Brian in Boston

Hartford Yard Goats it is. Was there ever really any doubt? According to team owner Josh Solomon, the final choice came down to Yard Goats and Whirlybirds. River Hogs finished third, Praying Mantis fourth, and Hedgehogs was fifth. Consultant Chuck Domino says the logo will be "unveiled in a couple of weeks - a month - down the road." For the life of me, I can't imagine that it would take an entire month for Brandiose to produce a package of logos that feature a goat with a surly expression wearing a train engineer's blue-and-white-striped cap. After all, the secondary mark depicting said goat following through on a titanic "swinging-from-the-hooves" at-bat likely already exists in their in-house stock-image file.

The list of possible names for Hartford's Double-A baseball team - currently playing as the New Britain Rock Cats - has been narrowed from 10 candidates to 5. Hartford Hedgehogs Hartford Praying Mantis Hartford River Hogs Hartford Whirlybirds Hartford Yard Goats http://www.courant.com/sports/baseball/hc-hartford-minor-league-team-names-0312-20150311-story.html

"I never saw any place before where morality and huckleberries flourished as they do here. The huckleberries are in season, now. They are a new beverage to me. This is my first acquaintance with them, and certainly it is a pleasant one. They are excellent. I had always thought a huckleberry was something like a turnip. On the contrary, they are no larger than buckshot. They are better than buckshot, though, and more digestible." - Mark Twain, on the occasion of his first visit to Hartford, Connecticut

The summer-collegiate Great West League, which is set to launch in 2016, has announced the addition of a team in Portland, Oregon. The team, to be based at an upgraded Walker Stadium in Lents Park on the city's east side, has launched a website featuring the obligatory "Name Your Team" contest. The candidate identities are... Portland Pickles Portland Red Dogs Portland Pliers Portland Mud Hounds Portland Pixels Portland Posse The contest runs through April 10, 2015. http://portlandbaseballteam.pointstreaksites.com/view/portlandbaseballteam/home-page-822

Agreed. The team at Brandiose just seems to keep trumping its own standards of self-parody. It has become increasingly rare for them to be able to generate a simple, striking team identity package. Rather, they either mash-up several different disparate themes into one creatively-strained whole, cram as many images as possible into a logo package chock-a-block with myriad - often tenuously-related - alternate marks, or both. Their all-too-common reliance on a logo featuring the team mascot involved in a swingin'-from-the-heels at-bat notwithstanding, the Frisco RoughRiders' package of marks that Brandiose recently created was a model of restraint when compared to most of what the design firm has been churning out for several years. One can't help but wonder, was that a result of team ownership/management making it clear that they weren't interested in a typical over-the-top Brandiose treatment? If so, one wishes that the suits in Hartford had possessed the wherewithal to insist upon the same sort of restraint. Instead, it seems as if Josh Solomon-and-Company were more than happy to allow Jason, Casey, and their wingman consultant Chuck Domino (who signed-off on the purchase of Brandiose identity packages when he was calling the shots for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Richmond Flying Squirrels, and Reading Fightin' Phils) to lead them by the nose into the world of Yard Goats, Whirlybirds, and Blue Frogs.

I agree. A Huckleberry Finn-themed identity package is clearly the least Hartford-relevant of the Twain-centric ideas I proposed. Personally, I'd opt for a straight-up tip-of-the-hat to Twain himself (Hartford Twains, Hartford Comets, or Hartford Humorists), or a tie-in to Twain's locally-inspired work A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Hartford Hanks... perhaps, Hartford Knights). All of that said, naming a Hartford-based team the Huckleberries and basing the logos on the plant/fruit leaves me cold. It isn't as if any of the four species of huckleberry that are native to the Eastern United States and Canada hold any particular relevance to the culture of Hartford, or the State of Connecticut as a whole. It wouldn't be the equivalent of branding a Maine-based team with a blueberry-themed identity, or a Mid-Cape Cod-based team with cranberry-themed logos.

