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Something Up Their Sleeves

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The Rockies wore their black vests yesterday, I believe for the first time this season. And as usual when wearing the black vests, they wore black undershirts (oddly, the MLB Style Guide still shows the vest being paired with a purple undershirt, even though I don’t think they’ve worn that combo since 2005). But this time there was a new wrinkle: As you can see above, Todd Helton had a stencil-style TV number on his left undersleeve (here’s an additional view).

Nobody else in Colorado’s starting lineup was wearing the sleeve number — the other players all had plain black — so at first I figured it was one of those special-edition thingies that stars like Helton sometimes get as part of their endorsement contracts. But then Ian Stewart (who, no offense to him, ain’t no star [although he does share a name with the Sixth Stone!]) pinch-hit in the bottom of the 6th, and he was wearing the TV number as well:

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So apparently this is one of the team’s undershirt options. Obviously, the purple rankles. And the lack of uniformity is annoying — either all the Rockies should wear the numbered sleeves or none of them should. Viewed strictly on its own terms, however, the number doesn’t look bad. And there’s at least one precedent for vested teams having TV-numbered undersleeves: the 1963-65 A’s.

As you can see, the A’s had numbers on both sleeves (which seems like overkill, no?), while Helton and Stewart only had the numbers on their left sleeve. But wait — what’s that smudge they had on the other side?

Let’s take a closer look:

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That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Helton and Stewart were wearing a purple drawing of a Nike shoe, complete with the swoosh, a maneuver that really breaks new ground in the logo creep wars. This isn’t just a logo — it’s a depiction of one Nike product on a completely different Nike product.

As usual, they get points for chutzpah, but very little else. By now it’s pretty obvious that Nike simply views the entire sports world as a gigantic blank canvas on which they can paint their various marketing schemes. The whole thing is beyond nauseating, but at least it gives me a chance to use my new line for such situations: Hey, Swooshkateers — YOUR LIFESTYLE SUCKS.

(Big thanks to reader Ryan Robey for bringing this one to my attention.)

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Contest update: The logo you see at right, designed by reader Vinny Bove, has been chosen by the Baseball Project band members as their new logo. Congrats to Vinny, and thanks to all contestants. You can see all of the contest submissions in this gallery. In each case, the name of the file is the name of the designer. If your submission is shown but you’d rather not have it displayed there, let me know and I’ll take it down.

And speaking of contests”¦: Back in February I promised a T-shirt or a free membership to the reader who devised and submitted the best sports-related infographic. My bad for not following up on that until now, but I’m happy to announce our winner: Mark Peterson, who came up with a series of charts tracking the postseason appearances by MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL teams.

One reason I chose Mark as the winner is that his charts didn’t need any explanation — he provided a key or legend for each one right there on each chart. Almost all the other submissions, as elegant and clever as some of them were, required explanations (sometimes rather lengthy ones) from their respective designers. My feeling is that an infographic is much more effective if it can be understood on its own terms, without an separate instruction manual.

Case in point: I really like Steve Shanabruch’s “Cubs by the Numbers” design, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you can read the explanation he provided me:

I found a site that listed who wore which uniform number throughout Cubs history, so I came up with a way to visually display this. The size of each number is directly related to the number of players that wore it. Here’s the breakdown:

• The larger the number, the more players that wore it, obviously.

• The most-worn numbers in Cubs history are 15 and 19 (both worn 48 times), and these are displayed in red. (On second thought, the most-worn number is actually 42, but this is only because of Jackie Robinson Day.)

• Retired numbers are denoted by using a circle with pinstripes.

• The least-worn numbers are 72, 76, 81, 94, and 96 (all worn by once) and 99 (twice). They are displayed on the image but are so small that they’re easy to miss if you’re not looking for them.

Good stuff. But if that info had been included on the graphic, it would have been a much stronger package, no?

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I’m happy to do another one of these contests (and promise not to wait a month and a half to announce the winner this time). So if you want to submit more infographics, let’s have ’em.

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In case you were wondering, “1040” does not refer to David Wright’s OPS: Today being the deadline for the filing of tax returns, I thought it might be nice to take a look at how members of my Very Favorite Team have fared with the simple logistics of paying their fair share to Uncle Sam:

• Leading off we have Jerry Koosman. You may know him as the guy who notched two victories in the 1969 World Series, but the feds know him as one of those delusional cranks who keep insisting that the entire tax code is a fraud. The Kooz had plenty of time to think about this during his recent prison term.

• Next up: Lovable SNY broadcaster Ron Darling. Ronnie did commercials for a bank in 2008 (and as a creepy aside, look at the last four characters of that YouTube URL!). But hey, who needs a bank when you can build a nest egg simply by stiffing the IRS and two states?

