By Phil Hecken
Back again with Part II of the WFL uniform contest. If you missed Part I, click here. Very briefly, for those of you unfamiliar with the origin of the contest, the idea was for readers and designers to come up with a uniform for any WFL team had that team remained in existence today (you can read more here and here).
Last weekend featured teams who had five (or more) designs submit concepts for teams. This weekend, we’ll take a look at (and vote on) teams for which there were four designers. For the first design (Birmingham), HHH submitted yearly changes, so all those will be included as concepts. Let’s begin.
. . . . .
Birmingham Americans:
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
__________
Jeff Provo:
Description
__________
Curtis Peddle:
Description
__________
Hungry Hungry Hipster (HHH):
Description
__________
BIRMINGHAM AMERICANS VOTING
(Vote for One)
Birmingham Americans – Best 2014 Redesign (vote for one)
Gene Sanny
Jeff Provo
Curtis Peddle
HHH
pollcode.com free polls
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Chicago Fire:
Dallas O’Meara:
Description
__________
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
__________
Curtis Peddle:
Description
__________
Robert Kramer:
(No Description Given)
__________
CHICAGO FIRE VOTING
(Vote for One)
Chicago Fire – Best 2014 Redesign (vote for one)
Dallas O’Meara
Gene Sanny
Curtis Peddle
Robert Kramer
pollcode.com free polls
+ + + + + + + + + +
Detroit Wheels:
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
__________
Bryan Ross:
(No Description Given)
__________
Mark Rabinowitz:
Description
__________
Curtis Peddle:
Description
__________
DETROIT WHEELS VOTING
(Vote for One)
Detroit Wheels – Best 2014 Redesign (vote for one)
Gene Sanny
Bryan Ross
Mark Rabinowitz
Curtis Peddle
pollcode.com free polls
+ + + + + + + + + +
Houston Texans/Rattlers
Bryan Ross:
(No Description Given)
__________
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
__________
Curtis Peddle:
Description
__________
Jordan Reagan:
Description
__________
HOUSTON TEXANS/RATTLERS VOTING
(Vote for One)
Houston Texans/Rattlers – Best 2014 Redesign (vote for one)
Bryan Ross
Gene Sanny
Curtis Peddle
Jordan Reagan
pollcode.com free polls
+ + + + + + + + + +
Memphis Southmen/Grizzlies
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
__________
Curtis Peddle:
Description
__________
Jeff Provo:
Description
__________
Robert Kramer:
Description
__________
MEMPHIS SOUTHMEN/GRIZZLIES VOTING
(Vote for One)
Memphis Southmen/Grizzlies – Best 2014 Redesign (vote for one)
Gene Sanny
Curtis Peddle
Jeff Provo
Robert Kramer
pollcode.com free polls
+ + + + + + + + + +
Philadelphia Bell:
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
__________
Jeff Provo:
Description
__________
Curtis Peddle:
Description
__________
H.H.H.:
Description
__________
PHILADELPHIA BELL VOTING
(Vote for One)
Philadelphia Bell – Best 2014 Redesign (vote for one)
Gene Sanny
Jeff Provo
Curtis Peddle
HHH
pollcode.com free polls
+ + + + + + + + + +
And that’s all for today folks. Make sure you vote for each design, and let all the concepters know how much you liked their designs!
Back with more next time.
Classic Ballpark Scoreboards
I’m pleased to continue with a new weekend feature here at Uni Watch, “Classic Ballpark Scoreboards,” which are created by Gary Chanko. You probably know Gary best for his wonderful colorizations, but he has been a solid contributor for many years, and this is his new project. This segment will appear every Saturday on Uni Watch.
Here’s Gary (click on images to enlarge):
. . . . . . . . . .
Classic Ballpark Scoreboards – Fifth in a Series
by Gary Chanko
Shea Stadium and Crosley Field are the subjects of this week’s look at classic ballpark scoreboards.
Shea Stadium
Home of: New York Mets
Last baseball game: September 28, 2008; Demolished:2009
When it opened in 1964 Shea Stadium received praise for its futuristic architecture and functional multi-purpose design. The ballpark featured the “fanciest scoreboard in sports” and one of the largest in major league baseball: 86 feet high, 175 feet wide, and weighed over 60 tons. A preview of the scoreboard features was detailed in the 1963 Mets Yearbook.
This recent 50th anniversary commemorative article about Shea tells the story of the planning, building, and later decline.
Shea and its futuristic Cyclotron scoreboard suffered many design changes over its forty-four year history. Still for many the original scoreboard will always remain one of the best ever.
The graphic illustration recreates the original scoreboard architecture from the 1964 season, but with some minor artistic license modifications. The center message board is what appeared on Opening Day, April 17,1964; the rest of the scoreboard display represents the first night game on May 6,1964.
A Few Things to Know
• The original scoreboard was a multimedia extravaganza of colored lights synched to music, movies and colored slide projections. With 28,000 lights and 80 miles of cable wiring you would expect something might not operate as planned. It didn’t. Short circuits garbled messages the first day. You’ll find one of the message miscues in the illustration!