I agree with the notion that a Mark Twain-themed identity is the direction the team should go in. Twain and his family lived in Hartford for 20 years, the last 17 in the home that's preserved as part of the Mark Twain House & Museum. Many of his greatest works - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - were written while Twain called the city home. Hartford Comets - Twain was born in November of 1835, shortly after Halley's Comet made its closest passage to Earth of that year. He died in April of 1910, a day after that year's closest passage of Halley's Comet to Earth and 75 years since the comet had last been visible from the planet. I envision a primary logo that depicts Twain sitting atop a streaking comet. Hartford Hanks - After Hank Morgan, the title character of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The team's primary logo could depict the time-traveling Morgan outfitted in a chain mail tunic (or, an anachronistic armor breastplate) worn with 19th Century garb (bowler hat, rolled-up shirtsleeves with sleeve-garters, trousers, ankle-boots with spats) and wielding a sword like a baseball bat. A secondary mark could feature Morgan in the same garb, taking part in a joust, albeit while riding a penny-farthing bicycle. Hartford Hucks - In honor of Huckleberry Finn, immortalized in several Twain works, most notably The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Logos would depict Huck Finn as we've come to know him: freckle-faced... unruly hair... wide-brimmed straw hat... overalls buttoned over just one shoulder with the cuffs of the legs rolled up to just below the calves of his legs... either barefoot, or in beat-up boots that have seen far better days. Hartford Humorists or Hartford Twains - Straight-forward tips-of-the-hat to Mark Twain. I could see a logo package for either of these names being similar to that which Brandiose recently designed for the Frisco RoughRiders. In other words, where the new RoughRiders' marks depict the archetypical Teddy Roosevelt of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry era, logos connected to either the Humorists or Twains name would depict Mark Twain in all of his leonine-haired, mustachioed, white-suited glory.

So, apparently, the ten finalist identities in the "Name the Team" contest being conducted by the soon-to-relocate New Britain Rock Cats are... Hartford Blue Frogs Hartford Choppers Hartford Hedgehogs Hartford Honey Badgers Hartford Hound Dogs Hartford Praying Mantis (or, Praying Mantises) Hartford River Hogs Hartford Screech Owls Hartford Whirly Birds Hartford Yard Goats Why can't I shake the feeling that Brandiose is landing this gig? Hell, why do I suspect that Casey and Jason are already acting as branding consultants and helped shape the list of finalists?

I sincerely hope not. I'm of the mind that a Rhode Island Red-based identity package should be reserved for an ice hockey team in the state. Preferably, a rebranded Providence Bruins AHL franchise. Ice hockey is the sport that the Reds name - and, by extension, Rhode Island Red imagery - has been most identified with over the years. That tradition should be preserved.

Rhode Island attorney James J. Skeffington - a principal in the team's new ownership group - is on record as saying: "Our sense is that if the state wants us here, it should be Rhode Island Red Sox. We're all Rhode Islanders. Whether you live in Pawtucket or you live in Westerly or you live in East Providence or you live in Central Falls, we're all Rhode Islanders. This is Rhode Island's team."

Providence Clamdiggers (or, Providence Clammers) The original Providence Clamdiggers were a minor-league team of the 1890s.

That was the rumor. So Worcester might not get left out of this after all. The Bruins don't own their current affiliate - the South Carolina Stingrays - in the ECHL. As such, if the Bruins want to set-up their ECHL farm-team in Worcester, they either have to convince the Stingrays' present owners to sell the team, or relocate the franchise under their continued ownership. Barring that, the Bruins would have to secure a new ECHL affiliation with a team that is willing to relocate to Central Massachusetts.

Yes, Jamestown Baseball, LLC - owner/operators of the new Prospect League franchise - came to an arrangement with MiLB whereby the collegiate summer team secured permission to use the Jamestown Jammers name. Said name is still owned by MiLB, along with all of the old Jammers logos.

The summer collegiate Prospect League's Jamestown Jammers have unveiled their logo and uniforms.

The Can-Am League franchise setting-up shop at Skylands Stadium in Frankford, New Jersey is going to be named the Sussex County Miners.

The independent minor-pro East Coast Baseball League has released the logos for its first three member-franchises.

The team is still officially named the Pawtucket Red Sox. They've simply opted to emblazon their uniforms - and, given that the new logo package doesn't feature a Red Sox wordmark in the slightly altered Tuscan font, presumably most of their souvenir merchandise - with the abbreviated PawSox nickname. Given that locals have long referred to the team by the PawSox sobriquet, I don't have a problem with that. While I rather like the way Brandiose redesigned Pawtucket's mascot, "Paws", I can't help but wondering why we can't see his tongue in the more aggressive logo treatment. As a result of that omission, it seems unfinished in comparison to the friendlier depiction of "Paws". I keep going back-and-forth on whether I think the socks on his paws are a bit too "cutesy", but I think I can live with that. I like the update of the team's "P-and-Paw" logo, featuring the addition of a pawprint as the hole in the letter. Less successful, at least to my mind, is the alternate logo featuring the single sock with the polar bear paw ripping through the toe. Given that the top of the sock appears to be empty, I can't help but envision a sock containing a severed polar bear paw. I'm also not a fan of the decision to adorn the road cap with six pawprints tracking across the left side of its bill. It strikes me as being a classic example of one of Brandiose's signature "different-for-the-sake-of-being-different"/"because-we-can" embellishments. All of that said, what I really can't stand is the fact that Columbia Blue has been introduced to the team's color palette in such a prominent manner. I'd have absolutely no problem with it as a tertiary color used as an accent. That it is now the primary color of both the home cap and the alternate jersey strikes me as jarring and far too much of a departure from the team's longstanding visual identity. As it stands now, I can't see myself buying any of the team's caps, which are normally my souvenir purchase of choice. I just have issues with design elements of all of them. I'd grab the home cap if the crown were Navy with a Red visor, but - alas - it isn't. All in all, while I don't think this is the worst of Brandiose's minor-league branding missteps, it still strikes me as being a rebrand that falls short of being truly successful. That's particularly disappointing given that the PawSox are my Triple-A team of choice. I grew up supporting them. I lived a 25 to 30-minute drive from McCoy Stadium and attended their games on a regular basis. I was even in attendance at the longest game in professional baseball history. For all of those reasons, it would have been nice to see Brandiose really nail this rebrand on behalf of the PawSox.

