Skip to content
 

How Long Was That Jersey Sitting in a Storage Closet?

Screen shot by John M.

Reebok’s vector logo on NHL jerseys was replaced with the company wordmark at the start of the 2011-12 season — a full three years ago — so it was surprising to see Rangers forward Chris Kreider wearing a vector-emblazoned jersey during last night’s game in St. Louis. Even odder, Kreider made his NHL debut in April of 2012, so his entire career has been in the wordmark era, but he nonetheless wore the vector last night. (He got an assist in the first period, so he might want to keep that jersey.)

That screen shot makes two things very apparent, at least to me: First, If logo creep is unavoidable, logos look better than wordmarks. And man, the Rangers’ NOBs looked sooooo much better when they were direct-sewn instead of nameplated.

Speaking of the NHL: My annual survey of goalie gear will be up today on ESPN — check it out here.

•  •  •  •  •

Screen shot 2012-03-30 at 12.31.44 AM.png

Swooshie Thursday update: Yesterday’s entry about the NFL considering a proposal to make teams wear new Nike-designed alternate uniforms for Thursday-night games prompted a note from a league source, as follows:

Last year I heard rumblings of a league-wide throwback program. The idea was that each team would have a designated throwback in addition to their “normal” alternate jersey (if they had one). I never really heard if the teams were expected to wear them a certain number of times or on certain days. But when I read your entry about the Nike proposal, one thing came to mind: “Throwback Thursday.” Maybe that’s what they’re planning.

For those of you who aren’t part of Generation Hashtag, Throwback Thursday is this phenomenon in which people who already spend too much time on social media end up spending even more time there by posting old/nostalgic/etc. photos (often of themselves, apparently in the mistaken belief that anyone gives a shit about what they looked like as a seven-year-old, or where they lived in 1998, or whatever). Nobody owns the term “Throwback Thursday,” so there’s no reason why the NFL couldn’t use it, and it would definitely put an interesting spin on the Thursday-night games.

Not sure if this has any connection to the current Swooshie Thursday proposal, but I’m trying to find out. Stay tuned.

• • • • •

Raffle reminder: We’re currently raffling off a bunch of Nolan Ryan-related items. Details here.

• • • • •

’Skins Watch: Here’s another high school, this one from Savannah, Missouri, that calls its teams the Savages. That is seriously fucked up. … ESPN.com fantasy football analyst Matthew Berry is a lifelong ’Skins fan, but he’s stopped using the team’s name in his columns. And now he’s explained why (thanks, Phil). ”¦ The University of Minnesota, which will be hosting the upcoming Vikings/’Skins game in early November, has invited the ’Skins to a debate about the team’s name on Oct. 30 (Phil again). ”¦ In what surely qualifies as a huuuuge surprise, the Native American guy who the ’Skins have been using lately as a human shield probably isn’t a Native American after all. ”¦ Here’s a good overview of the situation involving that Pennsylvania high school whose principal and school board insist that the school paper use the word “Redskins” (from Robert Silverman).

Baseball News: Designer/historian Todd Radom has written an excellent piece on the origins of the Orioles’ cartoon bird. … New logo and identity system for the Nashville Sounds. … A bunch of memorabilia from the Yogi Berra Museum has been stolen (from Adam Herbst). ”¦ With the Mexican Pacific League about to start, here are some of the new uniforms and caps for the Obregon Yaquis (interesting pullover with partial headspoon on the left), Mazatlan Venados, and Culiacan Tomateros (from Alec Pappas). ”¦ Several 1970s MLB players appear in this old clip from the TV show Fantasy Island. “Interesting that Steve Garvey a batting helmet with no logo and George Brett is wearing No. 25 for some reason,” says Jonathan Daniel.

