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As Much Purple as You Will Ever See on This Site

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Not the most uni-notable season opener, but it had its moments, especially the revelation that the Revolution Speed helmet doesn’t mesh too well with the Vikings’ horn decals (although, as you can see, it provides a perfect little shelf or ledge for showing off the green dot).

In other observations:

• Oddest uni-related moment of the night came during pregame coverage on the NFL Network, as the background advertising for Madden 11 showed an NFL logo with the top row of stars missing.

• If you have to celebrate your Super Bowl championship with a patch, it’s hard to argue with one as simple and classy as this one.

• Brett Favre, like a lot of players these days, is either wearing tights or else has sock ends sewn into his pant cuffs.

• Favre also wore purple earplugs and then had his earhole taped over during the game. What a sensitive fellow.

• Speaking of eargear, Brad Childress, who wore that special headset last season because of his hearing problems, is back to wearing a conventional rig. (But as Brett Nolan has quickly pointed out in today’s comments, Childress was wearing custom-molded ear monitors, like the ones worn onstage by musicians, under the headset.)

My thanks to all who contributed observations and screen shots, including Dave Madison, Joshua Brisco, and David Pealing.

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Collector’s Corner, by Brinke Guthrie

Already got the NFL Films music humming in my head, as we kick off another season of gridiron glory. Heavy on NFL this time around, ’cause that’s where our head’s at.

• Leading off, here’s a terrific NFL 50th-anniversary mug from 1969.

• I like this a lot — a vintage 1968/69 NFL appointment book.

• The hits keep coming — check this 1969 NFL Eastern Conference championship program, with single-bar goodness, too.

• Ever seen an NFL “Action Team Mate” before? Atlanta Falcons fans probably have.

• These 1970s NFL curtains would look great at PL’s house.

• What floats my boat about this auction lot is the WFL Chicago Fire glass.

• Be a Packer Backer and get a taste of the High Life at the same time.

• Question: What could be better than a set of 1970s gumball helmets?

• Answer: a 1976 NFL lunchbox.

Seen something on eBay that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of eBay, I just scored something that isn’t sports-related but is nonetheless completely awesome. ”¦ Non-FBS uni change: Lehigh is now being outfitted by Under Armour (with thanks to Michael Probst). ”¦ Pretty cool guide to the Patriots’ locker room (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ New mask for Jaroslav Halak. Wait, make it two new masks (with thanks to John Muir). ”¦ Tim Brulia points out something we should all be aware of, namely that there’s an NFL Films goldmine available on Hulu. “There are about 300 NFL Films segments, mostly of ‘Game of the Week’ and a number of individual team ‘yearbooks.’ Last night I watched the 1966 Rams yearbook, complete with some very early classic Sam Spence arrangements.” That sound you here in the background is Larry Bodnovich starting to make screen shots — or at least I hope that’s what it is. ”¦ Yesterday’s college baseball-themed entry prompted Randy Policar to send some color shots of Arizona State’s old tequila sunrise uniform. ”¦ I’ve linked to this before, but it’s worth showing again: Sox in shorts video! ”¦ Oooh, check out the awesome crest worn by the 1958 Edmonton Oil Kings (great find by Warren Humphreys). ”¦ Oh man, how cool would it be if college football officials still dressed like this? That’s Louisiana Gov. Huey Long putting the strongarm on the officiating crew prior to an LSU game. I feel like we’ve discussed this before, but I can’t remember what “SFA” stood for — anyone? (Tremendous submission by Mike Ferry.) ”¦ In addition to wearing a memorial decal, Wyoming football will also honor fallen teammate Ruben Narcisse by having his No. 12 worn by various teammates in upcoming games (with thanks to Bryan Stevens). ”¦ Splendid new hoop-striped soccer socks for Ireland (with thanks to Joe Schmidt). ”¦ The Oklahoma football web site has an interesting page featuring letters written in the 1940s by the Sooners’ very first coach, who ran the team back in the 1890s. One passage in this letter is particularly interesting: “We had only eleven suits [i.e., uniforms] and our substitutes had, in many instances, to buy large brown overalls, cut them off at the knees, and have his mother, sister, or sweetheart, as the case might be, pad them in front as an old fashioned country quilt” (great find by Dan Bewley). ”¦ The recent fuss over BC’s uni numbers prompted a communiqué from BC equipment manager David Schoenfeld, who, as it turns out, is a regular Uni Watch reader. He says: “I will certainly grant you that our numbers are not the easiest to read. Having been at BC for 10 years, it is an argument that I conceded long ago. I made the switch to gold numbers from white three years ago (not last year as stated Thursday’s blog post). Regarding the numbers on our 2010 UA jerseys, they are not smaller — in fact, they were made a little bit bigger. The main issue was that the border around the number was made larger. The combination of a larger number and the italicized nature of our font resulted in having to place the numbers closer together, thus making it pretty difficult to read. I can guarantee you that the issue has been resolved in time for game #2.” ”¦ Here’s a new one, at least to me: Chris Drury of the Rangers has Velcro on his sleeve cuffs. “According to the description in a MeiGray auction listing for one of his jerseys, it’s to make them tighter,” says Nick Hanson. ”¦ Alex Rocklein reports that the Yankee Stadium scoreboard had a little fun with Felix Pie’s surname and uni number the other day. The problem, of course, is that Pie doesn’t pronounce his name like Ï€. And even if he did, wouldn’t a slice of pie be more appropriate than Ï€, since that’s how he spells it? ”¦ New logo for the FiVB (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ “I’m more patriotic than you are, nyeh-nyeh!” ”¦ Yesterday I mentioned that I don’t care for the Nike visors because I don’t like the asymmetry of having the wordmark on one tab and the swoosh on the other. That prompted a note from Ken Weimer, who used to work for the company that’s now licensed to do many of Nike’s accessory items. “At one point I said I hated the way the eye shield looked with one swoosh and one wordmark,” he says, “but I was told I could not change it because the Nike higher-ups at felt that two swooshes would look like eyebrows and two wordmarks would not be easily readable.” Um, here’s a solution: Leave the tabs blank. Oh, right, branding trumps everything, even if it looks like shit. ”¦ Someone at Newsday has some funny ideas about uniforms (with thanks to Steve Blanco). ”¦ Padres wore a “Stand Up to Cancer” patch last night (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Check it out: Andy Pettitte in a Trenton Thunder uni. ”¦ I think we’ve seen this before, but just in case: At one point UGA was considering using white helmets and white pants. “My research suggests it was in 1964, when Vince Dooley came in (and got rid of the ‘Go You Silver Britches’ because it sounded too much like ‘bitches’),” says Davis Powell.

