ESPN.com’s Tim Graham reported a "Madden NFL 12" promotional video “briefly posted on YouTube showed highlight clips” of Bills players in the team’s new uniforms. An NFL source confirmed that the uniforms “shown in the clip -- an homage to the ones worn from 1975 through 1983 -- were the real deal.” The helmets “will be white with the blue charging buffalo and gray facemasks.” The jerseys will have “broad stripes on the shoulders instead of the sleeve bottom,” and pants will be “blue or white, the opposite of the jersey.” The blue pants “will have red-between-white piping,” while the white pants “will have red-between-blue piping” (ESPN.com, 4/25).
LOCAL FLAVOR: In DC, Dan Steinberg notes the Nationals this season are sounding a submarine horn after home runs and wins at Nationals Park instead of shooting off fireworks. It is part of a "calculated decision to move from a generic form of stadium celebration to something uniquely Southeast Washington." The three blasts from the horn "signal for a power ascent." It is a "tribute to the Nationals’ relationship to the military, the franchise’s significant number of fans who work in the military, and the stadium’s proximity to the Navy Yard" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/26).
STATING HIS CASE: Red Sox Chair Tom Werner Thursday “disagreed with the theory” that the team signed LF Carl Crawford "in large part as a reaction to NESN’s big dip in TV ratings" in '10. Werner also “disagrees with the characterization that he’s been marginalized in the John Henry ownership” (Dan Shaughnessy, BOSTON GLOBE, 4/24).