•  Duke Snider played only one season for the Mets, at the tail end of his storied career, but that was enough for him to be bitten by the tax evasion bug.

• It’s understandable that Lenny Dykstra might not have remembered to pay his taxes this year, because he was busy a few days ago being charged with federal bankruptcy fraud. Technically speaking, Nails hasn’t run afoul of the IRS yet, but I think it’s pretty obvious that that shoe will be dropping shortly.

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Of course, it’s probably just a coincidence that so many people affiliated with the Mets have had questionable financial dealings. After all, the team’s owners are paragons of fiscal propriety.

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Beefsteak update: The recent Brooklyn Beefsteak event was written up in yesterday’s New York Times. Look closely at that photo accompanying the article and you can see me (in the blue shirt) and Uni Watch reader Terence Kearns (in the yellow-brimmed cap). What you can’t see is that someone stole Susquehanna Industrial Tool + Die Co.’s onstage megaphone — not cool. If anyone knows more about this, kindly speak up.

Meanwhile, the latest beefsteakery on the calendar is this Thursday at Sheep Station. Getcher tickets and I’ll see you there.

Incidentally, if you ever had any doubt that meat is the treat to eat that can’t be beat, dig this: Turns out even vegans can’t resist meat’s siren song. Face it, herbivores: Resistance is futile.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Jackie Day was fun, as usual. But the Mets and Braves were rained out that day, so they wore 42 for the first day of Saturday’s doubleheader. In addition, the Mets — along with all teams that were on the road on April 15 — have the option of doing another 42 game at home later this year. Now, I love the 42 promotion, always have. But I don’t think it should ever be invoked on a day other than April 15. If you’re on the road, if you get rained out, if the schedulemaker gave you the day off, too bad. You can do it next year (and the year after that, and the year after that). If the Blue Jays are on the road for Canada Day, do they wear their special Canada jerseys when they return home later in the month? Of course not, because Canada Day is July 1, period. And Jackie Day is April 15, period. They should leave it that way. ”¦ Speaking of Jackie Day, reader Joe Alvaro interviewed me for a story he wrote on the subject. ”¦ Is this the future of football facemasks? That’s Louisiana-Monroe linebacker ason Edwards, who used athletic tape and marks on his mask for the team’s spring scrimmage (with thanks to Tom Morris). ”¦ Here’s a real prize: a Kansas City A’s western tie. ”¦ Arguably even better: a pair of NJ Nets tube sox! ”¦ Hmmm, this is a very interesting baseball uni. Don’t think I’ve ever seen the asymmetrical belt colors like that. Gorgeous sleeve patch, too. ”¦ Speaking of asymmetrical color design, look at the placket piping on this jersey. ”¦ Chanan Liss spotted a NYC subway ad for Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum that shows Derek Jeter batting left-handed. As you can see from the helmet and jersey graphics, they just flopped the Jeter image — a bad mistake. ”¦ Hmmm, a young Phil Simms wearing No. 19? An interesting mystery indeed. Recommended reading. ”¦ There’s a new documentary opening this week that’s right up our alley. Can’t wait! ”¦ Interested in purchasing retro soccer throwbacks? The good folks at Ebbets Field Flannels recommend these guys. ”¦ Why settle for three stripes when you can have four? (Thanks, Ricko.) ”¦ Here’s a 1991 video clip showing the evolution of football pads (good one by Kenn Tomasch). ”¦ New uniforms for the Japanese national basketball team (thanks, Jeremy). ”¦ Paul Lee spotted these NBA rubber mini-balls at a local Target. “The red side has all the team logos from the Western Conference, while the blue side has all the team logos from the Eastern Conference — but both sides read, ‘Western Conference,'” he notes. ”¦ Beau Franklin asked Uni Watch advertiser Classic Old School to make him a repro of this 1977 South Carolina baseball jersey and says he’s extremely pleased with the results. ”¦ Here’s the soccer ball that will be used in the Copa American tourney (with thanks to Kenny Loo). ”¦ Coupla notable things in this photo of Raymond Chester. For starters, that’s one killer T-shirt. But also, note Pete Banaszak in the background, missing his zero (big thanks to Bill Kellick). ”¦ Roger Faso came across lots of really interesting stadium section drawings in this thread. ”¦ Jim Polacek reports that Michigan wore a jersey patch for their spring football scrimmage. ”¦ Meanwhile, very odd scene at Notre Dame’s Blue/Gold spring game, as explained by Luke Murphy: “The ‘blue’ team wore blue, the ‘gold’ team wore white, and, interestingly, the offensive linemen wore the green alternates. Toss in the quarterbacks wearing red and it made for four distinct jerseys on the field at any given time.” ”¦ New jersey for Tipperary, the All-Ireland hurling champions (with thanks to Denis Hurley). ”¦ If your name starts with an H, you might wanna grab this absolute honey of a varsity sweater. ”¦ Ooh, dig the gorgeous hoop socks being worn by the Wesleyan baseball team (with thanks to Josh Manusewicz). ”¦ Here’s a very nice set of old Broncos placemats. ”¦ Gotta respect a sculptor who pays such close attention to Nolan Ryan’s ribbon stirrups. Brad Wray took those shots of a Ryan statue in Alvin, Texas. ”¦ Speaking of stirrups, here’s yet another good-looking college baseball team: Oklahoma State (with thanks to Arin Mitchell). ”¦ One other note from that Rockies/Cubs game: Cubbie infielder Darwin Barney wore some very nice stirrups (as noted by Matt Shepardson). … Looks like some uni adjustments may be on tap for SMU football (with thanks to Noah Buck). ”¦ Jeremy Brahm notes that the Chunichi Dragons have chosen an unusual placement for the tsunami memorial band on their home jerseys. ”¦ Jeff Smith reports that Sabres coach Lindy Ruff’s necktie has its own Twitter feed and its own T-shirt. ”¦ I was watching last night’s Rangers/Yanks game when an interesting turn of events unfolded: Texas first base coach Gary Pettis argued a call and got tossed from the game in the top of the 7th. He was replaced by batting coach Thad Bosley — but Bosley wore Pettis’s helmet (note the non-matching uni numbers). Pettis and Bosley must have similar head sizes, but what if they didn’t? Would Bosley have gone with an earflapped helmet? (Big thanks to Matt Harris for the screen shot.)