NFL News: While looking for something else, I came across this great 1970s item on NFL players who wore glasses on the field. ”¦ The Bengals have posted their home jersey schedule for the rest of the season, and it calls for them to be wearing the orange alts this Sunday (from Andrew Mundhenk). … Here’s another article on that mask that’s believed to be the inspiration for the Seahawks’ logo (from Paul Dillon). ”¦ Reprinted from last night’s comments: Packers LB Julius Peppers has been fined for wearing unauthorized shoes. ”¦ In a related item, 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick has been fined $10,000 for wearing non-Bose headphones after last Sunday’s game. This is the part where I’d normally say, “Douchebags,” but walking around all the time with headphones is almost as bad as corporate branding bullshit, so let’s just call it a wash and say that the headphone makers, the headphone wearers, and the NFL’s branding police all deserve each other. ”¦ David Dinsmore III found a children’s book shaped like a Seahawks jersey. ”¦ Here’s a look at how the Bucs travel for a road game (from Wayne Koehler). ”¦ Twitter polls/votes/etc. are obviously very imperfect barometers, but Phil ran an interesting one last night about the Rams’ throwbacks. ”¦ Texans RB Arian Foster’s pink mouthguard last night was not exactly the best look. ”¦ Broncos DE Marvin Austin is going JrOB. ”¦ What if NFL team logos were rendered in their starting QBs’ college alma maters’ colors (from Jared Buccola).

College and High School Football News: Michigan will be wearing the all-blue unis with the “window blinds” numeral font this Saturday night (from Phil). ”¦ I like this weekend’s look for UAB. … New throwback-logo helmet for NC State (thanks, Phil). … Chrome-accented homecoming uniforms for South Dakota (from Cody Schuiling). … Homecoming unis for Vanderbilt, too. … Minnesota’s gold alternate helmet will make its on-field debut this weekend. ”¦ White helmets tomorrow for Cincinnati (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Remember Tennessee’s attempt to get fans to make a checkerboard pattern in the stadium? That’s nothing compared to what Missouri has in mind: a tiger stripe! ”¦ I don’t follow college football, so I didn’t realize that Notre Dame QB Everett Golson often grips the ball without the laces until Matt Mariglia mentioned it to me. Then I did a bit of googling and learned that it’s something that’s been written about quite a bit. Still interesting, though. ”¦ Guess we won’t have to worry about the color Todd Gurley’s captaincy patch this week. ”¦ Throwbacks upcoming this weekend for Arkansas and UTEP. ”¦ Here are this week’s uni combos for Illinois and Washington. ”¦ If you’re one of the few teams allowed to wear a slogan on your back, I suppose you may as well do it. ”¦ UCF wore gold jerseys last night — except for the guys who were inactive, who wore black. What’s up with that? (Screen shot by Eric Wright.) ”¦ North Dakota has a helmet cart (from Brad Reissig). ”¦ For the second straight day, the Ticker includes an item about a memorial for an Alabama high school player: “Hazel Green High wore No. 11 helmet decals last night in honor of junior Julian Jones, who died Monday,” says Clint Richardson. “They also placed memorials on the 11-yard lines. Last night’s game against Huntsville was also the now-annual blackout game, so black jerseys and pants were worn. I believe they made this the black game after Monday’s news.”

Hockey News: Rogers SportsNet, the NHL’s new primary network in Canada, has introduced a “ref cam” (from Dane Drutis). ”¦ Goalie detail not covered in today’s ESPN column: Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury has added his daughter’s name to his backplate (from Aaron McHargue). ”¦ Also from Aaron: Wanna see a pizza with the Penguins’ 1990s logo? Sure you do!

NBA News: The Cavs have now confirmed that this pleasant but unremarkable design, which had leaked earlier, is indeed their new alternate uni. As several readers have pointed out, it’s almost the same as this recent CavFanatics uni. It’ll make its on-court debut for the team’s home opener on Oct. 30. ”¦ “During their exhibition game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, players on the Nets’ bench wore T-shirts that read ‘Shalom Brooklyn’ in Hebrew,” says David Landesberg. “The shirts were made available for sale in the team stores and were sold out by halftime (with many still looking to buy them).”

College Hoops News: New home uni for Notre Dame. ”¦ Louisville coach Rick Pitino says the shoe companies have had a huge impact on college hoops recruiting. Pretty depressing stuff, but worth reading (from Patrick O’Neill).

Soccer News: Is there a link between artificial turf and cancer in soccer goalies? Shmaybe (from Tommy Turner). ”¦ “Landon Donovan plays his last game for the USA men’s national team Friday night — 10/10,” says Harvey Lee. “In honor of his longstanding wearing of the No. 10 jersey, here’s a composite of 14 years’ worth of his jerseys.”