• The Photorama video or slide projection equipment also didn’t function as planned and was retired part way through the initial 1964 season. The Mets logo was inserted into the screen display.
• The scoreboard inventor, Bob Rosten, also designed the exploding scoreboard for Old Comisky Park.
• Rheingold Beer, the Mets radio and TV sponsor at the time, financed the cost of scoreboard.
• Shea was home to the Yankees during the 1974 and 75 seasons. Oddly the scoreboard couldn’t display the letters “DH,” so “B” (for batter) was substituted for the designated hitter.
• In 1988 the original scoreboard was replaced with a new version designed to fit in into the shell of the old one.
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Crosley Field
Home of: Cincinnati Reds
Last baseball game: June 24, 1970; Demolished:1972
During the 58 years the Reds played at Crosley Field no other ballpark experienced as many renovations and makeovers.
The park was located in a developed area of homes and industries. The buildings that occupied the areas beyond the outfield fences were plastered with billboard ads, as described in this link to a comprehensive photo tour of all the Crosley Field outfield and scoreboard advertising.
The scoreboard (1957 and on) was similarly surrounded with advertising that appeared to change nearly every season. The illustration reproduces the 1970 scoreboard version during Crosley Field’s final season.
A Few Things to Know
• The scoreboard with that ubiquitous Longines clock was built in 1957. It was manually operated, except for balls, strikes, and outs that were electronically controlled from the press box. The new scoreboard replaced the art deco styled one from the 1930s.
• The scoreboard was defined in large part by the 8-foot high Longines clock. It was so closely linked to the Reds public face that a digital version was designed into the Great American Ballpark’s scoreboard.
• In 1967 Houston’s Jimmy Wynn hit what is regarded as the longest home run at Crosley Field. Wynn cleared the 58 foot high scoreboard with a blast than landed on I-75.
• The old scoreboard (pre 1957) was linked to an odd ground rule: a batted ball going behind the scoreboard, and remaining behind it, was a double. This and another ground rule along the center field fence are the only ground rules ever painted on a ballpark’s outfield walls.
• A “new” Crosley Field was reconstructed at the Blue Ash (Ohio) Sports Center in 1988, including a replica of the scoreboard.
Next week the series will feature two wildly contrasting and celebrated scoreboards from these classic ballparks ballparks: Old Comisky Park and Baker Bowl.
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If anyone is interested in purchasing a digital copy of these posters, Gary is working on an online purchase option. In the interim you can contact him directly at Classicscoreboards@gmail.com.
Duck Tracker
Each week, as we have done on Uni Watch for the past five seasons, we’ll be tracking the uniform combinations of the Oregon Ducks. Back for his third season is Tim E. O’Brien, who’ll show you what the Ducks wore in their last game, and add a few words of wisdom.
Here’s Tim E. with the DT (click to enlarge)…
. . . . . . . . . .
Thursday was a rough night for Oregon and their fans. Performance, aesthetics and outcome: Oregon fell flat.
It’s not that pink, gray and black are a bad color combination – they actually look great together – but to go full breast-ninja is just lazy. This was better than last year’s seemingly half-assed attempt, but there is something far more disturbingly wasteful about this year’s uniforms.
I mean, it’s one thing to make new helmets and auction them off. It’s another to make a full uniform set — including helmet decals, new jerseys, new pants and special shoes — all for one game (and why are we still in the old template?). Rather than spend all that money on a look-at-me gesture, instead save that money and give it to a good charity. Everyone and their mother is aware of breast cancer. Please just donate to research and stop with the unnecessary sideshows.
Decent looking match-up, though.
Anyways, Follow me over at the Duck Tracker and on twitter (@DuckTracker). And if you like pain, you can also follow my Northwestern (@NUniTracker) and Indiana (@Hoosier_Tracker) trackers if you so choose.
U.W.F.F.L. News
Division II & III Games
By Rob Holecko
Well the UWFFL is back in full swing this week, well have Division II and Division III games to vote on today, and we’ll be back tommorrow with our version of the NFL, our Premier League matchups, as well as a handful of quarterfinal matches in the Maple Leaf Cup
Of all of the minor league matches, only one features two 2-0 teams, and that is our featured match today between two Eastern Association teams, the Cleveland Bearcats and the Staten Island Swordfish.
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Cleveland
Staten Island
pollcode.com free polls
Head on over to uwfantasyfootballleague.com to vote on the rest of today’s games, and we’ll see you tommorrow as the Premier League finally plays its’ first weekend of matches.
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: This is pretty cool. Got a submission from Tommy Turner who says he had “my pic taken with the president” at the Nationals/Marlins game last Friday. … In yesterdays Orioles vs. Tigers game, Nelson Cruz ripped his pants (thanks to Gaza for the screengrab).
