design for the urban account hats you so desperately need to produce to sully some of the coolest logos ever created. Might as well include a NEflag on the left side, because all other authentic-non-authentic markings have been eliminated.
And the most egregious insult to the ballcap: POLYESTER. Wool knit caps, as any uni-watcher worth his or her weight in stirrups knows, fit like a good t-shirt. It takes a little time, lots of love, and a good hard sweat to break them in to a snug-fitting best friend. Additionally, sweat-stains are something to strive for, not avoided like New Error likes to advertise.

Corporations suck

[quote comment=”330162″]if New Era really wanted to make every team look super patriotic they would outfit every team in team USA hats (WBC/Oly) with the team logo on the side, show that the nation really is bigger than the individual teams[/quote]
That sir, would be awesome. Especally since the three USA hats could cover the vast majority of MLB between red, blue, and blue with red brim.

Rather, that would be awesome if we have to do a different cap.

I have a question, one that is not Uni-Related, but sports related and I would imagine I could get an answer from some reader:

If the Blue Jays won the World Series, would they visit the White House? Or just the Prime Minister in Canada? Anyone know if they went in ’92 and ’93?

… Some sort of spambot attacked one of our scripts …

Regarding the above note, I received a fairy dire-looking Virus Threat Notice from my safety software when I came to read the site today. I’ve been coming to read for a couple of years, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a message like that. Hopefully you’re already on top of this, but I just wanted to make you aware.

[quote comment=”330167″]I have a question, one that is not Uni-Related, but sports related and I would imagine I could get an answer from some reader:

If the Blue Jays won the World Series, would they visit the White House? Or just the Prime Minister in Canada? Anyone know if they went in ’92 and ’93?[/quote]

The Blue Jays met with George H. W. Bush at the White House in December 1992.

one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them

[quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]
WTF? A couple minutes ago, that comment looked normal, now it’s got a huge-texted, bold and blue link on the word “naivete”.

[quote comment=”330175″][quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]
WTF? A couple minutes ago, that comment looked normal, now it’s got a huge-texted, bold and blue link on the word “naivete”.[/quote]

all part of gods great plan, james

/actually…i don’t know WTF happened…but i’ll fix it if it really annoys you ;)

[quote comment=”330177″][quote comment=”330175″][quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]
WTF? A couple minutes ago, that comment looked normal, now it’s got a huge-texted, bold and blue link on the word “naivete”.[/quote]

all part of gods great plan, james

/actually…i don’t know WTF happened…but i’ll fix it if it really annoys you ;)[/quote]
Not annoying. Just weird. Fallout from that earlier spambot thing?

[quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?
[/quote]

You mean it hasn’t always been linkl?

To take an urban example, the ultra baggy-no belt pants look that was popular back in the mid-90s and still seems around developed from ill fitting prison clothes. So that’s been about fifteen years.

[quote comment=”330180″][quote]It’s like asking … an Auburn fan to wear an Alabama hat. NOT HAPPENING.[/quote]

what if they paid you?[/quote]

they don’t have enough money. my principles aren’t for sale.

I don’t know how to make links but this story has to do with the Mets
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[quote comment=”330171″][quote comment=”330167″]I have a question, one that is not Uni-Related, but sports related and I would imagine I could get an answer from some reader:

If the Blue Jays won the World Series, would they visit the White House? Or just the Prime Minister in Canada? Anyone know if they went in ’92 and ’93?[/quote]

The Blue Jays met with George H. W. Bush at the White House in December 1992.[/quote]
If I recall correctly, James Harrison didn’t make the visit back then either.

[quote comment=”330185″][quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]

It became cool right after it was cool to dress like a lumberjack (grunge), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from space (new wave), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from Thunderdome (punk), which came right after it was cool to dress like a sexy used car salesman (disco)…[/quote]

thanks bernard…

i probably should have rephrased my question

why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?

Fantastic giveaway at Kauffman Stadium on June 16th: Zack Greinke T-shirt

[quote comment=”330190″]
why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]
Not if you’re the one who’s actually getting out of prison.

i want that shirt! I will be going to the Braves game tomorrow night where the giveaway is the 1970s hat, which i know is very popular on this site

[quote comment=”330190″][quote comment=”330185″][quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]

It became cool right after it was cool to dress like a lumberjack (grunge), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from space (new wave), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from Thunderdome (punk), which came right after it was cool to dress like a sexy used car salesman (disco)…[/quote]

thanks bernard…

i probably should have rephrased my question

why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]

Apparently…Coincidence or not….some recently released jamoke just called in to Francessa on New York’s WFAN to:

A. Thank him for helping him get through his days in the pokey.

and

B. Suggested that the key to fixing the Mets is to hire Yogi Berra to manage them.

Maybe he’s been in a while.

