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And to All a Good Stripe

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’Tis the day before Christmas, and Uni Watch HQ has been abuzz with activity. Mascots Tucker and Caitlin have sleigh bells tied to their tails, the Christmas cookies have all been grommeted, and the stirrups have been hung by the chimney with care. (For some reason the presents always end up on the floor, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for better results this year.)

We’ve been experiencing stupid-warm weather here in NYC, with today’s high temps expected to top out in the low 70s (shattering the old record of 56 º), so the Tugboat Captain and I are going to fire up the smoker and make ourselves a duck for dinner. Last time I smoked a duck, back in 2009, it came out spectacularly bronzed, so I’m hoping for similar results today.

If you’re traveling today, travel safe. If you’re working, try not to work too hard. If you’re shopping, well, you really brought that on yourself by waiting until the last minute, didn’t you?

Tomorrow we’ll have the results of the year-end raffle. Until then, enjoy your Christmas Eve and keep an eye out for the Grinch. ”” Paul

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PermaRec update: The letter to Santa shown above was written in 1907 and was found, along with another letter, nearly a century later by workers who were renovating a sealed-up chimney. Full details on that story, along with a similar story about another Santa letter recently found in an old chimney, can be found over on Permanent Record.

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Gromm-It update: People keep asking me what this project is about. The real answer, of course, is that you can interpret it however you like. But if you want a crib sheet, here it is: I’m fascinated by the way grommets lend an air of factory production to everything they touch. An object with a grommet instantly looks manufactured, industrial, professional, official — that’s a lot of power for such a simple little item. I’m interested in exploring how those impressions collide with things that aren’t industrial. Foodstuffs work particularly well, plus the resulting images evoke the current cultural and policy dialogues about terms like “factory farming,” “Frankenfoods,” and so on. (Also: Grommetized food just looks interesting.)

Anyway: As you can see above, grommets work extremely well in citrus — and not just on the inside. Additional photos and background over on Gromm-It.

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The Ticker
By Mike Chamernik

Baseball News: New Orioles OF Hyun-Soo Kim will wear No. 25 (from Andrew Cosentino). … The Duluth Huskies will have a logo for the upcoming 75th anniversary of Wade Stadium (from Topher Davis). … Is Ozzie Smith wearing an old 1999 futuristic jersey in this photo? (From @HighSockSundays).

NFL News: Paul was asked to rank the Ravens’ uniform combinations. … The Browns will wear white jerseys, brown pants, and orange socks on Sunday against the Chiefs (from Phil). … This pack of playing cards has an intriguing Browns logo on it. … Timmy Steffes was at a thrift store in Clinton, Md., and spotted a bunch of NFL photos, including shots of a Broncos player with some paint chipping from his helmet, a 49ers player with a silver helmet (must’ve been from 1962 or 1963), and a player with two single-bar facemasks! … Chiefs QBs visited the University of Kansas Hospital. They wore replica jerseys (note the longer sleeves) with the yellow hospital visitor stickers on them (from Ron Baker). … A lawyer explained how the new film Concussion was able to use NFL logos and uniforms without permission. Key quote: “As long as the use of the NFL trademark and team logos does not in and of itself disparage or misrepresent the brands, there is no need to ask for permission” (from @PtheGiant).

College Football News: A very uni-relevant college football cartoon was published yesterday (from Paul Dillon). … Bob Wilmot works in the Stanford ticket office and one of his coworkers, Gary Ekman, recently died. Gary loved the San Francisco Giants, and he loved to bowl (he rolled more than 90 perfect games). To honor him, the ticket office will wear this patch on their polo shirts for the Cardinal’s game at the Rose Bowl. Designed by another coworker, Cheryl Hammitt, the patch has Gary’s first name in Giants font and an “E” in the Stanford block “S” style. The patch itself is a black circle, like a bowling ball. Nice job. … Chris Weber visited the Reagan Presidential Library recently and found a few college football-related items of interest, including display of old-fashioned nose guards, a doodle that Reagan drew, and a mysterious (and kinda creepy) trophy ”” anyone know more about that?

Hockey News: Minnesota’s governor wore a Coyotes jersey during a press briefing yesterday. He lost a bet to Arizona’s governor after Arizona teams (Cardinals, Coyotes, and Suns) swept Minnesota teams (Vikings, Wild, and Wolves) two weekends ago (from Barry Brite). … Check out this vintage hockey jacket. Very nice! … Some North Stars prototype jerseys were on display when Mike Modano signed with the team in 1989. … Earlier this week at an AHL game, a photographer’s lens hood fell onto the ice, and the players mistook it for the puck.

Basketball News: The Pacers wore their maroon-and-yellow Hickory High throwbacks last night against the Kings, who countered with their regular purple away set, creating a doozy of a color vs. color game (from @toddmu03). … Saint Mary’s has a new grey alternate uniform (from @morrisoncrying). … The NBA is partnering with a gun control group to produce a series of commercials that will air during the games on Christmas Day.

Soccer News: Manchester City’s new crest has leaked (from @mrdcm). … David Brand completed a cool project: The Brooklyn/Queens resident tracked every piece of soccer apparel he saw New Yorkers wearing over a 30-day span. On the 31st day he spotted Alecko Eskandarian, one of the best New Jersey soccer players ever, who was dressed in Cosmos apparel. … New jerseys for Belgium (from @Sarx Tweets). ”¦ Barcelona has new patches for winning the UEFA champions league for 2014-2015.

