Oh Canada

It's Friday night, which means the Blue Jays broke out their throw back baby blues....

Although I generally don't like this color uniform (unless the uniform says North Carolina on the front), I don't necessarily dislike these.  My problem with these Toronto uniforms is that they were the road uni's, and they wear them at home.

By the way, Friday night means Boston breaks out the alternate hat.  I also don't necessarily dislike this hat - I've definitely seen worse, but the traditionalist in me hates it.

Red-faced over red hats

I was appalled, APPALLED I say, when I flipped on the Yankee game this afternoon and saw this....


WTF? Are you kidding me with this?



Turns out, in honor of Memorial Day, every team in MLB wore red hats today.

The Rockies...

The A's...

The Dodgers....

The Orioles....

Even the Blue Jays.

I'm sorry. Is it Memorial Day in Canada too?

(Answer: No. Memorial Day in Canada is July 1st.)

With some teams, like the Reds or Phillies, you couldn't tell anything was different unless you looked closely.

Even the umpires wore red hats.

(Although, note the umpire in the Dodgers picture. Apparently someone didn't get the memo and/or the package from New Era.)

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for honoring those Veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country. But, c'mon. This isn't about honoring them. It's about this:

http://shop.mlb.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=2325112&cp=2325112

Granted, a portion of the proceeds benefit the Welcome Back Veterans Foundation.

A PORTION?? C'mon MLB. If you really want to make this stunt about the veterans, let's go with ALL the proceeds. Otherwise, this isn't about red hats, it's about green.

Cubs vs. ????

The Chicago Cubs apparently played nobody on Sunday, and lost 7-2. Oh, wait, they played San Diego, who were wearing their camouflage uniforms. I didn't realize it was the Padres. They blended into the field.....

All kidding aside, I like these uniforms -- for San Diego. #1: San Diego is a military town. #2: It's the Padres. Not a lot of history there, so tinkering with the uniform doesn't offend me.

The backwards American flag on the sleeve is a nice touch.

Get the red out

What's with all the red uniform tops?

The Angels.....

The Nationals.....

The Diamondbacks.....

And, of course, the Reds....

Check out Mr. Red on the sleeve.  I love that.

You might even count the Astros.

All those uniforms take some getting used to.  But don't get me wrong.  I like red.  It's the color of my alma mater.  I love seeing them wear......

Nevermind.

Can Do Vancouver

 I didn't have a chance to post this before they were eliminated, but I really like what the Vancouver Canucks have done with their uniforms.

I'm not sold on having 'Vancouver' on the front, but the color scheme is great.  Reminds me of the old Hartford Whalers.  (Ironically, they added a whale to their logo.)

Obviously, it's much better than this....


I mean, what were they thinking?  

Here is a historical look at the Canucks' uniforms over the years - http://canucks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=MediaGalleryPlayer&galleryId=10496.  They're like the Chicago White Sox of the NHL when it comes to uniforms.  By that I mean their uniforms have dramatically changed have some horrendous variations.

Also, I didn't realize the word 'canuck' comes from a cartoon character.  Here is some history - http://canucks.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=12896

Why I'm rooting for the Caps

After the Flyers, I consider myself somewhat of a Capitals fan.

These roots run deep.  I remember in 8th grade doing an art project featuring the Capitals logo.  Why?  At the time, the Hershey Bears (the team of my youth) were the Capitals minor league affiliate.  (Later, in senior high, the Bears switched affiliates to the Flyers.  I even saw Ron Hextall play for the Bears '86.  The next year, as a rookie, Hextall led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing to Gretzky and the Oilers.  But I digress.....)

More recently, I've renewed my interest in the Caps because of Alexander Ovechkin.  I went to a game at the Verizon Center a few years ago, and was amazed at how fast Ovie is without the puck, which you can't tell on TV.

So I've been rooting for Ovechkin over Crosby (just like I rooted for Lemieux over Gretzky).  But there's a new reason why I'm rooting for Washington now -- goalie Simeon Varlamov.

Look closely at the mask. 

It says Capitals on one side, and.....

...Hershey Bears on the other!! 

(These pictures don't do it justice.)

Varlamov is quite a story.  He only played six regular season games for the Caps, including two in December.  For the Bears this year, he went 19-7-1 with a .939 save percentage and a goals against under 2.

He was called up to Washington late in the season, and after Washington lost the first game of the Rangers series, head coach Bruce Boudreau made the ballsy move of putting the 21-year-old Varlamov in goal.  The Caps promptly lost Game 2, but ended up prevailing in the series.

  Varmalov has now won five straight playoff games.  Now that I've written this, the Pens will probably win in 6.

By the way, Varlamov was born in April of '88.  Two months later, the Bears won the Calder Cup.  Unfortunately, they won on the road at Fredricton, but I was there at Harrisburg International Airport at three o'clock in the morning to welcome the team, and the cup, home.

UPDATE: Here's a better picture of the mask.  Thanks to Scott for e-mailing it to me.

AFL Remembered

The NFL will mark the 50th anniversary of the AFL this season with so-called "legacy games" involving former AFL members Buffalo, Denver, KC (representing the Dallas Texans), New England, Oakland, San Diego, Tennessee (representing the Houston Oilers) and the Jets.

Looking at the above picture, I think I like the Patriots helmet the most.  I wish they would go back to that logo.  Kansas City's is also cool.  Oakland is not all that different from what they wear now.  San Diego and the Jets already wear those uniforms occasionally.  

Kudos to the NFL for auctioning off game-worn jerseys, with proceeds benefitting the NFL Player Care Foundation. However, it almost goes without saying that all retro-themed apparel and products will be available for purchase on NFLShop.com.

From NFL.com, here is a list of what each of the eight original AFL teams will wear as their historic uniforms during the 2009 season:

AFL Team	Legacy Uniform
Buffalo Bills	1965 AFL championship season: White helmet featuring a simple red buffalo.
Denver Broncos	1960 season: Brown and yellow uniform; brown helmet.
Kansas City Chiefs (Dallas Texans) (Played in Dallas from 1960 to 1962 before moving to Kansas City.)	1962 AFL championship season: Red and white uniform; red helmet featuring an outline of the state of Texas.
New England Patriots (Boston Patriots)	1963 divisional championship season: White helmet featuring the original Patriots logo.
New York Jets (Titans of New York)	1961 season: Gold and navy uniforms; navy helmet.
Oakland Raiders	1963 season: White (away) jersey featuring silver numbers outlined in black; silver helmet with original Raiders logo.
San Diego Chargers	1963 AFL championship season: White pants with yellow bolt down the legs.
Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers) (Played in Houston from 1960 to 1996 before moving to Tennessee.)	1960 season: Blue and white jersey with red accents; blue helmet with derrick logo.

Birthday wishes

Uniformity just received this message:

Bernie,

Happy birthday to one of my loyal fans who would never betray me.

Best wishes,

Donnie Baseball

Bravo Boston

Not sure why, but the Red Sox wore their traditional road uniform last night. They had been wearing blue tops on the road and red at home. Maybe this is their Friday night, in-a-dome uniform.

I'll also give them credit for wearing the regular hat and...

....red socks.