As for New Era’s QC…I buy ALOT of 5950’s and sicne they switched over from wool to polyester, have NEVER picked up two 7 1/4’s that are the same size…very frustrating/

[quote comment=”330197″][quote comment=”330188″][quote comment=”330171″][quote comment=”330167″]I have a question, one that is not Uni-Related, but sports related and I would imagine I could get an answer from some reader:

If the Blue Jays won the World Series, would they visit the White House? Or just the Prime Minister in Canada? Anyone know if they went in ’92 and ’93?[/quote]

The Blue Jays met with George H. W. Bush at the White House in December 1992.[/quote]
If I recall correctly, James Harrison didn’t make the visit back then either.[/quote]

To be fair, he was only 14 and his mom wouldn’t let him go.

I shouldn’t keep linking to The Onion, but this is topical in multiple ways.

link[/quote]
that onion story, it’s funny cause it’s true

This is a pet peeve of my wife’s by the way. People at her office are wearing Steelers’ gear for their Penguins’ days and it drives her crazy.

[quote comment=”330196″][quote comment=”330190″]
why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]
Not if you’re the one who’s actually getting out of prison.[/quote]
Day 1 of the post-prison Michael Vick references begins…

[quote comment=”330192″][quote comment=”330172″][quote comment=”330168″][quote comment=”330165″][quote comment=”330162″]if New Era really wanted to make every team look super patriotic they would outfit every team in team USA hats (WBC/Oly) with the team logo on the side, show that the nation really is bigger than the individual teams[/quote]
That sir, would be awesome. Especally since the three USA hats could cover the vast majority of MLB between red, blue, and blue with red brim.

Rather, that would be awesome if we have to do a different cap.[/quote]

I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to force foreign players (especially those who have participated in the WBC or Olympics) to wear the hat of USA Baseball. And I say this even for nationality-challenged A-Rod.[/quote]

As I’ve mentioned before, they seem to have no trouble cashing their paychecks from the teams they play for.

If the team-mandated uni for a given day offends them, let them ask to sit out and forfeit one game’s pay. As I’ve also mentioned, in many cases, that check might be enough to buy lunch for their entire home province.[/quote]

Another false choice. As I wrote in last week’s camo article (different topic, the words apply here just as well):

“Look, I know the drill: They play here, make lots of money here and so on, so they should stand for our national anthem, respect our customs and wear whatever uniform they’re given — agreed. … Maybe some foreign players don’t mind this, but again, why even go there? Why create a situation that’s incongruous or arguably insensitive?”

Yes, wear what’s given to you. But if you’re telling people to wear something that doesn’t quite make sense for a significant portion of your team, then maybe you should re-think what you’re telling them to wear.[/quote]
Maybe this is a question for Jeremy Brahm or Mark in Shiga, but do the Japanese leagues do stuff like this and what, if anything, is the reaction of the American, and all other non-Japanese players’ reactions?

[quote comment=”330169″]… Some sort of spambot attacked one of our scripts …

Regarding the above note, I received a fairy dire-looking Virus Threat Notice from my safety software when I came to read the site today. I’ve been coming to read for a couple of years, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a message like that. Hopefully you’re already on top of this, but I just wanted to make you aware.[/quote]

Google has been acting funny today as well.

[quote comment=”330195″]The auburn alabama hat is a bat analogy. it would be more like being from california, working for a company in colorado, and for a few days out of the year you wear a colorado hat. i dont think ive ever had a comment on here so well received xD[/quote]

I don’t think that analogy works, either.

The more we debate this, the more I move towards Paul’s position: Don’t use the uniform for this sort of stuff (at least I think that’s his position).

[quote comment=”330192″][quote comment=”330172″][quote comment=”330168″][quote comment=”330165″][quote comment=”330162″]if New Era really wanted to make every team look super patriotic they would outfit every team in team USA hats (WBC/Oly) with the team logo on the side, show that the nation really is bigger than the individual teams[/quote]
That sir, would be awesome. Especally since the three USA hats could cover the vast majority of MLB between red, blue, and blue with red brim.

