Loyal to Royal

Uni We Love: This week we want to highlight the two teams competing in baseball's World Series:

the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals. Paul Lukas points out that both teams not only wear Royal Blue, but the exact same shade: Pantone 288. Even still, depending on lighting, fabric, and pattern the colors may appear slightly different from each other. This is an issue we know all too well here at TSP. So who has the best claim on Royal Blue? The Mets use of the color is more prominent these days, but the Royals are well...the Royals, so they do have the upper hand in that regard. 

Reading Material: Brian Windhorst talks about some of the more difficult adjustments Lebron James is trying to make in preparation for his next title run. Gregg Easterbrook tries to get to the bottom of the Patriots' decade of NFL dominance. Philadelphia Magazine relives some of the Philly Phanatic's greatest moments in honor of his selection as Good Morning America's number one mascot in the MLB. And while we're on the subject of

mascots, how about Kansas City Royals mascot Sluggerrr wearing real stirrups with his uniform? Old school is making a comeback, not only with throwback jersey styles but with knicker pants and stirrup socks too! 

Team of the Week: Our Team of the Week is 1 Ten Basketball from Fort Worth, Texas. These roundballers from the Lone Star State know how to look fierce and have fun in these eye-catching red Ultra Geo Basketball Jerseys. 

Patterns like the Ultra Geo have

grown in popularity in the wake of the explosion in camo patterns in recent years. Check out this close up of the Ultra Geo pattern to the right. Other patterns such as Static, Blend, Typography, and Plated have also seen a boost. We're seeing this trend not only in sublimated styles, but stock too, including unis, warm-ups, hoodies, tees, helmets, and catcher's gear. As we've learned over the years at TSP, styles and trends are a funny thing. What's new is endlessly recombined with what's old to create something fresh yet familiar. 

That Championship Season...

Uni We Love: In their 27-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers at Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers sported  alternate Navy and Yellow home jerseys. No stripes, no emblems, no problem. Just two blocks of vivid color, numbers, and names. Oh, and the best quarterback in the NFL. That always helps too. 

Reading Material: Paul Lukas looks

back on some of the crazy NBA uniforms of the '95-'96 season for ESPN. Jonathan Abrams writes for Grantland about the Rivers family and the Los Angeles Clippers. And the New York Times does an in-depth investigation into the background of daily fantasy sports competitions.

Team of the Week: Our Team of the Week is the recently crowned Florida District 2 Little League Champions, winners of the Senior Softball Sectionals. Here they are wearing our purple Russell Factor Jerseys with the glow of victory on their faces. You can check out some our other great fastpitch softball uniform styles here. 

Battle of the Generations

Uni We Love: Here at TSP we're

excited about the introduction this week of two exclusive new designs created by our awesome art team. The Elite Super Arrow and the Elite Semi Pro were created in part in response to feedback we've been receiving from customers looking for a look like some of the classic NBA uniforms from the past. 

This also got us talking about this question-posing graphic that's been making the rounds on the NBA-centric circles of the internet.

Opinions were mixed both around TSP HQ and the interwebs, with a clear bias toward the most recent teams. None of the other centers could match Shaq's sheer physicality on the 00's team, one argument goes. No one could compete with the long distance shooting of the 10's team, says another.

But the 80's team with Magic Johnson heading the point, Isaiah Thomas playing the off-ball smaller guard, Moses Malone and Kevin McHale kicking butt and taking names underneath, and the greatest Small Forward of all time, Mr. Larry Bird, doing a little bit of everything else, would, in this writer's opinion, ultimately take the day.

Reading Material: For some historical perspective on the mastermind of our greatest modern sports dynasty, check out Jordan Ritter Conn's investigation into Greg Poppovich's formative years.   
The class of the sports uniform blog game, Mr. Paul Lukas, has some, shall we say, unfiltered opinions on the Oregon Ducks latest "costume." And in honor of the MLB playoffs, a nice piece from Grant Brisbee at SB Nation on Met's pitcher Matt Harvey. 


Team of the Week: This week we're giving a shout out to Abilene, Texas' very own West Texas Impact '05 Fast Pitch Team. These girls were undefeated champs in their league last year, and here they are rocking some Augusta Performance Tees in Columbia Blue with their Hot Pink emblem. 
Notice how the tail becomes a cancer awareness ribbon. A nice personalized touch for our champions. Check out more of our custom softball uniforms here. 

