New Missouri Uniforms, “Brand” for Whole AD

NewNIKEblog:

The new Missouri football uniforms were unveiled today, along with those of the basketball (men’s and women’s) and soccer teams. The biggest departure however is the football team, which eschews the classic block “M” logo on the helmet in favor of a tiger design — the standard circled-logo on the glossy black helmet and a new, larger tiger on the matte black lid. Beyond that, the uniforms were engineered within the high standards of Nike Pro Combat – System of Dress technology. We’ll have more on the new Missouri uniforms and branding very soon; in the meantime, enjoy the photos.

New Striped Pittsburgh Steelers Throwback Uniform

NIKEblog:

The Nike NFL uniforms were debuted only two weeks ago, and we already have another look to add to the group. The new Pittsburgh Steelers throwback uniform was debuted today, a rather bumblebee-esque striped affair celebrating the franchise’s 80th season. In honor of that first 1933 team, Nike engineered a new jersey using the striped, rugby shirt-style the Steelers wore back then, though obviously with modern technology and short-sleeves. (Actually, in 1933 the Steelers wore vertical stripes and a city crest on their numberless chests. This throwback jersey is more like 1934.) Hit the jump for plenty of looks, and head to the comments section to let us know if you’re feeling the 1933 look in 2012.

New Site Auctions Off Authentic Oregon Uniforms, Gear (Mostly Nike)

Nikeblog:

The most frequent questions I get via Twitter, comments and email relate to college uniforms and when certain elements of said uniforms will release. Being that my Twitter account has an Oregon-slant, and perhaps the site does too, I get even more Ducks-related inquiries than any other team. (Although Bama fans asking about Pro Combat gloves are a close second.) So for those Ducks fans out there — or college football fans, or Nike product fans — the just-launched OregonAuthentic.com is a very cool, somewhat unique new offering. Essentially an online athletic department garage sale, OregonAuthentic features auctions for official player-issue Oregon uniforms, gear and other similar stuff, all entirely authentic and, for the most part, not otherwise available.

Denver Broncos ditch their playbooks for iPads

9TO5MAC:

The Denver Post is reporting today that its hometown NFL team, the Denver Broncos, has decided to swap out its bulky 500+ page playbooks for Apple’s slim and trim tablet. The football team just purchased 120 iPads.

The organization feels that the tablet gives it a competitive advantage over its opponents. Not only is the iPad more mobile, but its library of available software gives it the capability to help players and coaches do far more than study plays…

Here’s an excerpt from the article regarding the Bronco’s specific iPad software:

“For the digital playbook, the team partnered with Parker-based technology startup PlayerLync. The PlayerLync app allows players and coaches to write notes and highly plays using the tablet’s touchscreen. The playbooks are then saved on remote computer servers, allowing players to access notes from previous games.

A key component to the software is that it runs in the background even when a player is not reviewing the playbook, enabling the app to determine when a coach has an update to push to players, such as a new short-yardage and goal-line package.”

But a team’s playbook is usually one of its most-guarded secrets. What happens if a player loses his iPad?

“With the iPad playbook, the Broncos have two ways to secure their game plan. The Verizon [LTE] network connection will allow the team to remotely wipe the iPad if it is lost or stolen.

If the network is disabled, the PlayLync app has a “time bomb” feature that deletes the playbook based on a set time determined by the Denver Bronco.”

Wow.

Of course, the Broncos aren’t the first team to ditch their paper playbooks for iPads. Last year we told you about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers making a similar move.

But the concept is still relatively new to the NFL. Only three out of the 32 teams use tablets. And they still aren’t allowed to use them during games out of concern for foul play.

What do you think about iPads in the NFL (or sports in general)?

[9to5Mac]

Golf Digest:

“The Masters” was coined by Clifford Roberts in 1938 (used starting in 1939), though Bobby Jones was never a fan — referencing to the tournament as late as 1963 as “the so-called Masters.” 

Pitino’s new perspective

The new Rick Pitino is a bit calmer and more humble than the old Rick Pitino. But the new one is still going where the old one went five times: the Final Four

ESPN: (by Rick Reilly)

Rick Pitino is not walking through that door. Not the Rick Pitino you knew. Not the bug-eyed screamer, the arrogant New York know-it-all. He has swallowed too much heartache to be that man anymore.

No, the 59-year-old Rick Pitino who walks through that door at this Final Four, the one who leads these Louisville Harry Potters into their fight with the Kentucky Voldemorts this Saturday, this Pitino is changed. He’s grayer and softer and happier. He laughs. He indulges. He forgives.

“He’s different just since I got back,” says his son, Richard, 29, who rejoined his dad’s staff in April 2011. “He’s not near as hard on his guys as he used to be.”

“His guys” is this loopy Cardinals team, this outfit without a single likely first-round draft choice on it, this skinny St. George that has to slay The Dragon this weekend in New Orleans while all of Kentucky tries to remember to breathe. This team gets away with stuff that would’ve gotten old Pitino players a hundred laps around campus.

On March 18 after a big win over New Mexico to make the Sweet 16, Pitino was doing a TV interview while his backup point guard, Russ Smith, was making rabbit ears behind his head.

Old Pitino: Half-hour on the treadmill, at 8 out of 10.

New Pitino: A shrug, a laugh and a palm to the forehead.

