So, we're desperately in need of distraction today, right? This is our third installment of the Wednesday question, and on each of the past three Wednesdays, we at TSO have been dying for something completely superfluous and largely irrelevant to take our minds off the bitter struggles of our team.
Today, we're discussing something completely superficial: team logos. I picked up this book recently called The Final Four of Everything, which--you guessed it--uses bracketology to determine playoff scenarios for random pop culture, ranging from Clint Eastwood movies to breakfast cereals to American beers to...NFL logos. The championship round for the NFL logos finds the Dallas Cowboys' star versus the Cleveland Browns'...nothing. The book crowned the Browns the winners for refusing to cave to commercialization and for being unique. (To that, I say, BAH! You can't award a prize for best logo to a team with no logo; I don't care what message it sends. For my money, I choose the kickass Oakland Raiders' logo.)
On a related note, today's question:
With the exception of the Winged Wheel, what is the best NHL logo, and, conversely, what is the worst NHL logo?
Me? I'm a classic kind of girl, who tends to gravitate toward old-school block lettering and logos as opposed to modern design. I choose the Toronto Maple Leafs--it's simple, it's traditional, and it hasn't strayed far from its original model. It's location-specific, another factor I value in team design.
A close second is the Montreal Canadiens' old-school C, with the tiny H inscribed in the middle. Another example of a team refusing to fix what isn't broken and maintaining their identity over the course of decades. Easy choices in that both of my selections are Original Six teams? Maybe. But you don't see me choosing the Blackhawks or the Rangers, do you?
For worst logo, I nominate the Minnesota Wild, just in time to get riled up for the game on Thursday (as if we needed another reason). But seriously--what the hell is going on with their logo? The "Wild Animal" is a vomity combination of colors, featuring a Northwoods landscape enclosed in an outline of some rabid woodland creature in heat. Horrible. And really a disgrace, too, because the hockey-happy people of Minnesota really do deserve something a little more tasteful (with the exception of A2Y's foe, Pinky).
A (dis)honorable mention goes out to the Colorado Avalanche, who escape my primary nomination because my complaint is not really geared toward their snow-sash A as it is with the goofy foot they use as an alternate logo. Come on, it's a fucking foot on their jerseys. Unacceptable.
Agree/disagree with the above? Have any others you'd like to praise or abuse? Feel free to chime in below. We'll put it to a vote. Meanwhile, snack on this jam:
Posts
I actually like the Wild logo from a design perspective, but it certainly doesn't belong in professional hockey.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'll lose a few friends here, but the Blackhawks logo and jersey are both absolutely beautiful. Don't get me wrong, they're a distant second to the Winged Wheel and the classic simplicity of red and white, but they really are something lovely. I don't, however, like their numbers. Too fat.
Boston's yellow and black are snazzy, too.
Anaheim's jerseys are RETARDED -- in every facet. The burnt orange accent, the stupid ugly numbers, the asymmetrical piping. Terrible. Oppressive to the eyes.
You're not alone Mike, the Hawk logo is rather howdoyousay "baller". That in combination with the shoulder patch logos make it my second favorite to the Wings.
ReplyDeleteI hate the Predator logo and jersey. It's dog ass.
- Tyler
Petrella, we may not have it out over Ozzie, but I think we need to take this outside if you continue complimenting the Blackhawks on here. Admittedly, I can't look at them without experiencing extreme nausea; the closest I'll come to a compliment is saying I enjoyed their Winter Classic jerseys. I enjoyed the wide stripe, similar to Detroit's Winter Classic jersey, which was sweet. In all seriousness, I find the color scheme of the Hawks' regular jerseys to be aesthetically pleasing; however, I don't care for the group of thin stripes at the bottom of the jerseys. Or the fact that more often than not, the jerseys are attached to slime.
ReplyDeleteBoston's yellow/black combination is tight; I enjoy that color combination, even though it always makes me think of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their brown/gold Winter Classic jerseys were cool, too, because they paid homage to the olden days of the franchise.
Wait, are you talking about the Anaheim Ducks' CURRENT jerseys? Because if so, that's ok. But please don't tell me you're insulting vintage Duckman of third jersey fame. We all know that was the apex of artistic expression on behalf of a sports franchise.