Grab Bag: Pinktober has spread to cinnamon bun frosting. “My wife brought those home,” says Jory Fleischauer. “I couldn’t believe it, so I stopped by the store. Turns out they have pink-iced sugar cookies as well. And no, it’s not strawberry-flavored.” ”¦ This is pretty funny: a look at the internet’s best “404 Error” pages. ”¦ Super-cool new currency designs for Norway (big thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Second day in a row that we’re gonna Ticker-mention the new movie Gone Girl. Today’s issue: an erroneous golf club mention (from Tremaine Eto). ”¦ Russian volleyball player Ekaterina Gamova wears her wedding ring on the court. And another Russian volleyballer Nataliya Goncharova wears a ring of some sort, although I’m not sure if it’s a wedding band because it’s on her middle finger. Additional photo here (from Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ Hey, speaking of that last photo: Look at the arms on No. 14 and No. 8. Would you say they’re double-jointed? My arms sure can’t bend inward at the elbow like that! But I know someone whose arms do bend like that but insists that that’s not double-jointedness. What say ye? ”¦ Garmin-Sharp pro cyclicst Dan Martin will be sporting a bamboo-themed helmet at the Tour of Beijing. “The design is a tip of the visor to the relationship between Garmin-Sharp and the World Wildlife Fund,” says Sean Clancy. ”¦ All F1 drivers are wearing helmet decals this weekend in honor of Jules Bianchi, who was seriously injured in a crash at the last F1 race (from Matt Walthert). ”¦ “I was reading a book about the summer of 1927 and the author mentioned that ushers working Soldier Field during the Dempsey/Tunney ‘long count’ fight wore armbands that said ‘Tunney-Dempsey Boxing Exhibition,'” writes Phil Johnson. “Sure enough, a quick web search turned up one of the armbands.” Odd that they’d call it an “exhibition” — that was certainly a competitive, professional bout. ”¦ Not sports-related but fascinating: “I was fascinated to see the detail on a remote control that my optometrist’s staff uses to project eye tests on a screen for patients,” says Clint Wrede. “I know him well enough that he only thought it was slightly strange for me to ask to take a photo of it.”

 
  
 
Comments (124)

    Or Paul could undermine the whole distasteful-to-him thing and post #TurnAheadThursday photos, such as

    link

    … and when the entire Internet begs for mercy, he can demand an end to #tbt.

    Philosophical question: If a team in 2019 wears replica “Turn Ahead the Clock” jerseys, will that properly be a “throwback”?

    TATC was originally 2027, but was retconned to 2021 due to a douchebag corporate sponsorship. Not sure where you got 2019 from.

    “‘I was reading a book about the summer of 1927 …’ writes Phil Johnson.”

    ~~~

    Awesome. I’m actually “reading” that now (as an audio book). Bill Bryson is a fantastic writer. Not that deep into it yet, but a large chunk of the beginning (and I’m assuming the middle and end) is devoted to Babe Ruth and the ’27 Yanks, and there is some decent uni watching material already.

    Highly recommended reading/listening!

    Wasn’t the league talking about increasing limitations on alternates a couple of years ago….for example, the idea of not using alts in prime time game or in the second half of the season? I thought I heard something like that being discussed. Now, they may be going in this completely opposite direction…very odd.

    On another note, I hope this “throwback thursday” doesn’t spoil what I’m hoping could be some very cool throwback phenomenon when the 100th anniversary hits in 5 years.

    “That is seriously fucked up.”

    Lukas hierarchy of “fucked up-ness”:

    1.) Hitler
    2.) 1st degree murder
    3.) Chardonnay not chilled enough to match salmon puffs
    4.) Indian team names
    5.) Brooklyn-manufactured spicy craft mustard not spicy enough

    Grab your fainting couch, there’s a team in Georgia named the Savages! The US gov’t took all their land and put them on reservations! But, but Savages name! I’ll show those “other” white people! LOL. Keep tilting at windmills.

    It’s interesting how people make cultural leaps. For example, you perceive my politics to be a certain way, so I must like chardonnay. (Actually, I don’t like any wine, and almost all of the alcohol I consume is Yuengling or Budweiser.) Also, I live in Brooklyn, so I must be into artisinal mustard. (Actually, I use Gulden’s, or sometimes even the supermarket brand.) Too bad I always talk so much about how I love meat — otherwise you could insinuate that I’m a vegetarian, right?