 
  
 
Comments (151)

    Ok, I may have argued in Nike’s defense the other day… but today I have to agree with you. A picture of a shoe on a player’s sleeve is just stupid beyond words.

    Yikes. While watching the game, it looked like a picture of a fish, which was bad enough. Even the dot-matrix undersleeves weren’t that bad.

    Forgot to mention an interesting tidbit from yesterday. Apparently the Rox’ purple jerseys were an option last year, just no starting pitcher chose to wear them. Ownership encouraged their use for April this year as a means of commemorating late team prexy Keli McGregor, who died on the 20th of April last year. Not sure how the two connect, but that’s the party line off the telecast.

    I hadn’t seen it on Ian Stewart, but did see it on Todd, and I sent in my own pic of it as well. And I knew there was something on the right-hand sleeve, but had no idea what it was. All the more reason for them to not wear the vests anymore with the silver numbering/lettering that is illegible anyway.

    I kind of knew it wasn’t, but what with the purple-on-black and the shape, I’d have sworn it was the link. I’m not sure if it qualifies as logo assault if the design is so poor that the viewer can’t see it for what it is.

    It’s like, if a guy walks up to you on the street, mumbles, “If I had a gun, I’d make you give me your wallet,” and then walks away empty handed, have you actually been mugged?

    I think it still counts as attempted. If you try to rob a bank with a super soaker you probably won’t succeed, but it’s still an attempt.

    It speaks more to the problems of purple-on-black design than to anything else. But if, say, the Angels wear this same product with their vests, with a white graphic on the red sleeve, I think the full logo assault will be plenty apparent.

    I agree with RS, I immediately saw the old Rays logo, thought about it for a second, and realized before I even read the text that it was a shoe. And people wonder why Paul rips on Nike, they’re begging for it.

    the problems of purple-on-black design

    True that. Purple and black can work together, but they’ll always need tertiary-color mediation for contrast. (And you’ve gotta start with purple as the dominant color, black as an accent, or roughly the exact opposite of what the Rox do.) So, black numbers outlined in silver on a purple sleeve would work great (though, as a drawback, we’d also be able to see the Nike shoe logo for what it is).

    Oh to have been a fly on the wall when Paulie made the discovery of what that logo was on the other sleeve. On a purple sleeve, no less.

    At what point does Majestic have a bone to pick with the MLB or the Rockies about this? With a vest, could the undershirt considered a part of the uniform?

    But if the players don’t wear the #42 jerseys in the case of a rainout, etc., the jerseys can’t be sold as game used!

    …which I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with if 100% of proceeds went to a charity for, say, improving race relations.

    I suspect they send some money to RBI or some similar program, but 100%? You’re dreaming.

    Interesting that in 1991 a one-piece, hard shell pad extension was the latest in rib protection, but now they’re going back to flak jackets, albeit ones that are integrated into the undershirt.

    nice job by the Baseball Project contestants, and congrats to Vinny Bove

    big congrats to Mark Peterson on the infographics! i swear i’ve seen those before, somewhere

    If I’m not mistaken, the yellow-brimmed cap Terence Kearns is wearing in the NYT photo from the Brooklyn Beefsteak is one of RyCo40’s link lids.

