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Uni Watch

Monday Morning Uni Watch

By

Welcome to the first Monday Morning Uni Watch of the 2016 NFL season. As you can see in the photo shown at right (which, like most of today’s photos, you can click to enlarge), all teams wore a commemorative helmet decal to mark the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Other 9/11-related NFL news included the following:

•  Coaches wore 9/11 pins, which ended up in various places, including chests, lapels, and caps. But Raiders coach Jack Del Rio’s pin was upside-down, Cowboys coach Jason Garrett’s was crooked, and Eagles coach Doug Pederson’s was also crooked.

•  Lots of players wore stars-and-stripes cleats and accessories — sometimes just for pregame warm-ups and sometimes for the game. Titans linebacker Avery Williamson was apparently told not to wear his star-spangled cleats in the game but wore them anyway. Colts punter Pat McAfee invited a fine as well.

•  At the Meadowlands, Jets coach Todd Bowles wore a first responder cap, and so did opposing coach Marvin Lewis of the Bengals. Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert, who was inactive due to injury, did likewise during pregame warm-ups.

As for uni-related developments that did not involve 9/11:

•  We got our first in-game look at the Saints’ 50th-season patch, which had previously been announced but was not worn during the preseason:

•  We’ve seen lots of teams going with raised, 3-D graphics on their nose bumpers in recent years, but the Patriots are the NFL first team I’m aware of to use raised lettering on their neck bumpers:

At least one college team has had 3-D neck bumper lettering — Maryland — but I’m pretty sure the Pats are the first pro team to go this route. Interestingly, they appear to have had flat lettering in the preseason, so the 3-D effect was something the equipment staff must have been saving for the regular season. (And yes, they also have raised lettering on their nose bumpers, but that’s not new — they had it last season.)

•  The Cardinals now appear to be using their helmet logo on their visor tabs:

I’m pretty sure that’s new. In the past they’ve gone with blank tabs.

•  See those unusual cleats being worn by Texans wide receive Deandre Hopkins? Those are Yeezys, given to him by Kanye West.

•  Four seasons in, and I still don’t like the Dolphins’ blue-topped socks, which they wear to create contrast with their aqua pants. Just wear white socks with stripes, guys!

•  Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey exchanged jerseys after their game. Ditto for Giants defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul and Cowboys tackle Tyron Smith and Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Titans safety Da’Norris Searcy. (I realize jersey exchanges are now fairly common and may not seem like news, but I’m going to keep listing them when I’m aware of them.)

•  The Colts’ sideline mascot, Blue, has a 10th-anniversary patch this season.

•  Six teams wore white at home: the Jaguars, Jets, Saints, Texans, Titans, and of course the Cowboys.

•  The latest developments regarding the national anthem included the following: While Chiefs players linked arms during the anthem, cornerback Marcus Peters raised his fist; Dolphins players Arian Foster, Kenny Stills, Michael Thomas, and Jelani Jenkins all kneeled; and Patriots players Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty raised their fists after the anthem’s completion (further info here).

(My thanks to all contributors, including Mike Chamernik, Frank McGuigan, Kevin Mericle, @NA_Colosimo, Jerry Wolper, and, especially, our own Alex Hider.)

•  •  •  •  •

The Ticker
By Alex Hider

Baseball News: All MLB uniformed personnel wore American flag cap patches yesterday, to mark the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Cubs C David Ross wore the patch on his mask. In addition, the Mets wore first responder caps during BP. … The Pirates have worn six different jerseys in their last six days: home whites on Tuesday, white throwbacks for Roberto Clemente day on Wednesday, camouflage on Thursday, Homestead Grays throwbacks on Friday, black alts on Saturday, and gold throwbacks yesterday. If they wear their road greys tonight in Philadelphia, it’ll mark the seventh jersey they’ve worn in seven days (from Jerry Wolper, who got the info from Pirates reporter Matt Gajtka). … The Dodgers made their new rookie teammates wear cheerleading outfits ”” and recent call-up Yasiel Puig wasn’t spared (from Mike). … The Red Sox traveled to Toronto in their “favorite jerseys” last week.