NFL News: Reader Jaylen Lane Noticed Randall Cobb was wearing a jersey with a different collar than usual. See the difference here and here. … Have new kelly green uniforms been leaked for the Eagles? “If you read the whole article, they acknowledge it could be a fake,” say Paul. … This map lists the most popular football jerseys at Dick’s (a sporting goods store for those who don’t know) throughout the USA. It’s based on jersey sales in 2014, through the first three weeks of the NFL season. A couple of those are interesting (Colts in Nevada? Rams in Hawaii?) — but the fact that Andrew “Luck” plays for the Colts may explain the popularity there. … The Saints will wear white jerseys & black pants tomorrow.
College Football News: Here’s a look at the game helmets Army will be wearing today versus Ball State (nice find by Nick Walter). I don’t think they’ve worn the shiny black helmet with the camo stripe before (but I could be wrong). … No confirmation, but it’s possible Kentucky could be wearing these shiny domes tonight. … Baylor will be wearing its “traditional” road uniform today at Texas (h/t Andrew Lind). … Our fearless leader (Paul) is quoted many times in this article, “Syracuse football: Let’s have an intelligent conversation about uniforms”. Recommended reading! … UNC has USA’ed up its field and will wear these helmets with Carolina blue camo “NC” stickers for their military appreciation game against Virginia Tech today. … This probably isn’t a surprise to anyone, but here is Virginia’s uniform for today. … And it looks like The U is going green/orange/green vs. Georgia Tech today. … Boise State will be wearing black/white/black vs. Nevada today. … Last night, Fresno State broke out their “Night in Navy” unis, while Brigham Young busted out their royal throwbacks against Utah State.
NBA & NCAA Basketball News: Our friend Conrad Burry has found a leak from E-bay that shows the Nets new alternate shorts — if true, this jives with the uniform leak Paul showed us back in January of this year. … Check out the brand new floor at the University of Richmond’s Robins Center (thanks to Clint Richardson). … And here’s how UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion is shaping up after flood fixes (h/t Jeff Knox). … And here’s a nice look at the new New Orleans Pelicans court. … UTEP will be using a slightly modified black alternate this season (h/t Aaron Rich).
Hockey News: A website called The Hockey Writers has posted an article entitled, “A Brief History of NHL Uniforms” which is actually anything but brief. This is definitely an article worth reading. … Tom Reamer is a The Goldbergs fan, and “last weeks episode was centered around going to Flyers games (and leaving early to beat the traffic). Anyway, the attention to detail was amazing. All the flyers jerseys were spot on for the era (as the opening narrative to each episode states: ‘it was 1980-something’). They even got Ron Hextall’s goalie mask correct! Plenty of old Spectrum logos were featured and they even got the dasherboard ads right with the Gulf logos. In the crowd shots, there’s plenty of era-apporpriate Flyers gear going on and even a scene when Murray brings a co-worker to the game only to find out he’s actually a Oilers fan wearing a Gretzky jersey.” You can see all the scenes to which Tom is describing in this album. Tom adds, “The best little easter egg was at the end of the episode a skater wearing #28 is on screen. That number was worn by Flyers great, defenseman, Brin Propp. You can then see in the reflection in the glass that ‘Propp’ is on the back of his jersey! What amazing attention to detail! They even got the correct design for the Flyers Stanley Cup banners hanging in the rafters. With all this authenticity, I’ll let the show slide for having a generic looking scoreboard.” … Wisconsin Badger hockey is wearing a 1980 Team USA-designed patch this year. More here (thanks to Louis Mercer).
Grab Bag: “North Korean Labor Camp Unis” read the subject of the e-mail from David Hatch. He continues, “I hope you’ve never received an email with that subject line before. If this is too insensitive, I can understand, and if that link doesn’t work. Things that stand out to me in the photo — That number plate with Times New Roman font (I think) and the subtle edge border, the tie in the front like a Winter Classic sweater, or the opposite of a US hospital gown. The color is the same that Kim Jong Il constantly wore (Jong Un is more of a dark navy wearer, sometimes even pinstriped dark navy [wtf]); and finally the wide, u-shaped neck line without that awful NFL Nike collar design.” … Reader Jay Abbott writes, “Article from TCPalm.com – sorry, it’s behind a paywall. Typical bullshit about showing support/honoring/blah-blah. One interesting bit of info: “Jensen Beach will sport black uniforms with pink numbers and belts during all home games in October, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.”…”The jersey is black, and the numbers are interchangeable because they are not sewn on, but rather applied with heat. That way, the Falcons can use the uniforms for regular games, too, just by switching out the numbering.” So they are economical and pandering! Gotta love it.” … The shoes in Batman Returns were actually Nikes (from Chris Flinn).
Whew! That’s going to do it for this fine first Saturday in October. Everyone enjoy the playoffs, the college football, and whatever else is going on in your uniform watching day. Don’t forget, Catherine is back on the 5 and 1, so send her any tips for games (good or bad) to UW5and1@gmail.com. Thanks to all today’s WFL concepters (don’t forget to vote!), Gary, Rob and Tim, and all you fine readers. Catch you guys tomorrow.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
.. … ..
“Ain’t no party like a pedant party ’cause no two parties held at different times in different locations with different attendees could possibly be the same.”
— terriblehuman
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