    Darwin Barney also had stirrups going yesterday for the Cubs. Len Kasper, dork that he is, said, “I believe those are the painted-on variety,” which they most obviously were not.

    In fact, I think that IS Barney, because Castro was – I believe – wearing full blue socks and a long sleeve on his left arm. That photo is of #15, Barney, not #13, Castro.

    (See photo #7 in this slideshow: link)

    … along with showing sock, you can actually tell whether or not they’re fit or fat based on the way their uniforms are tailored. It’s not 1980’s spandex (thank goodness), but it’s definitely not CC/Prince.

    I think he was saying they were “not the painted-on variety” and then he and Bob Brenly went on a short discussion on stirrups aren’t seen too often anymore.

    And that is Darwin Barney, not Starlin Castro, wearing the stirrups in that picture.

    Carlos Beltran and Ike Davis went high-cuffed, too for the Mets, leading to a similar discussion from Gary Cohen and Ron Darling about stirrups.

    I may have misunderstood him and it’s been deleted off the DVR. I just remember thinking, “No, Kasper, you dolt.” Which I say a lot.

    Random Reader is correct. I even mentioned this occurrence in the comments yesterday. The announcer was talking nothing but good things about Barney and his hosiery.

    That Lefty Powell uniform looks like it could have been a prototype for the Montreal Expos. The manufacturer, Lowe and Campbell was a division of Wilson Sporting Goods.

    And I don’t think that “H” letterman’s sweater is from the 1940s at all. The giveaway is the “DRY CLEAN” tag that appears to be printed rather than embroidered like the label. If it were from the 1940s the dry clean tag would also be embroidered. More than likely from the late 1960s or early 1970s. When you buy on eBay always remember “caveat emptor.”

    eBay sellers routinely describe things as being about 20 years older than they are (plus most of them can’t spell, some of them inexplicably type their listings in all-caps, etc.). Who cares? Everyone knows all of that by now. I don’t buy something based on the seller’s assessment; I buy it based on what I can see, what I know, etc. If I’m unsure about something, I ask. In this case, it’s still a swell-looking sweater.

    I basically agree with you Paul. But I just can’t stand to see people who are not “uni-savvy” spend their money in good faith on an item only to find out it is not what was advertised.

    Titles in all caps is the bold for people who don’t want to pay e-bay for bold. Full listings in all caps are people who think that shouting sells stuff.

    Re the ‘rupped college baseball teams: I’d expect a team nicknamed the Cowboys to wear stirrups, but Wesleyan’s cardinal looks, well, scarlet to me.

    Yup, one of the quirks of uni-speak.
    Most teams called the Cardinals (and pretty much the bird itself) show up wearing what catalogs call “Scarlet”.

    Meanwhile, a color with a bit less yellow, or a bit more black (speaking in teams of mixing pigments here), is called “Cardinal.”

    And that color, some with argue, isn’t far from Burgundy.

    Arrgh. Be much easier if things were black and white. Y’know, like the NHL apparently was trying to be a while back?

    And that burgundy color that’s often called “cardinal” in no way resembles the color of red found on cardinals, the bird, though it is one of several hues sometimes worn by cardinals, the clerics. (Itself probably a color usage descended from senatorial purple in Roman times, which was a color much closer to brick red or burgundy than anything modern English-speakers would call “purple.”)

    ‘zactly.

    Stir in the Harvard, Oklahoma and Alabama versions of “crimson”, along with Florida State’s “garnet”, and it really starts to get grarly.

    And people think the yellow/gold debate is daunting.

    See, I rather thought that it demonstrated the silliness of disputing the yellow/gold question. Nearly all hues that sports teams call “gold” are also correctly called “yellow,” just as scarlet and cardinal and burgundy are also varieties of the larger class known as “red.” Most of the “gold” worn on athletic uniforms is yellower than your average link, and if you ask 100 random strangers what color a school bus is, every one of them will say, “link,” and we’ll all know exactly what they’re talking about.

    On the other hand, a person who cannot tell the difference between the Cardinals’ red and cardinal red probably cannot tell the difference between yellow and gold. ;-)

    “On the other hand, a person who cannot tell the difference between the Cardinals’ red and cardinal red probably cannot tell the difference between yellow and gold. ;-) ”

    Well, there ya go, yes.

    Re: Crimson. I’ve only noted the following 43 times, but will keep it up until UW readers advise me to shuddup, already.