 
  
 
Comments (134)

    For the past several years, they’ve worn white for their first three or four home games, then switched to black for their remaining home games. Seems to be Peyton’s style.

    Could what looks like a football actually be an “O”?

    SFOA- Southern Football Officials Association

    I’ll second this. Not much out there for the Southern Football Officials’ Association from what I could tell on a quick web search.

    so did I miss some nuance with the new nfl logo system (ie them still using the big bar kickoff logos on tv) ?

    Do players do that with their sock cuffs so if their socks slip out of their pants there won’t be a break or something?

    Gotta be at least ’76 if not later – the Giants wordmark logo is there as well. Like many ebay listings, it’s just a seller mistake.

    Pizza Hut messed up the Browns though, notice the reversed helmet stripes.

    Wow, you’re right. I thought that was the Falcons or something. I was wondering why the Browns weren’t in the set.

    Uh… scratch that. I just went back and actually looked at *all* of the pictures, not just the main one – that helmet with the white-dark-white stripe apparently is the Falcons – the Browns helmet is shown in one of the other pictures.

    /I guess this makes up for correcting Phil the other day… stupid karma

    Did the Falcons not have a helmet logo in 1976 or did the decal come off that helmet then? The helmet appears to be blank.

    This might not be the easiest picture to see it but it seems that Miss. State has turned their SEC patch into a Jesus Fish.

    link

    Looked like the whole team. Or at least I didn’t see any photos of players who DIDN’T have it.

    I’ve sent a note to their media relations dept., asking for more info. Will advise.

    From Jeremy Flint @ For Whom the Cowbell Tolls

    “I think that is a conference-specific version of the NCAA “pennant” logo. Take a loko at this:

    link

    So our version is the same thing, but probably maroon and white, which would make it hard to see on a maroon jersey.”

    So having the back of the pennant white with the rest being maroon makes it look like the fish symbol.

    yeah, look closely…the white strip on the left is the border of the sec “pennant”, while the rest of the pennant is solid maroon.

    Yeah, Phil.
    That’s what I was talking about. Number 51.
    It looks like Paul saw it, too.
    Do the Cardinals have the same issue as the Vikes?

    I thought the Vikings were wearing a black memorial band across the horns until I got a close-up and realized it was just a vent in the helmet.

    That’s an intriguing idea though. Kind of like police officers binding their badges instead of their sleeves.

    Has anyone ever done something like that, put a black band around a logo that was meant to evoke a physical object? The Eagles’ wings or the Vikings’ horns, things like that.

