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Nats Sign On to Promote Dubya Book Tour

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Well, they won’t have to worry about misspelling “Nationals” again.

So is there anyone who doesn’t think they would’ve been better off with that prototype that surfaced a week or two ago?

Sigh. Okay, here we go:

The new primary logo: While I always thought the Nats’ beveled typography was somewhat problematic on the team’s jerseys, it worked really well on the team’s logo, which had a nice heraldic feeling to it. The little banner, the stars — it made it feel like every day was Opening Day, with bunting hanging from the grandstand the President throwing out the first pitch, all very appropriate for Washington. The new logo is fine for what it is — I’m a sucker for circular logos — but it doesn’t have the gravitas of the prior one (and besides, everyone’s using circular logos now). Not a bad design, but still a downgrade. So is it good or is it stupid? Stupid.

The new home uniform: Well, nobody can accuse them of having over-designed it. And I don’t mean that just in a snarky way — in an era where so many teams go overboard, I’m surprised and somewhat relieved by the restraint they’ve shown here. But still, but still. Is it awful? No. But jeez, that script prototype is gonna go down as a major, major missed opportunity.

A few other details of note:

1) As you can see in the photo above, the placket piping is two-tone. Personally, I hate that — it should either be one color or else two like-colored stripes with a distinct color in between.

2) That same piping style extends to the pants, which used to have three stripes but now have only two. I hate that even more. Pants piping should be symmetrical!

3) I reallyreallyreally hate all these jerseys that have a logo on one side and a uni number on the other and they don’t align. Looks sooooo bad. If you want to have a jersey with a simple chest logo, just put the logo there and leave it at that, like the Yankees and Tigers do, or like the Giants used to do on the road (that’s a really underrated design, by the way). Skip the uni number on the front.

4) On the other hand, there’s one thing the Yanks and Tigers could learn from the Nats: If you don’t have a full-width chest insignia, you don’t need pro button spacing. The even spacing (which is also being used on the new red and blue alternates) looks sharp.

5) They’ve removed the gold beveling from the back uni numbers. That’s a kindness — it never looked right.

6) As you can see from that last link, they’ve also changed the MLB logo colors from blue-white-gold to red-white-blue. That change is team-wide (i.e., on all jerseys, on caps, etc.). An obvious improvement.

Overall: Not bad, but not as good as it could be. And definitely not as good as it would have been if they’d gone with the script. I suppose you could say it’s good enough, but I see it as a blown chance to do something special, and therefore stupid.

•  The new road uni: I don’t care for the red-brimmed cap — too Braves-ish. The new sleeve patch is an upgrade, though. And look, they moved the sleeve piping down to the very end of the sleeve (here’s how it looks on an actual jersey). Can’t say I feel strongly either way, but it’s interesting that they went to the trouble to make that change. And at least this piping is three stripes instead of two. Oh, and if you look at that last link, you can see they’ve adjusted the spot where the script crosses the rubicon — that’s a plus. The cap is still a major problem, but the small improvement are enough to make this a push.

•  The new red alternate: Again with the two-color piping and moving the sleeve trim to the end of the cuff. But in this case I think both of those moves work quite well, because the red background creates a red-white-blue effect. In fact, it’s kind of amazing how much better the sleeve trim looks. Red alternate jerseys are stupid by definition, but these small improvements still rate a score of good.

•  The new stars/stripes blue alternate: It’s a little hard to see, but they’re using a darker shade of blue, plus they’ve gone from the DC to the script W Who cares. Terminally stupid.

I’ll say this much: The Nats will be a better-looking team next season simply by virtue of no longer having the bevel-blocked uni numbers. And like I mentioned before, there’s something to be said for taking a restrained approach to uniform design. But while you can’t have too many Ws on the scoreboard or in the standings, you can definitely have too many in a uniform set.

Meanwhile: New ESPN column today — my annual college hoops roundup. Enjoy.

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Giving credit where it’s due: Two follow-ups to yesterday’s entry about baseball cardigans. First, I mentioned that most of the photos were submitted by Mike Hersh, but I didn’t mention that he found most of them on the excellent Baseball Fever site, or that the panoramic photos came from Baseball Fever’s superb Vintage Panoramic Photos thread (you need to be a registered member to see most of the photos, but it’s free and painless), where they were originally posted by the pseudonymous BSmile. “I spend hours finding and editing the photos,” says BSmile, who created that panoramic thread and also contributes here at Uni Watch but under a different name. “I remove crease/separation lines, scratches, sharpen, add color, etc., etc.” So although Mike sent the pics my way, a lot of the credit really belongs with BSmile.

Meanwhile, reader Stan Olechowski responded to yesterday’s entry by asking this: “Do you have any idea where can I get a pattern for a dugout cardigan? My friend who knits is actually sorta excited about knitting me one — Mets blue with an orange NY!”

I’ve linked to various sweater knitting patterns before, but never anything like a heavy-guage dugout cardigan. Does anyone know more?

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Poppy Season: NHL coaches and Raptors coach Jay Triano have been wearing poppy pins lately. That’s because today is Remembrance Day in Canada (just as it’s Veterans Day here in the States). If you’re not familiar with the poppy protocol, check out this entry I wrote four years ago.

