keynote

2 hours ago, CDCLT said:

Yep, the old Wizards logo:

Touche! (Well, that's more like ~1.25 balls, but point granted)

On 9/30/2023 at 9:25 PM, fortunat1 said:

 

 

That Clippers logo...

Has there ever been an NBA logo with *two* basketballs? 

Maryland's decision to revert (regress?) to their script unis is very disappointing. But, frankly, I'm just as disappointed as how static Under Armour & MD had let the design become. The original designs were outlandish, but in a unique conversation-starter way. It felt like UA was trying to position MD to be their Oregon -- their poster child for whatever bleeding edge design and technologcial innovation UA could come up with. But to do that, UA neededto keep tweaking, pushing, and iterating on the design. The moment they stood still, the design was goin to become dated very quickly -- and that's exactly what happy. 

Their basketball uniforms are in the same boat -- no propulsive momentum, and no legacy (on the men's side). And, unlike MD football, MD basketball has a legitimately deep reservoir of nostalgia for national relevance to reference & exploit. I think there's a stronger branding case for MD basketball to revert to the Bias-era unis (the '00s unis are also fine, but use fonts and an "M" logo that have been phased out). 

The website has a countdown timer; 20+ hours to go. Expect an announcement Wednesday April6 @ 12 PM ET.

11 minutes ago, AgentColon2 said:

I can’t understand why they’re pushing the Cabernet W on a Cabernet hat. They should just mimic the helmet for the caps.

 

 

Wait. Does the decal have burgundy stripes separating the gold shapes, instead of just cutouts for the gold shapes arranged in the correct pattern? I'm sure the latter is more labor intensive, but it would also look much better close up than this. The texture of the burgundy "border" in the W is all wrong. 

At least the "W" will look reasonably unoffensive on a cap. 

(Visits the Commanders' Fanatics store)

Why is the W so *large*?I

4 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

“Anodized dark maroon” is a weird way to say “satin burgundy”

"Maroon"? Did Jim Zorn write that copy? 

Explaining the jerseys is like...

18 minutes ago, Est1980 said:

 

Creating a fight-song in modern times? Good luck with that.  Fight songs that still exist (PHI, CHI, MIA, etc) have been been "grandfathered" into the fabric of those teams through time, shielded from ridicule by the armor of tradition.   'HTTR' was one of those fight songs (RIP).  I think it's easier to adopt a song like the Bills have with "Shout" or something that isn't hokey-ra-ra, otherwise you'll end up with some cringy fight song like Real Salt Lake. 

Too bad they waited until after Chuck Brown passed to do the rebrand. 

9 hours ago, Cujo said:

In the case of guys like Doug Williams, Mark Rypien, Jim McMahon, etc -- Does being a non-HOFer and quarterbacking a team to one Super Bowl win *really* warrant a jersey retirement?

I think Williams in particular holds a special place in the fan base's heart versus, say, Rypien, given the historic nature of his win -- even though Rypien put up better stats during his peak in DC. 

10 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

It's a pretty scummy move and any player that is so self absorbed that they have to ask a legend to surrender the honor of a retired number deserves two ripped Achilles tendons and a compound fracture of the C7 vertebrae.

Bringing it back to Washington, I will say I was a little salty at Jason Campbell for having the temerity to wear Doug Williams' #17. Williams' # wasn't strictly retired -- they've only retired Baugh, Bobby Mitchell, and more recently, Sean Taylor). And, if memory serves, Williams gave permission. But still. Campbell wasn't even the first QB to wear #17 after the Touch of Class era. 

WFT has traditionally been too laissez-faire about their greats' #s. Either retire a normal amount, or don't retire any, and rely on a ring of honor instead. Retiring some players' jerseys without formally retiring, say, Darrell Green's #28 -- doesn't make a lick of sense. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/catch-17-is-doug-williams-old-jersey-off-limits-or-not/2010/12/20/gIQAypWVLJ_blog.html

6 hours ago, BBTV said:

So... HTTC?  HTT32?  I thought one of their goals was to be able to preserve their silly song as much as possible.

I'm surprised the Washington Hail didn't get more traction.

1 hour ago, Froob said:

That would be easily the worst name or nickname in sports. 32s is awkward to even say.

The fans aren't booing, they're yelling "Twoooos."

6 hours ago, infrared41 said:

 

The apostrophe gives it some flair.

It should be the '32s. And the apostrophe should be a "9," not a "6."

A better look at the zero in the font.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYU3uN1pgdC/?utm_medium=copy_link

36 minutes ago, slapshot said:

The easiest way for them to drop in the new identity would be to have it Red-something. But they've already eliminated one possibility, and at least one other falls in the same boat.

 

In the video, they said they weren't going to use "RedWolves" for legal reasons. They also implied they couldn't trademark "Wolves" as a nickname. Arkansas State athletics already has RedWolves as its nickname, don't think anyone else has Wolves, but maybe Washington Wolves is already taken by another entity?

 

By this reasoning, how could RedHawks still be in the running? Miami University (Ohio) athletics is the RedHawks, and there are quite a few teams with Hawks as the nickname, so they wouldn't likely be able to secure that as a trademark either.