    The Eagles have done that before, actually.

    (text from the helmet project website)

    The Eagles wore a piece of black tape across their wing helmet decals during the last three games of the 1989 regular season and during a playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams. This was done as a tribute to the team’s quarterbacks coach, Doug Scovil, who died on December 9, 1989. The specific dates were December 10 (vs Dallas), December 18 (at New Orleans), December 24 (vs Phoenix), and December 31 (vs Los Angeles).

    link

    Something tells me the League Police would not allow this in the 2010 NFL. Just a hunch.

    I thought they did it for Jerome Brown as well, but I cannot find any evidence. They did of course wear the “JB” patch all season in 1992. It usually appears on throwbacks from that era as seen on Gameday here in Philadelphia.

    link

    There’s a guy in my section that wears a Jerome Brown jersey with the JB patch, which I find odd to say the least.

    I’m 99% certain that Childress’s “new” head set is entirely window dressing and he’s wearing it over earpieces plugged into his ears similar to the set he wore last year. Makes sense that Motorola would want their brand prominently displayed, but that Childress would still require the plugs.

    Pretty sad when corporate sponsorship obligations override a disability.

    Perhaps electronics giant MOTOROLA should design a headset for the hearing impaired that they can proudly plaster their logotype on?

    I strongly doubt that.

    They came up with a branded version for him back in last season’s NFC title game:
    link

    If it was really just about branding, he could’ve kept wearing that.

    I’m pretty sure that before kickoff I saw him wearing the old plugs. I do remember the branded version of the old headset, but does it really seem far-fetched that they’d want viewers to see the bulky version and so would adapt a set to appear like a regular head set while still giving Childress the functionality he needs?

    Childress is wearing custom molded in ear monitors like musicians use on stage.

    link

    My first thought was that he only had the left one in, but later saw he also had the right one in under the motorola headset.

    Hmm. Makes me wonder if Joe Paterno (who never wears a headset when coaching on the sidelines) were a coach in the NFL, would he be forced to wear a bogus headset, just so Motorola would get a free plug?

    Does anyone happen to have a photo of a Seahawk in the Revo Speed helmet. I’m having a hard time imagining how the bird decal traverses the vent and the back ridge. I remember seeing a camp photo of Tom Brady in which his Elvis decal was just applied right over the vent on the Revo Speed, instead of being cut like the Viking decal in the header.

    I couldn’t find a photo, but on the older Revo model they angle the birds upward more due to the higher curvature. I bet they do the same with the Revo Speeds and avoid the vents that way.

    I’ve never seen the logo interrupted on the Revo Speed, and I do believe the logo crosses over the last vent cutout at the back, yet they simply decal over it. Hopefully, you will see plenty of shots of this via Earl Thomas, who has worn the Revo Speed at Texas and now with the Hawks.

    Here’s a good example of how the equipment team place the decals on the Revo Speed. Also note the peculiar NOB on #47.

    link

    All of the Miss. State coaches wore Adidas hats with a “Stars and Stripes” interlocking “MS” logo last night, with a red/white/blue ribbon on the side of the hat. Probably because 9/11 is Saturday.

    link

    About the Felix Pie/Pi thing…it’s been going on at Yankee Stadium since last year when he joined the Orioles.

    I attended a game last year where they put up “Pi = 3.14” next to his name and picture during one of his at-bats. I wonder what he thinks of all this.

    Exactly…I’m surprised that is still going on considering his name doesn’t rhyme with “pi”

    Felix Pie is from the Dominican Republic. So his name actually means “foot” in Spanish. I am sure coming up he probably heard much more “foot” jokes than “pie” jokes….

    At the Brooklyn Cyclones game last week, whenever Christopher Wallace of opponent Tri City came to bat they put a picture of the Notorious B.I.G. on the big screen

    when he came up with chicago he had a highlight on SC in one of his first games, and i swear i thought the anchors were talking about the cubs centerfielder from Felix, PA.

    re: Vikings.
    No wonder. Tough to win when some of your players are suffering from Hornus Interruptus.

    —Ricko

    I was just looking for a fancy way to say “dehorned”.

    It’s, like, a livestock/cattle reference, as in, “A bull ain’t so tough once he’s been dehorned.”

    —Ricko

    Kevin Durant put 1972 on his shoes in the US’s match against Russia in memory of the Olympic team that lost a controversial game to the USSR.

    link

    Those almost look like turf shoes, eh?

    Nice, understated gesture by KD. Two games to go…Lithuania, then hopefully the title game.