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Show and Tell reminder: Remember, one week from tonight I’ll be hosting/emceeing “Open Mic Show-and-Tell” at the City Reliquary. Participants should bring one object of personal significance and be prepared to talk about it — preferably in a highly engaging manner — for up to three minutes. If you’d rather just show up and watch, that’s cool too. Doors at 7pm (we’ll have a sign-up sheet for those who want to talk about their objects) and I’ll kick things off by doing a bit of showing/telling of my own at 8pm. Suggested donation: $5. Beer will be available. Bring me some fried chicken from the Commodore (next door to the Reliquary) and/or some smoked ’cue from Fette Sau (a few doors to the west) and I’ll cover your admission fee or maybe buy you a beer or give you a free Uni Watch membership be very happy.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Many readers have noted that Eli Manning was wearing an old-style, non-stretchy jersey last Sunday. The distinction is most obvious at the collar, where Eli’s NFL Equipment shield had migrated north and was once again occupying that little triangle of fabric at the base of the V-neck. That will be even more noticeable if Eli sticks with the old-style jersey this Sunday, because the Jints will be wearing blue, which means we could see a reappearance of the little red triangle (which I never liked). I’ve been pestering Joe Skiba about this, and he says I should be patient with him — more details in a week or so. ”¦ I linked to the Asheville Tourists’ new logo set yesterday but neglected to mention two things: (1) It’s kinda cool that one of the new logos shows the moon eating a sparerib. (2) Stirrups! That said, the illustrations are still lame. Bring back Teddy Tourist! ”¦ The Rangers will officially unveil their third jersey — you know, the one everyone’s already known about since September — on Friday at Rockefeller Center (as noted by John Martorella). ”¦ Really interesting article about the guy who supposedly invented — but did not patent — the clear hockey face visor (with thanks to Kelly Hellman). ”¦ Rugby note from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “This week, Leicester played Australia in an exhibition during Oz’s tour of Europe. Since the game was not part of an official competition, Leicester used letters on their jerseys instead of numbers, as they had done historically (a tradition they had to discontinue in the ’90s. The letters, like numbers, related to positions — thus B would be a 2 on any other team, a hooker. O would be 15, a fullback, etc.” ”¦ Here’s a pretty good assessment of unnecessary on-screen graphics during NFL broadcasts (with thanks to Nathan Haas). ”¦ I really love this old Marine Corps baseball jersey. Too small for me, otherwise I’d bid on it. ”¦ Right on the borderline of being too small, but I might bid on it anyway: the coolest monochromatic baseball uni ever. And it’s wool! Man, can you imagine how sweet those green/orange stirrups will look with that uniform? The color combo is sort of like a reverse-field version of those Colorado State football alts from earlier this year, and by coincidence the eBay seller is from Colorado, but I think the team in question was actually from Oklahoma. ”¦ Are you a fan of Paul “Fitzy” Fitzgerald’s videos? Our own Brinke Guthrie is, and he just guest-wrote an entry on Fitzy’s web site. Oh, and be sure to check out the cool Wes Welker T-shirt design featured on that same page. ”¦ Here’s a stunner: Hank Greenberg in Yankee pins! “Seems he was working out with the NC team while on military leave and needed a uniform,” says Bruce Menard. ”¦ After I ran this photo in yesterday’s Ticker, someone in the comments wondered how a colorized version might look, so Larry Bodnovich took a stab at it. ”¦ New lacrosse helmets for Duke (with thanks to Jeff Brunelle). ”¦ Bernard Berrian has been fined $5000 for wearing yellow cleats last Sunday.

 
  
 
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Comments (216)

    Seeing only red, white, and blue jerseys in the photo got my hopes up that the Nats might have actually ditched the gray entirely… I’m disappointed to see that those jerseys are jsut alternates, and that the dull gray hasn’t gone anywhere.

    The white home jersey looks very nice, though. Clean and simple.

    How could the Nats people look at that beautiful prototype jersey and decide to go with these awful “W” jersies instead? Its unreal. That franchise’s unis have been a disaster from day one. Way to stay consistent, Fake ‘Spos!

    It’s too bad they can’t be the Gnats. I think we’d get a much more creative uniform out of that. At the very least, it probably wouldn’t be red & blue like every other team.

    /what?

    “Fake ‘Spos”?
    If anything these uniforms are throwbacks to the original Nationals/Senators, who wore a W on their left chest or left arm for almost the whole time they were in DC. These uniforms are designed to realign the Nats with traditional DC baseball.

    And EVERY FRICKIN’ TEAM OUT THERE HAS A SCRIPT JERSEY! Good job nats, on designing a uniform that is different, yet still clean and traditional.

    Yep. Every team, except for all the ones that don’t, of course.

    I’m assuming you aren’t referring to the road jersey, so off the top of my head here are teams that don’t have script home jerseys:

    Red Sox
    Tigers
    Yankees
    Cubs
    Reds
    White Sox
    Giants
    Twins
    Rangers
    Angels
    Pirates
    Rays
    Marlins
    Rockies
    Mariners
    Diamondbacks
    Padres

    I’m sure I’m forgetting some.

    Um, what? How are you making that leap? Out of that list I posted, exactly three of the teams have the same wordmark for both their home and road jerseys, and the two that are not the Rangers use the team’s nickname rather than the city/region.

    The Red Sox, Giants, Twins, Rangers, Angels, Pirates, Rays, Marlins, Rockies, Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Padres do have script home jerseys, I’m not sure what you’re talking about here

    Oops. Padres shouldn’t be on my list. I was thinking of their road jerseys. They definitely have a script wordmark on their homes.

    Has it been confirmed that the script jersey was even a real prototype that was solicited by the team?

    Really? Then why is there no Majestic logo on the sleeve?

    Anyone could have taken that jock tag off an actual jersey and sewn it on there.

    I have to agree 1000%. That script Nationals prototype was beautiful. How they could not have fit that one in, given the number of jerseys that they have is just dumbfounding. How many jerseys with a curly W on the front do you need? Obviously the brilliant Nats management thinks the answer is 4, but I think 3 would have been the right choice.

    Fie on the “beautiful prototype jersey,” sez I! Now that “Nationals” isn’t festooning the jersey front, maybe the next step can be changing the team’s nickname to “Senators,” as they should’ve done in ’05.

    But I dislike the misaligned front uni number as much as Paul does. Raise it or remove it altogether, change the home cap to the ’67 Senators design (blue w/blue bill and red soutaches), and I’ll be a genuinely happy camper.

    I know that design is subjective, but I disagree about the Ashville Tourists logos being “lame”. If you’re going to take a shot at the graphics, at least give it the respect of explaining why you think it is “lame”.

    Like most of Plan B’s designs, these are too cartoon-y, the black lines are too thick, and the whole thing feels more like a business plan (“Let’s come up with something sorta playful but with an edge!”) than like an organically conceived design.

    Also, four words: glow in the dark.

    Better?

    Isn’t all sports design more of a business plan these days?

    For some reason, cartoony identities seem to be a requirement for Minor League Baseball. Does anyone happen to know when this trend started?

    I have nothing against cartoon logos per se. The old Bucks logo with the deer spinning the basketball on his “finger” is one of my all-time faves. Ditto for the Toledo Mud Hens.

    It’s hard to capture exactly what I mean by what I’m about to say, but I feel like the cartoon logos of yesteryear had something that today’s lack. And that something is dignity.