    I realize character assassination is more fun than actually dealing with real ideas and arguments, but it tends to make you look silly.

    As for “windmill tilting,” I hate to break this to you, but the windmill tilters are winning, as more and more schools abandon their Native-based team names. You don’t have to like that, but I’m afraid you do have to accept the reality that it’s happening.

    I realize there is legitimate debate about the appropriateness names like “Indians” and “Chiefs” and even “Warriors”… And personally “Redskins” seems like a pretty obvious step over the line to me… But can’t we all agree that “Savages” is CLEARLY unacceptable?

    It’s basically straight ticket thinking. Paul’s an urban fella with some progressive ideas, so the lazy thing to do is to just dismiss everything he does as some latte-sipping, tree-hugging, Commie-appeazing PC nonsense. So if he points out the absurdity of “Savages”, the straight ticket thinkers double down on attacking his lefty-ism.

    Some folks ain’t got no time for nuanced, non-binary discussions, you know?

    Wouldn’t a Liberal (or Progressive) be for new and exciting unis while a Conservative would be for good old fashioned unis?

    Given Paul’s love for old school unis and bowling, I’m pretty sure he’s an Eisenhower republican. (Which given Ike’s stand on the military-industrial complex, makes him a modern socialist.)

    They could always change the meaning and decide that the school is honoring Dan Savage. That would certainly turn some heads and give new meaning to “instilling Savage Pride”! ;)

    As someone who has listened to Michael Savage (shudder), I absolutely agree. At least there should be a trigger warning.

    Confession time: I’m only slightly to the left of Papa Doc, yet I live in a dense urban neighborhood and have a thing for artisanal mustard & the theatre. It’s almost as if people are something other than congeries of lazy signifiers.

    P.S.: I’m torn about the “Savages” nickname–it’s rather rude in and of itself … yet it causes all the right people to poop bricks, so how bad can it be? Color me on the fence.

    Gulden’s? What, traditional American yellow mustard ain’t good enough for Paul? Git off yer high horse, Lukas!

    Food-related cultural stereotypes amuse me, since they so often seem to reflect projection of one’s own insecurities. I have a weird set of interests that bring me to places frequented by people of, erm, let’s say “strong and differing” political and cultural persuasions. So for example, I find that I meet more conservative-trending folks at wine industry events. The brewery events I wind up at tend to feature a more “urban progressive hipster” demographic. At the shooting range, it’s all about hating Democrats and drinking fancy bottled water. I was recently at a posh luncheon event featuring a very liberal crowd and despite the stereotype I was the only person at the table who knew that when the menu said “rocket,” it meant “arugula.”

    FWIW, it was a very politically conservative guy who turned me on to artisanal ketchups, such as link.

    They should change it from Savages to Sausages. They go good with mustard!

    Sausage Pride! Sausage Pride!

    I think I bit into some animal hide!

    I think it’s worth a minor mention that the Savages are from Savannah, Missouri, not Georgia. Savannah GA has enough problems what with Paula Deen and all…

    Missouri, on the other hand, is known for its racial harmony!

    (to be fair, it’s part of Kansas City metro, not St. Louis)

    I wish there could be a middle ground. “Savannah Savages” is such a delightful alliteration. If only the name could be kept in a way that neither uses nor encourages demeaning racial stereotypes. Like, maybe appropriate Wagnerian Viking graphics, or go for a mountain-man vibe? Or even just an animal, like a wild boar or something?

    Why does “Savages” (or Redskins, for that matter) need to refer to the entire Native American race? Can we not accept the idea that maybe the Native Americans of say, 200 years ago, are culturally different from the Native Americans of today? Is it not possible to reference people who lived in the past separately from their descendants today?

    You’re trying to split some very fine hairs there.

    I don’t know if it’s possible, especially considering that the damage done in the past by those stereotypes is still very much alive today.

    The, in the world of pure theory, where Communism works,* your approach would be the way to go. Alas, we live in the real world and the contingencies of real history actually do impinge on the present. It boils down to this: When a white person wants to insult a Native American on the basis of his race, he will use one or more of a very small set of words, and “redskin” and “savage” are chief among them. I’ve personally witnessed this on several occasions. If you haven’t, count your blessings that you’ve been spared this particular bit of the unpleasant side of American life.