College and High School Football News: Looks like U of Miami has added hurricane-shaped merit decals to their helmets. … North Carolina’s M.J. Stewart, Jr. has a JrOB that includes a comma (from CJ Michael). … Looks like LSU has made some slight changes to their midfield logo (from Alex Liggett). … This SMU player is giving Frank Gore a run for his money with these biker shorts (from Brian Wulff). … Arkansas RB T.J. Hammonds had “Arkansas” misspelled on his jersey the other day (from Patrick Thomas). … Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Washington, is named after one of the passengers who helped foil the Flight 93 terror plot on Sept. 11, 2001. This past weekend, the school wore “93” on their helmets and Beamer’s famous “Let’s roll” quote on their pant legs to commemorate their namesake (from Todd Keister).

Hockey News: The Nashville Predators updated their Facebook and Twitter avatars with a stars-and stripes motif for September 11th. … Check out this hockey team with tequila sunrise-themed jerseys (from Ricky Cardenas).

NBA News: A suburban Denver pizza place honored pizza, the Nuggets, and 9/11 with these jerseys (from Mike Chamernik) … .Here’s a look at the evolution of Kobe Bryant’s personal logo.

Grab Bag: Soccer team Windsor FC of England’s Combined Countries League has some wild Union Jack jerseys (from Jefferson Lake). … Here’s a good video showing how much work it takes for funny car drivers to put on their gloves (from David Firestone).

 
  
 
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Comments (44)

    Proofreading:
    “his start-spangled cleats”
    Both Marvin Lewis and Todd Bowles wore first responder caps in the Meadowlands yesterday.

    I’m not sure if this was covered during the NFL preseason, but it appeared that both the Lions and the Colts have moved to “shiny” logos and stripes on their helmets. Maybe not full chrome, but more reflective than in years past.

    Judge for yourself:
    link
    link
    link

    I like that look especially with white helmets. I recall the Jets had it last year during the color rash game.

    I kept noticing how many teams, when their players were wearing the SpeedFlex helmets, cut the stripes going over the cantilever, and how many seemingly taped over it. For example, the Lions cut (link) while the Cowboys, at least on Dak Prescott, don’t (link)

    It looks so much better when they cut the stripes, in my opinion.

    Ever since the SpeedFlex’s introduction, teams have taken divergent approaches to handling the stripe tape across the gap.

    I agree that cutting the tape looks better. But plenty of teams leave it intact.

    I also noted that the Cowboys’ star, when applied to the SpeedFlex, appears to tilt forward. At least that’s my perception.

    link

    Two things of note:
    1. The raised letters on the two Pats helmets shown in your photos are different, at least from a sizing perspective. Notice the amount of room between the raised letters and the edge of the white bumper on the live picture, while on the other helmet there is almost no space between the letters and the edge of the bumper.

    2. Maybe this was covered before but I noticed a number of players yesterday in various NFL games where you could see their undershirt showing at the bottom of their jersey in the back and there was a grey bar on a portion of the shirt. It made for an odd look…almost like the jersey was untucked and had a grey sweatbox at the bottom. Here is a picture of Dez Bryant showing what I’m talking about, saw this on a bunch of players yesterday. Is this just the Nike undershirt??

    link

    The raised letters on the two Pats helmets shown in your photos are different, at least from a sizing perspective.

    Different helmet models (note the vents that appear on the top one but not the bottom one, etc.), which means they may have different neck bumper panels.

    About the undershirt: I noticed it too. I believe it’s also becoming a “thing” in college football (although I don’t follow that as closely, so I can’t be sure — anyone..?). This appears to be something that bears watching.

    I’m not sure if it’s (a) that more players have untucked undershirts, or (b) if Nike has added that grey panel to the undershirts so that they’re now more noticeable when they’re untucked.

    I can’t talk about all of college football but it’s fairly common for Oregon players to do this when the undershirt and pants are the same color. Didn’t notice it vs UC Davis but a good amount of players did it vs Virginia. Royce Freeman and Darren Carrington were the most noticeable

    Due to a combination of weekend travel and a friend’s engagement party, I didn’t see the Giants/Cowboys game, so I wasn’t aware of Dak Prescott’s unusual chinstrap system. Thanks for letting me know! Here’s what he’s talking about:
    link
    link

    Hey thanks for the response! Wasn’t sure if it was covered during preseason or not…seems like a.g. has solved the ‘mystery’.