    I think the hand drawing vs. computer render is a valid argument. I think sentimentality plays a part in forming opinions. Perhaps because these newer-styled illustrations reference back to older styles in an updated fashion, they feel too “faux” for you? What are your thoughts on other modern (non-cartoony) logos? Do you tend to like them, or do you find yourself comparing them to more vintage logos?

    Much better! I love reading Uni Watch because when you critique designs, you almost always explain your thought process. It doesn’t matter if the viewer agrees or disagrees with your opinions, because the explanations make your critiques fun and entertaining (just like you did above with the Nats’ uniforms). That is why I spend every morning with UW.

    It seems to me like they really wanted to dump “tourists” and change the name to “Moonshiners,” but couldn’t, given its long history.

    And apparently they didn’t dump Ted E. Tourist entirely, although they did link. And once again, when a designer renders a baseball uniform, it includes stirrups. Visual shorthand for “baseball.”

    I went to a game last year and Ted E was wearing a baseball uniform then. I dont think he has worn the hawaiian shirts for quite a number of years.

    The one and the same! You got your cap before I got mine! I hope it looks good. I can’t wait to see them in person.

    The critique of on-screen graphics is spot-on. The amount of unnecessary garbage the networks place on the screen (including scrolling fantasy league updates) makes it a burden to watch the games. If I wanted to watch a live game like it’s Madden, then I’d go play Madden.

    Agreed. It’s amazing how refreshing it is to watch a recording of a game from the 70’s or 80’s without all of that extra junk going on.

    I like having the yellow line for the first down… and that’s it.

    It’s actually hard to see how civilization functioned prior to the yellow line.

    But all the other gewgaws are crap (as are the industrial/vid-game sound effects that accompany EVERY SINGLE FREAKING GRAPHIC).

    They should have the box score, the line to gain, the line of scrimmage, and nothing else. I do like the practice of highlighting the play clock when it gets down to five seconds though. It lets you focus on the formations rather than the box score during the actual play.

    Look at it this way… at least they haven’t resorted to FoxTraxing the football… yet!

    Those on-field down graphics are crap. Like it’s been said, the first-down line is okay, as it’s a nice guide for the viewers. But that’s about it.

    To make matters worse, the Comcast SportsNet has been superimposing ads on the glass behind the nets for Capitals games. You’d think with all the ads on the boards, they could leave the glass alone but, all in the effort to make a buck I guess.

    “Hey Kevin, turn on Comcast SportsNet. I’m right against the glass!”
    “Where? All I see is an ad for Bud Light.”

    According to this article, there is a new script Nationals wordmark and a gold-free DC logo included in the new graphics package

    link

    And according to this entry on the Nationals MLBlog, the red jersey will be worn for Saturday & Sunday home games (as opposed to last year, when it was worn Thursday- Sunday.) It also says that the red jersey will be worn on the road. The first time the Nats will wear a road alt.

    link

    I appreciated that the Nats were a team you could always count on to wear gray on the road. Too bad that won’t be the case any more.

    The new script is similar to what was seen on that prototype, so I wouldn’t rule out its appearance on a future jersey.

    I’m not a fan of the blue alt as I don’t like the use of the US flag as a design element, but plenty of people like the White Sox’ 1917 jerseys so I may be in the minority. I agree that the red-billed blue alt cap is too similar to the Braves’ home cap.

    So yes, not a home run but at least a good solid double, maybe even a triple if it’s not Nyjer Morgan doing the baserunning. I’d venture that people will like them more if the team ever starts winning. Heck, in an alternate universe where Walter Johnson’s Nats were the dynasty of the 1920s, I could envision people criticizing the placement of any logos on the chest of a jersey and that the sleeves were the only place they belonged.

    Then again many people will hate them no matter what, just like they hate anything that comes out of Washington.

    The thing that makes the 1917 Sox World Series uniforms an example of how to the a “patriotic” motif right is that it drew inspiration from the flag. Plus the the flag in the wind patch beats the heck out of the standard flag patches.

    That Nats monstrosity (and the MLB holiday caps) bypass that and just wedge the flag itself in mutilated form into the logo.

    Agreed. You don’t have to shoehorn the stars and stripes into the logo to get the point across.

    link conveys the idea quite nicely.

    Zactly. And if the Nats had used an approach like this, instead of using a literal flag image, I’d be all for it. The new stars-and-stripes jersey is a big improvement over the old on several levels, but it’s still terrible.

    @ JTH – quick mockup of the idea:

    link

    Always 13. Too ridiculous & too close to the current S&S idea? It’d only work on a white cap or as a sleeve patch.

    This is true. The lettering from the prototype is on their style guide, as well as a ‘DC’ monogram, sans gold bevel, which I think looks really great.

    However in this shot, Enroth has coordinated blocker and catching glove. link

    Perhaps his new pads haven’t been broken in yet?

    Enroth won’t be spending a lot of additional time in Buffalo, so he won’t be needing new pads. Once Ryan Miller returns from injury, he and Patrick Lalime will be the Sabres’ tandem. Enroth will be sent back down to the Portland Pirates.

    That picture is from an earlier game, however. And yes, he will be back in Portland as soon as Buffalo gets #1 and #2 back.

    The red and blue jerseys are bad enough but the placket piping is what really pisses me off on the Nats jerseys. They supposedly wanted something simple but when I look at them all I see is this wide “ditch” down the middle. Should have moved it up to the collar and the collar only.

    Disappointed that the Nats did a “Fashion show” and didn’t completely display the new uniforms. I kinda like the home jersey, simple design, focus on the “Curly W” – but I don’t like the placket piping and winder how it will look with white pants. The placket goes down the pants, disappears into the belt and just ends there? Doesn’t sound like it’ll look right…

    The “Patriotic” blue with the stars and stripes W is pretty ugly. Not quite an abomination, but getting close.

    And that Braves hat they designed is weak. I know, there’s not a lot of ways to use red, white, and blue, but to copy a division rival’s head wear shows a lack of creativity.

    Agreed on the road hat. If you wanted to go two-tone, why not a red hat with a blue bill since there is more red than blue on the road uniform anyway.

    I actually like the placket piping. A bit something different while still keeping the overall design simple.

