Hawaii Winter League

One of my Christmas presents this year was a North Shore Honu t-shirt.

The Honu are one of four teams in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League.

www.hawaiiwinterbaseball.com

The other teams are the Waikiki Beach Boys....

...the Honolulu Sharks...

...and the West Oahu Cane Fires.

(Yes, that's Joba Chamberlin. He played in the league in 2007.)

A bunch of future major leagues have played in the league, including Ichiro, A.J. Pierzynski and Derrek Lee. There has also been some players with interesting names who didn't make it, including Bobby Bonds Jr. and Craig Griffey, plus two women.

I first became aware of the HWB during my honeymoon in 1995,

when I bought a Maui Sting Rays t-shirt.

I still have the shirt and love wearing it.

New School

Last week we got a taste of the new Nike Pro Combat Uniforms

when Ohio State wore theirs at Michigan.

Yesterday, several schools wore theirs.

(Nike chose 10 schools in all to get these uniforms.)

Most notably, Florida....

Although I'm not a big fan of white helmets, these aren't bad.

My complaint is with the back side of the pants.

It looks like they're wearing a pair of chaps.

Miami's didn't look too bad, until I got a close look at the numbers.

Terrible.

Virginia Tech's weren't bad.

But then I got a look at Missouri's....

Bad. Especially the helmet. Bad.

Worldwide Pants

They say "Pants make the man."

(They say that, right? OK, maybe I made it up.)

I couldn't help but notice some pants irregularities today.

Washington puts the "red" in Redskins.

Don't like it.

I know this is the Browns regular road look....

...and I love a good pair of brown pants (ask my co-workers),

but I don't like these.

And the Bucs buck the fashionistas and wear white after Labor Day.

UNIon

The MLS expansion team Philadelphia Union have unveiled their uniforms.

Love it!!

From the team's website:
--Midnight blue is the dominant color
--The club crest is centered on the front on a wide panel of Union gold
--Accent piping, the light blue color of the flag of Philadelphia, can be found on both the top and bottom of the jersey, as well as the tip of each sleeve
--Back of collar, “Jungite Aut Perite”, Latin for Join or Die, Benjamin Franklin’s rallying cry for colonial unity.

I'm convinced that, if every boys and girls soccer team in the Delaware Valley went to just one Union game, MLS in this area will be very successful. I know I'll be planning an outing with my team.

David Stern OK'd this?

Not sure what's the point of these New Orleans Hornets Mardi Gras uniforms...



Wouldn't it be great if the Hornets picked up Mardy Collins?

I don't hate this, but I want to

So, Ohio State broke out some new unis for their final game of the regular season.

They didn't look so bad to me.....

....until I read this on Ohio State's webpage:

Ohio State sported new "modern classics" uniforms, designed by NIKE especially for its "Rivalry" series. The one-time only tribute uniforms, featuring white helmets with red stripe down the middle and black numbers on the side, white jerseys with scarlet numbers and a touch of gray on the shoulders, and gray pants with a double scarlet stripe down the side, pays homage to Ohio State's 1954 national championship team in its styling and design.

The uniforms are part of the Nike Pro Combat line, a new system of dress and the lightest football uniform Nike has ever created. Ohio State is one of 10 elite football programs to debut the Nike Pro Combat uniform before the uniform's official introduction at the start of the 2010 season. The Nike Pro Combat uniform is 37 percent lighter than current designs and 46 percent lighter when wet.

Seriously....it makes me want to respect Penn State and Joe Paterno.

Twins, Royals - Just in time for holiday shopping

You better believe that the Twins and Royals unveiled new uniforms and hats respectively now instead of in the dead of winter so that new shirts and hats can be under the tree in about a month.

Here are the Twins new unis....

All in all, not bad. No complaints here. Looks like they're going with the TC hat at home and on the road. (Aside: I was probably in my 20's when I finally figured out what TC stood for.)

The Royals also unveiled new powder blue hats.

They'll wear these hats with their powder blue uniforms for home day games.

I read where the hat will be available at the team store prior to the Kansas-Missouri football game across the street at Arrowhead this week. Pricetag: $38. $38?!?!?

This is awesome!

Hopefully this link will still be active when you read this:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2009/10/oregon_ducks_uniforms_what_sho_3.html

The good, the bad and the ugly

Some observations from this weekend's games:

The good....

Temple coach Al Golden rockin' the cherry tie on the sideline. (This is a obviously a picture from last weekend's game at Penn State.) What a great, classy look.

The bad....

Yeah, this is not good. Red and red? Not good. They look like fire hydrants.

The ugly....

My eyes almost popped out when I caught a glimpse of the Univ. of Oregon uniforms. Ugh. The word puke comes to mind.

But then I saw this....

You have GOT to be kidding me with these. What is it about the Pacific Northwest? Are they color blind....or just tasteless?

What's old is new again

The 76'ers unveiled their new uniforms this week.

Here's a look at the back, and at the road uni.

Pretty good. I would've kept the blue trim on the road uniforms, like the one the Doctor wore.

Speaking of Doc, I had to drive downtown a few days ago and actually passed this building on Ridge Avenue.

Dirty Birds

I thought I missed a memo when I saw the Falcons wearing red helmets today.

Turns out, the whole uniform was a throwback to 1966. They'll also wear these uniforms against Tampa in week 12. Why '66? That was the first year of the franchise. In the years since, the Falcons have had a dozen different uniforms (12?!?!?!?), resulting in this:

I think I like the current day better.

Gonna Fly Now

I am really looking forward to the Winter Classic this year on New Year's Day -- Flyers vs. Bruins in Fenway Park. The Flyers have unveiled their jersey for the game.

This is the jersey the team wore from its inception in the late 60's to the early 80's.
Here is how that compares to the regular jersey.

I'm actually a fan of the team's third/alternate jersey.

Heck, if the Flyers are going retro, and the game is outside, maybe they should bring back....

...the PANTS!!

Kickoff at the first tee

I've resisted posting anything about golf, until now.

Tomorrow is 'College Colors Day' at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Here's what Tiger, Antony Kim, Stewart Cink and some others will be wearing.

O No

You can always count on the Univ. of Oregon to make things intersting on the uniform front. The Ducks opened the 2009 season with new uniforms....again.

They wore white helmets.

And God knows what that is on their shoulders.

Yo Ho Horrible

The Pirates honored their 1979 championship team over the weekend.

I want to like these uniforms. I really do. But I don't know.....

However, I absolutely LOVE the hat!

But, you know what? These uniforms are worse than the yellow tops. It must be the pants that get me.

Again, LOVE the hat!

I used to have one of these hats as a kid. I wish I still had it.

Hall of Shame

Actually, that headline is a little misleading. I actually liked the uniforms worn by the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills in last night's Hall of Fame game.


Both teams would be well served to go back to these uniforms - especially the Bills.

My only complaint, for both teams, is the logo on the helmets looked "flat."


But there is a nominee for the Hall of Shame....

UniNotes 8/2/09

Well, I'm back from vacation and in the mood to blog. Here are a few things I noticed from Sunday's MLB highlights.

The Braves wore these god awful red jerseys at home.


They also wore their alternate hat.


I hate both.

The Padres wore the camos.

These are ugly, but I for some reason like them. I also like the significance of the jersey - San Diego being a military town.


The Rays wore their alternate jerseys at home. I like these, but I also liked the old green unis.


The Pirates wore their alternate pinstriped uniforms. They're OK.

The Cardinals wore alternate hats. Um, OK. Not great, but OK.