    I’ve noticed that on a bunch of college players this year, too. Primarily seems to be thing with that particular helmet model, but I could be wrong.

    I may be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure there has never been a stencil for the tiger eye at Tiger Stadium. It’s slightly different every game. One of the most badass design elements in sports, like it or not. What I don’t don’t like about LSU is when they try to regulate things (like the helmet logo) so it can be more easily reproduced for merchandise.

    He wore that throughout out the tournament. It’s actually not full blood clot. As you can tell from this picture, the front is a lighter shade than the rest of the shirt and shorts. Announcers were referring to is as his “raspberry look.”

    link

    RE: The Dodger rookies (+ Puig) cross-dressing:

    Why is it every year the management of major league teams allow this sort of behavior to occur? If this was the “real world” the player perpetrating this sort of stunt would, if they were lucky, be disciplined. More likely, they would be fired and sued.

    Every year, I have to sit through a workplace harassment class. I suspect that most people who work for an employer of any size have to as well.

    A couple of years ago, I spoke to a couple of current major league players (one has since retired) about this sort of stunt, and the response I was given was that it was just “boys will be boys,” or I guess in this case, to quote Raymond Douglas Davies CBE “boys will be girls.” When I pointed out to one of the players (who had just perpetrated the same sort of stunt, involving cross-dressing and walking through Times Square) that his team was then some 147 games out of 1st place, and perhaps their time should be spent focusing upon their poor on-field performance, I was given the proverbial deer in the headlights look.

    The players probably had fun with it, and no one was harmed or really cared. As hazings go, it’s rather mild. I strongly suggest not worrying about it.

    While I appreciate your comments, what would happen if that occurred at your job? Again, in most places in Corporate America this would result in people getting fired or reprimanded.

    If it happened at my job? I… don’t think I’d care. Hell, I’d volunteer. You want me to wear a skirt for a few hours as a joke? Fine by me.

    …and to Paul’s response below, the more common such a thing becomes, the less taboo there is about it.

    Actually, plenty of people are harmed, because it promotes the false notion that there’s something shameful about a man dressing and/or behaving like a woman, which perpetuates lots of bullshit stereotypes that continue to pollute our society and public discourse, to the detriment of all of us.

    Sorry, I hit submit before I had finished my thought.

    The Jeff, I think the harm in it is that not only does it perpetuate the idea that there’s something shameful or comical about a man DRESSING like a woman, but to Paul’s second point, it perpetuates the idea that there’s something shameful, or comical, or weak about BEING a woman. Boys and men have been calling each other “girls” or “ladies” or a lot worse in locker rooms and on sports fields since the dawn of time, and it’s NEVER used as a compliment.

    I agree and I’m surprised the MLB commish doesn’t do something about it. At least the redskin people pretend or think they are honoring Indians. This is childish at best, sexist and demeaning at worst.

    Re: Walt – It has to get exhausting to keep looking for things to be offensive – right? C’mon honestly

    Good! Maybe teams will start dressing properly, because, in my opinion, it’s long overdue that the NFL mandate dark jerseys at home. You know the NFL, the league that has all kinds of rules about uniforms except this. Probably because you can’t upset the Cowboys.

    Perhaps mentioned during the preseason….?

    Matt Ryan’s Fox/NFL photo has him wearing a generic red jersey. No shield, no white/black accents.

    link

    Take with a giant grain of salt but the guy who has been “leaking” the color rash info says that all uniforms will be unveiled tomorrow morning: link

    I agree. They need to wear brown socks if they break out the orange pants.

    On a side note the Titans looked sharp in the all white. They need to ditch those navy pants.

    There’s a bunch of “leaked” Color Rash images floating around Twitter from @nfl_leaks, supposedly from Nike’s website. Not sure if they’re legitimate or not, but thought I’d pass along.

    I was just thinking about how the Uni Watch logo at the top of the page is still randomly alternating between the original “7” version and the “15” version which was for the anniversary. I just realized that if Paul were to want to restore the “7” version as the only one, there’s a simple way to do it without having to edit the code.

    Just save the “7” image using the file name for the “15” version, and re-upload it to the site, which should overwrite the “15” version. Thus, while the site will still switch between two images, they’ll be identical.

    Like I said, just a thought.

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