    The first wearing of Harvard colors was the scarf around the necks of the Cantab oarsmen at the annual Harvard-Yale regatta (which was contested even before God created football.) The color of the scarves was magenta. Magenta caught on. The student newspaper was dubbed the Harvard Magenta. But the incurably bright and pinky-purply nature of magenta was eventually thought to be insufficiently manly for an activity as hyper-masculine as sports. [That this reaction occurred during a decade called The Gay 90s furnishes some amusement.] Anyway, the college color became crimson, and the student newspaper the Harvard Crimson.

    But just as today, getting the uniforms (and the pennants and the letterheads) a consistent color proved difficult. And just as today, there was a seemingly ineluctable drift toward maroon. A standard had to be set for all time (somewhat like the inerrant kilogram kept in a gas-filled bell jar near Paris). So the then-President of Harvard, the enormous, imposing, authoritative, and implacably bigoted Abbott Lawrence Lowell declared that crimson is the color of “arterial blood.”[ Just open a deep gash and you’ll see that he’s right.]

    President Lowell’s great final decision had little effect. Today all is chromatic hodge-podge along the Charles. Alabama does it better.

    Well, there it is:
    Crimson comes from arteries. Scarlet from veins.
    Generally speaking, anyway.

    For those who slept through 8th grade science class, there IS a difference…and a reason for it.

    (Maroon would be from scabs, apparently).

    “Crimson comes from arteries. Scarlet from veins.”

    Hey, wait a second. Actually, it’s the other way around.

    Damn, it’s so easy to trust those Harvard guys without thinking, isn’t it.

    The Notre Dame spring game actually had more than 4 jerseys. Some of the guys wearing white jerseys had navy blue adidas stripes down the sides. It was really odd.

    Those were the practice jerseys. They were worn by some walkons and also by the RB who played for both teams. He would put the white one on top of the form fitting blue one.

    The Baseball Project: The winning logo is NEARLY perfect. Several people tried, but that one was clearly head and shoulders above the rest. A little cleaning up (so the helmet and guitar don’t extend beyond the blue/red background) and – in my opinion – cutting off the bottom of the guitar so it, too, stays within the blue/red shape, and you’d have a 10 out of 10!

    Just goes to show: It’s the way that the helmet and guitar break the frame of the red/blue background that make the winning logo work for me!

    I’m with JimWa. It’s a fine design, imo, if you get rid of the bottom of the guitar (the part extending below the frame) and eliminate that floating musical note altogether, it’s solid. imo, imo, imo… I also like Mason Fiske (very much), Rich Stroner, and Dan Spea #3. Good work!

    Hey Paul, Just sent over some more info on the Rockies Logo Creeping Pro Combat Undersleeves, including a close up of what the logo was that was a Ray/Shoe/Nellie sighting. Cheers.

    I too noticed the under garment worn by Todd and Ian. If you look closely they had different ‘graphics’ on their right sleeve. Todd did in fact have the ‘cross country’ graphic, but Ian had the ‘weight training’ graphic.

    I was so intrigued that i started searching Nike and came up with the ‘Nike Pro Combat Core Fitted Long-Sleeve Id Shirt’. Turns out this is a customizable shirt that you can ‘make’ yourself for the bargain price of $49.

    I wonder if these guys made them themselves, or if Nike supplied them. And why just them and not other ‘stars’ as you put it.

    Just a little background

    I wonder if we do have to blame the players for this one. There is an option for both a baseball icon or to leave it blank.

    Please. Do you honestly think Todd Helton — who has an endorsement deal with Nike — is sitting there at his computer, ordering a shirt?

    I’m not saying he ordered it himself.

    But is it really out of the realm of possibility that Nike asked him which logo he wanted? Or, that they sent him one of each, and he chose to wear the one with the shoe instead of the one with the baseball?

    PAUL SAID: “Here’s an earthshaking thought: What if they’d sent him one without any logo on the right sleeve?”

    Then maybe that email that I sent when I was at work last Thursday would be today’s lead? o_O

    Hmmm…why do I want to once again thank our overworked and overstressed military men and women and their families for carrying the load so the rest of their generation (players and fans) can stay home and treat sports as if it were a life-threatening conflict?

    And wear “salute” jerseys, etc., so they can honestly believe they’re doing their share.

    Of all the players under contract to MLB and the minors at the time of Pearl Harbor, 92% ended up serving in the military (heard that on “Baseball’s Golden Years” yesterday).

    Granted, it’s not the same circumstances (although more Americans were killed in New York on 911 than at Pearl in ’41), but so far the pro sports list of those who’ve served lately is pretty much limited to Pat Tillman, isn’t it.

    I hate to bring it up, but lots of you may not know. During this recent “Possible Government Shutdown” BS, active duty military members actually had their paychecks cut in half. I’m not kidding, 8 days pay for 2 weeks work. Now they will or possibly already have gotten backpay for it, but I guarantee anyone wearing anything “Pro Combat” didn’t have to deal with that.