I like the Bruins logo, and despise the Ducks one (same thing as the Browns: that's not a logo, dammit).
ReplyDeleteI like both the Bruins regular logo and their third jersey logo. But they are my Eastern Conference team, so I might be biased. :)
ReplyDelete(Like when a Leafs blogger sent me to the Rangers website to vote for the best Original Six logo, and I voted for the Red Wings!)
I also hate the Ducks logo. And the Lightning's logo is pretty lame, though not as lame as their third jerseys (BOLTS).
Best logos:
ReplyDelete1. Leafs, 2. Habs, 3. Bruins.
Best jersey:
1. Rangers (fucking classic and gorgeous), 2. Habs, 3. Leafs
Worst logos:
1. Nasvhille (cat? cyborg? robot?), 2. Ducks (no logo), 3. The Buffaslug
Worst jerseys:
1. Sharks 2. Sharks 3. Sharks. That colour is the worst thing ever
My favorites would be pretty much any Original Six. They seem to stay pretty true to tradition. Some of the new fangled marketing types just don't get the fact that hockey is a game steeped in tradition that demands respect. Toronto, Montreal and Boston are all good examples of staying true to their traditions. And darn nice jerseys too.
ReplyDeleteMy least favorites would be Columbus and Nashville. Yuck.
Like pretty much everyone else, I'm a big fan of the Original Six jerseys/logos. Not sure why I like the Boston one, but I do. And the Ranger shield is just awesome. Calgary's flaming C is pretty sweet too, as long as they don't put it on an orange sweater. (Shudders in fear)
ReplyDeleteAndy beat me to it, but the Buffaslug... seriously? They could have a much cooler logo- they DID have a much cooler logo. And the Thrashers logo/jersey almost makes those awful prison-stripe Habs throwback jerseys look good.
From a retro standoint and certainly not up there with original six jerseys, I am going to say I like the Nordiques jersey. It was very 70s and who doesn't like a fleur de lis although I am not sure what the red blobby thing was now that I think about it. In any event, I dug them.
ReplyDeleteWorst? There are so many equally horrible logos. The Sharks is horrible but they just ripped off the original Penguins logo (not that I like that either). I think Atlanta's is a joke.
I think what annoys me most is the constant updating of logo and color schemes. Look at the home crowd at a Sabres, Penguins, Capitals, Canucks, Kings (okay most expansion teams) and count the variations. I don't care how crappy it is, pick it and stick with it.
If you're gonna throw in the Nordiques, then I've got to add the Hartford Whalers to the list. Forgot them the first time...
ReplyDeleteSkewed bias and all, but the winged wheel really is the best logo out there in terms of marketing/recognition/etc.
ReplyDeleteBlack and yellow happens to be my favorite color combo, so I'm leaning towards the Bruins logo as the winner. I like the simplicity of the design, and the matter of fact "B". Nice symmetry and classic in your face statement of recognition.
I'd like to give an honorable mention to the Sharks logo because Sharks are badass (the animals), but it makes so little sense as far as a hockey mascot, and I think the broken hockey stick and triangle are just useless tokens... and don't get me started on turquoise as a color. So I take it back, or better yet, honorable mention for the worst.
About half of the remaining teams' logos are in the awful category for me, but I think the Capitals logo takes the cake. Who designed this crap? The past eagle logos weren't too bad, but just having your name with a hockey stick is useless and uncreative. Also, the incredibly crappy font hurts my eyes and makes me feel like I’m stuck watching bad production alien movies of the 80s, and what's with the added trinkets of three stars and a hockey puck, as if they forgot they were designing the logo for a hockey team… pfft.
THANK YOU to the anonymous commenter for pointing out how absolutely freakin' ANNOYING it is when teams completely change color schemes, etc. I wish I would have thought to mention that in the actual post because it's something I bitch to Brian about all the time. The Caps are a great example of that. Their current jerseys look NOTHING like the ones of old. One of the best things about being a sports fan is enjoying the traditions that go along with your particular team. When a team completely ditches a uniform design, they're asking the fanbase to forgive them for both their fickleness and initial poor judgment. The solution is (A) don't design something you'll be embarrassed by in just a few years, or (B) to echo the anonymous commenter, you've made your bed, so lie in it.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I also take issue with the "white-out" thing that the Pens and other teams do. White is NOT a team-specific color; isn't it more intimidating for a team to come in to the arena and see a crowd dressed in whatever the hometeam's dominant color is?