    Any even though the Nationals script is part of the new branding, the old Fuddrucker font will be kept on the scoreboard. Guess a bit too pricey to change.

    link

    So you don’t like the White Sox’ road pants with asymmetrical striping?

    Seems like the Natinals went out of their way to avoid any items exclusively red or blue to stay out of the redstate/bluestate conflicts.

    The whole red state/blue state thing is way overblown. In almost every “red” state, at least 40 percent of the people are “blue,” and vice-versa, and the percentages are probably higher than that in most places. So out of 10 people in a “blue” state, usually at least 4 are “red.” It’s a really sloppy, short-handed way for the news media and politicians to divide us. Sorry, but life is complex.

    Up through 2000, most TV networks used red to denote the opposition party and blue to denote the incumbent party on election night. Thus Reagan painted the map red in 1980 but blue in 1984. So it should have been blue for Bush, red for Kerry, in 2004. The whole red-for-Republicans, blue-for-Democrats thing is stupid on so many levels, but for me the media’s ignorance of its own reason for assigning the colors in the first place is the worst.

    Apologies if I’ve told the story before, but I was at an election-eve rally for Jim Webb’s Senate campaign in 2006 – Webb is a Democrat – wearing a curly-W Nats cap. Twice that night, people in the crowd yelled at me for wearing pro-Bush hat. I tried to point out that “Webb” starts with the letter “W,” whereas “Bush” does not, but I don’t think I convinced anybody.

    I’m with you on the stupidity of the red/blue political association and especially the GWBush association when it comes to Nats gear. The curly W stands for “Washington,” no more, no less.

    I no longer live in the Washington metro area so I’m inclined to wear the road blue cap casually most of the time and always if I go to watch the Nats play in an opponent’s park (even when I feel like I should be wearing a paper bag instead). When I go to Nationals Park to watch a game I wear the home red cap, and I wear it casually when I’m visiting friends and family there.

    Also on the UW stupid list: Every uniform the Expos ever wore. Well, except for the pinstriped home uni. All other Expos unis featured asymmetrical piping on the jersey and pants.

    The Expos road pants during the 90s and 00s was not asymmetrical. It had three colors: thick red / thin white / thick blue:

    link

    Yeah, but one side was red and the other was blue. That’s asymmetrical. If you go by your definition, the Nationals’ pants have symmetrical striping, too. red on one half and blue on the other half, equal width. Proportionally that’s symmetrical, but we’re talking about color here, too. I happen to like it when a few teams do it, because symmetrical stripes on everyone get boring after a while.

    They were asymmetrical in terms of color: blue on one side, red on the other. Which qualifies them for the stupid list by the standards Paul enunciates today. Which I raise as an example of why I think Paul’s rule about piping color is silly.* Whatever the new Nats two-color piping is, it’s not worse than the old three-color piping, in which the red and blue bands were so small that the piping always looked purple. (Or at least, always looked purple in person or on video; good still photography usually preserved the distinct color bands.) It kind of doesn’t matter what personal eccentricities of taste one has; a team whose colors do not include purple replacing an unintentionally purple uni element with a uni element that clearly communicates actual team colors is an improvement.

    *And that’s OK! Most matters of taste are silly when expressed as general rules, so whattayagonnado.

    Following on from Leicester’s usage of letters rather than numbers, check this link to see how that practice was used for advertising purposes in the past: link

    Since none of the new uniforms contains the word “Nationals” (except in very small lettering on the arm patch logo), one is left to wonder whether management is laying the groundwork for a change of the team name in a few years.

    As a longtime baseball-card collector, I can’t help thinking that management has decided once and for all to adopt the name given to the Zombie Padres by the Topps Chewing Gum Company in 1974 — “Washington Nat’l League.”

    So I was watching the 1964 Detroit Lions highlight film on Hulu. They have highlights of the previous all-purple Vikings game (about 7 minutes in: link ). In a night game with the Rams, Detroit wears it’s home blues and the lighting is so bad in The Coliseum that the Lions look black and silver. Oh the wonders of Hulu!

    Why don’t the Nationals just ink an official sponsorship agreement with Walgreen’s and have done with it. Think about the revenue potential of being the Washington Walgreen’s Nationals. They do it in Japan (e.g: the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.) And god knows the Nats could use (or misuse) a bankroll.

    As for the red jerseys… awful. I see highlights at night and I never know if I’m looking at the Reds, the Red Sox, the Braves, the Angels or the Rangers, none of whom, except for the Reds, can justify a solid red jersey. Red for red’s sake? Say it ain’t so!

    Were it not for the New York connection I could see them hoking up with a certain hot dog maker and becoming the Washington Hebrew Nationals.

    So the Nats got rid of the solid blue hats?

    That was the best part of their uniform in my opinion.

    Maybe – just maybe – the asymmetrical piping on the home unis is meant to evoke the asymmetrical striping that the Redskins use?

    NEVER liked the asymmetrical Redskins stripes. one of the reasons i welcomed the gold pants with proper stripes this year. they should wear those every game….and change to symmetrical stripes on the jerseys.

    But doesn’t it get old when everyone has symmetrical stripes. I like it when one or two teams have the side-by side stripes like the Nationals, Redskins and Pistons wear.

    There were so many ways the Nationals could have gone, but settled for something safe, boring and failed to throw all the bad stuff over board.

    Working from a blank slate, though, it would have been a nice touch to the franchise’s heritage to pay homage to the Montreal Expos. That sleeve logo comes s-o-o-o-o close to this link they may have gone ahead and duplicated it and substituted the necessary words.

    Personally, I have no problems with the curly W. “Nationals” is kind of a contrived name, and unlike the Rangers, works well as a nickname only not to be seen on a jersey. The Yankees, after all, get away with it.

    I’m not advocating a tri-colored W, but working with this – with or without Nationals beneath it – would’ve been cool, too. link

    All that said, it’s an upgrade that just came short. (Contrary to Paul, the dual color piping works for me.)

    Spot on about the Nats old logo. It just didn’t translate well to the uniform.

    I suspect the Nats are going to end up being a team that goes through uniform changes every few years in search of a classic or defining look and never quite find it.

    I was just e-mailing with someone who boiled down the Nats’ new set to a single sentence: “Can you get much more vanilla for an already vanilla franchise?” I should scrap today’s entire entry and just replace it with that.