CAM-ouflaged

Uni of the Week: We've been known to sell a camo item or two around here at Team Sports Planet. Within the past few years especially, from the softball diamond to the basketball court, camo patterns have added a welcome touch to many a team's look. What we've not seen before, however, is the camo trend pushed forward into the realm of formal wear. 
Mr. Cam Newton, having a pretty exceptional start to his season in leading the upstart Panthers to a 4-0 record, broke that barrier like he was busting into the end zone on a fourth and goal at the one yard line two weeks ago, showing up to the team facility in a camo-patterned blue blazer. 
While some on the internet were less than kind, we'd like to salute the boldness. And besides, it's nice to know he's staying humble and not wasting money on a professional stylist to tell him what to wear. You keep doing you, Cam. 

Reading Material: Matthew Shaer spins the tale of Adidas' attempts to topple Nike from the footwear throne for GQ. From the ESPN.com archives, check out Don Van Natta Jr.'s profile of Jerry Football. And this story from the New York Times about a suburban Missouri community cutting their football team begs the question: is this the beginning of a trend or merely an anomaly?

Team of the Week: Team Sports Planet Team of the Week award goes to the Rondout Rovers Soccer Team, based out of Kingston, New York. They play in the Rondout Soccer Club, which provides athletic opportunities for youngsters of all areas in Hudson Valley area. Here they are looking sharp in some our performance tees. You can check out some of our other soccer team uniforms here. We're saluting the Rovers this week!

The Future Aint What It Used to Be

Uni We Love:

In honor of the passing of Mr. Yogi Berra, we’re making the Yankee Pinstripes our uniform of the week.

Mr. Berra, known both for his prowess on the diamond and his way with words, was a towering figure not just in the world of sports but in the culture at large. 

Some of our favorite Yogi-isms: "The future aint what it used to be." 

"If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be." 

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." 

Yogi had a penchant for turns of phrase that seemed silly at first glance, but revealed some deep knowledge about the hidden nature of the world upon further reflection. We salute him.

Quick Hits

In this new semi-regular feature at SUS, the fun size entry to our regular king size column, we’ll run down a few items of note each week.

Uni We Love: Though our esteemed colleague Mr. Lukas at Uni-Watch had no love for the 49ers red on black look for their Monday Night Football late show showdown with the Vikings, we beg to differ. Sure maybe it is black for black's sake. And maybe the numbers are hard to read. But they looked fierce!

And they held the esteemed Mr. Peterson to a mere mortal rushing performance. As the old country song says, they "must be doing something right."  Who do you want on your side in the trenches? The purple and white or the red and black? I rest my case.

Logo Big or Go Home

We've got logos on the brain this week at SUS HQ. Over at Grantland, king of the basketball nerds Zach Lowe ranked all thirty NBA teams by their current primary insignia, with a few tangents on favorite secondary looks and blasts from the past.

And the work of graphic artist Mark Avery-Kenny, who mashes up popular professional sports logos with pop culture characters from Han Solo to Bart Simpson to Donkey Kong, came to our attention and reminded us about all the possibilities of what a logo can do, and just how evocative and allusive they can be. We're big fans of his work.

Like anything, what's popular and in style in logo land changes over the years.Take a look at this pair for Cincinnati based teams from the days before cable. The Royals, who would later become Sacramento's Kings, and the Red-legs, 

who would later become simply the Reds, both feature impish smiles plastered over the faces of game balls.These days, as Lowe points out, the default NBA logo is a basketball with the team name inside of it. Some take a straightforward approach. Other get busy with it.

Sleeves Are Falling

 Is that a slight chill in the air we feel? Is that the faint smell of leaves beginning to fall from the trees we smell? Are those incessant fantasy football strategy conversations we hear? 

The autumn is nearly upon us and that means football season is nigh. The collegians are already at it in earnest, and soon the professional gladiators of the grid iron will be too.  

Together they’ll be filling out our Saturday and Sunday viewing schedules with glorious combat.  So what will they be wearing into combat this year? We like to think we know a thing or two about football team uniforms here at S.U.S. Here are some of the things we're noticing.

They've Got the World on Their Shoulders

At press time, the Little League World Series was in high gear in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Eight United States teams and eight international teams began the double elimination tournament on August 21^st, after being postponed one day by rain, and the local heroes hailing from Lewisberry, PA were still firmly in the mix heading into the semifinals on Saturday the 29th. 

Seen here celebrating one of their victories, Red Land Little League Baseball was considered by many to be the hometown favorites, playing just two hours north of their Harrisburg-area home base. 

Perhaps the pinnacle of all of youth sports, the LLWS is an annual tradition we cherish around here at Team Sports Planet. It helps us remember all the good things about youth sports and why we enjoy helping athletes from all over the world get what they need to compete.

Old School, New School, Too Cool for School

"I call this play the Hickory Dickory No-Shot-Clock."