    Days before the ’72 Olympic team got screwed , athletes from Israel were murdered by terrorists. So what? You got cheated out of some basketball game. Still crying 38 years later, and passing on your cry-baby ways to new generations, like Durant’s.
    Sack-up, Olympians, at least you made it home. You should have accepted your silver medals, brought them home and got them gold plated. Yea, that’s right we won the gold, bitches!

    Can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat and wondered what one of the Three Musketeers mated with a leprechaun would look like …

    Holy moley! Yellow, gold, tan, and maroon?????

    I’ve never seen these anywhere else. Thank you, Randy Policar.

    It looks like the Viking horn is outlined in black even where it’s split to accomodate the helmet vent. I wonder if they have to make special decals for the Revo Speed helmets.

    I’m kinda wondering if that turns it into a longer horn than the other players or not. Is the extra space cut out of the horn so it’s still the same overall size, or did they just chop it in two and stick the end on after the vent?

    /regardless, the split horn looks like shit

    I pay virtually no attention to such things, but is he the only member of the Viking coach staffed dressed in black? You know, the ol’ “spot the head guy” thing?

    Cuz that’s pretty common.

    —Ricko

    Although, oil is black…might make sense…

    No! Snap out of it Jim!

    He’d be the perfect coach for my old high school. Year after year they flirt with winless seasons, and year after year they add more black to the unis in the hopes of looking tougher. About the only thing they haven’t done is put black numbers on the black jerseys. Stop overcompensating and work on your game instead!

    I love the tribute to the old goalies on Halak’s mask. It’s too bad that Fuhr’s jersey is showing as much as it is.
    Man, I loved Looty when I was a kid.

    The Viking’s logo doesn’t HAVE to be abbreviated like it is on that helmet, it could go right up to the hole instead of the contour. Looks to me like the helmet manufacturer wanted the logo abbreviated like that to show off the helmet more – a sort of back-door branding scheme. Even the area where the logo is cutoff has a purple border, a giveaway that it’s a premeditated idea. Perhaps the Vikes are getting money from this.

    For one, it’s actually a black outline, not purple, but honestly, I don’t think that’s an outline on the cut edge the decal. I’m almost positive it’s just a shadow, given that helmet decals can have a decent thickness to them.

    The Edmonton Oil Kings came back to life a few years ago when the city was granted an expension frnachise in the Western Hockey League. And yes, the wear the same old crest….

    link

    my bad, the image shows TJ Foster wearing a diff number (16) than listed (7)

    Oh well

    Can you tell it’s Friday?

    What’s up with Adrian Peterson’s jersey, notably, numbers at front? Looks like it’s been thru a wash or two…..or?

    link

    Peterson’s jerseys have been looking like this for several years now. He looked like that right from the very first play of last night’s game, so it’s not wear and tear accrued during the game. I think it’s probably either (a) stickum staining thru from the inside of the jersey, to keep it adhered to his pads, or (b) stickum on the OUTside of his jersey, to help cut down on fumbling (which, obviously, he does all the time anyway).

    Ahhh yes, it’s got to be some sort of stickum. I guess there is a legal limit, since I assumed they banned stickum for the most part.

    stickum on the OUTside of his jersey, to help cut down on fumbling (which, obviously, he does all the time anyway).

    all day

    Yea, but isn’t the Lester Hayes rule still in effect; no stickum on any part of the body, or uniform?

    “Oooh, check out the awesome crest worn by the 1958 Edmonton Oil Kings (great find by Warren Humphreys)”

    The Oil Kings wear the same crest today

    link

    Today’s Oil Kings are an expansion team, the original team is now in Portland, Oregon as the Portland Winter Hawks

    I wore the phantom Mets design (blue w/ orange stripes) to the Shellac show on Tuesday night, figuring that Bob Weston would be wearing stirrups too (he’s a recent convert). But no, he didn’t wear them “because I’m wearing long pants, so nobody would’ve seen them.” As if that even matters….

    i love stirrup friday. i am undecided what i am going to wear for my last open studio art walk here in chicago tonight, i might go solid black.

    word from tck is that they are going to start shipping the latest order to me on monday. i am unsure how much of the order(as they are too), but that means i will be shipping some/all out sometime next week.

    I’m sorry to say it, but I still can’t do the Friday thing. Actually, I’m not sorry at all. I only wear them while wearing a suit.
    For the record, I do wear striped and argyle socks on a daily basis.

    Re: Collector’s Corner.

