The Daily Helmet: DIY Oilers Active Generation Style Satin Jacket And A New Hat Display
As I talked about a couple weeks ago I won an auction on eBay for a vintage Tampa Bay Buccaneers Active Generation satin jacket. They are fairly simple jackets with just a single helmet patch. I have since found a few others, but what I really wanted was an Oilers one. I paid 30 bucks for my Bucs jacket and although I expected the Oilers jacket to be slightly higher, I didn’t expect it to be priced above a hundred bucks. A higher end vintage starter might be worth that or more, but these jackets are low end with the only branding being the helmet patch and I just didn’t think that price was fair. I made an offer, for somewhere around 60 bucks, but the guy just wouldn’t budge. That lead me to where I usually go when I find something too expensive or hard to get. How can I do this myself? It turns out you can find the exact patches that were used on the jackets pretty frequently on eBay. I found a lot of two for around 10 bucks. It was the exact patch used on the jackets, with the only difference being that these ones had a gray mask instead of the red mask the Oilers jacket on ebay had. Not a big deal. The next step was to find a jacket. Believe it or not, even blank satin jackets, new or vintage can go for a fairly high price. In this case I would need the right color. Augusta, a discount sports clothing manufacturer has a line of satin jackets that look just like the Active Generation jackets. They also had a Columbia Blue one and the color was pretty close to what I needed. So I ordered up the jacket from Amazon and waited.
Patches are exactly what what was used on these jackets. 
eBay listing of the jacket I based my DIY job on.
The jacket Arrives
Finally the jacket arrived and now it was time to get started customizing. This would be a pretty easy DIY job. I was just adding one patch and I would just use the same technique I customized my knit caps with. The Augusta jacket was not the same quality as my original Bucs jacket. The material was more shiny, but overall the craftsmanship was just not as good. It also is louder. Seriously, I mean the jacket makes more noise. I previously had made an Oilers jacket out of an Augusta coaches jacket and no one is sneaking up on anyone in that thing, but this satin jacket has buttons that rattle. I marched around my house and it didn’t rattle too bad, but they do occasionally make noise, which is a disappointment. The jacket was also pretty wrinkled from being stuffed in the packaging, but once it settles, it should be fine. The only other issue I was worried about was ironing the jacket. I was not sure how much heat the cheap material could withstand, but that luckily didn’t end up being an issue. The original jackets had patches that were only sewn on, but I have zero confidence in my hand sewing, so I wanted to make sure the patch stayed attached. Once I ironed on the patch I hand sewed (very sloppily) around the edge and I was done. I feel like it turned out pretty well. I am still on the hunt for a Starter or Chalk Line Oilers jacket, but this one will do for now without having to break the bank. Next to the Bucs jacket it looks pretty legit.
A Place To Hang (Display) My Hat
For some reason I was staring at my hats and I decided I needed a place to display some of my favorites. In my old house I had a great place to display all my hats in the upstairs hallway, but here I don’t have that kind of space, although I have hung a few like that, which was with picture hangers.
I wasn’t looking to display everything down here in the Sports Lair, just wanted one or two spots to properly display my Oilers and other hats on a rotating basis. I decided to buy one of those foam heads they sell at craft stores. Surprisingly a foam head goes for eight bucks! Luckily I had a 40% off coupon, which as a frequent visitor to the craft stores I have learned is the only way to go. They have some business model. Let’s overcharge for everything and then give out coupons! The suckers will think they are getting a great deal, but are actually paying regular price!
Anyhow, I picked up the foam head and then made a super quick DIY shelf out of some scrap wood and a shelf bracket that cost like $1.50 at Home Depot. It makes for a cool little display for any hat I want to feature in the lair. Right now I have my DIY Oilers trucker cap on there, but I probably will be displaying other ones there too.
It also marks the latest addition to my Houston/Oilers shrine. It is starting to look pretty good. All I need now is to add the silver Oilers helmet and maybe some WFL Houston Texans stuff and it will be looking pretty damn sweet.
Time To get Back To Work
The weather is finally starting to break and with that I can end my helmet refurbishing break. I will hopefully be jumping right back in with a Sean Taylor inspired Redskins helmet. The mask came in yesterday. If I start painting today, I should have it ready for display sometime next week.
What I Watched: Oilers Vs. Steelers 1979 AFC Championship
With the Oilers on my mind I decided to watch the 1979 AFC championship which obviously the Oilers would lose, but still great. The best part of this video, like yesterday’s pick, is that it is a full game video with the Steelers radio network overdubbed. The amazing Myron Cope, inventor of the Terrible Towel, with the color commentary and Jack Fleming doing the play-by-play. It is great stuff. It even includes the amazing 1970s radio commercials that were played during the broadcast, which get confusing because the TV broadcast commercials are still playing under them. This was basically the end of the Steelers 1970s dynasty with this being the final Championship of that era. There is just something great about seeing the Steelers play on that awful turf at old Three Rivers Stadium and adding the Oilers is a cherry on top.
Helmet Of The Day: Houston Texans (WFL)
Not to be confused with these Houston Texans, or the Dallas Texans, the Houston Texans played in the World Football League for part of the 1974 season. After eleven games the Texans made a midseason move to Louisiana, becoming the Shreveport Steamer, keeping the green and gold color scheme, but losing the cool Texans logo. I love the color scheme of the texans and any team that played in the Astrodome is a friend of mine.
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