You're certainly not alone in your passion for the idea of an NHL franchise returning to Hartford. Further, while we've engaged in some spirited debate on the topic, I can assure you that you don't strike me as being a member of the "lunatic fringe" when it comes to discussing the matter. Trust me, I know some of said "lunatic fringe"... hell, I have family who are card-carrying members. You, sir, are the very definition of erudition and decorum compared to the Bring Back the Whalers "lunatic fringe". Frankly, as someone who grew up rooting for the Whalers, part of me hopes that your passion for the idea of Whalers 2.0 is borne out of the fact that you're a multibillionaire who is systematically - and, heretofore, secretly - putting plans together to bring an NHL franchise back to Hartford.

Which is why I cite them. Until such time as a completely independent agency is established and empowered to accurately measure sports attendance numbers, we're left to accept that the numbers provided by the teams themselves are - ahem - on the level. You're free to do so, but you'd be wrong. I was there, in attendance, at countless Whalers games over the course of the team's existence in both the WHA and NHL. My family members were season ticket-holders. As a result, as much as it pains me as a diehard New England and Hartford Whalers fan to do so, I can assure you that the franchise was just as guilty of fudging its attendance numbers as any professional sports franchise ever has been. That's right... as poor as the attendance figures I cited for the Whalers happen to be, I can say - with absolute certainty - that there were games when the team had to lie about its attendance in order to achieve those dubious marks. In fact, my uncle was an executive with Aetna and his time with the company included the era in which the firm was a part of the Whalers' ownership consortium. The stories he could tell you about papering the house with comp tickets to Aetna employees would make your head spin. Yeah... the Hartford Whalers were the one franchise in the history of the National Hockey League that released scrupulously accurate attendance records. Now Whalers 2.0 is going to represent Southern New England as well as Hartford? The team would be hard-pressed to capture the entirety of the Connecticut marketplace, let alone successfully garner anything approaching appreciable fan support from other areas of Southern New England. Hartford Whalers 2.0 wouldn't be any more successful at drawing significant support from Rhode Island and Eastern Massachusetts than the original Connecticut-based Whalers were. The team might - MIGHT - make some inroads into Southwestern Worcester County, but I wouldn't bet the house on it. The team would draw a relatively decent following from Hampden and Hampshire Counties in Massachusetts, with less from Franklin and Berkshire Counties. Whalers 2.0 could claim a portion of Southern New England, but it would be a limited portion. One of several problems the marketplace faces. Oh, is that all? First, where's the financing for the new arena coming from? Citing a budget deficit, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy recently announced that he was imposing a state hiring freeze of full-time, part-time and temporary positions, as well as across-the-board emergency spending cuts. Second, the "reinvigorated" NHL franchise is going to land a "great TV deal" that not only draws viewership from "Hartford/Southern New England", but from "all of New England"? Whalers 2.0 has about as good a chance of making significant inroads with viewers from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont as the franchise does of significantly expanding its fanbase into Rhode Island, Eastern Massachusetts, the majority of Worcester County, and the far reaches of Western Masachusetts. Wisely, you exclude Fairfield County from the franchise's target market, as Southwestern Connecticut falls squarely under New York City's considrable sphere-of-influence... pro sports most definitely included. That said, a Hartford-based NHL franchise is also going to have its hands full successfully marketing itself to Western New Haven County (NYC sphere-of-influence), Southwestern Litchfield County (NYC), Windham County (Boston), and Eastern New London County (Boston). You'll get no argument from me that Peter Karmanos is seriously wanting in the ownership department. That said, as you've pointed out on more than one occasion, it isn't as if the NHL is turning away quality ownership candidates. As a result, there's simply no guarantee that the owners of Whalers 2.0 will cover themselves in glory. Look, I'd love to see the Hartford Whalers once again take to the ice in the NHL. However, the sad truth is that Hartford was exceedingly fortunate to land a major pro sports team in the first place and proved, quite emphatically, that it is - at best - a marginal market that would always struggle to maintain solvency.