Rather, that would be awesome if we have to do a different cap.[/quote]

I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to force foreign players (especially those who have participated in the WBC or Olympics) to wear the hat of USA Baseball. And I say this even for nationality-challenged A-Rod.[/quote]

As I’ve mentioned before, they seem to have no trouble cashing their paychecks from the teams they play for.

If the team-mandated uni for a given day offends them, let them ask to sit out and forfeit one game’s pay. As I’ve also mentioned, in many cases, that check might be enough to buy lunch for their entire home province.[/quote]

Another false choice. As I wrote in last week’s camo article (different topic, the words apply here just as well):

“Look, I know the drill: They play here, make lots of money here and so on, so they should stand for our national anthem, respect our customs and wear whatever uniform they’re given — agreed. … Maybe some foreign players don’t mind this, but again, why even go there? Why create a situation that’s incongruous or arguably insensitive?”

Yes, wear what’s given to you. But if you’re telling people to wear something that doesn’t quite make sense for a significant portion of your team, then maybe you should re-think what you’re telling them to wear.[/quote]

Point taken. Still seems, though, that some kind of universal hat or hat (one navy, one red) with individual team logo on the side would be better, and make far more sense…for the reasons originally suggested.

[quote comment=”330190″][quote comment=”330185″][quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]

It became cool right after it was cool to dress like a lumberjack (grunge), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from space (new wave), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from Thunderdome (punk), which came right after it was cool to dress like a sexy used car salesman (disco)…[/quote]

thanks bernard…

i probably should have rephrased my question

why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]

No need to rephrase, Phil – I totally got what you were saying. I was just trying to point out that there’s been at least a couple decades worth of fashion trends associated with music scenes that probably made people scratch their heads at the time.

FWIW, I believe the baggy clothing trend in hip hop culture is ALSO derived from underpriveledged urban youth having to wear ill-fitting clothes that were either handed down from larger relatives or purchased at thrift stores, so that they would be able to grow into them for a few years. That’s not to say the prison connection isn’t part of it, because it is, but it also came from being broke and having to wear whatever you could get your hands on.

[quote comment=”330213″][quote comment=”330209″][quote comment=”330199″][quote comment=”330196″][quote comment=”330190″]
why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]
Not if you’re the one who’s actually getting out of prison.[/quote]

touché[/quote]

I work at a sporting goods store where we sell the 59Fifty hats flat brimmed, and it takes all the will power i have to not go through and bend all the brims, nobody looks good in them and they are a disgrace IMO[/quote]
Tell me about it. I went to the store at the beginning of the season to pick up a new Rays cap and thought about getting a 59Fifty cap, but (once I finally found the right size) I couldn’t bring myself to wear something with a flat brim, and I didn’t think the store employees would appreciate me bending the brim.[/quote]

my friend if you ever came into my store and wanted to try ever single flat brimmed hat on, bend it up a bit and all, you can go right ahead. if the people who wear them flat dont like it, then there will be more for the people who know how to wear a hat

[quote comment=”330215″][quote comment=”330206″][quote comment=”330192″][quote comment=”330172″][quote comment=”330168″][quote comment=”330165″][quote comment=”330162″]if New Era really wanted to make every team look super patriotic they would outfit every team in team USA hats (WBC/Oly) with the team logo on the side, show that the nation really is bigger than the individual teams[/quote]
That sir, would be awesome. Especally since the three USA hats could cover the vast majority of MLB between red, blue, and blue with red brim.

Rather, that would be awesome if we have to do a different cap.[/quote]

I’m not so sure it’s a good idea to force foreign players (especially those who have participated in the WBC or Olympics) to wear the hat of USA Baseball. And I say this even for nationality-challenged A-Rod.[/quote]

As I’ve mentioned before, they seem to have no trouble cashing their paychecks from the teams they play for.

If the team-mandated uni for a given day offends them, let them ask to sit out and forfeit one game’s pay. As I’ve also mentioned, in many cases, that check might be enough to buy lunch for their entire home province.[/quote]

Another false choice. As I wrote in last week’s camo article (different topic, the words apply here just as well):

“Look, I know the drill: They play here, make lots of money here and so on, so they should stand for our national anthem, respect our customs and wear whatever uniform they’re given — agreed. … Maybe some foreign players don’t mind this, but again, why even go there? Why create a situation that’s incongruous or arguably insensitive?”

