Along with many others, I have a paragraph published on today’s Uni Watch blog post, about how I first got into noticing uniforms. Reading the other posts brought up other memories., and I wanted to comment on everyone else’s posts. So here you go!
One thing about the Cowboys uniforms I noticed early on was the small strip of label tape on the back of each helmet, on the white stripe between the two blue stripes (Frank Seitz).
As a kicker I always liked single bar face masks. In high school the team manager dug out an old suspension helmet with a single bar, which I proudly wore in practice. Should’ve has it repainted for game use, but that would’ve made my face a target I’m sure. Also should’ve kept that old helmet after my career was done. Like Mark LaFountain, I am finally realizing I need to be an equipment manager. One note about Joe Theismann’s burgundy Redskins helmet (above): at times his front bumper was completely removed – and the two white stripes ended at the two screws at the front of his helmet! (Chris Connelly).
I loved the Tigers many belt loops. Glad the Braves brought back the belt loops with piping in the 80’s, which they have to this day (Mike Engle).
Perfectly bloused baseball pants – as a kid I remember reading somewhere about the care a (Cardinal?) player took to pull on his baseball pants feet first, inside out, and carefully pull the tops of his stirrups just so. Might’ve been in Big League Batboy, Ball Four, or Joe Garagiola’s Baseball is a Funny Game (Elena Elms).
I loved those old Eastbay catalogs. Could pour over them for hours. Loved those Suns ‘streaking sun’ unis, with Barkley, Ainge, KJ, and Thunder Dan. Got a Barkley Suns jersey for my son (Ryan Summers).
Living in the South, I was never a big hockey fan (except the Atlanta Flames and my hometown Macon Whoopees) – but I loved hockey sweaters. Logos like the Edmonton Oilers, Canadians, Rangers, Hartford. Also how goalies wore number 1 and 30. Never noticed the lack of number 28’s (Anthony Scandiffio, Randy Clement, Jeff Israel, David Eng).
I love NFL uniforms from the 60’s and 70’s – the golden years. The Seahawks sleeve logos, helmet, and huge numbers. When the Falcons were so bad I finally revolted my fandom and adopted the 49ers, in part because I loved their uniforms and grey facemasks. At the sports retail industry’s Super Show in Atlanta I actually caught a glimpse of the 49ers “one day” helmet. Monday Night Football’s halftime highlights – too see all the different unis. I loved to draw NFL helmets, particularly the Rams and Falcons. To this day I’m more likely to watch a game if I like the uniforms. Like Nate Meihak, my friends roll their eyes when I point out obscure uni details. (Mike Kole, Eric Bangeman, Bry West-Whitman, Colby Greer, John F.).
Loved the NBC Game of the Week. Back then it was almost the only baseball on TV. The Dodger unis were nice, but they were the rival of the Braves. Was intrigued by the Expos logo and pinwheel caps. Also the Brewers ball in glove logo. Pete Rose looked out of place out of a Reds uniform. Loved the Big Red Machine unis, with the low red stirrups and all black spikes. At the time I liked stirrups pulled high and cleats with stripes, but the Reds were a nice change of pace. (Scott Fite, Christopher Falvey, Michael Baldwin).
Loved Bama’s basic unis (also many others as well). I remembered learning that Bama used to wear white helmets against teams with dark helmets. How cool was that? Then when Bill Curry left Georgia Tech to coach Bama, he brought back the white helmet tradition. Who’d have thought Bama was one of the first to wear different helmets? (Tim Bullis).
As a Falcons fan growing up, I too was mesmerized with the Eagles winged helmet. Also the early-60’s jerseys with stripes on the shoulders and sleeves, and the late 70’s green/grey multi-striped jerseys. Hate the current Eagles unis, though (Axel Schmidt).
UNC unis have always been cool, from the old-school belted basketball unis in the 60’s to Michael Jordan’s uni, to the Alexander Julian-designed argyle unis later on. A great color and cool Tar Heel logo. Hate it that the football team so often mixes in black (James Ryan).
In high school I used to draw redesigns of my high school’s football uniform. We were the orange and white Central Big Orange Chargers, so I designed a helmet logo with a C inside an orange. Also brought back green as a secondary color. Orange and green had been a school color back in the 60’s, and we still wore old green football pants in practice. I never shared my redesigns with anyone else (Jay Wright).
Hated it when MLB added their logo to the backs of caps. To me it was like when guys today take the New Era logo off the side of caps. I liked my caps old school, without the logo. But sorry, I hated the movie Rookie of the Year (Jake Tilley).
Love stirrups. Loved wearing them. Always hated “stockings” – the long solid socks like Jim Thome wore. Also hated the fake stirrups worn by Greg Maddux back in the day. Not a fan of the current craze of various Stance “fashion” socks worn by so many players today. Did love it last year when Stance rolled out the Braves classic white/red/white striped stockings, worn by Dansby and Acuna. Hope they keep wearing those instead of solid navy (Dan Herr).
In the 70’s I got good at drawing the Braves script logo, which changed from the 60’s to the 70’s and back in the 80’s. To this day sometimes at work I will doodle the Braves logo. To me the simpler the logo, the better. As a kid I did like the Flyers logo, but not as much as the Flames or Whoopees. (Dan Cichalski, Walter Helfer).
As a kid, authentic team gear was few and far between. I stumbled across an ad in the back of a magazine for Manny’s Baseball World. I ordered an “authentic” Falcons jersey with my name on the back, but the numbers were far from authentic. Hate when the gear in the store looks cheap. As an “adult” I ordered old school caps: Brooklyn Dodgers, California Angels (with the halo), the eight-panel Babe Ruth-era Yankee cap, the felt St. Louis Browns cap. All before the advent of the world wide web (Rob Yasinsac, Ethan Lewis, Skott Schoonover).
Loved the traditional USC/UCLA uniforms, and all traditional college and pro unis: Texas, Auburn, Tennessee, Ohio State, Michigan, Celtics, Raiders, Colts, Giants, etc. Love grey facemasks (Rick Loomis).
You kids may not believe it, but back before Uni Watch gathered all the uni changes in the preseason preview, us who Got It would have to just notice those things for ourselves. Similar to Chris Routh’s 80’s Dolphins, it was interesting to see some Bears or 49ers players in jerseys without jersey stripes (the Dolphins did that back in the 70’s as well).
Always loved the Colts unis. What interested me about Johnny Unitas (who I got to see play against the Falcons in Atlanta) wasn’t his black high-tops but his double bar face mask. Early in his career Unitas’ mask didn’t have the two smaller bars connecting the two main bars. There were a few others with the same mask, but not many (David Tarr).
The way the Chicago White Sox changed uniforms and even team colors over the years has always fascinated me. Light blue hose with white stirrups (sorry Paul, I liked those). Dark caps with the block diagonal SOX. The classic team jacket like Obama wore. Red pinstripes. Untucked jerseys. Shorts, even. Not a fan of the cursive C with number on the pants, or the softball SOX unis. The current black pinstripes are okay, but since they’re who they are, I say it’s time for another White Sox makeover (Chris Cooper).
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