Similarly, there are those who would apparently like to see Hartford's failure as a major-pro sports market "Whale-tailed" out of existence.Sadly, for those of us who actually supported the Whalers by consistently purchasing tickets to their games and attending said contests, a well-designed logo doesn't - in and of itself - guarantee the viability of a National Hockey League franchise. Unfortunately, the sales of caps and t-shirts and sweatshirts and jerseys and other tchotchkes bearing the iconic Hartford Whalers logo simply didn't translate into nearly enough fannies in the seats on a regular basis. If they had, the Whalers would never have put up a seasonal average attendance of 11,983... or 11,835... or 11,703... or 11,506... or 10,896... or 10,586... or 10,407... or the aforementioned 10,144. Say what you will about the Carolina Hurricanes, they haven't hit those depths for a full-season attendance average yet. While they may still manage to do so, the Hurricanes -to date - have averaged 15,180 fans-per-game over 14-and-1/4 seasons in Raleigh. By comparison, the Whalers averaged 12,269 fans-per-game over 16 full NHL seasons in Hartford. If the Hurricanes' support in Raleigh isn't adequate to warrant the franchise's continued operation in said market, than the Whalers' track-record of support - or, lack thereof - in Hartford is just as damning. I'm not saying that a Raleigh-based franchise can be a viable long-term success story in the NHL, but if it isn't, a return to Hartford isn't the answer. The league would ultimately be replacing one marginal, problematic market with another. And I say all of this having been a die-hard New England and Hartford Whalers supporter.

Well, it just goes to show that whether you hire a well-known graphic design/branding firm, or opt to "do it yourself", there's no guarantee that the results will be well-received. Personally, I think this is a big swing and a miss on the part of Ross Yoshida and the Los Angeles Dodgers' in-house graphic design team. The only component of the brand package I find at all appealing is the "OKC" monogram. In my opinion, everything else ranges from "lame" to "hot mess".

The franchise hasn't seen "crowds" like this since my uncle, cousins, father and I were contributing to the Hartford Whalers' average home attendance of 10,144 fans-per-game during the 1992-93 NHL season.

Plan B / Brandiose has done some great work over the years. When they have, I feel that it's been praised in this community. That said, as much as I've absolutely loved some of their work, I personally feel that their hit-to-miss ratio has been on a decline. I can't speak for anyone else, but I prefer a lot of Jason and Casey's earlier work on behalf of clients such as the Clearwater Threshers, Lakeland Flying Tigers, and Spokane Indians. Their more recent efforts seem to lack the focus and cohesiveness evident in those identity packages. For the past couple of years the guys have shown a propensity for throwing "eveything but the kitchen sink" into their logo packages. Rather than paring a branding package down to its simple, less-is-more essentials, they seem hellbent on marrying disparate themes and elements together... with the result being unwieldy, overdone clunkers. Case in point: the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders identity package that Brandiose was responsible for creating. Apparently, the RailRiders and Porcupines names both received a lot of support in the team's "Name The Team" contest. I can understand the desire to somehow try to reflect that in the identity package. That said, sometimes a losing idea/identity just has to be consigned to the ashcan. By trying to marry a pair of disparate elements in the RailRiders logo package - the region's rich rail heritage (particularly, the electrified rail system on which the nation's first trolley system ran) AND a porcupine - Brandiose failed to give either element the focus it deserved. The rails are so subdued in the logo as to almost be an afterthought. This being the case, they're easy to overlook, which throws the focus for a team named the RailRiders onto a porcupine. If Casey, Jason and/or the client felt that it was absolutely necessary to marry the trolley-rail and porcupine themes, they'd have been better served to use one of the alternate logos from this package - a porcupine garbed as a train/trolley conductor - as the primary mark. Otherwise, they should have simply chosen either the RailRiders name or the Porcupines sobriquet and illustrated said brand accordingly. Similarly, Brandiose's identity package for the Lexington Legends was stuffed to bursting with ideas the guys seemingly just couldn't bear to part with. An old-time ballplayer sporting a moustache that is practically a character unto itself shares space with a horseshoe AND the abbreviated placename "LEX" AND a stylized "L" depicted as a paddock fence. Simply because you CAN fit the multiple elements into the logo doesn't mean you SHOULD put them in the logo. Bottom line? Less is often more when it comes to creating a successful identity package. Brandiose seems to have gotten away from that and, to my mind, it has been having a detrimental effect on their output for the past couple of years. Still, what do I know? Their clients clearly love the work that they're doing. In any event, I didn't "turn on them" because they became successful. Rather, I just believe that a lot of their more recent work would benefit from a paring down of the number of component elements.

Studio Simon's most recent work on behalf of a minor-league client was unveiled last month. They designed the new logo package for the Tennessee Smokies.

Clearly not, as any relative of mine would possess the intellect and taste necessary to share my opinion that rendering a building at a skewed angle in order to denote action and excitement is a poor design choice.