Yes, wear what’s given to you. But if you’re telling people to wear something that doesn’t quite make sense for a significant portion of your team, then maybe you should re-think what you’re telling them to wear.[/quote]
Maybe this is a question for Jeremy Brahm or Mark in Shiga, but do the Japanese leagues do stuff like this and what, if anything, is the reaction of the American, and all other non-Japanese players’ reactions?[/quote]

For proper context, I’d also be interested in knowig what percentage of the Japanese League players are non-Japanese. Almost 30% of MLBers are non-Americans — a hefty percentage.[/quote]
True, and as I wrote that I thought that there are far less non-Japanese playing Japan than non-Americans in America. Was only thinking more in terms of “do they honor their veterans/country in a similar manner” and if so how? Maybe it’s lost on this generation, but I think there are plenty of Americans that wouldn’t think an American ballplayer playing in Japan and wearing something honoring World War II vets would be a good idea.

[quote comment=”330194″]Fantastic giveaway at Kauffman Stadium on June 16th: Zack Greinke T-shirt[/quote]Better off getting a picture of his hot girlfriend.

[quote comment=”330214″][quote comment=”330190″][quote comment=”330185″][quote comment=”330173″]one more serious question, and again please forgive my link…

when did it become cool to dress like you just got out of prison?

and if that fashion trend actually became ‘the norm’ (not that it would)…would today’s youth suddenly dress like the blond dude from saved by the bell? ya know…just to piss off the generation before them[/quote]

It became cool right after it was cool to dress like a lumberjack (grunge), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from space (new wave), which came right after it was cool to dress like you were from Thunderdome (punk), which came right after it was cool to dress like a sexy used car salesman (disco)…[/quote]

thanks bernard…

i probably should have rephrased my question

why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]

No need to rephrase, Phil – I totally got what you were saying. I was just trying to point out that there’s been at least a couple decades worth of fashion trends associated with music scenes that probably made people scratch their heads at the time.

FWIW, I believe the baggy clothing trend in hip hop culture is ALSO derived from underpriveledged urban youth having to wear ill-fitting clothes that were either handed down from larger relatives or purchased at thrift stores, so that they would be able to grow into them for a few years. That’s not to say the prison connection isn’t part of it, because it is, but it also came from being broke and having to wear whatever you could get your hands on.[/quote]
Is it not true that sagging pants is actually something taken directly from prison culture? I remember hearing Judge Mathis saying something like “if these kids knew the context of what wearing sagging pants in prison was, I doubt they would wear their pants like that.” The context, of course, was that someone sagging their pants was looking for a sexual relationship with an inmate.

despite how much i hate seeing frenchy insulted, the vert arching is so nice, which reminds me i have to get in touch with SOMEBODY to get that brought back, and maybe ditch the name plates too!

[quote comment=”330222″]
Is it not true that sagging pants is actually something taken directly from prison culture? I remember hearing Judge Mathis saying something like “if these kids knew the context of what wearing sagging pants in prison was, I doubt they would wear their pants like that.” The context, of course, was that someone sagging their pants was looking for a sexual relationship with an inmate.[/quote]

Judge Mathis is wrong and was probably just making stuff up to make a point. Pants sag in prison for two reasons. One, you’re not allowed a belt. Two, prison unis don’t fit very well, if they don’t have your size prison scrubs, it’s not like they’ll keep you out on bail until a 32 waist comes in (or, indeed, gets out!)

Do-rags are also said to have their origins in prison style; inmates would use ripped bedsheets to wear on their heads likely as utilitarian headgear to absorb sweat as prisons are not air conditioned.

i havent had an issue all day with the site, whats going on?

[quote comment=”330229″][quote comment=”330209″][quote comment=”330199″][quote comment=”330196″][quote comment=”330190″]
why would you want to look like you just got out of prison? isn’t that usually a bad thing?[/quote]
Not if you’re the one who’s actually getting out of prison.[/quote]

touché[/quote]

I work at a sporting goods store where we sell the 59Fifty hats flat brimmed, and it takes all the will power i have to not go through and bend all the brims, nobody looks good in them and they are a disgrace IMO[/quote]
Kind of have to call you on this one. I worked in sporting goods ’96-’98 and 5950s have always been sold flat brimmed, before and after that. In fact, we used to sell a product called Perfect Curve. It was a piece of plastic that clipped on the bill. I even had a little side business while I worked there: for $5 I’d gut your hat.

I know most of us hate the flat-billed style, but hats have always been sold flat-billed as far as i can remember.

Did anyone have any specific method to get a real good curve? I used to rubber band a baseball under the brim and let it sit like that for a few days.[/quote]

Whether it’s a product of where I grew up or the fashion/cultural varaiables that dictate my personal style, I prefer my brim to lean towards the flat end of the spectrum, nowhere close to Joba or George Sherill, mind you.