    For our friends in the Pacific Northwest, condolences on the loss of iconic Mariners’ radio broadcaster Dave Niehaus.
    Wonder if you can create an image of a “Grand Salami” on a memorial patch without making it look phallic . . .

    I am a native Washingtonian and I just want to say that this new Nationals gear is ridiculous. I’d love to be able to support this team , but I can’t cheer for a team willing to wear the duds that they trot out each and every game, home or away. Oh, well, at least they have the capital city trifecta of bad unis: Caps, Nats, and Skins.

    I’m sorry for you, having to suffer from macular degeneration at such a young age and thereby gaining the obviously mistaken opinion that the Caps have bad uniforms.

    almost in total agreement with paul’s assessment of the unis

    home: much better than what it replaces, but they should have gone with something resembling the prototype…huge fail on the thicker, asymmetrical piping…”w” didn’t need to be outlined…should be N#OF (and that goes for ALL jerseys)

    road: wait, they changed something?

    alt: what may have been one of the best alts in the game is now basically just a red inversion of the home; they should have left it alone

    other alt: it was the worst alt in baseball before the redesign, and now it’s worse…STOP WITH THE S&S SHIT inside of a logo…it looks awful

    braves cap: completely unnecessary…red cap for home, blue cap for road is all they need

    overall … an improvement if only because they got rid of the horrible home; extra piping is unnecessary as is the third cap…and that blue alt should have been lost long ago

    im not gonna lie and say i don’t like it, but i really don’t think #OF is needed

    their original homes didn’t have #OF, home or road

    does it look worse on some than on others? absolutely; can it look good on some unis? sure

    but is it necessary? are front #’s necessary on hockey sweaters?

    The Mets’ original unis were not their best, if you ask me. I think the addition of the number enhanced their look.

    Front numbers can work in hockey, but not the way teams like the Sharks, Sabres, etc. are implementing them.

    I don’t particularly like Dallas’ uniforms, but I think their front numbers work (on two of their jerseys, anyway).

    Same thing for Atlanta’s alt — it’s ugly as hell, but they do the front number the right way.

    No, in baseball, front numbers certainly aren’t necessary (but really, are numbers truly necessary at all?) but that’s one of the things I like about it. Front numbers look good on some teams, but on others, not so much.

    Althought not perfect, I like the changes to the Nationals uniforms. I prefer the curly W logo on the white jersey instead of the solid Nationals block. I would not call the new primary logo stupid! What logo would you have proposed instead?

    I think that “Nationals” script uni that had been circulated was the most boring and vanilla choice they could have made, and I was dreading having to watch those uniforms for 25 games at Nats Park next summer. I like the basic design of the home uniform they picked much better. Probably part of why I like it is that is similar to my beloved Detroit Tigers uniform. Not that my opinion is right an yours is wrong–they just differ. I do agree with you about the position of the number and the new logo (now THAT is vanilla).

    sweet writeup (as always)

    so…the necklace is the new collarbone

    SOD jerseys rock, pants suck (but you knew that already)

    less is more…the more minimalist the uni, the better — but that doesn’t mean LESS color uni designers~~~just stop adding lots of superfluous crap

    huge kansas uni fail

    great stuff paul!

    I hate SOD. It makes a mockery of the uniform. There’s nothing inspired here or artfully minimal, it’s just a gimmick. It’s the anti-unifrom. It strips away all thoughtfulness, fun and composition.

    You know I love simplicity and cleanliness as well as the next guy…

    link

    …but SOD is just lazy.

    SoD unis suck.
    /fixed

    Minimalist is just the other extreme, with the superfluous bumperstickers being the other. There’s another option – it’s called “Just Right.”
    See Arkansas for today’s example:
    link
    And (shudder), yes even Indiana.

    Mizzou and Texas aren’t bad either.
    Nebconsin/Wisbraska are nice.
    And yeah, I’d wear that Wyoming uni.

    what is wrong with the sod jersey, mothervilker?

    you want to tell me the tents, er…pants…are too big and puffy, i won’t argue with you, but there is NOTHING wrong with the jersey (stylistically)

    putting extraneous piping, striping, amorphous shapes, stripes that truncate, horns, necklaces etc…FOUR patches/logos/makers marks etc ON the jersey?

    all that crap is unnecessary

    sod eliminates a good amount of that…and there’s nothing wrong with that

    What isn’t wrong with it?

    Generally smaller numbers and wording lead to a LOT of blank space. The tightness compared with the baggy pants is a silly case in extremes. How ’bout an all-over properly fitting uni? Is that too much to ask?

    I agree that four patches on the front is three too many. Actually, two is good – the NCAA logo on the front and the conference logo on the back. No name on back, just the logo and bigger numbers.

    There’s nothing wrong with ONE bumpersticker, as in some nice striping. Whether it’s tiled, symmetrical, or something along those lines…again, it’s better than minimalism.

    you didn’t answer my question

    i asked, stylistically, what’s wrong with the jersey?

    it’s a blank canvas on which you can put anything

    i’m talking about the fit and cut

    if you like your players wearing pajama tops with their pajama bottoms, that’s fine…i don’t

    as far as striping or “one” bumpersticker — that’s pretty minimalist — i like some striping — but i don’t like clutter — jersey should have some shoulder striping or smallish stripe down the side which is repeated down the pants — not these garish amorphous shapes and horns and other “this is a goddam adidas jersey without us putting three stripes on it” crap…yes, i know the horns are nike’s “signature” and i hate them too

    i’d like bigger numbers and wordmark/logos — that’s absolutely fine — that’s not clutter — but that’s not what im arguing against either

    anyway…back to the question at hand: do you like the cut/fit of the sod jersey, and if not, why not?

    Sometimes you don’t listen, my friend.

    And I quote myself:
    “The tightness compared with the baggy pants is a silly case in extremes. How ’bout an all-over properly fitting uni? Is that too much to ask?”

    I’m talking about the fit and cut, too.

    ok…perhaps i should have phrased my question better

    lets assume the players aren’t wearing pants…so don’t even think about the bloomers…

    what, if anything, is wrong with JUST THE JERSEY?

    or is your whole problem with the sod the fact that the jersey is too tight and the pants look like tents (in which case i’d agree with you)

    if the sod’s (as a package) looked like this, i’d be ecstatic

    Well, I’d want numbers and a school name, at least…

    Yeah, I know what you mean. And if you take an inch off the pants length, that’s just about it. I know you said to assume they’re not wearing pants, but I am.