    Food for thought…

    Per yesterday’s telecast, the Rox still can break out the white sleeveless jerseys this season, so there could be more sightings from this team – not to mention the other teams that unfortunately have the sleeveless option.

    The logo on the sleeve is called “Cross Country”. Why would Nike send him a shirt to wear in an actual MLB game with that logo?

    I’m pretty sure it says nothing good about me that I recognized the number as a Nike font immediately upon seeing the headline photo.

    I suppose if the MLB wanted to be assholes about it…

    I’d say it’s really no different from the Pearl Jam sports logo tour shirts from a couple years ago.

    link

    link

    That horse is about a continent away from the barn by now. Sooooooo many knock-offs of Jerry Dior’s logo (including many by other sports leagues) that it’s far too late for MLB to police that trademark.

    I’d say it falls under fair use. It’s a pastiche of a well known trademark adapted for use outside the property holder’s field for the purposes of parody or satire and is unlikely to affect the holder’s own use of the trademark.

    That would be a great album cover. I wonder if they would have to change the word ‘Orioles’ on the jersey to do it though.

    Ooh, just thought of something. They could put the name of the album across Billy’s jersey.

    Ricko: Nice find on the Winner shoe ad. The brand with the 4 stripes. When the american dollar was weak and the 3 striped Addidas were too expensive, much if America went with the 4 stripes from Sears.

    This excerpt from the Beefsteak article was hilarious:

    A food fight began.

    “Look, dude, tell your people we’ve got a zero-tolerance policy on bread-throwing, got it?” a security guard angrily informed Mr. Dermont. Moments later, a chunk of bread emerged from the crowd and dinged him on the head.

    ———

    -Jet

    I would like to spew a little about the dreadful official ball of the Copa America soccer tourney. To my eyes, it’s an ugly bit of business, graphically-speaking, but de gustibus and all that.

    What’s really appalling / amusing is the accompanying language:

    “- Bold performance graphics to engage peripheral and central vision on the field!
”

    “- Geometric panels to evenly distribute pressure for a consistent, accurate strike, no matter where the ball is hit!”

    “
- Six-wing carbon latex air chamber at the bladder for explosive acceleration!”

    Gotta have it!

    Agreed. The crazy stuff they think of to push these balls on consumers is pathetic.

    Bottom line: “It’s round. Kick it!”

    Ta-daaaaa! Done.

    Indeed. Let’s translate…

    “- Bold performance graphics to engage peripheral and central vision on the field!
” – it looks weird
    “- Geometric panels to evenly distribute pressure for a consistent, accurate strike, no matter where the ball is hit!” – it’s round
    “
- Six-wing carbon latex air chamber at the bladder for explosive acceleration!” – it’s filled with air

    Advertising and marketing is fun.

    I’d like them to show us some latex that’s not carbon-based. Or, you know, any form of rubber or plastic that’s not.

    PHOTOSHOP REQUEST:

    Could anyone set up the current Dolphins logo with pre-1997 colors? Thank you!

    Well if you insist…

    link

    The biggest change was the addition of the navy trim. The aqua & orange aren’t that different.

    Or this color: link which seems to show up on *some* depictions of the old logo, but isn’t listed on any sources I know of as being official and may possibly be an effect of photography/lighting/age.

    thanks, i guess what I was looking for…

    but do you think it’s possible to render it closer to these colors?

    link

    or is that also pretty much the same?

    I was thinking he meant just aqua and orange, no navy, but truth be told, the dolphin has to be completely reworked to do that. Coincidentally, this is exactly what would make the Dolphins’ logo perfect. I always wish their helmet looked just like the one that the dolphin is wearing, and the dolphin itself was relegated strictly to logoland.

    I jinxed the Rockies uniform year by tweeting Saturday night “Also like the #Rockies aren’t rocking softball jersey’s this year. Thanks for stepping up to the big leagues boys.” At least they won I guess.

    Is there a team with a bigger gap between the quality of their regular home-and-away set and their alts than the Rockies? For me, the Rox standard home-and-away set is an A-minus, and is only that low because I’d prefer a purple cap. All of their alts, though, especially the black space-cadet number on show today, are in low F territory for me. The Rox alts are like a master class in How to Screw Up the Details of a Baseball Jersey.

    i didn’t realize this till now, mostly because i’m not a tie/bowtie type of guy… and i don’t know if it’s been said on here… but OoO Ties has one of the most clever wordmarks/logo/company names i’ve ever seen!

    It took me a couple looks to notice it too, and I usually notice stuff like that right away. Very clever.

