Sports Uniform Stuff
A place where anyone and everyone can discuss Team Sports Uniforms, Baseball Uniforms, Basketball Uniforms, Cheerleading Uniforms, Field Hockey Uniforms, Football Uniforms,
Lacrosse Uniforms, Soccer Uniforms, Softball Uniforms, Track
Uniforms, Cross Country Uniforms , Volleyball Uniforms,
Wrestling….
I think you get the picture.
This is how “Sports Uniform Guy” the founder of the blog (catchy name here) The Sports Uniform Guy describes his site. I have to admit, I didn’t realize there was so much to talk about concerning sports uniforms, but apparently their is!
All of us have to purchase uniforms for our league and all of us are intimately familiar with the process. I think this is akin to being strapped down and having my toenails extracted one-by-one, but the Sports Uniform Guy (Love that name) makes uniforms interesting and exciting!
He is actually a pretty cool guy, with a fantastic perspective considering that fact that he is old and (holding my nose) an EAGLES FAN!!!! UGGGGHHHH…But at least he is a true Philadelphian, so he is true to his home team and I respect him for that. It could be worse, he could be a Cowboys fan! Oh yeah, didn’t the Redskins just spank the Cowboys and the Eagles in consecutive weeks in their own stadiums??? But I digress as I am still basking in their glory.
All kidding aside, (yeah right) when I logged onto his site today Sports Uniform Guy I was met with smiling and casually vivacious future Vice President Sarah Palin. How great is it going to be to watch her stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down during McCain’s state of the union speeches! I am looking forward to that! Again, I digress!!! I am bad tonight.
Anyway, all kidding aside (and I mean it this time), I have had the pleasure of conversing via email with The Sports Uniform Guy and he seems to be both knowledgeable and service oriented. A quick perusal of his site supports my first impressions of him.
He mixes current events such as a controversial cheerleader uniform for the University of Idaho, with serious content such as the latest fashions in the basketball world. He takes hard line stands on throwback uniforms after seeing those horrible Jets uniforms a couple of weeks ago, and has light fodder such as Uniform Spelling Snafus. He seems to cover all the bases and keep a very dull subject, Sports Uniforms, light and entertaining, as well as informative.
Take a look and let me know what you think.
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Lock Was Kicking my Butt!
Worlds Greatest Equipment Manager
We have the best equipment manager on the planet! He has worked thanklessly and tirelessly (ok maybe he got tired, he looked it anyway) to make sure that every player had the proper size uniform and each team had enough equipment to play. Another thing he is; a master of The Bargain!
The Budget
We budgeted $800 to get one lock upgrade at our snack bar. We needed a way to track who was coming and going and decided a great idea would be a lock w/ a code that we can download information from. We chose the Trilogy 2800 because he got 2 for less than our budget!!!! Great idea right????
ummmmmm……If you had asked me four hours ago I may have said no, but now??? Sure it was fabulous!
The Set Up
OK, so programming a basic code into the locks was a piece of cake! Simple entry similar to what you would do on any device. But, this lock comes w/ a sophisticated software that allows you to program all kinds of neat stuff! The software? Piece of cake! I had every team programmed w/ a different code and ready to upload to the lock in no time. I was even able to restrict entry to the teams to the hours of 5:30-9:30 so they can’t get in during the day when nobody is around.
Sounds simple right?…SURE!!!!
The Trouble
The software comes w/ a D9-2 pin connector that communicates w/ the lock. You are simply supposed to plug it in, click the button and boom! About a week ago we plugged it in, clicked the button and…………………….waited………………….waited……………..waited………………….ut oh.
OK, guess we will have the actually read the manual! I hate manuals! Checked the manual…nothing. hmmmmmmmm…..
OK, let’s check one of the 5 bulletins that came w/ it since the manual was printed. On the 5th one I found a clause that said that some modern laptops are not truly RS232 compliant on their D9 serial adapters and don’t provide the proper voltage needed for this lock! In addition, you can run a loopback test to see if your laptop is compliant. (This is where I say 2 hours in, if we had read the thing in the first place we wouldn’t have been two hours in…but I will ignore that part for humor’s sake!)
What do we do? We run a loopback test……fail….fail….fail…..fail…..fail. hmmm….I guess we have one of those non-compliant serial connections. Why would they build it this way? I have no clue. So what do we need? A “proprietary” cable of course!…I go home and search for it online. How much???? $150!!!!! HOLY COW!!!!
OK, this can’t be. Our equipment manager, who also happens to be a very handy guy, he installed the locks, new PA speakers, and much much more, mentioned that he didn’t think that cable was anything special. It was simply a cable to convert a USB port to a serial port. Why do I need this if I already have a d9 connection? That is a question for Dell I guess. The more I thought about this, the more I agreed. So I headed out to Office Depot for a cable….no longer stocked. Oh, no problem, Radio Shack will have it of course..wrong!
I had to go to the local Bad Boys Computer store, and they had it. The good thing about this was I was able to ask the technogeek working there if he thought it would work or if I would need their $150 cable! He was fairly certain, as we were, that there would be nothing special about it. I came to learn that the d9/usb adapter actually came w/ software and a driver. Pretty cool, and pretty sure it would work.
Tonight’s Adventure
So what do I do? I trudge on over there tonight, determined NOT to be defeated by a lock! I install the cable, install the driver perfect, no problems. Hook up to the lock, run the loopback test..fail..fail…fail….hmmmmm.
OK, what is up w/ that? I really have no idea and almost am willing to surrender to the $150 cable! (this cable cost $29.99 at the computer store btw) But what kind of example would I be setting for my kids if I simply gave up? The game wasn’t over yet!
What did I do? I checked the com ports under the devices settings in the my computer properties. The device was set up as com 16, I needed it on one of com1-com4. After some manipulation I was able to get a successful loopback test! Yippee! I had the polarity wrong and also had to reset the port to com2 but I was able to get the thing to work!!! WOOHOO I WIN I WIN the Little League Coach WINS!!!!!!
Great Features
The locks are actually great. They have features that allow us to limit access and track who is coming and going. I suspect that cases of hamburgers will no longer be walking out of the snack bar any more. Here are the features we chose to use:
1. Restricted entry times for team parents – This allows them to enter only when other’s are around
2. Individual tracking codes for each team – We know who is coming and going
3. Full access 24/7 for board members
4. Special code for the city to get in
When all is said and done, these will be a great addition to the league. I think we will probably install one on the equipment room as well and then maybe gloves and balls will stop walking out.
Have you faced a technical challenge as a volunteer? Post a comment below and let us know about it.
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