I think so far, it's pretty clear that you guys have obvious antipathy toward the mischaracterization of animals in logos. Andy and Sara--the buffaslug is beyond ridiculous. Tyler--the Nashville saber-toothed tiger is giggle-inducing, not shit-your-pants-inducing. I joked earlier about the Ducks' much-maligned old third jersey, but seriously, the webbed foot as the "D" on the current jersey? Well, I think I made it pretty clear how I feel about the use of feet--any feet--on team apparel. Michael Smith, Columbus's logo is just cheesy. It's like a patriotic, magnetic car ribbon at its all-time worst.
This could easily have been a top 10 of best and worst logos or even a point-by-point breakdown of each team's successes and failures. You all are doing a great job at coming up with good and bad ones. Let me just say that a non-Original Six team I actually enjoy is the Philadelphia Flyers. I have no idea why; going by my own rubric, I should absolutely hate it. But there's something about it that just rocks my socks. Maybe it's that it exemplifies the era in which the team entered the League. Maybe it has something to do with the color orange. It's an odd logo for what has often been an oddball team. I dig it.
Oh, and the Kings' logo--Burger King, anyone? When I think about the Kings' logo/jerseys, I always think about how they changed their gear to involve purple once they got wind of L.A. gang members sporting their apparel. Too funny.
Finally, I just want to point out to the people discussing now-defunct team jerseys: Brian wants a Hartford Whalers jersey in the worst way.
I can find him a Plymouth Whalers jersey, would that help?
ReplyDeleteThe Flyers is also totally 70s retro so it falls in with Quebec and Hartford but this doesn't include the year they wore the pants.
ReplyDeleteAnd since we've gone off the beaten path, as a Clevelander, I'd like to say the Cleveland Crusaders logo was awesome.
Haha, the Plymouth Whalers have a funny logo. I know I should probably find it horrible, also, but it just makes me giggle. I just love that the whale is so angry, he just blew his load. (Couldn't resist.)
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest: I had to Google Image search the Cleveland Crusaders logo. Now that I did, I have to say I enjoy the old school (like, centuries-old old school) font and the use of an actual crusader's likeness.
If we're going REALLY off the beaten path, I'm going to throw out the USHL's Omaha Lancers. Similar to the Cleveland Crusaders in theme, but close to my heart because of my feelings toward Omaha. Also, I really enjoy the team name "lancers".
Don't judge me, but I hadn't noticed the animal shape of the Wild logo until now. But now that I have, I can't not see it. Like one of those vase/two faces optical illusion pictures, I guess.
ReplyDeleteGotta agree with Petrella. I think the Blackhawks logo and appearance is one of the best in the game. Classic logo with an excellent color scheme and great secondary logo (crossed tomahawks) makes it a tough one to beat.
ReplyDeleteNot NHL and totally biased but aside from the Wings, the best logo is the Soo Greyhounds.
ReplyDeletep.s. I don't get where all the love comes from for the Hawks jersey/logo.
Kris, that is the PERFECT way of describing it. It will haunt you in your nightmares.
ReplyDeleteChris and Anon, we appear to have an ongoing raging debate regarding the quality of the Hawks' uniform. Personally, the Indian doesn't do it for me, but it is classic and Original Six-y, so I see why people chose it. Admittedly, I could never get past the fact that it's Chicago, but that's neither here nor there, I suppose. I'm also not a fan of the Rangers' shield. It's classic, also, but I don't like red and bright blue together. A personal preference, but I don't like two dominant colors competing for attention with one another.
The Soo Greyhounds? Gotta love that they picked a unique mascot. It does instantly inspire an image of fierce speed, which is not a bad thing when pondering a name for a hockey team.
My vote for worst jerseys ever - those awful prison pajamas the Habs wore for their three-year-long 100th anniversary celebration. They did wear them on Halloween night, which I thought was appropriate!
ReplyDeleteIf we're talking worst jerseys ever, including not only the logo but also the overall design, and we're talking ALL TIME, not just current jerseys, I MUST choose the Canucks' flying V jersey over the Habs' funhouse/crackhouse stripes. I don't even have the words to describe it...