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a shirt with buttons or shoes without velcro

    (fixed)

    My alma mater is purple (and gold), so I don’t/can’t hate the color… but sheesh, purple and black look awful together. Our football team broke out black jerseys a year or two ago, and I just hated it. That being said, I’d be ok with the numbers if they were uniform (pardon the pun), and they didn’t have a shoe on the other sleeve. Seriously? What’s the point of that, even?

    Also, though I’m not big into comic books, I’ve followed Spider-Man on occasion. Looks like Spidey is going link soon…

    I’m surprised there have been no comments (particularly by Paul in the Ticker) about the bronze-ified Nolan Ryan’s be-swooshed shoes. Odd to see product placement on a statue. AWESOME stirrups, though… great attention to detail.

    link

    well…the express did wear nike cleats, so they were likely just working from a photograph of same

    it’d be one thing if he wore three stripes and the sculptor changed the brand…that would be wrong

    in this case, i can’t find fault with nike for this one…or even the scupltor for that matter

    Not to mention Ryan did NOT pitch with the top horizontal band of his ribbon stirrups showing. Nor the bottom of any under-tights he might have worn. Ribbons went right up into pants, pants covered everything else.
    link

    Would/should be smooth, same texture as rest of the pants, not have all the vertical scoring. Pants were tight enough to eliminate puckering because rubber band elastic was not sewn to the pants other than right at the inseam to hold it in position. The rest was simply threaded through the tunnel created by the hem. Only if extremely too big for the wearer’s calf would you get any puckering. Looks to me like the scupltor mistook the area below the tunnel seam for the top of an all-stirrup sock he apparently had for uni-refeence to the time period. And scored it because of that.

    I have a mess of pants from that era, and not a one of them looks like that (slmost like cuff ribbing on a sweater) when you wear them.

    Hey Ricko, doesn’t it kinda look like the seam is going down over the ribbing, particularly in the shot on the left? Perhaps it’s just artistic license being taken. To your point, though, it does look more sock-y and less pant-y.

    …aaaaand I pretty much just re-stated what you said in the latter half of your first paragraph. Sorry. Jumped the gun.

    Oh, I’m not faulting Nike, I just thought it kinda odd to go to the trouble of putting a logo on his shoes. I wonder if there are corporate logos on his glove, hat or uniform? Can’t tell with the glove… looks like the type of finger hole you’d find on a Rawlings mitt, though. I can’t recall seeing in person any statues of recent players, so I don’t know if this is commonplace these days.

    Can someone post a link to the full set? I can’t find a picture of the whole statue.

    Paul, you’ve written about Helton and Mizuno multiple times through the years. Are you sure he has a contract with Nike? link

    You know, I totally blanked on that. But whatever — doesn’t matter whether he’s a Nike guy, because Nike has the MLB undershirt license, which means EVERYONE’S a Nike guy. Just reinforces the notion that this is an undershirt option that anyone can wear.

    I don’t know about Mizuno cleats, but man I looked for Mizuno tennis shoes and rackets forever, back in the day. That stuff was state of the art, and VERY HTF in the USA.

    Full disclosure: from about 85-on, when Fila dropped the Borg line, I was totally a Nike tennis apparel and shoe guy.

    Full apologies.

    The new shirts do have one advantage. They moved the Nokie logo from the front collar to the left chest. No longer visable with a baseball jersey.

    Hopefully players just order blank ones…

    …or MLB pulls their head out of their ass and puts and end to designs on all undershirts for all players.

    Hey, I was just checking through the web when I noticed this.

    Has anybody seen this before? Any info on this?

    link

    Paul, (and any other sweater lovers) check this out…

    link

    The actual sweater worn by The Dude in The Big Lebowski, one of my all time favorite movies. Now THAT’s a sweater!

    The Dude abides…

    Is there a good place to access Mr. Henderson’s MLB guide on the web? I’d really love to spend a little time looking and reading through it. If for nothing else, the memories of seeing all of the old styles. Thanks.

    I believe the Notre Dame offensive line played for both teams (keeping the starters together the entire day), hence the green jerseys for them.

    I know this was brought up on March 23rd, but here are a bunch more photos from that Congressional Hockey game. What’s interesting is that it pitted the Lawmakers vs. the Lobbyists….Ugh. Looks like the Lawmakers took their cue from the Blackhawks design with “Lawmakers” placed diagonally…It seems that all participants played with their own pants/gear and the jerseys were the constant (with the exception of Rep. Wiener) Couple of interesting attendees as well:

    Both jerseys: link

    Best view of this jersey: link

    John Kerry: link

    Count Chocula speaks to the group:
    link

    Finally, a sign of the apocalypse:
    link

    That stadium section link unleashes a site that could easily waste a day of your time.

