The Daily Helmet: Knit Cap Patch Implant eBay Finds And More

by Mike Cline Jr. in Buffalo Sabres

The Daily Helmet

A Daily look into the projects I’m working on, what I’m doing, what I bought, what I’m watching and more!

Featured Project: Knit Cap Transplant

A few weeks ago I outlined how you can make your very own faux vintage knit cap. Well, I ran into a little trouble when I was trying to find the perfect match for my vintage Buffalo Sabres patch. Believe it or not, it was actually impossible to find the right royal blue and gold hat to match the patch. I thought I found one, but it was not the right shade of blue. While I searched high and low for the right blue and gold, I kept coming across Golden State Warriors hats. It turns out that when the Warriors switched to their current colors, they were very similar to the classic Sabres colors. Well, one of the hats that came up was an especially good match.

We Have a Match!

Not only was it an exact match, it also was on sale for 19.99. So I ordered it up, hoping that the Warriors patch wasn’t glued on, or I would have to cover it up with the smaller Sabres patch and have a little of the original showing.

As it turned out, it wasn’t glued on at all. It took a couple minutes with my trusty previously outlined, I attached my Sabres patch to the now blank blue and gold knit cap.

Looks perfect!

So, now I have my very own one of a kind faux vintage Sabres cap. Sorry to any Warriors fans out there, but there is still some evidence of the caps former Life:

It’ll be our little secret.

What I bought

It’s Monday, so time to review what I bought this week. Early in the week I jumped into the world of digital prints, designing/printing a couple posters for my ever decreasing wall space:

Philadelphia Bell Poster: I decided to design and print my own Bell poster. The Philadelphia Bell had my favorite uniforms in the old WFL. I designed and then used Walmart to print it up for about $5.00.

Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Seating Chart: Some of my best sports memories took place in the old Aud in Buffalo. Where I was lucky enough to see the Whalers and Nordiques play in the Sabres classic old Barn. Years ago I found this original seating chart form the building and finally did something with it. Printing it up and hanging it in my Sabres section of the Sport Lair.

Thrift Store Find: Finding helmets and other quality sports related stuff at thrift stores can be tough. You need both the person donating and the store staff to not know what they have with an item to hit true gold. I have seen a few cool things, but mostly you are just getting common stuff or things not really worth that much in dollars. I lucked out this week, finding an older Riddell Colorado Buffaloes Mini Helmet. I actually don’t have a ton of Mini Helmets, so this could be a start of a college Mini collection, that I sort of have to do, because I am quickly running out of room in my main space.

Snack Bowl Helmet:

I’ve wanted one of these for a while now. They have a lot of cool vintage ones on eBay, but they are not very cheap. Brand new, the team helmets are about sixty bucks. Not cool, for a piece of plastic. Well, Target has their own exclusive blank snack helmet. It even comes with all 32 small team decals so you can customize it however you like and I was able to pick it up for 15 bucks on clearance. I think i will try my best to dress it up. Unfortunately, painting it is not an option, because I’d like to actually use it as a snack bowl. I will try to add a stripe and maybe some college decals as well for all of my football watching snacking needs.

What I’m Watching:

Back in July 1985 the USFL had its last game. The 1985 championship between the Baltimore Stars and the Oakland Invaders. The odd part being that the Baltimore Stars never played a game their. Playing their home games after moving from Philadelphia in College Park, Maryland at Byrd Stadium. The Stars would go on to win their second USFL title in a row, but sadly there would not be another game played. The planned move to a fall league, or the hopes of a possible merger with NFL evaporated and the league folded, leaving just the memories in the minds of sports nerds who still remember the league or look back fondly on the uniforms and players. The entire game is on Youtube. It appears to be the original broadcast from the Buffalo, NY ABC affiliate and also has all of the original commercial breaks, which I love. It also features the legendary Keith Jackson and color analyst Lynn Swann calling the game. Doing their best while keenly aware of the impending doom that faced the league.

Helmet Of The Day

Oakland Invaders (USFL)

The Invaders had the second best helmet in the USFL in my opinion, right behind the legendary Houston Gamblers. Love the colors and logo. Incidentally, their uniform is almost an exact copy of my previously mentioned favorite WFL team, The Philadelphia Bell.

I will be making a Wood version to go with my Gamblers this week. Pictures of that project to come!

That’s it for today. I will be posting this blog as a daily feature Monday-Friday.