GAME WORN NFL JERSEYS AND EQUIPMENT

Update May 11, 2011  A Las Vegas collectibles company that specializes in NFL game-worn uniforms and gear has just signed a contract with the Washington Redskins to offer their game worn gear from the 2011 and 2012 NFL seasons.  Sports fans know that there is a lot of "official" gear and jerseys on the market, some of it authographed, but some of the best collectibles include the game used and game worn uniforms and gear.  The company that made the deal is JO SportsCo and it claims to be the leader in game worn NFL merchandise.

JO SportsCo sells game worn NFL merchandise with numerous contracts with NFL teams and individual players and the company markets its merchandise "With All The Hits and Stains!"  JO SportsCo sells jerseys, helmets, cleats, gloves, footballs and other game used NFL merchandise.  There is also signed memorabilia available at their Las Vegas store at 740 S. Rampart in Boca Park.  Call (702) 823-3860 or (866) 410-3860 for information.

THEY'RE "PERIODS" AND NOT "QUARTERS" IN BASKETBALL

April 13, 2011   Tonight I was watching a Lakers basketball game on TV.  And the announcers kept on making comments such as "it's a fast quarter" and "three more quarters of play" but that is not what they should be saying.  Sure, there are four periods of regular play in a basketball game, but those four periods are called "periods" and they are not called "quarters" but most people and sports announcers forget that.  Just to make sure there are four "periods" in the NBA I checked the official NBA rules for timing basketball games and no where did I see the word "quarter" used to describe the periods of play.  Periods were called periods -- period.  And here is an excerpt of the official NBA rules:

a. All periods of regulation play in the NBA will be twelve minutes.
b. All overtime periods of play will be five minutes.
c. Fifteen minutes will be permitted between halves of all games.
d. 130 seconds will be permitted between the first and second periods, the third and fourth periods and before any overtime period.
e. A team is permitted 30 seconds to replace a disqualified player.
f. The game is considered to be in the two-minute part when the game clock shows 2:00 or less time remaining in the period.
g. The public address operator is required to announce that there are two minutes remaining in each period.
h. The game clock shall be equipped to show tenths-of-a-second during the last minute of each period.
Section III-End of Period
a. Each period ends when time expires.

So there you have the official rules and no where is the word "quarter" used.  There are four quarters in a football game but there are four periods in a basketball game.  So when did the periods of basketball become quarters?  I remember playing basketball when I was in junior high school and high school in public school in Nanuet, New York.  And I vividly remember the score boards -- and they said "period" and had lights that would indicate which period of play the game was in.  I graduated high school in 1970, and back then I only knew basketball as having four periods.  Well, sometime after 1970 periods became quarters.

Does it matter?  I am sure you are asking that now.  Well, would you call an inning in baseball "a ninth" or would you call a set in tennis "a third" with a winner decided by winning two out of three thirds?