    Was just looking at Mark Peterson’s MLB infographic. There are a few minor errors I spotted at first glance, and a suggestion for improvement:

    1. On the time scale at the bottom of the graph, 2011 is repeated twice.

    2. He shows a 1 year gap between the Montreal Expos final year in Montreal and their first year as the Washington Nationals, which didn’t happen.

    Suggestion: Come up with a way to group a franchise that makes it apparent which current team the previous names went with. This could clear up some confusion for some teams like Cincinnati and the two versions of the Washington Senators.

    The Carolina jersey is not even close .
    The lettering doesn’t flow(notice how the O should flow into the L) and the stripped knitting in the V neck is too wide.
    Just calling like it is.

    The Boz

    I love the infographics — anyway you could put up a gallery or a page with links to the non-winning submissions (like the Baseball Project logos) — or just link to them here in the comments?

    The problem, as I sort of hinted at in the text, is that the other submissions don’t mean anything unless you can read their accompanying explanations, which means I’d have to code up a full entry, blah-blah-blah I’m too lazy the end.

    I was just reading about my old college, looks like Temple University is going to change up their helmet this year.

    link

    I know this isn’t the place for it, but since I don’t have a blog (yet) and I know a lot of the people who follow this are Jewish, I’m posting my little rant here.

    So tonight is the first night of Passover and I was eating some stuff out of a box of passover candy when I looked on the back and saw that it has corn syrup in it. Obviously, I got pissed off that something saying it was kosher for Passover had corn in it.

    Then I looked over and I saw another label that says:

    PLEASE NOTE: LIQUIFIED LEGUMOUS EXTRACTS, E.G., CORN SYRUP, IN KOSHER FOR PASSOVER FOODS, ARE FULLY SANCTIONED FOR ASHKENAZIM AND SEPHARDIM ALIKE BY PREEMINENT ORTHODOX HALACHIC AUTHORITIES, INCLUDING THE RENOWNED POSEK HADOR, [RABBI] YITCHAK ELCHANON SPECTOR, ZTL.

    What kind of bullshit is this? The Orthodox Union decides that it’s just too damn hard to make food that doesn’t have corn syrup or soy-based emulsifiers in it, so they make them kosher for Passover this year? That’s a cop out and they know it! That’s why they have that little mincing, sheepish, apologetic label on there; because they know it’s wrong but they’re doing it anyway. That’s bullshit.

    Their rules are arbitrary and bullshit. I’m following passover the right way and doing everything I can to avoid corn syrup and soy. If they can’t that’s their fault. Just because they don’t want to have to read labels, that doesn’t mean they should make it easier. The point of the Passover fast is that it’s hard. It’s supposed to teach you humility, not just be a minor inconvenience.

    Now, because of their arbitrary rule change I even have to look at labels of food that I shouldn’t have to BECAUSE THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE KOSHER FOR PASSOVER. THIS IS BULLSHIT. THE OU SUCKS AND PEOPLE SUCK FOR GIVING THEM THAT POWER.

    Heh. No problem. This (weirdly enough) actually gave me the impetus to start my own blog about sports law and the legal aspects of sports. My second post is basically going to be that rant. I’ll post the website as soon as I have it running.

    interesting blog joe

    this is not a critique, so please don’t take it that way, but you might want to tone down the language — personally, i have no problem with strong language or cursing, so i really couldn’t give a fuck about all that but…

    remember that the interwebs reach everyone now, especially your future employer(s) — so if you don’t care about that, or think you’ll enter into private practice, by all means, rant away in whatever colorful language you with which you feel comfortable

    but do keep in mind that some day someone in the legal profession just may be reading those first two posts and it just might be what tips the scales against you

    just sayin — otherwise, good luck with that! you’re off to a rip roaring start

    one more thing…make sure you put something, anything, up every day — that was the first thing learned in my “journalism on the web” class — if you want to attract any type of following on your blog, you pretty much need new content every day…far easier said than done, so be prepared to become a slave to this

    but other than than, best and g’luck

    מזל טוב

    Thanks for the advice. I’ll have to put a daily reminder to post something every night or something in my phone. I’m not going to use that kind of language all the time; that’s why I put the strong language warning in the title.

    Actually I’ll probably almost never use that kind of language again. This was just something I wanted to say and this is one of those few times when there really isn’t any other way to say it.

    Oh, and if Paul wants to use any piece of the above rant for the page quote tomorrow, he has my permission.

    couldn’t find a forum on kosher food, or food labeling, or anything to post this on? Totally out of place. No excuse…

    great job to everyone who participated in the BP logo contest, they all look great. Bummed I didn’t win but no big thing I had fun coming up with something. I look forward to the next one

    interesting: link

    The Captain seems to wear his belt ‘the female way’ (by old-fashioned etiquette rules, that is).

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