    I had two of those NFL Action Team Mates when I was a kid before my damn dog chewed them to pieces. Seahawks and Broncos. I think they were sold in the Sears or JC Penny’s catalogue. I think I still have the severed helmeted head of the Bronco somewhere.

    I noticed anomalies in a couple of the other items. The 1969 mug features the Saints prototype black helmet and the 1976 lunchbox shows the newly minted Seahawks and Buccaneers in their one year conference switch.

    my little brother and i had half the league, we would each get a couple/3 every christmas from the wish book. i think my parents still have a box of the pieces parts as all the rubber bands that held them together have snapped.

    “Ever seen an NFL “Action Team Mate” before? Atlanta Falcons fans probably have.”

    Steelers fans have, too. I used to have one; from either Sears or JC Penney.

    Used to have that 50th anniversary mug as well, but I gave it to a friend of mine. Note to the winner of that bid: I wouldn’t put it in the dishwasher.

    Still have my Seahawks Action Team Mate from when I was a kid. I remember I ordered it from the Sears catalog, then my mom and I went to the store to pick it up. It came in a brown generic cardboard box.

    link

    They were from before my time, but I remember the Action Team Mates. Our friends over at the Fleer Sticker Project has scans of the old wishbook and even a picture of all of the figures offered in 1979: link

    link

    No Saints, No Giants, No Jets

    I can’t get to a website where I can see the Saints’ SB Championship patch, but the black area of the design features a silhouette of the Superdome behind the bottom of the fleur de lis.

    A while back, someone posted a zip file with pro team fonts … I have misplaced that link. Can anyone help?

    all pro teams?! that would be awesome to have. someone get that for fight and the rest of us.

    in an unrelated sidebar, while doing some research for a project i came across link. i am not a big south park guy or anything, but those are pretty darn good, i love coach tiller.

    In 1981 there were definitely no blue seats in any part of Jack Murphy stadium, and that tan color on that lowest level definitely makes it Dodger. Also, see the second deck? The sections are too narrow and high to be at the Murph. Also, if you look behind his left shoulder, you can see the dugout and railing, which never looked like that at Qualcomm.

    Glad to see the heads up for HULU and old NFL stuff. I love those older programs and will have to check it out.

    link

    Not sure if anybody mentioned it comments. I did look really quick to see. Those NFL helmets were not gumballs but almost mini helmet sized. I remember my brother and I getting most of them at old Lawsons stores. They sold the flavored ice in them. Like slush puppies or whatever you call it.

    My brother did get all the NFL teams from ebay a few years back. I think.

    I have no idea why I called them slush puppies. Hush puppies are from Long John Silvers.

    Slushies or chopped up flavored ice. Maybe Baskin and Robbins served ice cream in them too back then.

    haha ok I kind of thought so but it didnt seem right when I thought about hush puppies.

    Anyhow those plastic helmets were kin of neat

    Interesting find by Davis Powell about the possible Georgia white helmets. Hard enough to find info about possible helmets from years ago. But the picture find was great.

    Georgia coach Vince Dooley did switch to white pants, so people would forget the Silver Britches cheer. They wore white pants for the rest of the 60’s and all through the 70’s. When they switched back to silver around 1980, the silver britches cheer was immediately revived.

    I wish they’d go back to the silver face masks!

    In addition to the coal miner tribute, Marshall’s wearing a 9-11 memorial sticker on the back of their helmets. Be interesting to see if a bunch of those pop up tomorrow as well.

    Tell ya what. Those Hulu films are the best. I remember ALL those games.

    And Duane Thomas is STILL an a-hole.

    Wasn’t it the 1971 season in which Thomas didn’t say a word to anyone on the Cowboys? What a waste of talent, by the time Thomas realized football was important, it was too late. He attempted a futile comeback in ’77 or ’78 with the Packers.

    Yes, that’s the year.
    Classic quote:

    “If the Super Bowl is the ultimate game, why do they play it every year?”

    He was a head case from day one. I remember when they traded his sorry keester to SD for Billy Parks and Mike Montgomery, I was overjoyed. And mind you, I was like 12 at the time. I took the Cowboys SERIOUSLY.

    Can’t get screen grabs, but watching the Yanks-Rangers… the New ERA logos in the back of the Yankee dugout seem to be crossed out with a line of tape running across the words.

    The first time I saw it, I thought that maybe their had been a sheet taped there and then taken down leaving the tape….but then in another shot, you can see the same treatment to all of the NEW ERA logos…very weird..at least to me.

    Is this common practice?

    So the worst numbering in all of sports gets mentioned as some throw in blurb…what if Boston College and UA were Oregon and Nike?

    Me thinks this site may have crashed!

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