    I don’t mind the width of the shoulders, if that’s what you’re getting at. I’ll admit some of the old jerseys looked like spaghetti-strap halter tops:
    link

    What bugs me is how tight it the SoD top is. It’s just as annoying as baggy pants. Put the two together and that uni is a big steaming pile of goofy.

    If it were fitted properly from top to bottom, and if they didn’t shrink all the letters, numbers and striping, then they’d have something.

    Or they could just look to the NBA for an example of a great uni:
    link

    I’m very disappointed that they have removed all vestiges of the interlocking DC logo. I know the Nats want to appeal to the entire metro area of DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland, but the team plays in the District and the District paid for that damn stadium.

    I’m a lifelong Braves fans, and always will be. But I’m also a DC resident. And to eliminate any reference to the District of Columbia is sad.

    Do they really need TWO curly Ws on the jerseys? I didn’t care for the large interlocking DC of the past couple years, but the shield patches with the interlocking DC were great. This is similar to their 2005 road jersey, and would look much better on the 3 home jerseys:

    link

    I’d even settle for the 9-star DC shield patch from 2006-2008.

    link

    That doesn’t make it any less douchey. The Caps have a reference to the capital dome in their shoulder logo. The Wizards logo and unis flat out suck, anyway.

    It’s baseball! Baseball is all about the creative use of interlocking letters on uniforms. No other sport goes to such great lengths to find opportunities for creative interlocking letter designs.

    Oh come on. That only applies to multi-word cities.

    So, unless you want some kind of WDC logo… I say no.

    bah… forgot about them.

    I don’t really care for that logo either.

    In any case… the DC and W were horribly mismatched… they looked like they belonged to 2 different teams. If you want a DC, how about something in a similar font as the W?

    What they really need to do is incorporate the link into the uniform. I’d rather see that as a sleeve patch than what they’re going with.

    Perhaps something akin to the Orioles sleeve patch. Replace the curly W in the middle of the circle with the 3 stars and 2 bars.

    link

    It’s plain compared to the Orioles’ logo, but compared to link? It could probably use some tweaking, but I think it works.

    Something like double red stripes on the sleeves at the cuff with the 3 stars just above on one sleeve. Not big, honking, 1970s stripes, something subtle.

    A flag that nice needs a nod to it.

    I agree 100% on DC flag in the striping. But I get a vibe that the Learners hate the city itself. They built Tysons for crying out loud, if that doesn’t indicate a hated of the city I don’t know what does. It would also explain why we have yet to see the land they brought by the stadium developed.

    Also DC United uses DC not Washington in their name.

    “It would also explain why we have yet to see the land they brought by the stadium developed.”

    Alex, I think the current situation with the economy has a little more to do with it. Can’t hang that one on the Lerners.

    Speaking of Veteran’s Day. I have noticed a lot of the Canadian teams I follow on Twitter have a poppy twibbon on the twitter picture. Also, thank you to all our veterans who have served and those who are serving.

    Thanx for the shout-out today Paul!

    Just a quick note for anybody who clicks over to the Baseball-Fever link for the “Vinatge Panoramic Pictures” thread: In order to see most of the photos, you need to sign up as a member. It’s free, non-invasive and takes about a minute. I suspect that many (of us) daily Uni Watch readers are already memebers there…but if not, there ya have it.

    Cheers!
    ~B

    With the passing of Hall of Famer broadcaster Dave Niehaus,
    the Seattle Mariners will have a patch commemorating him in 2011. Dave was right up there with the greats. He will be missed.

    with the front numbers, they look like the rockies, pirates, reds and white sox. not good.
    link
    link
    link
    link

    without the numbers, they would look better (and more classic), like the cubs, yankees, and tigers
    link
    link
    link

    the dbacks have the black alt without the numbers. i guess it’s technically better than if it had front numbers.
    link

    As RS Rogers alluded to, here’s the asymmetrical piping on Andre Dawson’s jersey, circa 1983:

    link

    I’d like to think that Washington’s piping is a subtle tribute to the Expos’ uniform. That’s my belief, and I’m sticking with it.

    By the way, what was the proposed name of the Zombie Padres? Washington Stars? If management is laying the groundwork for a name change, then what could it possibly be, given what the team currently has on now? Or will the Nats become the modern-day equivalent of the Chicago White Sox with their future uniform schizophrenia?

    Thanks, Larry, for the colorizing. It looks pretty much how I expected it to: charmingly insane.

    Maybe I’m overthinking this, but could the current political climate have something to do with dumping the “Nationals” wordmark from the jerseys? When the governor of Texas is talking about secession, and government-hating “aqua-Buddhists” are getting elected to the Senate, and the ex-President is selling 220,000 copies of his memoir, it’s got to be hard to market ANYTHING that even remotely references the federal government.

    Thanks Cort. When I found that picture I wondered what it would look like in color. So just did educated guesswork on the Rhode Island blue.

    I wonder about other teams wearing white shoes in the 30’s. I had not seen any.

    Love the new Nats uni’s. I’m having a hard time finding anything stupid about them. I’ve always been a big fan a MLB uniforms that have a simple one-letter script on the chest (i.e. Detroit Tigers) versus trying to squeeze and whole city name or team name across the front (i.e. San Francisco Giants). Kudos to Washington D.C.

    Noticed Purdue had the Nike logo on their home jerseys last night in their exhibition game. Not all that noteworthy, but it’s been discussed here that their road jerseys will probably have to change with the new regulations, so it’ll be something to take note of when Purdue hits the road.

    Most collar openings are wider and don’t hug the neck as much as the Necklace design does. And c’mon, the trim really does look necklace-ish!

    Hey on the CBB Preview, you have “Portland State” listed when the picture is of Oregon State’s new unis

    I’m a little bit happier with the Nats new uniforms than Paul. The cursive script in the prototype has been done a lot recently (it seems) for road uniforms, including Washington’s (see Baltimore and SF for instance) and having a home uniform with a different template is nice. It reminds me a bit of the WWII era unis (e.g. link), but no one today would wear those block Ws, and the curly Ws are the one successful style icon the franchise has.

    This is the tastiest graphic of the day:

    link

    That is a beautifully rendered logo. Much better than the clunky, beveled interlocking DC abomination.