    Besides, if one wants to refer to a particular group of Native Americans, the way to do that is not to name one’s team the “Savages” and then insist to everybody that you really don’t mean what you obviously do mean. The way to do what you propose is to give the team the name of the particular group you mean to reference. So if you mean your team to refer specifically to the Lakota nation, then call your team the Lakota, not the Redskins. If you mean to honor the proud heritage of Native American steelworkers, then call your team the Sky Walkers, not the Savages. (Though in that case, after Disney’s lawyers are done with you, you’ll wish you’d just gone with the racist insult instead.)

    *Simpsons joke. I’m not calling anybody a commie!

    “My arms sure can’t bend inward at the elbow like that! …. What say ye? ”

    All athletes elbows bend that way.

    If you had a high speed camera, and captured your arm as you were extending it… it’d look the same way.

    I like that I can now appreciate the MLB links (i.e. Fantasy Island) about the 1970’s all because of Big Hair and Plastic Grass.

    Icethetics yesterday highlighted a version of the Capitals Winter Classic logo that link.

    Thoughts:
    1. I like the unused version. It’s clever. But the gap on the right side of the D/C should have maybe been closed a little more to firm up the idea that it can be a D or a C.
    2. That crest that is so spectacularly boring on the jersey looks way better–very good, actually–when the pointy W and the stars are rendered in the same color and not covered in the “Capitals” block text.

    I still think it was a poor choice to use the primary jersey color as the backdrop for the unveiling photo shoot.

    I also think the W looks better in white without the Capitals text over it.

    Really hope we see that WDC logo as an alternate in the future. It’s amazing, and I wouldn’t close it up even a little. Reads perfectly well as a “D” on one side and a “C” on the other – inspired, really.

    Great Fantasy Island video. That was my favorite TV episode of all time (when I was 9). Who knew Tattoo was a Giants fan?

    According to Baseball Reference, George Brett wore number 25 for his first two big league seasons, 1973 and 1974.

    For a guy who runs a site often based on nostalgia and old photos, you have a pretty crappy attitude about a harmless habit of people posting old photos for nostalgia’s sake.

    And man, the Rangers’ NOBs looked sooooo much better when they were direct-sewn instead of nameplated.

    Totally agree. They look too machine-like also. Good vertical arching should have a bit of a “hand-sewn” feel too it. This applies to the whole Ranger sweater IMO.

    The nameplate thing is new, but only Kreider(from the photos available) had the logo while the rest had the wordmark. Lots of new faces on the roster, may be that these are the preseason sweaters for this early 2 game road trip.

    “While looking for something else, I came across this great 1970s item on NFL players who wore glasses on the field. …”

    A pretty good site where it’s sourced at too…heh heh.

    link

    re: Bose vs Beats

    I don’t think we have the numbers on Bose’s contract with the NFL, but we do know that last year, NFL passed on Motorola’s offer of $50 million a year. I think we can assume that Bose is paying more.

    Now, Beats by Dre is going to pay Kaepernick’s $10,000 fine. Beats would have to pay more than 5,000 such fines to equal what Bose is paying to be the official sponsor, and they’re getting more mentions and views.

    Yeah, it’s douchebaggery but it’s also a ridiculously shrewd undermining of NFL’s sports-industrial complex.

    I find it odd that my alma mater, NC State, is marketing this helmet as a “throwback.” This is the first time in school history that the wolf head has been used on our helmets.

    All of the marketing materials are calling it “throwback” or “old school.” Not your fault!

    Yeah, I don’t understand that, either. (The marketing material calling it ‘throwback’. To call something ‘throwback’, you’d also have to assume it’s not in current circulation. I went to NC State back in the early 2000’s, and that Tuffy logo was still used EVERYWHERE. When I went back to visit this past year, I still saw it, everywhere.

    I don’t see how on any level, it’s a throwback. But, it does look pretty bad ass on the helmet!

    Reading the Neshaminy article, it’s amazing just how asinine some people can be. Especially the board member who had his kid write the letter that the editors wouldn’t publish. Calling their refusal to publish the letter “theft” is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. What, exactly was stolen? The kid’s right to express himself? His letter was published in its entirety elsehwere, so no, not really.