ReplyDelete@Kris SSDD: Wow, neither had I... That's gonna become an annoyance.
ReplyDeleteBTW folks, we should all be happy the NHL doesn't have jerseys like the Norwegian teams. These are the current Norwegian elite league jerseys (ranked after where they are placed in the league right now):
1. Vålerenga (a.k.a. the enemy, also the part of Oslo I am moving to):
http://media.aftenposten.no/archive/01031/ISHOCKEY_SLUTTSPIL_1031751x.jpg
2. Sparta Warriors (from Sarpsborg):
http://pub.tv2.no/multimedia/TV2/archive/00746/_Jonas_Andersen_746618i.jpg
3. Lørenskog IK (right outside Oslo):
http://g.api.no/obscura/www.gd.no/248x510r/02917/1258660433000_forn_yde_gutter_i__2917366248x510r.jpg
4. Stavanger Oilers (Stavanger)
http://www.oilers.no/bilder/Kampbilder%2008-09/IMGP8353.jpg
5. Lillehammer IK (Lillehammer, the host of the 94 Olympics):
http://g.api.no/obscura/www.rb.no/m/02812/1252919311000_LIK_kam_2812891m.jpg
6. Storhamar Dragons (Hamar):
http://www2.dragons.no/images/img0062k001937.jpg
7.Manglerud Star (my former team, Oslo):
http://www.mshockey.no/ImageArchive/Images/646/v01_DE21954554391405697B3148BB623F89.jpg
8. Stjernen (Fredrikstad):
http://g.api.no/obscura/www.gd.no/778x778r/02825/1253517872000_Nett_KOA_Stjernen__2825484778x778r.jpg (yup, that's Jean-Luc Grande-Pierre)
9. Frisk Tigers (Asker):
http://www.budstikka.no/multimedia/archive/00183/29532_1_jpg_183059e.jpg
There was initially ten teams, but one went bankrupt during the first month of the season.
Andy, thanks for those visual snacks. The sixth one in particular is...loud. Gotta love that tiny dragon on the front, though.
ReplyDeleteAs a sidenote, can I submit my vote for Lillehammer as having one of the coolest names out of all Olympic locales, ever?
hehe.. it is, it is. And you might notice that Manglerud Star's are quite similar to the ones of the Dallas Stars. The story behind this is that well, both Manglerud and Star were separate teams that merged sometime in the sixties. Then in the seventies they by a shipping mistake got jerseys intended for the Minnesota North Stars. Somehow, someone, a few years ago decided to recapture that and steal from Dallas. I think I still have one with #92 Ajer on somewhere.
ReplyDeleteLillehammer is a cool name and a really beautiful place. The name means (surprise!) Little Hammer
I was wondering about that Star jersey. Of course, I naturally assumed Dallas was the one that stole it because they are a bunch of dirtbags.
ReplyDeleteAlso, off subject, but entertaining question from the Blackhawks live chat today with Ben Eager - I know some people around here will appreciate it:
4:35 [Comment From Stephanie:] Who is the MOST annoying guy on the team? Like the one who just won't stop?
4:35 Ben Eager: I'm going to go with Tomas Kopecky. Every time we get on the bus he's talking loud on his cell phone in Slovakian. Same deal before we take off.
So now we know why Kopecky was let go - he's a blabbermouth! :)
ReplyDeleteI like the Devils logo - clean, simple, and the team refuses to go with a money-grab third jersey.
Ugly uniforms: Anaheim, Nashville (although I like their new blue ones a bit - the checkerboard striping is stupid), Edmonton (love their blue and orange retros, HATE the boring white ones with piping), and the Buffaslug. BLEARGH!
Just generally hate the overall piping mania that seized the league after the uniforms were redisigned. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
Also don't care for the Hurricane's all-black things.
And YES to picking a color scheme that doesn't suck and sticking with it!
ReplyDeleteA rousing NO to putting team NICKNAMES on the jerseys - such as the Bolts and the Sens. Imagine a sweater that just had big blue letters saying NUCKS across the front for Vancouver - or big red letters spelling out WINGS across the front. :(
I would disown the team if they ever committed that kind of abomination. It would be HORRIBLE.
Kris, I didnt know the Wild logo was an animal either! I learned it here first!