“He told us the other day he doesn’t have that many years left,” says senior swingman Kyle Kuric. “He said he’s going to enjoy it. He’s going to be around people he likes.”

Pitino’s life has more chapters than the Red Cross. He has been the whiz kid (the 1987 Final Four at Providence), the savior (at Kentucky in 1989 after Eddie Sutton left it in ruins), the goat (leaving Grant Hill unguarded in the infamous 1992 loss to Duke), the hero (the redemptive 1996 Kentucky title), the NBA answer (jumping to the pros for a second time in 1997 after two straight NCAA title games), the NBA failure (five losing seasons of six at New York and Boston), and, now, the dreamer (at Louisville, forever Robin to Kentucky’s Batman).

So this moment, this Saturday, with the commonwealth of Kentucky in flames all around him, should be the close-up of his life. Yet it’s not. He might be the least wound-up person in the entire state.

“I don’t get into these petty things, Kentucky-Louisville,” he says. “To me, it’s nonsense. … There will be people at Kentucky that will have a nervous breakdown if they lose to us. … They’ve got to put the fences up on bridges. There will be people consumed by Louisville.”

But not Pitino. How can you be consumed by a game when life itself has nearly consumed you whole?

What did it? Was it standing with wife Joanne in 1987 in a gas-station phone booth and hearing that their 6-month-old son, Daniel, had died of heart failure?

Was it finding out on 9/11 that his best friend, Billy Minardi, Joanne’s brother, had died on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower?

Was it finding out that same year that another brother-in-law had been killed by a New York City taxi?

Was it two summers ago, getting wiped face-first through a nasty blackmail attempt that followed an extramarital indiscretion?

“People don’t really know the truth,” he says. “I said I’d really like some people to know the truth. And the lawyer said, ‘Just go on with your life.’ And so I did. A lot of times the last two years, I took a lot of grief from a lot of people saying a lot of things. … Some of the most ugly things I’ve heard, I just took it inside. And today, as I look back on it, I’m real proud that [I] could turn the other cheek.”

And then into his life came this collection of future insurance salesmen and bond traders. He starts two seniors. Who evenhas two seniors anymore? And those two — Kuric and Chris Smith — gave back their scholarships so Pitino could sign more depth.

For Pitino, just seeing his happy-go-lucky center, Gorgui Dieng from Senegal, makes him smile as if he’s on nitrous oxide. “I love his humility,” he says.

During one huddle this season, Pitino was bawling them out for one thing or another. When he finished, Russ Smith held out his arms to him and said, “OK, Coach, now let’s hug.” Pitino just looked at him, fumblefluxed. Smith hugged him anyway and went back onto the floor.

“I think that’s the moment,” Kuric says, “when Coach just decided to accept Russ Smith.”

These are days of acceptance for Pitino. Acceptance that you’re Louisville, not Kentucky. That life is cruel, and then it’s sweet. That basketball is part of life, not life itself.

“Whenever he’s in a bad mood now,” son Richard says, “the players whisper, ‘Go get the grandkids.’ When they’re around, he just can’t be mad.”

Pitino said something vulnerable the other night, at the very end. He said, “My biggest disappointment isn’t that I didn’t put somebody on the passer in that [1992 Duke] game. It’s that I didn’t live humbly all those years. I try to now.”

On Saturday, after Pitino beat Florida to make a Final Four he has no business being in, he was so bubbly and overjoyed that he went around and shook the hand of every cheerleader and every band member and even the giant bird mascot. Then he took the mike and told the crowd that, outside of the births of his children, “This is the happiest day of my life!”

Hey, it’s not just players who rebound.

siphotos:

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and current New Orleans coach Sean Payton are likely to get punished for running an illegal “bounty pool” of up to $50,000 in which defensive players were paid for injuring opponents. Williams, the current defensive coordinator of the Rams, appears to be in the most hot water and these quotes from a Feb. 2010 SI profile won’t help matters: 

When he [Williams] met with rookie defenders in the spring for their first on-field session, his message was pointed and succinct: “Knock ‘em the f—- out.” He repeated himself when the veterans arrived and continued to repeat himself during the season.

In a radio interview 12 days before the Super Bowl, Williams made clear how important it would be for the Saints to go after quarterback Peyton Manning and to get to him as early in the play as possible. “When we do get to him,” he added, “we’re going to have to make sure he gets a couple ‘remember me’ shots…. When you put too much of that type of worry on a warrior’s mind, he doesn’t play all out.”

The comment was widely viewed as being reckless and blasphemous. How dare anyone talk about pummeling Manning, the golden boy, the four-time league MVP who comes from the First Family of NFL Quarterbacks. And what kind of sense did it make to provide motivational material for Manning’s mental bulletin board, or to draw the attention of league officials who are maniacal about protecting The Chosen Ones, otherwise known as quarterbacks?

“I don’t know what I should’ve said,” says Williams. “Maybe I should have blown him kisses or sent him a Hallmark Valentine’s Day card, but that would not have sent the right message to our defense.”

Williams is meeting with NFL investigators Monday about the bounty program. (AP)

SI VAULT: Driven by ornery Williams, Saints D sent message to Colts (2.11.00)
KING MMQB: Don’t underestimate Goodell’s toughness when punishing Saints
BANKS: Loomis, Payton most to blame in bounty sage
McCANN: The potential legal fallout of bounty system