JOTS Contest - Winner

The Longest Yard
After weighing the suggestions given, the winner - based on the longevity of the film and it's relevance even after 25+ years in regards to sports films is ajl917 who suggested The Longest Yard. Even for those who have never seen the film the infamous "Mean Machine" title is probably familiar. The theme of prisoners versus guards in a form of sport has been oft repeated. The film has spawned a recent remake with Adam Sandler, as well as a British version (called "Mean Machine", starring Vinnie Jones and using the other football), and if you want to make the stretch the fim Lock Up, with Sylvester Stalone, is pretty much a direct copy.

Congratulations ajl917, if you want to contact me via the site you'll receive a custom jersey of your choice for the database. Look for the Longest Yard jerseys to be added shortly.

Misc. Jerseys Round 3: The Beatles

It was announced today that Paul McCartney's entire catalog of music will soon be available on iTunes, and in as such one immediately jumps to the thought that The Beatles recordings may also one day soon be available there. (For those of you Beatles fans who don't already own everything they ever recorded...)

Also, if one goes in for dates, two weeks from today marks the 40th anniversary of the original release of Sgt. Pepper. So, with that in mind, round three of the misc. jersey posts are the boys from Liverpool...not in Liverpool FC jerseys unfortunately....but rather in their infamous old swimming costumes (originally from a photo shoot in 1963.)

You can get them for use with the widgets in the Misc. section of the database, or by clicking here.

Jerseys on the Screen: Contest

There is a certain mistique with sports jerseys used in films, and occasionally TV shows, and the idea of documenting them is kind of interesting. At the moment the database it sort of lacking in this department, but it is something that I want to include, if for no other reason than for having an existing image gallery of them. The Charlestown Chiefs was a quite obvious one to add, as the team and the jerseys have taken on a life of their own. The same with the Indians from Major League. One obvious hockey jersey that is missing is Youngblood, and I have been meaning to add it as soon as I find an image to go from. But, this is just the tip of the iceberg as sports and films go (occasionally) well together, and often involve entirely made up teams, logos, and players.

Now, as many minds are better than one, I'll ask the simple question: Who am I missing? What fake movie teams and jerseys should be included? Who do you want to see? Who comes to mind? What is in your opinion the best sports jersey used in a film and why?

Submit you ideas and reasonings using the Contact Form located here: The Contact Form, or if you have an account by using the feedback section below. All entries will be posted below, and the best one (based on a democratic process of opinon) will be made and you'll get a personalized jersey in the database as a prize. What it is will be entirely up to you.

So, do some research, rent some films, look for something obscure, find out what number Richard Harris was in This Sporting Life....and let me know what you think. Submit as many as you like. The deadline is: May 24th and the winner will be announced here on the 25th.

Suggestions so far:
- Bad News Bears
- The (actual) Mighty Ducks
- The Sandlot
- Field of Dreams
- The Natural
- Happy Gilmore
- A League of Their Own
- Space Jam
- Dodgeball
- The Waterboy
- The Longest Yard
- The Replacements
- Any Given Sunday
- Friday Night Lights
- Varsity Blues
- Benchwarmers
- Talladega Nights
- Harry Potter
- Little Giants
- Gridiron Gang
- Blue Chips
- The Air Up There
- Air Bud
- Cool Runnings
- Men With Brooms
- Kicking and Screaming
- Glory Road
- Hoosiers
- All the Right Moves
- Gus
- Mr. 3000
- Hardball
- Radio
All the Right moves Gus Radio Hardball Mr. 3000

Misc. Jerseys Round 2: Major League

It was inevitable that these would eventually make it into the database, and so, for fans of the film and the Indians...seven of the more prominant members of the team. Including Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Cerrano, Rick Vaughn, Jake Taylor and even the skipper Lou Brown.

I know I'm missing the rest of the team, but getting the numbers and names may involve a little more research than I was prepared to do at the moment. (In other words getting a copy of the actual film...) If anyone wants to fill in the rest of the roster, with names and numbers, I will be glad to make the rest.

One thing that is a bit strange about the jerseys they use in the film is the font used for the numbers, I tried to come close to it, but it is definitely not a font you'll find on any baseball jerseys in the Majors, none the less...bats with hats...