 

As far as Admirals, while the NFL (I think) still owns the name from NFL Europe, there are already 2 minor league hockey teams using that as a nickname, one of which is in a bordering state. 

 

Since RedTails was not one of the finalists, I'm surprised they showed a few of the logo mockups in the video.

 

I think "Defenders" might by the front-runner. Defenders is military-ish enough to fit the NFL's November obsession without implying any specific armed force.  Even though the Pentagon is close by, "Commanders" might be too tied-in to the President's title, and they'd probably want to avoid politically-based names and imagery.

It's possible that the existing owners of RedWolves marks aren't willing to sign a TM consent agreement, whereas the owners of other marks on the list are. Or, perhaps they wanted to address the groundswell of support for one name, and there aren't any other clear fan favorites that need addressing. 

1 hour ago, Rockstar Matt said:

 

No matter what, they’re going to look like a team playing dress up as the Washington *blank* of old. 

You make a good point. There's an argument that they should be more aggressive and modern with their design, if only to distance themselves from the old brand. A traditional uniform with only minor tweaks doesn't do that. 

Of course, they've been very clear that they want to retain 100% of the team's heritage, minus the nasty bits. That's some delicate surgery to pull off. You're right that they run the risk of either looking too generic -- or worse, just a faint echo of the real brand they desperately want to evoke without fully owning.

4 hours ago, ManillaToad said:

I thought they couldn't secure the trademark rights to WFT because it was too generic

Actually, they might be able to argue that the brand has acquired sufficient distinctiveness by dint of them using it while playing two seasons in the most famous football league in the world. They've sold merch, sublicensed their brand and logos, etc.

I don't think a DC-based XFL team could (or would want to) say "we are a Washington Football Team." Not at this point.

It's very interesting that they explicitly ruled out Red Wolves. That one must have tested extremely well. Otherwise, why even acknowledge the interest and legal hurdles at all?

27 minutes ago, tBBP said:

 

 

 

Not your typical NFL logo at all--its more of a soccer-style badge--but I really like it for what it is. It seems they really worked this Redtails direction pretty far into it--and I'm guessing the R was inspired in part by the alternate R logo Joe Gibbs used to wear on his hat so often. I believe had they gone this route, I'm pretty sure the big R would've gone on the helmet, while thie shield would have been a patch on the jersey. But the double solid yellow stripes plays off the DC flag very well.

Man, I really like that first Red Tails logo. A bit too busy/detailed for the NFL. But I still really like it. Of course, the fact that we see it means they're not using it -- and they're probably not using the name.

Either way, I doubt WFT goes with a badge/shield, given that their market competition just up I-95 has one of the few badge logos in the NFL as well.

22 minutes ago, pepis21 said:

DMV? Never heard of that in a Washington context. I understand it mean DC, Maryland and Virginia. Anyway sounds quite weird since it share abbreviation with Department of motor vehicles

 

Portland and New Orleans were leaked in NBA 2k22 trailers. Orlando showed teaser on a twitter.

The similarty to the Dept of Motor Vehicles is the point, as sort of a play on an existing acronym -- at least IMHO. Here's one take on the history of the acronym. 

https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/07/06/whos-responsible-for-naming-greater-washington-the-dmv/

As someone who grew up in Maryland, I think of "DMV" as slang for the DC metro area, not the "combined statistical area" known as the "Washington–Baltimore–Arlington, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA Combined Statistical Area," or the DC-Baltimore metropolitan area for short. So, I don't consider Baltimore to be part of the DMV. But, I'm sure Wizards' owner Ted Leonsis would disagree.

YMMV.

14 minutes ago, keynote said:

The rapper Wale has popularized "DMV" -- at least in hip hop culture, anyway. 

 

Here's the gif in question. The "d" from the Arenas-era Wizards "dc"; the "M" looks kinda like an upside-down "W" from the "not a swastika" Wizards' beard, and a new "V," which appears tobe modified from that same "W", to complete the set. 

 

Also: is it me, or is that "d" glowing...gold?  

19 minutes ago, Frylock said:

And I’m guessing by the teaser gif they posted, they’ll be using a dmv logo. I’m guessing that people outside of the Washington metro area will be as confused as non-Portlanders are to Rip City.

 

On a separate note, it seems as though Portland, Orlando, Washington, Houston and New Orleans haven’t had any type of leaks yet. Which is remarkable so close to what we expect as the release date.

The rapper Wale has popularized "DMV" -- at least in hip hop culture, anyway. 

Here's the gif in question. The "d" from the Arenas-era Wizards "dc"; the "M" looks kinda like an upside-down "W" from the "not a swastika" Wizards' beard, and a new "V," which appears tobe modified from that same "W", to complete the set. 

DC is debuting the royal blues tomorrow.

21 hours ago, DJT said:

Probably next season or the one after that. The process takes a while. 

That's what I would expect. I'm surprised they've already started recoloring other items, and adopting black into their current identity. 

I figured a basic recoloriong (without any actual redesign) might be faster. The Wizards switched from slate blue/black/copper to slate blue/black/gold without much fanfare. And, teams used to recolor their primary logo and push a new secondary logo to speed up and/or reduce the cost of rebranding. 

If the Jazz really wanted to, couldn't they have pulled off a recoloring of the existing brand template in a single off-season?