The perfect curve routine of conditioning your University “The Game” bar cap,

link

link

link

usually one that had Cocks, or Nanooks written across it, went the
way of the dodo for me along with the rest of the frat house look.

[quote comment=”330228″][quote comment=”330222″]Is it not true that sagging pants is actually something taken directly from prison culture?[/quote]

Yeah, and blue jeans were taken from laborers’ culture, leather jackets were taken from biker culture (except for bomber jackets, which were taken from, y’know, bomber pilot culture), etc., etc. That’s what fashion does: It appropriates things from other scenes — usually more primitivist ones, because people like the cheap thrill of wallowing in “authentic” low-level scenes without any of the inherent risks or other downsides of actually living in those scenes — and recontextualizes them.[/quote]
Wow….can someone with a PhD in sociology translate that for me!!! Just teasing…

My point was along the lines that Mathis’ debunked point about homosexuality was being used to say something like “these young street toughs are all macho and most likely homophobic and if they knew or understood that the way they wore a certain piece of clothing was something similar to a gay culture, they probably wouldn’t do it.”

[quote comment=”330228″][quote comment=”330222″]Is it not true that sagging pants is actually something taken directly from prison culture?[/quote]

Yeah, and blue jeans were taken from laborers’ culture, leather jackets were taken from biker culture (except for bomber jackets, which were taken from, y’know, bomber pilot culture), etc., etc. That’s what fashion does: It appropriates things from other scenes — usually more primitivist ones, because people like the cheap thrill of dipping their toe in “authentic” experiences without any of the inherent risks or other downsides of actually living them — and recontextualizes them.[/quote]

but this is what is still perplexing to me…i could see how one would want to vicariously experience being a biker, or a bomber pilot, or even a field laborer — but why would one want to “dip ones toe” into the “authentic” prison experience?

which gets back to my original question … why would you want to look like (or dress like) you just got out of prison? is prison that cool that you have to experience it, either first hand or by dressing like you have?

[quote comment=”330137″]”One thing the Candela project taught me is that I need to become a better researcher, especially when it comes to things like library archives and other primary sources, which is exactly the skill Angela’s assignment was designed to build. Maybe I should have been in that class.”

I blame the Google and the internet. I work with a lot of young professionals who I ask to do research from time to time and if they can’t find the answer from their desktop on google, they’re flummoxed. They look shocked when I suggest they get on the phone, head down to the city or provincial archives, the public library, the university library, and actually look in a book.

Research (other than googling) is rapidly becoming a lost art.[/quote]
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been going back and compiling my high school’s wins and losses in boys’ and girls’ basketball over the past few months for my website This has meant many trips to the library to work the microfilm.

At first, this made me very bitter. Why couldn’t someone at the school done a better job of archiving (yearbooks are filled with errors and the current athletic department is a joke)? Plus the machine tended to give me a headache.

Now, I LOVE doing it. It’s super interesting to go through old newspapers plus I get the sense of accomplishment. Some day, someone might be looking for this information and I’ll have done the groundwork to provide it.

[quote comment=”330201″][quote comment=”330186″]I don’t know how to make links but this story has to do with the Mets
link

Never thought to ask, yet, is there a detailed explanation on how to embed links within text here? If so, can someone post a link to it? Thanks.[/quote]

Oh Yea!

Well, getting closer to figuring this shit out. Macromedia has really spoiled me.

link

[quote comment=”330247″]link[/quote]

so…we know that game took place sometime between july 8, 1949 and september 29, 1957

other clues?

Just ran across link devoted to corporate logo redesigns. Reminds me of the Tropicana debacle from a couple months back. They even have an entry on the link.

Fun stuff.

[quote comment=”330249″][quote comment=”330247″]link[/quote]

so…we know that game took place sometime between july 8, 1949 and september 29, 1957

other clues?[/quote]

#43 is probably John Antonelli who started playing for the Giants in 1954. I don’t think the Giants had any other pitchers on the roster who used that number between 1949 and 1957.

OK, I’m not cheating because the photo of Forbes Field isn’t dated and I don’t know what year it was taken.

However, I think that it shows the end of link.

If you check out the box score, former Twins first base coach Wayne Terwilliger was a pinch runner in this game.

[quote comment=”330255″]OK, I’m not cheating because the photo of Forbes Field isn’t dated and I don’t know what year it was taken.

However, I think that it shows the end of link.