You can get them for use with the widgets here: Major League Jerseys

About the New Site Widget

With the new site the original version of this widget became obsolete so for the sake of combining a number of ideas into one I made the new version more handy and functional.

The widget includes the news feed for the site, which is the same on the front page, including updates, additions to the database, new site features, and blog posts. The last of these appear in a slight orangish color. Clicking on the "boxes" will take you to either the blog or the main page for the site.

You can search the database, much like in the NHL widget, by entering search criteria which will give you a list of results including player's names, team, sport and jersey type (i.e. color). Clicking on the results will show you the jersey (seen in the pictures to the right) in a locker. From here you can either return to the search function or click display to show only the jersey.

The other feed within the widget is a list of the last of 50 jerseys added to the database, these are shown and function exactly like the search pane, you can click on them to preview and display them. Updating this list, and the news feed, is done by clicking on the round arrow in the bottom left hand corner of the widget.

I added two new features which I originally had considered adding to an updated version of the HockeyFan widget, however I thought they would be better suited here. One is the ability to show a completely random jersey chosen from the database, and the other is the ability to show a random jersey that corresponds with the current day. Alas, if you're bored, this will give you something mildly amusing to do...

Finally I put in the ability to simply enter a player ID number, these are found within the database on the site, if you want to easily show any particular jersey from the database without trying to sort through a search.

The Dashboard version and the Yahoo! version differ only slightly from one another. They both have mini jersey mode, and Dashboard has the ability to show random jerseys whenever the Dash is activated. I didn't add this to the Yahoo! because, in essence, it is always active and you can very simply trigger a new random number by clicking on the "shuffle" button. To revert from showing only the jersey in Dashboard you simply click on the widget to flip back to the main side. The Yahoo! version uses a small arrow button which is shown when you mouse over the jersey. The dock icon in the new version of Yahoo! widgets shows whatever the last jersey you displayed was, or the current one being displayed. This may make it a bit easier to locate the widget on your desktop.

You can download either version here: HockeyWidgets site widget

As always, please let me know if you find any errors or bugs.

The Dashboard version was updated May 6th to fix a couple of issues with the display. If you happened to download the first version (4.0) please download 4.01 as this will eliminate a couple of problems you may encounter.

Nr. 5000 - The winner is...

Jim Thorpe
Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas for number 5000, there were a lot to pick from and some really great suggestions (most of which will end up in the database over time). In the end a decision had to be made and we decided on Jim Thorpe. Congratulations to Joe who sent in the winner!

There are some great biographies written about James "Bright Path" Thorpe, and I suggest, if you aren't already familiar with his history, at least reading up on his accomplishments on either Wikipedia here, or on the official site here. To give you an idea of why Thorpe was selected among the others one need simply look at his legacy in not one particular sport but a number of them. The jersey used for the database is the one he wore at the Carlisle Indian School (Carlisle, PA), where he was twice selected as All-American on the first team. There is some dispute as to what number he wore during his career, some say 21 some say 1, there is also some indication that most of the jerseys he wore had no number. For the database I opted to use the front of the jersey, since it has become somewhat iconic when it comes to Jim Thorpe.

Thorpe excelled at football, and later played in the NFL for both the Cardinals and the Giants (he would also one day be the president of the league), he is a member of both the College Football, and Pro-Football Hall of Fames. In addition to football Thorpe player major and minor league baseball, including stints on the Giants, Reds and Braves. He also played soccer and ran track and field, most famously winning two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics (here in Stockholm), in the decathlon and pentathlon. A feat which the King of Sweden honored him with by saying, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world."

If all that wasn't enough he has numerously been awarded the title, Athlete of the Century from ABC's Wide World of Sports. With all that in mind, I humbly award him ID number 5000 in the database.

Misc. Jerseys Round 1: The Goonies

Well, to sort of mix things up and get more jerseys into the miscellaneous section of the site I'm going to start a series of posts relating to them. These will probably be all over the board when it comes to the subject matter, but I like to think that they are worth a place in the "non-serious" section of the database.

The first round includes all 8 Goonies from the film. (Put in the database using their actual names from the film.) The font used is called, well, Goonies, and is available for free at dafont.com And, no, that is not Chunk's high score in Pole Position on the left sleeve.

You can see all of them here.

Requests are welcome...