    But..as much as I love the looks of that curly W, I am tired of it. (And it belonged to the Senators. It’s lovely, but it’s done.)

    And the logo, or sleeve patch, should not simply replicate the cap logo. Where’s the fun in that? (I’m talking to you, too, Twins.)

    Try again. There are so many iconic images associated with the nation’s capitol, surely some creative mind can come up with a decent logo for this team.

    I was stunned to see Larry Brown wearing a poppy last night. You can sorta see it this picture:

    link

    I don’t see a lot of NBA coaches wearing poppies when they visit Toronto during the Halloween to Remembrance Day period.

    Maybe someone noted this yesterday or today and I missed it while skimming the comments, but does anyone think the W on the Nationals new jerseys looks huge? Especially on the stars and stripes one. It might be just how the jerseys were hung when they where photographed, but It feels like the W goes into the armpit. I looked at the MLB shop photos of the Yankees, Rockies, and Tigers jerseys and this W looks way bigger than any of those.

    Probably because I am a crotchety old fart, and also because I am pretty old school, but of all the baseketball uniforms pictured, the one I like the best belongs to Arkansas. It’s a clean, crisp, basic design, which is all you really need.

    interested as to why you think the braves “own” the rights to wearing a navy cap with red bill? i’ve worn indians caps my entire life that fit that description. in fact, the Indians appear to have more right to have this association than do the braves (certainly, more than the atlanta braves, arguable about the franchise).

    Cleveland has had navy hats w/ red bills continuously since 1975, first w/ the funky short-lived “70s” C, then a traditional if boring block C that lasted through the early to mid 80s, then with the chief wahoo logo that continues through today. at some point in the early to mid 90s, the Indians introduced an away hat that was all navy but the navy w/ red bill continues at home. oddly, this is the inverse of the new Nats hats, as the navy w/ red bill will be their road hat.

    link

    the Atlanta Braves appear to have introduced their script “A” on the navy hat w/ red bill in the mid 80s, giving the Erie Warriors an additional 10 years of claim to this hat design! if you’d like to argue the point from the franchise’s perspective, the Boston and Milwaukee Braves wore navy hats w/ red bills and block letters from from 1946-1965, that would make more since. however, this is now 45-65 years and two cities ago. advantage Cleveland!

    link

    so is there anything else wrong in your opinion w/ the new Nats roadie besides its commonality with the INDIANS and braves hats? i happen to think it’s one of their few sharp changes. maybe i can just slap a curly W on one of my surplus tribe hats?!

    I don’t think the Braves “own” the red-brimmed cap. But c’mon — when a team *in your own division* is strongly associated with a navy cap with a red brim and a white logo, why would you want to wear that?

    There’s also the matter of the white, script letter on the blue hat with red bill being the Braves’ alone. The first thought I had was of the Indians too, but the more I thought about it this was much closer to the Braves’ hat than the Indians’.

    i don’t really agree.

    how long have the red sox and yankees coexisted in the same division, each wearing all navy caps w/ script letters at home and on the road? you can even throw in detroit for good measure in the former AL east days.

    the indians and twins have each used the all-navy / navy-red combo for quite some time. both have managed periods of prosperity despite this.

    the bottom line IMO is that many MLB teams have navy and red as major components in their color schemes. i’d rather not cede that particularly patriotic (and common) color combo to just one team or even to one team per division. perhaps we should be asking when the braves will finally make some changes to their lids! i suggest honoring the real HR king hank aaron with this 70s era beauty…

    link

    Well, that explains why the team store at Nationals Park was not stocking new Red Alternate jerseys last season. I went to a game in June last season, and decided I’d pick up a red jersey, and the selection was very limited in terms of sizes available. Still, it’s an improvement on the original team road jersey that someone had gifted me with previously.

    Forgot to ask – are we expecting any other MLB teams to come out with redesigns this off-season?

    Still can’t believe MSU ditched the “State” script on their unis. Talk about ditching a strong brand.

    my thoughts exactly. i’m not even a state fan and i will miss that. i felt it was becoming iconic and that it was very representative of the area, i.e., where else would that be appropriate but in michigan?

    Paul, nice work. How come they let you drop F-bombs, though? The blog is fully independent from ESPN?

    Anyone else cracking up way too much for the Lipscomb photo in the hoops preview? Looks like they should ride the short bus to their games. “PHI SLAMMA JAMMA YAAAAYYYYY”

    And being a team based in North Carolina, shouldn’t he be eating pulled or chopped pork rather than a rib?

    Someone apparently thinks that logo is actually a Will Farrell reference. Personally, I have no idea and no opinion on the matter (not a Farrell fan), but you can see for yourself here:
    link

    Asheville isn’t much of a barbecue area in my experience (I’ll leave that to the real locals though).

    Have to say, as much of a non-fan of Mr. Moon as I am, I love the rib logo. Add in Wilmington’s Mr. Celery and I may just have a huge soft spot for food-related team logos.

    “Restraint.” I like that word when it comes to the Nats.
    OK, the stars and stripes jersey isn’t restrained, or needed, but it isnt’ ugly. Lose that one and put just the curly W on the gray jersey, then make the red cap a two-toner instead of the blue one. Done.

    I did like the DC logo, but the less beveled font on here the better. The new logo is good – love the font.

    I don’t mind the # on front, but it would look good without it, too.

    Love the two-color piping, especially on the red alt.

    I agree that the colors should have nothing to do with politics. However, that would be a good excuse to break out a mix & match set of unis…you know, to be bi-partisan and all that…

    Speaking of red, white and blue, thanks to any vets reading the blog, and thanks to all who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

    I know some people complained about there being too many “curly W” jerseys… but is it just me, or would a gray version of the home white be more interesting than the dull, script “Washington” they have on there now? I like the home jersey, so I think a copycat version for the road would look pretty swanky as well.

    Funny, when Detroit and New York and the Cubs do the logo on the left breast thing it’s classic, not boring.

    Also funny how when Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Minnesota, Oakland, Toronto, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, the Mets, Philadelphia, San Diego, and St. Louis all have script home jerseys, the Nats’ version of script would have somehow been “special” as Mr. Lukas says.

    Give me a break. Some people will simply never like anything that comes out of Washington, and that’s that.