Grab Bag: Wired examined modern political logos (from Brinke). … Here’s a look at all the new pro cycling world tour new jerseys for 2016 (from Craig Ackers). … Rapper Nicki Minaj posted a group photo on Instagram the other day, and the shoes of her boyfriend, rapper Meek Mill, are blurred out. Is the blur a cover-up of something deeper? ”¦ Check it out: string art of the UNC logo.

 
  
 
Comments (42)

    “People keep asking me what this project is about. The real answer, of course, is that you can interpret it however you like.”

    Sounds like Michael Stipe when asked about his “unintelligible” lyrics on early REM albums.

    The Bronco in the pic is Bobby Anderson, who had been a quarterback for the Colorado Buffaloes before he was a halfback down here.

    Merry Christmas all!

    That is a TATC clock jersey on Ozzie. I have always wanted one of those shirts or a t shirt with that logo but can’t find one

    The crest for Barcelona isn’t for winning the World Cup…Germany won the World Cup. That is for winning the uefa champions league for 2014-2015

    Well, you’ll have to fix it again. Barcelona won the FIFA Club World Cup. So you probably got it right the first time, but you were just a word short.

    Yup. El Duderino is correct on that one, they won the Champions League, but the crest for that one is on their sleeves, the Club World Cup Crest goes on the chest of each winner (as seen in Real Madrid last year).

    I think the KC QB is wearing a red shirt under the jersey. You can see the jersey sleeve end at elbow.

    “Chiefs QBs visited the University of Kansas Hospital.”

    Upon their arrival, the halls were filled with whispers of “Who the hell are they?”

    I too, really liked the Ravens gold pants. They are sooooo much better than the costumes they wear that have the monochrome look. Unfortunately, they will probably not wear them again due to the outcry from their fan base and the fact that they got routed while wearing them. One complaint I heard was they remind the fans too much of the hated Steelers. I guess the black jerseys they will be wearing this week don’t remind them of Pittsburgh????

    I think it has to do with the style of the pants. That thick stripe is nearly identical to the Stillers’ look, which leads to the criticism. -C.

    It’s actually a tri-banded stripe. but the black and purple are SO close they are barely discernible from one another.

    I like the gold pants idea, but prefer more delineated striping.

    I’m not a big fan of the broad striping.

    Why? Do you think the Ravens will have some sort of psychological advantage by looking that much like Pittsburgh, or do you just like games that look more like scrimmages? (Browns/Bengals, Navy/Notre Dame, Nebraska/Wisconsin, etc)

    Given the choice of looking like the Ravens or looking like the Steelers, I know which one I’d pick, and I wouldn’t care what my team’s name was.

    “Do you think the Ravens will have some sort of psychological advantage by looking that much like Pittsburgh, or do you just like games that look more like scrimmages?”

    ~~~

    Yes.

    Also, I’d love the troll job it would produce and how it would absolutely send every ‘burgher into conniptions. The Stillers colors are black and gold, yes. But they DON’T own the rights to every black jersey or gold pants, despite their protestations to the contrary. Unless and until the NFL decides to designate different colors to every team in the league, some teams are going to have to share. This includes Steeltown.

    Can you imagine the colours teams would have to come up with if a league did come up with a rule that every team has to have unique colours? I kind of like this idea.

    That’s an amazing idea. It’s the reason I kvell over from-scratch leagues like the USFL and NFL Europe.

    It’s ok with a small league, with 32 teams like NFL, it gets tricky. I don’t want the Broncos to go back to royal blue, and I don’t want the Bears to switch.

    It’s not surprising Alecko Eskandarian would be wearing Cosmos gear. He actually works for the new (NASL) incarnation of the Cosmos. (And his dad, as you may know, was a terrific player for the original one.)

    In other news, the Browns’ quarterbacks also recently visited a children’s hospital.

    “It was so sad to see their little faces and know they were never going to get any better,” said Charlie, age 8.

    Several weeks ago Broncos David Bruton and Malik Jackson visited youngsters at the hospital where I work. They wore “champions in the community” jerseys that didn’t really look like the real deal. I did not take a photo because Malik Jackson is an insanely strong man who looked like he’d had a rough day by the time I saw him.

    Bruton is listed at 6’1″ and Jackson at 6’5″. Both looked to be between 6’2″ and 6’3″. But the weight difference was clear.

    The Illinois-Missouri college basketball game was orange vs. yellow yesterday. I don’t have the ability to link to it from my phone, but ESPN had photos from the game in their app.

    If I don’t wake up tomorrow morning and see pictures of grommets forming a passage from the outside of a duck to a duck’s chest cavity I’m going to be sorely disappointed.

    So what’s the over/under on how many Santas will be shown in the stands in tonight TNF game?

    Nope. Then they swap the “n” and “t”. Fitting for Al Davis’ boys. (I have my own Santa suit. It’s basically the only red I wear. I’ve got a long white beard and I weigh more than 280. I’ve done Santa duty at a pediatric hospital, at an old folks’ home and other spots – only for charity, never for cash. That gives me the right to dish out Santa smack. Do you want a spot on the naughty list?)

    If you’re going to have brown as a color, the shade Western Michigan is wearing today is as good as it gets. Get rid of the needless striping, at a little jade green accent, and you would have something.

    The two-single-bar player is John Olszewski, who was a back for the NFL Washingtons. Don’t know the exact year but that era had the maroon helmet with the white feather going up the back.

    The citrus grommet photo reminded me of the pictures that always accompany trypophobia articles.

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