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.