Designing sports uniforms is a finesse game more akin to a feathery jumper from Jimmy Chitwood than a bruising tackle by Rudy Ruettiger. The ingredients are straightforward. We’d like to see the name of the team somewhere. And a number, also, to appease the referees and Cousin Joey in the cheap seats, is also standard.  And whatever beast of the eastern wild, be it mythical cartoon puma, jaguar, or wildcat, represents your team may also find it's place. (Scientists report ninety percent 

"I'm wild on the inside, baby."

of all team names come from the genus mascotus wildcatus.)

A player name, maybe? A post-game jersey emblazoned with any other name would no doubt smell as rancid. But since Joey learned to read last year, he does appreciate seeing the family moniker above those identifying digits. Beyond that, maybe a stripe here, some stars there. 

"This racing stripe here is pretty sharp."

But much like the culinary holy trinity of onions, garlic and olive oil, it’s all about the how. How you go about putting together a simple group of ingredients. The fashion-forward-thinking brain trust here at TSP HQ likes to stay ahead of the hot new thing in custom basketball uniforms. Sometimes, though, the hot new thing is...wait for it...

...the old thing.

TOP 10 CROSS COUNTRY COACH RANTS

 Here at Sports Uniform Stuff (SUS) we occasionally like to reach out to the coaching community and hear what’s on their minds.  This go ‘round we spoke to that rarest of breeds, High School Cross Country Coaches (HSXCC).

We asked them what was on their minds. What was bothering them. What differences there are in today’s high school cross country runners as compared to when they themselves competed. 

As you might have expected when asking long distance running coaches almost anything, we got a lot more than we bargained for.

However, since here at SUS, we can’t go on and on and on like they tend to do….

we just made ‘em up ourselves. So here are the top ten.

Pinstripes and Patriotism on 84th Street

Here at TSP HQ in the birthplace of America, Philadelphia, we’ve always appreciated the unique relationship between baseball and this great country of ours. Like warm apple pie and cold vanilla ice cream, acoustic guitars and sad songs about mama, few things go together in the summer time as well as baseball and America.

Unfortunately for us, our hometown Phillies haven’t exactly been lighting the National League on fire in the summer of 2015.  So we’ve been looking elsewhere for our baseball-inspired patriotism fix. Luckily for us, one of our very own Team Sports Planet-outfitted teams has got that covered and then some.

Based out of Byron Center, Michigan, and sponsored by the 84^th Street Pub & Grille, each of the young players on the 84^th Street Sliders baseball team has found a unique way of showing their pride and appreciation for the land they love. While Camo uniforms are all the rage in baseball these days, these jerseys represent something much more than band-wagon, trendy uniforms.

Seen here in our exclusive design-your-own Camo Rilla baseball jersey, featuring a pin stripe body and camo sleeves, the Sliders chose to go the extra mile to show off their pride in playing America’s pastime in the heartland of America.  They opted for player numbers with an American flag design and our red, white and blue Pro Trucker Hat that speaks for itself. But they didn’t stop there.

Each member of the team also honors a fallen soldier by wearing his or her name on the back of their jerseys in place of their own name.

Nick Fedwa, pictured above, chose to honor Petty Officer Third Class Walter Scot Blakey with his jersey. Blakey was killed while serving on the battleship USS Iowa in the North Atlantic near Puerto Rico in 1989.

Scot was killed when 550 pounds of gunpowder exploded inside of the number 2, 16 inch gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa in the North Atlantic near Puerto Rico on April 19, 1989Scot was killed when 550 pounds of gunpowder exploded inside of the number 2, 16 inch gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa in the North Atlantic near Puerto Rico on April 19, 1989Scot was killed when 550 pounds of gunpowder exploded inside of the number 2, 16 inch gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa in the North Atlantic near Puerto Rico on April 19, 1989Scot was killed when 550 pounds of gunpowder exploded inside of the number 2, 16 inch gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa in the North Atlantic near Puerto Rico on April 19, 1989Scot was killed when 550 pounds of gunpowder exploded inside of the number 2, 16 inch gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa in the North Atlantic near Puerto Rico on April 19, 1989

These patriotic sluggers recently finished another successful season, capturing championships in four tournaments: the All-American Slugfest, the Windmill Super Regional, the Backyard Blast, and the Battle for the Beach. 

For a little more information on how these folks are honoring America’s fallen heroes while scoring success on the baseball diamond, check out this video.

And to keep up with all things Sliders, be sure to like and follow their Facebook page HERE.

We’d like to salute their success on the field and even more importantly, their class in showing appreciation and respect for America’s heroes.