ReplyDeleteAlso hilarious here to find out Kopecky is the most annoying Blackhawk. Story totally checks out.
So my choices in this neat little contest:
Best logo besides the Winged Wheel? Tie - Bruins and Leafs. I'm boring. They are so classic and relatively unchanged. The Habs are awesome too.
Best uniform? I have to go Leafs. Plain, but fabulous in its simplicity.
Worst logo? The Buffaslug. That thing doesnt make an ounce of sense.
Worst uniform? I throw out a few suggestions - Atlanta, Carolina, LA, Ottawa, Phoenix, Colorado, all terrible in their new age barfyness, but my final choice?
Many good suggestions, all bad in their shiteousness, but I have to go Thrashers. Seriously, what the fuck is that thing? A bird with a hockey stick is what a Thrasher is? Please. And the ATLANTA on the sleeve? Fucking hideous.
Worst of ALL TIME? The Vancouver flying V abortion.
Best old school uni? I really liked the Winnipeg Jets, and the Nordiques, but I have a soft spot for the Whalers. THEY SHOULD STILL BE THERE. Hell, maybe I just long for all those old now moved teams.....But the Whalers uniforms! they were sweet. The Plymouth Whalers? those are frickin' sweet too in their bizarreness
Andy, thanks for clearing up that Stars jersey story. So weird. What I want to know is, why would ANYONE want to steal from the Dallas Stars? I get that the star logo/scheme is generic enough to be copied by anyone (even though Texas is the Lone Star State), but...they're not exactly the most gorgeous uniforms.
ReplyDeleteJenn, thank you times a million for sharing that Kopecky story. That just made my night. I mean, it's SO shocking that that little assplug is the most annoying person on the team, right? I wonder why he's always on his phone. My guess is that he's leaving tortured messages for Hossa, even though Hossa is probably sitting right next to him; it's Kopecky's way of secretly conveying his love for Hossa via phone harassment, but since no one else really speaks Slovakian, no one broke the code. Until now.
Baroque, I'm with you about the modern piping being generally distasteful. College football teams have done that a lot in recent years, too. WVU's new uniforms? Not to my liking. Choosing tradition over money is always the way to go.
Brian, you and Sara both pointed out the horribleness of the Thrashers' logo, and upon second thought, I have to boost that to my 1(b)--behind the Wild--for worst logo ever. I think we described it once on here as a beak surrounded by a swab of shit stain. It's pretty gross; actually, I'd forgotten about "Atlanta" being written down the sleeves of the jersey until you pointed it out. That's really bad.
I knew Ballin' B would love the Plymouth Whalers. We could make endless jokes regarding the blowhole. I think you need a jersey, pronto.
The absolute worst jersey of all time is the Penguins powder blue mostrosities. Just seeing penguins in general make me want to barf. Coming in a close second are the teal Shart jersies. Blech.
ReplyDeleteI am going to throw the Devils logo into the ring for best logo (besides the winged wheel of course). Anything that reminds me of satan, I think is awesome. I'm drawn to evil.
As a nurse, I'm pretty sure I've seen shit stains prettier than that of the Thrashers jersey. What the heck is a Thrasher anyways?
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else on here, I'm partial to the Original Six teams & glad to see that traditions have stood the test of time.
Jersey that I love? The baby blue Penguins jersey. It fits the team that plays in it... a bunch of crying babies. Actually, I think most third jerseys are just disasters, with perhaps the exception of the Winter Classic jerseys. I wouldn't mind the Wings sporting the old English D for some of their games.
Anyone ever see the pic of the supposed St. Louis Blues 3rd jersey that Mike Keenan forbade his team to wear? Freakin' fabulous.
I find the color scheme of the Wild's jerseys to just be painful to the eye. Christmas colors on jerseys? Not such a good mix. Also, the mustard of the Preds' old jerseys...
Nothing however induces nausea quite like the Blackhawks jersey. The color scheme is great, and I enjoy the tradition behind it, but after having to wait behind a bunch of them to get into The Joe for the Chicago game, I was reminded how much I hate them.
I also think some of the international team jerseys are fun. You can always spot the Team Sweden jerseys & Team Canada is pretty cool too.
A brown thrasher is actually a songbird - but I don't get why a hockey team would go for a songbird as a name instead of, say, a bird of prey of some type.