    And then there’s this nugget of joy from said board member:

    “But in this experience I am sure there is many concepts that may shape there [sic] thinking as they move forward in life, from civics, to personal fortitude, to expectations in private industry to the roles and many fascists that are required in operating a public school system.”

    Seeing as how I’m at work, I’m trying very, very hard not to fall out of my chair laughing. If this truly is this guy’s response, I can only hope that the man actually meant to use the word “facets”. Either that, or he’s just being blatantly honest about how his district’s actually being run.

    he’s just being blatantly honest about how his district’s actually being run.

    For all intensive purposes, Pirritano is absolutely correct.

    And I’m not sure why there’s only one [sic] in there. His grammar and sentence construction, not to mention his grasp of logic, are absolutely Palinesque.

    “His grammar and sentence construction, not to mention his grasp of logic, are absolutely Palinesque.”

    ~~~

    I may have my QOTD for tomorrow already…

    Granted, some people overdo posting a lot of photos, but I don’t see the harm in Throwback Thursday. It’s fun to be a little nostalgic every once in awhile. That whole paragraph comes off so grumpy and get-off-my-lawn-ish. Life is short, don’t sweat the small stuff.

    I never said there was anything “harm[ful]” about it. I’m not against it per se, but, like many hashtag-driven phenomena, it has a certain “monkey see/do” element that feels lazy and overdone, and also a certain aspect of something that briefly felt organic and quickly began feeling contrived and forced, which is disappointing.

    Also: Why does this (or anything) have to be restricted to Thursdays? Why not just post photos you think are interesting whenever you like, without the illusion of a social movement?

    You’re overthinking it! Thursday starts with “th” as does throwback, it’s just alliteration. Also, some people do “Flashback Friday” as well. I’ve also thrown in a “Way Back Wednesday” too.

    And you’re *underthinking* it, Dougie! Kneejerk alliteration is precisely the kind of lazy, predictable behavior that makes these hashtag tropes so tiresome.

    Kneejerk alliteration is precisely the kind of lazy, predictable behavior that makes these hashtsg tropes everything so tiresome.

    Well, maybe there’s one exception. I didn’t seem to mind it too much in comic books. Both DC and Marvel are absolutely peppered with alliteration. But I don’t like it anywhere else, especially in news headlines. For a fluff piece it’s almost tolerable. For a serious article, it makes it seem as if they’re trivializing the story.

    Throwback Thursday NFL games could be cool IF they update the teams helmets. Nothing looks worse to me than the Packers Navy throwbacks with their decal-less Yellow helmets/green face masks

    “Remember Tennessee’s attempt to get fans to make a checkerboard pattern in the stadium? That’s nothing compared to what Missouri has in mind: a tiger stripe!”

    They’re equally stupid. Just wear whatever friggin’ color you want to wear.

    That George Brett jersey has a really bad “Kansas City” script and “25” on it. The letters and numbers don’t come close to matching the originals.

    The Bengal’s jersey schedule says they’re playing the Carolina Patriots this week

    It’s a valid schedule of the HOME unis. The road ones are TBD presumably because they haven’t yet gotten official word of the home team’s choices.

    Re: the Eagles uniforms this Sunday, the Eagles/NFL are framing it as a conscious decision to wear all black, as if it is in some way a planned event/good idea, not the manufacturer’s screw up it actually is. Absolute garbage, total BS, and I’m not even an Eagles fan.

    It will lovely. Will be better with green stockings. Would like them to go green hats, black shirts, green britches and black socks.

    That has been my thinking.. My guess is someone from Nike came along and said something along the lines of “We’ll give you guys new pants if you don’t mention how badly we continue to fuck up with your green jerseys”

    I may just listen to Merrill and Mike on the radio and forego the visual nightmare of Midnight Green helmets with black jerseys and pants. Midnight Green anything is bad enough to look at.

    Gotta admire the dedication of link (notice the manufacture mark!). But what is he going to do when Nike’s Thursday Alternates thing happens?