    Detroit, the Yankees, and the Cubs, as Paul stated, don’t put a number on the front of the jersey that is not aligned with the logo. Contrast the Nationals’ new home jerseys with those of Cincinnati and the White Sox, who have numbers that are aligned with their logos, and perhaps his point will finally dawn on you.

    As to the script version that the Nationals have as part of their logo set, it is “special” not because it would be unique, it is “special” because it is well-executed, and evokes the “W” monogram.

    If you’re going to use this as fuel for your “woe-is-us-nobody-respects-the-Nats” bullshit, you need to look for better fuel.

    Puck Daddy brings up a good point about the format change for the NHL All Star Game. Now that we have done away with East v West, or NA v World, what is the sweater design going to be?

    Hopefully a simple NHL shield on a (presumably red) dark jersey, and a white jersey. Red team vs white team of NHL All-Stars, voilà.
    My prediction: They take the Hurricanes’ jerseys, strip off all the team-specific logos, and use a super-size All-Star Game patch as the crest. And of course, a slightly silly number font to boot, because Reebok can.

    Heck, I miss the whole naming of conferences and divisions after people in the NHL–that was unique to all the major sports, the Clarence Campbell and Prince of Wales Conferences, with the Norris, Smythe, Adams and Patrick divisions. Heck, on my watch, the current Northwest Division in the NHL would be called the O’Brien Division (after Ambrose O’Brien, who founded the NHA, the predecessor of the NHL, and his father M.J. O’Brien, a Canadian Senator who donated a trophy to the league in Ambrose’s honor). (No, I haven’t figured out what the Southeast Division would be called, but my point is, I have always hated Gary Bettman for pissing on NHL tradition.)

    I am with Paul on the Washington uniforms. I don’t like the uneven number and logo. The only good things I can come up with 1) The Tigers don’t play them and with Strasburg not pitching I won’t have to watch them. 2) They can’t misspell the letter W.

    Disappointed with the new Nats’ unis, of course, mainly because they re-emphasized the cirlicued “W” – between the Nats and the ’61-’71 Senators, teams with that W have only had ONE winning season so that W needs to be trashed, and I loved the interlocking DC (which IMHO should have been both the cap logo and the sleeve patch).

    Someday I’ll put together a mockup of what I had in mind (first I have to find the “right” font for the “NATIONALS” wordmark–can’t say much about what it would be except that it would have been used in the early 20th century, and I know what I like when I see it).

    The Falcons are wearing their redcap throwbacks tonight. Is that for Deion, because it’s a prime time game, or just because?

    Blame Glanville. He’s pretty much the godfather of BFBS and he brought it to Atlanta. At least it didn’t stick in Houston, right?

    Falcons, why can’t you look this good full time? For my money that’s the greatest football helmet ever.

    No, that was just 1966-69. They only added the gold stripes to appeal to Georgia Tech fans. I prefer the 1970-89 helmet as the best for the Falcons.

    why?

    seriously

    it’s fine to have the infield when it’s still baseball season, but there is NO reason to not sod it once the season is over

    Ooh, sorry, that’s an atomic clock.
    The answer we were going for was, “Should have had a video camera on a tripod, then take a screen cap of the straight 11’s.”

    It’s an atomic clock, so it’s automatic.
    Although I could switch time zones, theoretically. I never had the instructions, though, so it took me long enough to get my own time zone. If I screw up next month, then I’ll mess with it.

    Between you, Denver Gregg and Brinke, we have three more chances. C’mon, someone come through for us!

    BTW, jimvilk, you are quick tonight. One second early, but also a reply to my 11:19 comment at 11:19, and also another comment at 11:19. That’s like, Waco Kid fast.
    link

    Ok, I think I’ve read thru more than half of these comments and have the following comments.

    1. Nationals and Senators have been used interchangeably since the early 1900s. So its not “contrived”

    2. Although the Curly W looks slightly like Walgreens, it is NOT the same and was on every uniform from 1969 to 1971. Not sure how far back Walgreens goes but they didn’t complain back then so please stop.

    3. Yes during the 2008 elections the Red hat with the Curly W was joked around about as support for George W. Bush. Bad joke!

    4. The so-called script Nationals is NOT all script. The N was essentially an Italic print N. If they were going to have a name Jersey it should have a cursive N as well, like learned back in elementary school. The rest of it was fine.

    5. Although I would have liked to have had NATIONALS in script on the Jersey like Senators used to be, this uniform change is good but not great. I was never a supporter of the Interlocking DC and to tell you the truth, I really don’t think it caught on here. The curly W is on the gates of the stadium, the sides of the seats, and is even the clock near the scoreboard. Yeah, I would have left the numbers off the fronts.

    6. As for the Cap, I rather have the Blue with Red Bill used with the road jerseys and Patriotic Unis than a total blue hat which doesn’t go with the RED WASHINGTON across the chest.

    Ok, there’s my rant. No to get ready for work!

    I have a theory on why the “W” overload on the uni. It plays right into the old “Lerners are cheap” saw. That stadium is positively dripping in that W. The signage all over the stadium uses both the W and that hideous block that dominated the old uni, including the signage on and around the scoreboard: the signage and the uniform were matched. Nowhere is there a script (or hybrid-script) “Nationals” to be found. The new sets save for the Lerners the expense of having to replace block lettering throughout the stadium. The huge chest logo is already all over the place. This is why it took them three years to redesign the home unis when they went to a better looking uniform almost immediately on the road.

    Road cap: the red bill I think is actually an improvement, the old one looked a little invisible.

    That script prototype was beautiful.

    As a DC native, I regret the loss of “DC”, but they never did a great job with it.

    The old primary logo was an embarrassment to me, and looked like something the National League should be wearing for the Home Run Derby. This is better.

    Now I’m late to work.

    I like the new white home uniform for the most part. However, I would have LOVED it if the uniform number was level with the “W” (a la the Mike Schmidt-era Phillies), and I would have ditched the piping for blue pinstripes. On the road cap, I’d have kept the bill blue, but made the front panel red with the white script “W” outlined in blue. (Think of the early Expos caps or late ’70s Orioles caps with white front panels.)

    My problem is that the team’s owners don”t even live in the city. They seem oblivious to the fact that all Washingtonians refer to the city as “DC”, not Washington. Removing the
    “DC” logos all together was a bad idea.

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