ReplyDeleteAnd Atlanta gets extra bonus fail points for originally coming up with a third jersey in blue that everyone liked so much that the team started promotions and marketing around Blueland, so then they come up with ANOTHER third jersey, and go with the color ... RED.
WTF is that all about? Fail on so many levels.
Natalie: No, it's kinda mind-boggling, but well the jersey fit the name, so I guess that was the deal. A cookie to the one who can tell me who I was inspired by to take the number 92. (19 was not available).
ReplyDeleteDena: I totally forgot that one. The baby blue jersey is the gayest (or as me and my brother would say the most Sundin) thing I have ever seen. And yeah, the Devils logo is kinda rockin'.
Baroque: Isn't the thrasher the state bird of Georgia? It would be much more awesome if it was thrasher as in thrash metalhead
@ Andy -
ReplyDeleteYup, the brown thrasher is the state bird. Still, it's a bloody songbird - and the most often I've seen it was senseless on the ground after it ran right into a glass window. The other birds in the area could avoid the window, but no, not the thrashers.
The thrashers in Michigan must be mentally stunted.
Haha, okay sounds like a nice kind of bird. You know, really cool, tough and macho.
ReplyDeleteAll the original six jerseys are great. They're in a class by themselves.
ReplyDelete1. Wings 2. Leafs 3. Blackhawks 4. Rangers 5. Canadiens 6. Bruins
The best of the rest? I might catch hell for this, but I think the Penguins logo is the 7th best in the league, barely beating out New Jersey.
I think the Canucks deserve special recognition for never getting a jersey right. The plaing hockey stick is boring, the Orca makes no sense (like Larry Murphy said, why not put Little Caesar on Detroit's jerseys then?), the skate was lame, and the flying V was just hideous.
Still, the current worst logo is Nashville's.
For the record, I hate the new third jerseys that it seems everybody is wearing. Wow, a circular logo with the team name wrapped around the logo... original. So original in fact, it's been done by Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Florida, Chicago, and St. Louis.
Concur with the people bitching about powder blue. The only leeway I allow for that is the old Nordiques' jerseys because for some reason...it just worked. I think it's the entire French thing.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, in my real life, I'm not a fan of pastels. I like big, bold, bright colors. Pastels are for babies. Therefore, what Nurse Nitz said about the Pens being crybabies actually works out quite well; the Penguins' third jersey logo doesn't bother me as much because the actual penguin is smaller, and the lettering around it detracts from it; their normal jerseys, however, just bug me. It's too much penguin. We need LESS PENGUIN! However, it's not the worst logo, to me...it probably falls somewhere in the middle, right around ambivalence.
JJ's right about the Canucks jerseys. I'm not sure they've ever had a winner. It makes you wonder who they've had in charge of design all these years. The Flying V shitshow will always be my #1 choice for worst jersey in the history of the cosmos. I don't care if somebody literally put barf smears on a rainbow-speckled jersey; the Flying V would trump it.
I want to point out a logo that nobody's really touched on yet (except JJ, in reference to the similarity of so many teams' third jersey logos): St. Louis. I don't mind their colors, at least not as much as other teams'...and their logo isn't as much of an eyesore as others'...but come on, it's a fucking musical note. Yeah, I get that it's St. Louis, which has a rich, musical history...but a musical note for a team logo?! Somebody else out there has to take issue with this, too.
Also, nobody's discussed the Coyotes, the Panthers, or the Hurricanes. Thoughts?
(Nurse Nitz, somebody--I can't remember who--whipped out a photo of that supposed Blues' third jersey, the one with all the musical notes, alongside the trumpets...in all its blue/purple/gold/orange/brass glory, for their post about the games in Stockholm. It's too bad they didn't stick with Cool Cat, though. Then we would have had a clear-cut winner for worst team mascot.)
I have posted it later on, but I think everyone has posted that Blues jersey at least once.
ReplyDeleteThe Coyotes have an ok jersey, their old ones on the other hand were awful, Panthers, Canes are both decent.
Which one is the Coyotes' first jersey and which is the third? I think the one with the coyote head is the first and I like that. The running coyote silhouette is dumb. I also think their color scheme is just really boring.
ReplyDeleteThe Blue Note fits because of a relatively weak team name. It's dumb, but it fits, so I don't give them crap.
