This past weekend I had the chance to do something I never really imagined doing. I was invited to Cal State University Northridge to talk to a class of students about Bumpy Pitch as a brand, the story behind it and design inspiration. I’ll start this off by saying I had no idea how this was going to play out. I knew it could go a couple of different directions resulting in a couple different results, but I was hopeful that it would be a positive experience for all involved.

It ended up being one of the cooler things I have done in a very long time. It was great to talk about Bumpy Pitch. Tell stories about how we started. Why we started in the first place. Share some of our experiences, talk about things we have done well, and share stories about times when mistakes were made. We ended up going over some of the inspiration for our designs ranging from our BPFC Crest, to styles like Fall River, Brooklyn, The Shed End, etc.

One of the things that I didn’t expect was how looking back on where we started and how Bumpy Pitch has evolved over time would be such an interesting experience. We so often are hyper focused on what’s next, what’s around the corner and thinking about the future that we tend to forget about the past. Where we have been. What we were thinking at certain times. What was inspiring us at different moments, etc. This allowed me the opportunity to look back at some of what has happened with the brand, share those experiences and take stock of where things are at now. All very cool and humbling to do.

After talking to the students and then answering a number of questions, I got to check out what they were working on. The class was basically divided into eight teams with four students each. Each team was responsible for coming up with a brand, a logo, an inspiration board and an explanation of what their product or service would provide. Seeing all of the projects, the designs, the inspiration for these “brands” and so on took me back to those early days when Dunny, Ace and I would do the same things that they were doing. Creating something that didn’t exist before is not an easy thing to do, but these students were right in the thick of it. Each of these teams had a strong belief in what they were creating and it was inspiring to be around so much enthusiasm and excitement. I’m hopeful that some of these students end up pursuing some of their ideas as there were definitely some good ones in the class.

Big thanks to Professor Farah for inviting me to speak and to the students for helping me leave even more inspired than I was before the class. You guys were great.

Verne Troyer in the building! Scratch that, this picture was actually snapped of Verne just outside the Riverside Studios for a taping of the ITV2 show Celebrity Juice. Verne, Ray and Lonny are out in the UK filming, making appearances, meeting the locals. All the things that they should be doing while on their UK tour.

Yesterday Ray checked in with a picture from his hotel which was attached to the stadium in Sheffield. Today he sent over this image of our boy Verne Troyer on his arrival at Riverside Studios wearing our BPFC Crest for kids shirt. Much respect on the support my dude! I look forward to hearing some good stories when you guys get back!

Often times when we make a particular product, it’s a one time only type of release. Call it limited edition or whatever you want, but much of the time we just never plan on doing multiple runs of the same product. That was the plan with the BPFC Raglan when we released it. It was going to be limited to the one run and once it was done, well it was done.

But after a lot of emails and requests to bring it back, we decided to do so. Only difference this time around is we have added a second colorway in an “eco black.” Both colors are now up on the Bumpy Pitch web store and available for sale.

We hinted at this last week, and now we can officially announce we have produced the first couple of Bumpy Pitch t-shirts for kids (Foosball / Crest)

With the shirts finished as of last Friday, I headed out to see Dunny and his fam and get some photos taken with his son Shia. First off, let me say Shia made for an excellent model. He was more than happy to have his picture taken sporting his new Bumpy Pitch shirts, as long as he had ample time in between snaps to run around and kick his multiple soccer balls around the backyard like crazy. That definitely runs in the Dunseth family and it was a ton of fun to see what a good time Shia was having. He also has a pretty wicked right foot that I know makes his pops verrrry proud.

See that form right there? Little man is still just two years old but his form when striking the ball is on point. That’s all natural right there!

Even the follow through was solid…

Shia’s version of blue steel…

After he was done kicking the ball around, somehow Shia already knew that he needed to cool down with some stretching. This is one smart kid…

And finally, this photo kind of represents the whole idea in doing something for the kids. Sharing our passion for the sport (and Bumpy Pitch) with the next generation. This one is definitely like father like son.

Available now exclusively in the Bumpy Pitch online store.