Good morning, Uniwatchers. I hope you all had a great Tuesday. Happy June 19th!
And, on a sadder note, may Willie Mays rest in peace.
The Summer Olympics are just a little over a month away in Paris, and yesterday the costumes that Team USA will wear during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were revealed. Reactions to the Opening Ceremony costumes have been mixed, with some loving the look (USA! USA! USA!) and others not so fond of it. Regardless of opinions on the current costumes, over the years Team USA OC gear has been good, bad, popular, and, well, not so popular. Let's take a quick look at some of the costumes worn over the past century. It's not an exhaustive list, but we'll look at most of the costumes from the past 60 years or so.
1908
At the 1908 London Olympics, the (relatively) small US delegation wore suits, but photographs show that the suits were likely not designed specifically for the Olympics, but rather were each participant's “Sunday best.”
London was the first country to host the Olympic Games since the Second World War, and by this time the costumes for the opening ceremony had been specially designed for the Olympics: both men and women wore fedoras and blue blazers, with men in white trousers and shoes and women in white skirts and high heels.
The 1960 Olympics were held in Rome. In the photo above, you can see an American guy wearing a red and white striped straw hat and a blue blazer. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I was a bit surprised at how many people there looked like Wayfarers.
The 1968 Mexico City Olympics were notoriously controversial, and the costumes by the United States Olympic Committee were certainly designed in line with the fashions of the time: female athletes wore cropped white dresses, low blue heels, and carried white handbags, while male athletes wore red blazers and white pants.
While 1968 was known as a year of controversy, the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, is remembered as tragedy. The female athletes entered the stadium in red blazers and white skirts, while the male athletes entered in white jackets and red pants, essentially the opposite of 1968.
The 1976 Olympics were held in Montreal, Canada, and women wore white jackets and blue pants (and red bags), while men wore blue suits, white shirts, and red ties.
By the time the United States hosted the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, Olympic team attire had become more casual: both men and women marched in wearing red, white, and blue tracksuits with red visors.
A more formal atmosphere returned for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. This time, the women's outfits stood out with powder blue sweaters and long white skirts, while the men's attire was a bit more traditional, with blue blazers, white slacks and red ties.
The 1992 Barcelona Olympics, featuring professional athletes, is perhaps best known for the “Dream Team,” but the Olympic Committee had the men enter in blue blazers and khaki slacks, while the women wore red blazers and skirts, and both wore white, wide-brimmed hats.
When the Olympics returned to the United States in 1996, the host nation's men dressed in navy blazers, khaki pants and red ties, while women wore longline red blazers, floor-length navy skirts and navy neck scarves.
The 2000 Summer Olympics were held in Sydney, Australia. The United States wore red and navy blazers with white fedoras, with blue uniforms for the men and red uniforms for the women.
The 2004 Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, and the United States again dressed casually in their OC uniforms. Both men and women wore short-sleeved varsity jackets and red shirts. The women wore blue skirts and the men wore blue sweatpants. Both teams wore sneakers and flat “golf” caps.
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, both men and women wore white golf caps, blue blazers, and off-white pants. Women wore open-collar shirts with scarves, and men wore ties.
The 2012 Olympics came back to London and the US team all wore blue blazers, the men white pants, the women white skirts, and for some reason both the women and the men wore blue berets.
The 2016 Olympics returned to the Southern Hemisphere in Rio, and thankfully the US finally ditched their hats and once again donned blue blazers and white pants. They eschewed formal shirting in favour of red, white and blue striped t-shirts and matching boat shoes for both men and women.
The 2020 Olympics did not actually take place in 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID pandemic and hosted by Japan in Tokyo. The mostly empty stadiums cast a dark shadow over the Games, but at least they were held. Both men and women wore navy blue blazers over blue and white striped shirts with red, white and blue belts. Both men and women wore blue pants and sneakers.
Readers, what do you think of past OC uniforms? Which were the best? Which were the worst? Where do you rank the 2024 uniforms in comparison?
Guess the game from the uniform
Based on suggestions from long-time readers/contributors Jimmy CorcoranIn 2019, Uni Watch introduced a new “game” that is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), but asks readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by the teams.
Similar to GTGFTS, readers are asked to guess the date, location and final score of a match from clues provided in the photo. should While this is relatively easy to check, in other cases it may be very difficult. The usual There may be a visual clue (something unusual or unique on one or both of the uniforms) that can pinpoint exactly one game, or there may be something important about the game in question, such as when that particular uniform was last worn (one of Jimmy's original suggestions). It's up to you to track down the game and date.
Today's GTGFTU Steve Williams.
Good luck and post your guesses/answers in the comments section below.
Today's Uni Tweet
Rest in peace, Willie. The first baseball game I saw was in 1972 and Mays was the starting center fielder for the Mets. I don't remember the date or the opponent, but I knew who he was. I didn't realize it at the time, but Mays was the only Negro League player I ever saw. Goodbye, Say Hey Kid.
'Say Hey – The Willie Mays Song' by The Treaneers.
⚾️ #MLB #baseball #Legend #MayWillieMaysRestInHealth pic.twitter.com/tI6ya1codD— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) June 19, 2024
And finally…
…That's it for this early morning post. I'll have at least two more posts to post today, as well as Anthony's Ticker, and of course, as soon as any college news is announced, I'll post it. Be sure to check back!
Have a great day everyone and I'll see you here tomorrow.
peace,
Philippines