    Legitimate query:

    I think it’s obvious that using the term “savages” as a mascot to depict actual Native Americans is…not a good idea. However…

    Think back to the Indiana Jones movies, particularly the most recent one (as terrible as it was). There’s a scene where Indy and Co. are being chased by an army of natives in Central/South America that have all sorts of screwed up rituals including things that could be absolutely defined as “Savagery”. If a team were to name themselves the Savages and then say that they’re NOT named after Native Americans, but rather a fictional group of “natives” like the ones in Indiana Jones, would that be totally kosher? If not, does that mean that the scene in the movie is also not kosher because of how it chose to depict “natives”?

    I don’t think it’d be acceptable, because the word “savage” is used to describe a human who acts less than human. An uncivilized, utter savage. And it’s still taking a group of people (you can say fictional if you want, but they’d obviously be based on some native tribe somewhere in the world) and labeling them as sub-human.

    Does that mean that you feel the depiction of the natives in the Indy Jones movies are offensive? Since they’re based on some sort of native tribe from somewhere in the world and are being shown as ‘sub-human’?

    I remember the criticism from Temple of Doom, but no real outrage for Crystal Skull’s depiction of natives.

    Part of it, I think, is the style of the movies themselves. Lucas and Spielberg have said that they’re homages to the serials of the 30s and 40s. The first three were set in that time period, so they also adopted the villains of that time: Nazis. Move the series to the 50s, as the fourth film did, and you need to change the villains to those cliched villains of 50s movies: Russian Communists and aliens from outer space.

    Indigenous peoples rarely, if ever, were depicted favorably in the movies of the past; that might be why the Indiana Jones movies followed suit.

    Plus, I think it’s obviously different when you’re depicting something in an artwork, even a commercial one, than when you’re using that depiction as a trademark for a brand.

    Speaking of 404 error messages, by the way, that article was fun to read, here’s a classic from a website i used to go to as a kid:

    link

    Ow, my browser indeed, I couldn’t stop laughing.

    I skimmed through the comments of yesterday & today and I didn’t see this idea: Why don’t they have a Thursday Night Football player of the week jersey design? Right now at the end of the game, they have their little segment with the gift bag. It would be more fun/dramatic to have a designated person/celebrity guest each Thursday walk on the field at the final whistle, while players look around to see who gets the Jersey (in a cheesy Bachelor style of course). Isn’t that what promotion and sponsorship is all about – getting people to watch ALL the ads right to the end of the game?

    This idea works for lean manufacturing, AND brand recognition. Having a weird Thursday alternate for each team means people will see you wearing a special jersey that they think is a fashion piece of junk – like what they make now with the silver number Limited jersey, etc. One jersey for all Thursday night games, featuring the player of the game is a better advertisement for Thursday night. We don’t need more fashion jerseys on the discount rack at Marshall’s. How that will earn a better profit is beyond stupid. This can be your ad patch jersey as well (sigh). I always say I’m not a math guy, but despite that I still firmly believe that this is a more profitable angle.

    I know we normally don’t do 5&1 in the NHL, but can I get an AMEN for last night’s Canadiens at Capitals game?
    link
    The Caps wore their throwback alternates (which are normally for the road because Ted Leonsis prefers to Rock the Red at home) because it’s the 40th home opener, and honored alumni were in the building. So not only did the Caps wear their better non-Bettman striped jerseys, but they wore white at home, which I personally love. Star-spangled Washington, stripey Montreal…AWESOME. Simply red, white, and blue-tiful.

    link has the interview with 80s Mets designer Joe Petruccio posted. Haven’t listened to it yet but contains this gem about the racing stripes:

    “That first I year I started going to Spring Training, Mookie Wilson was there as a rookie. And, I noticed the speed of this guy. He would just go down the line and I’d watch him from the side and he looked like a gazelle, like a jaguar, the way he ran, the way his form was so unbelievable. I had never really been that close to somebody who ran that fast before,” Petruccio explained to me.

    “I thought to myself, the line his body creates when he runs is beautiful. That’s why I put that line there. I didn’t want to stray too far from the classic uniform. So, I thought, if I put this line down the side it will give them a sense of speed and lengthen their body and make them look real long when they’re running or leaping or throwing it will give a whole line to the body. It really worked nicely.”

    As for TNF unis, if they stick with the throwback idea I’m all for it. Even if the Giants aren’t playing, I might actually turn it on for a couple of minutes. That’s a much better idea than having all the teams swooshified.