If you check out the box score, former Twins first base coach Wayne Terwilliger was a pinch runner in this game.[/quote]
By God, I think you’re right. Good detective work. If you look at the other games that day on the top of the page, they all line up with the games tracked on the scoreboard (Senators at Yankees, Reds at Cardinals, Dodgers at Phillies, Braves at *obscured* [Cubs, by process of elimination]).

And the box score shows the Giants scoring twice in the top of the 15th, so the scoreboard is showing innings 11-15 with the 3 in the space for inning 10 to show where the score was after 10 innings (and it looks like the scoreboard crew might just have removed the 3 for the Pirates).

[quote comment=”330257″]…(and it looks like the scoreboard crew might just have removed the 3 for the Pirates).[/quote]
Good point, I was wondering what that extraneous “3” was doing there but there’s also a blank space directly underneath.

Here we are patting ourselves on the back for thinking this all out and our parents/grandparents would probably say “well, doesn’t everyone know that?” :-)

I’m more annoyed by the “pink hat” crowd than the “thug” crowd with their wackily-coloured hats.

Just found that piece on the subway signage…musta missed that one in Mar. I love those graphics.

Now getting back to the question on do American players wear Japanese flag caps compared to the American & Canadian flag caps?

I’ve never seen any thing that puts a Japanese flag on a baseball hat. The only time would be during those MLB exhibition tours, but in that case, it was showing the Japanese leagues/players as unified team.

Now if you look at World War II (1941-1944), the answer would be as follows:

1. The Japanese government prohibited the use of the roman alphabet.

2. Japanese baseball teams put pictographs of their team names on their uniforms and even changed their names to become “legal”.

Asahi
link

Hanshin Tigers
link

Nagoya (eventually Chunichi Dragons)
link
link

Nankai (eventually Softbank Hawks)
link

Nishitetsu
link

Taiyo
link

Yomiuri Giants
link

3. Only one foreigner was playing during that time, Victor Starfin, who was a Russian-Japanese had to change his name to a pictograph while pitching for the Giants. However, Starffin was a Japanese citizen.

link

[quote comment=”330262″][quote]I’m almost certain he was trying to sway the LA sports culture away from purple to black.[/quote]

you say that like it’s a bad thing

/wait…that is a bad thing, right?[/quote]

Maybe you should ask the Mets. ;o) LOL

[quote comment=”330266″]Now you can see all 8 of the NFL throwbacks this year; Special shout out from Yahoo for the Denver socks! –

link

All eight?

They are perhaps unaware of the road throwbacks?

[quote comment=”330253″][quote comment=”330249″][quote comment=”330247″]link[/quote]

so…we know that game took place sometime between july 8, 1949 and september 29, 1957

other clues?[/quote]

#43 is probably John Antonelli who started playing for the Giants in 1954. I don’t think the Giants had any other pitchers on the roster who used that number between 1949 and 1957.[/quote]

I think we’ve got it by now, but the 3 base umps listed means it’s 1952 or later.

…and 15 innings, but it’s only 10:00.

[quote comment=”330275″][quote comment=”330253″][quote comment=”330249″][quote comment=”330247″]link[/quote]

so…we know that game took place sometime between july 8, 1949 and september 29, 1957

other clues?[/quote]

#43 is probably John Antonelli who started playing for the Giants in 1954. I don’t think the Giants had any other pitchers on the roster who used that number between 1949 and 1957.[/quote]

I think we’ve got it by now, but the 3 base umps listed means it’s 1952 or later.

…and 15 innings, but it’s only 10:00.[/quote]

It was the second game of a DH. Probably started around 5:30 (game time: 4:22, time at end of game: 10:00), so it actually started at 5:38.
BTW, I was stuck on this one, not taking into account the possibility of extra innings. Squiddie (#166) – great job.
I like this “Date the Scoreboard” thing – a regular feature?

[quote]I like this “Date the Scoreboard” thing – a regular feature?[/quote]

prolly be a weekend feature ;)

already talked to squiddie about it

The one thing I am glad about for the Stars & Stripes hats, is they didn’t introduce them when the Expos were still around. Can you imagine the flag flap it would get into if the Canadian flag was feature instead of the Quebec flag or vice-versa?

I personally think that a better idea is to have a general flag hat, akin to the WBC hats, with the team logo as a patch on the side. I’d also make a special dispensation for the Jays to wear their hats on Canada Day and not on the 4th of July.

Did anyone else see the Clippers GM when they won the draft lottery? He had a jersey style lining to his coat. the best photo I could find was on the Clips splash page.

link