Does Jerry Dior Know About This?

I’m generally fine with tattoos — I have two of them myself, and I’m pondering another one — but for some reason I prefer not to see them on the baseball diamond. Especially when they’re on a pitcher. And when they go all the way down his arm. And when they’re supposed to look all heavy metal badass. Despite all of that, however, it’s hard not to like the skeletal version of the MLB logo inked onto Nats reliever Ryan Perry’s left hand. (Further details here, and big thanks to R. Scott Rogers for bringing this one to my attention.)

New ESPN column today, about a real feel-good story from San Diego. Enjoy.

I had a blast last night appearing on WFMU’s Seven Second Delay show, which was broadcast live from a small theater in Manhattan (click to enlarge):

The guy up on the cross is co-host Andy, who had promised to be crucified if the show met its pledge drive goal, which it did. He was mortified that he actually had to follow through on his promise and spent a good portion of the show apologizing to anyone who might be offended.

We talked about a lot of stuff, including Uni Watch, Permanent Record, and Show-and-Tell. Here’s the audio of my segment, which lasts about 10 minutes:

Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s a weird one — there’s an NHL player whose NOB has been misspelled since 2006. … There are striped stirrups and then there are striped stirrups. That’s the U. of Delaware, and damn do they look sweet. … And if you liked those hose, check out the beauties being worn by Kansas! Mama mia (from Mario Fontana). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Here’s a really good slideshow of NBA players wearing facemasks. … New logo for the Richmond Kickers. … More Mizzou gossip (from Kevin Wright). … Fun piece on soccer kits that have never been used (from Chris Cruz). … Remember in the late ’90s when stirrups were disappearing and pants were getting longer, but the full-fledged pajama look wasn’t yet in vogue, so many players were wearing their pants at ankle-level, with a few inches of colored sock showing? That look is being revived by Adron Chambers of the Cardinals. Greg Stamps was curious about this, so he found that Chambers also had this look in the minors, and that it apparently has something to do with Willie McGee. … Oooh, check out the nice throwback Princeton warm-up being worn by the guy in the background of this photo. “It immediately brought me to a previous era of college basketball,” writes Andrew Bright. “Skinny young men battling on a real hardwood court, press members with their passes tucked in their hats, the distinctive crackling sound of a PA system, and the fresh smell of popcorn in all directions.” Andrew has a more vivid imagination than I do, but I share his admiration for the warm-up. … The Flyers retired Mark Howe’s number the other night, so the team did the now-standard routine of wearing Howe jerseys during warm-ups. “I like how they went old-school by using CCM jerseys instead of Reebok,” says Logan Stair. … “The triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees will be renamed the Empire State Yankees for the 2012 season,” reports Matt Harris. “The club will play all its games on the road this summer because of renovations to its stadium.” ”¦ “The jerseys for the San Francisco Bulls were unveiled on Wednesday,” says Mike Joi. “They are a new ECHL team that will start in the 2013 season.” ”¦ I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragon (that’s a whole different school of geekery). But for those of you who are into it, Patrick Runge has found a D&D logo history. ”¦ What’s with the ridiculously oversized helmet and cap logos in this old Nestlé Quik commercial? (From Joe Dotzman.) ”¦ The Arizona Rattlers of the Arena League have new uniforms and helmets. “No word on whether the helmets are mix-and-match,” says Jeff Milne. “There was a big backlash last year when they changed the helmet color from copper to black, so I assume they added the copper helmet to appease us fans.” I’m assuming Jeff was saying “big backlash” in the somewhat relative sense of the term. ”¦ Andre Ethier has switched to New Balance cleats (from Parker Ferguson). ”¦ Yesterday I Ticker-linked to this new Bills T-shirt from Nike. A reader whose name I’m keeping private recognized the person holding the tee: “It was me! I work as an athletic trainer at a high school in he Buffalo area and have a side job at the Nike factory store in Niagara Falls. Working in the shipping and receiving department, we always see when new stuff comes in. Usually it’s older stuff that has already hit retail stores, but with the new NFL contract we will be an exclusive Bills store (which as a fan is great for me). The shirts arrived on Tuesday and we were pretty excited to get our hands on them. My co-worker snapped a quick picture and amazingly it ended up on your site [actually on Nikeblog; I just linked to it ”” PL]. I didn’t want to release it for fear of losing the job and any charges being brought against us for releasing the info. One thing I can tell you is that there’s a Visa logo on the price tag, above the UPC code (which is visible but blurry in the picture). Must be some licensing agreement with them. Another thing is that it isn’t your standard dri-fit material. It is 50% polyester, 25% rayon, and 25% cotton, and is unlike anything I’ve seen there. Very soft and very light, feels like an old cotton T-shirt that has been worn for 10 years.” ”¦ Kyle Shaner notes that Peyton Manning has always worn a white helmet — in high school, college, and of course with the Colts. “If he ends up with the Cardinals, Dolphins, or Jets, you may have to investigate this,” says Kyle. ”¦ And as if on cue, Brady Phelps has provided some Peyton-centric Photoshoppery. ”¦ Ben Gorbaty notes that Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins was wearing a Lokomotiv Yaroslavl helmet decal last night. “It appears that he was the only player on the team with the decal,” says Ben. “I remember that earlier in the season, the Pens played the Capitals and worn Lokomotiv patches and decals, so at first I thought Malkin’s decal was just left over from that game. But then I check, and the Pens were not wearing their alternates that night.” ”¦ Jason Lord attended a function where the guest speaker was Bobby Lamb, who’ll be the coach of the new Mercer University football team when it begins play in 2013. “Mercer is an Adidas school and currently in the design phase of their football unis, but Lamb mentioned the struggles that come with starting up a program. He used to coach at Furman, where his equipment manager had affiliations with the University of Tennessee. Lamb had placed a call to him to ask if he could hook them up with any equipment, and it turned out UT had nearly 250 pair of pants available, free of charge. UT’s orange and Mercer’s orange are not the same shade, but Lamb nonetheless drove a truck up to Knoxville, loaded up the pants, and brought them back to Mercer, where they will serve as practice pants. Lamb went on to mention that he got hooked up with a ton of Nike cleats from Duke. It was interesting to hear about the struggles that programs face when starting up, and that established programs can take for granted that their equipment/uni/clothing supplier will continuously send new merchandise their way while they’re free to unload the old stuff wherever possible.” ”¦ Finally, check this out: 83-year-old Connie Mack, in his suit and tie, tossing the ball around in spring training (thanks, Phil):