    Also, as someone who makes his living off of social media I don’t get the shade thrown at Throwback Thursday’s either. Much better than photos of people’s food or memes full of political hackery. As a matter of fact, I dig seeing old analog photos getting new life breathed into them in the digital realm.

    I was going to say the same thing. A lot of those ‘social media’ people are sending Paul money for Uni Watch membership…

    I’m not sure what you think social media has to do with Uni Watch memberships, since I’ve never once tweeted or Facebooked anything about the membership program.

    But even if the membership program was intimately tied to social media, so what? Would that mean I’m not allowed to critique certain aspects of social media? Spurious reasoning.

    Let me first say that I love this site. However, let’s not mix words here – this is absolutely social media, and you profit off it. Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.

    People come here to share opinions, stories, and photos. That’s as “social media” as it gets.

    Your comment disparaging it just seems like a cheap (and unnecessary) shot.

    Wait — this website is “social media”?

    OK, if you say so. But I don’t think that’s how most people define the term.

    But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you’re right. Let’s say Uni Watch is “social media” and that I profit from same.

    That means I can’t critique certain aspects of social media? Huh?

    Just noticed something else on the Bengals home jersey schedule… it shows them as playing the “Carolina Patriots” this Sunday.

    Paul, is this the first time you’ve ever had cause to write the words “zombie Al Capone” in sequence?

    That Jets goalie helmet is almost enough to make me drop my teams and root for Winnipeg. I also really like the two Canucks models.

    With your remarks on the shoe contracts, as a sneaker collector myself, people have preference to a brand, because they know how they fit, how they look, who wears them, and (sometimes) the history. Adidas doesn’t have the “hype” that a Nike or Jordan does. Kids being recruited now may not have watched Kobe in his Adidas shoes, but they sure as hell have seen his newest ones. Jordan and Nike are kings in the sneaker world, partly because of brand familiarity, and partly because they see/saw their favorite player, be it Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, KD, or Chris Paul. The only notable athletes I see when I go to Adidas’ site are Damian Lillard, Dwight Howard, Rose, and Kobe. That’s right. Kobe has more of his signature shoes on Adidas than any other athlete. Also, Nike’s construction and design is far better than Adidas, and Under Armour is just there.

    people have preference to a brand, because they know how they fit, how they look, who wears them, and (sometimes) the history.

    Duh. I have a preferred sneaker brand, too. Also a preferred breakfast cereal, a preferred rye bread, etc. None of this is exactly earthshaking news.

    But few brands of cereal, rye bread, or anything else market themselves as disgracefully as the mainstream sneaker companies do.

    I wouldn’t call it “disgraceful”. They market well to those who buy them. With food, people need it, so they don’t have to market it as well, only marketing to make sure you buy their brand. Nike wants to do whatever it can to make you buy the new Jordan retro, the new Kobe, LeBron, or KD model, because you know you probably want it.

    Late in the USA-ECUADOR friendly/L.DONOVAN love-in on Friday, Jozy Altidore was replaced for Chris Wondolowski. Jozy had the CAPTAINs armband on so when Wondo came in , he was given the NIKE (OF COURSE) band. But Wondo had it on w/ SWOOSH UPSIDE-DOWN. SORRY NO PHOTO or EMAIL (it’s sadly not working). Change was made in 76th minute on the field.

    Oh no! I might be spending too much time on social media. I liked a Throwback Thursday photo of a building that used to be there in my home town. Please please tell me how you gauge too much time on social media. 15 minutes per day? An hour? Does time on the UW Facebook site count? I don;t want to do it wrong.

    I feel like the subject of this video has the same obsession over design minutae that this site embraces, albeit over broader arenas and with just as much NSFW language. Immediately thought of you, Paul, as I watched it, specifically the bicentennial tattoo.

    link

    I immediately thought of you, Paul, while watching this, especially while he described his bicentennial tattoo.

    link

    Cardinal looked great against Cougar tonight.

    Does anyone love black on black. I love the Darth Vader look.

    “(often of themselves, apparently in the mistaken belief that anyone gives a shit about what they looked like as a seven-year-old, or where they lived in 1998, or whatever)”

    Its the little quips like this that add to the number of reason why I love this Site/Blog/Community/Whatever we call this.

Comments are closed.