I kinda like the Panthers jerseys. I don't know if those came before or after the Sharks, because I don't like the broken stick motif (So your team is playing illegally with a broken stick because they can't handle it? That doesn't inspire confidence). However, the leaping panther is pretty good if not somewhat collegiate.
The Canes logo is another one of those ones that at least fits and doesn't look horrible. I hate the pattern of hurricane warning flags at the bottom of their jerseys though.
Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on the pastels thing. I like bright, LOUD, colors. This was how I picked my favorite NFL team when I was 5 years old. The mighty Washington Redskins dark red and gold, perfect for a precocious devil child. (Until Dan Snyder ruined them, RUINED them. I still cheer for them with all my heart, though).
Oh, and Andy, I am so going over to Fight Night and posting a comment right now...
Great discussion! Have you seen the Bush League Factor website? It's one of the absolute funniest websites relating to sports, or funniest sites, period. He reviews minor league hockey and baseball logos.
ReplyDeleteI wish he'd rate NHL logos too. I think based on his criteria the Sharks would rank low--it's teal, it's got an animal, and it's got the dreaded broken hockey stick.
Boston is probably my favorite of the Original Six (though blue & white is my fave of the color combos). I like all the Boston jerseys I've seen except for that awful bear head one (late 80s?).
For defunct logos, love the Hartford Whalers. Also the North Stars, though not that shade of green.
Oh, forgot to add--I heard Buffalo is supposedly retiring the slug and going back to the classic logo.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree Thrashers logo is awful. Meanwhile, their affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, have the Bush League Factor's reviewer's favorite AHL logo, if I recall...
JJ: The Coyotes third jersey now is this: http://www.jerseyexpress.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/c/o/coyotes_third_3.jpg . Their old third jersey is much worse: http://www.inthecrease.co.uk/jerseys/coyotes3rd.jpg
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd say their current home jersey: http://www.icehockeyjersey.com/assets/images/nhl/phoenix-coyotes-premier-home-hockey-jersey.jpg is better than their old one: http://www.rdgamblr.com/march%2014/austin%20bday%20013.jpg
Dena: everybody has to love themselves some thrash metal.
K of C: thanks for the tip. Heading over there riiight now.
Thanks, Andy. That confirms what I was trying to say. I kinda dig the current howling coyote logo, but I don't like their 3rds. Naturally, they've improved, but You kind of have to give credit to the old jerseys for being more representative of the organization (shoddily put together and a mess to look at).
ReplyDeletehaha. I guess you have a point there. Please make it again to Gary Bettman...
ReplyDeleteMy verdict on the final three teams to be discussed:
ReplyDelete1. The Coyotes--The main thing that bothers me about this uniform is the color scheme. Just like the Sharks', it reminds me of dentist office decor. I could just see some douchey interior decorator saying, "Yes, we'll take the tile in a sandstone, or maybe a pumice, and we'll do an accent wall in brick red..."
I actually don't have a huge problem with the howling coyote itself, though. Kinda badass and, of course, location-appropriate. The howl at the hockey games? Every time I hear it, I do "AAAA-OOOOOOOOOOWWWWW, werewolves of London," which Brian just absolutely LOVES. (NOT.)
2. The Panthers--Also, I know this should bother me more than it does, but it doesn't. Does it belong as a hockey logo? Nah. Is it cheesy? Of course. What can I say? I like big cats.
3. The Hurricanes--I hate these. They're just...weird. Of course, they're also location-specific, and while hurricanes are fierce forces of nature, I've never understood why hurricane-prone places want to celebrate that. Meh.
Dena, you would fit in wonderfully with many people where I live; it's split pretty evenly between Skins' and Steelers' fans. My nephew I talk about on here sometimes, the Red Wings fan, is also a fan of the Redskins.
K, I'm so glad to see you back! I figured I might have alienated you after those 'Hawks games around Christmas. If the Buffaslug gets retired, that would be the greatest thing ever. Similarly to how I feel about Minnesotans, the good hockey-loving folks in Buffalo deserve a not-so-horrible logo to sport.
Andy
ReplyDeleteI agree with you the worst logo is Minnesota Wild..In my way best logo is Montreal Canadiens' because of they are maintaing standards in risks also..