Brian in Boston

While not minor-league, the Wilmington Sharks of the summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League have unveiled new logos and uniforms. The new brand identity was designed by Dan Simon and the team at Studio Simon. PRIMARY MARK SECONDARY MARK WORDMARK UNIFORMS

Ballpark Business is reporting that the Nogales Desert Ghosts of the all-but-defunct independent American West Baseball League have apparently been resurrected as the Yuma Desert Ghosts of the proposed indy Western Association of Professional Baseball. Flynnagain Productions is responsible for designing the team's new logo package. http://ballparkbiz.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/nogales-desert-ghosts-and-new-league-take-on-yuma/

The "rock" in Rock Cats has never referred to stone, nor has the team's mascot ever been meant to be a mountain lion. When cartoonist Gil Gilchrist helped the New Britain Red Sox rebrand in 1994, he chose the name Rock Cats as a tip-of-the-hat to rock 'n' roll music. When he learned that the team's owner - Joe Buzas - had purchased his first minor-league team in the 1950s, Gilchrist hit upon the idea of paying homage to the decade that birthed the term "rock 'n' roll" by creating a guitar-strumming, sunglass-wearing, pompadour-sporting feline mascot - "Rocky". Gilchrist combined the logo with the Rock Cats moniker and the place-name Hardware City, long a nickname for New Britain. Because few people outside of Connecticut knew that Hardware City referred to New Britain, the place-name was eventually changed and a new logo, incorporating stylized "NB" initials, was unveiled to go with it. The Rock Cats' current primary mark... ... was designed by Dan Simon and introduced in 2007. So, by portraying the Rock Cats' mascot as a singer in an Elvis-inspired jumpsuit, Brandiose actually brought the team's identity back to its original inspiration. Incidentally, Gilchrist designed the logos for the Portland Sea Dogs, Norwich Navigators, and Binghamton Mets, as well as the mascot for Shimizu S-Pulse of soccer's J-League. http://articles.courant.com/2009-05-17/news/cthistory0517.art_1_cat-s-face-cool-cat-new-britain-red-sox

According to team owner John W.S. Creedon, Jr., the team name has two significant components. The word “Brave” recognizes Worcester’s brave men and women in uniform, those serving both locally and abroad. In particular, the word serves as a tribute to Worcester’s fallen firefighters, such as the six heroes (Paul Brotherton, Timothy Jackson, Jeremiah Lucey, Jay Lyons, Joseph McGuirk, and Thomas Spencer) who perished in the December 1999 Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire, as well as Jon Davies who gave his life in December of 2011. Today marks the fourteenth anniversary of the Cold Storage Warehouse firefighters’ bravery, and this coming Sunday marks the second anniversary of Jon Davies’ bravery. The word “Hearts” is a reference to Worcester’s nickname as the “Heart of the Commonwealth.” Team General Manager Dave Peterson described the logo design as being, "heavily inspired by the colors and symbols of the Worcester flag, including the red heart and green laurels on a white seal against a green field." Peterson added that the top of the shield featured in the logo was meant to represent, "Worcester's proud blue collar heritage and economy driven by the remarkable work ethic of the city's citizens."

The New Britain Rock Cats (Double-A Eastern League) have unveiled a new alternate logo. The mark, which will be featured on the Rock Cats' caps several times next season, depicts team mascot Rocky wearing a Metallic Red, Elvis-inspired jumpsuit. The Rock Cats - and/or design partner Brandiose - have stated that the team is the first professional sports franchise to use Metallic Red in their team identity.

While not minor-league, the new Kenosha, Wisconsin-based franchise in the summer-collegiate Northwoods League has unveiled its name and logo. Kingfish General Manager Jake McGhee said that the name was chosen in the wake of community members and focus groups telling the team that the "image of Kenosha was Lake Michigan". This being the case, McGhee went on to say, "We wanted a name that would connect with the lake, but also... ties in with both royal and nautical themes". The team's colors have been designated Lake Michigan Blue, Vintage Cream, King's Gold, and Cardinals Red. The logo was designed by Madison, Wisconsin-based Shine United. The firm was responsible for creating the logo of the Northwoods League's Madison Mallards franchise, which is owned and operated by the same group that controls the Kingfish, the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, and the Green bay Bullfrogs.

Top Left: Primary Logo Top Right: Amusements Logo Bottom Left and Center: Alternate Logos Bottom Right: Batting Practice Cap Logo

Here's what those involved in the rebranding process had to say: "There is some confusion/trademarking issues with the Route 66 sign, so the challenge was: How do you tell the story of cars on the most famous highway, without going near the sign. Muscle cars became a huge inspiration, hence the classic Blue & Orange Unical 76 color scheme." - Jason Klein, Brandiose“The idea is to make it (Inland Empire 66ers identity) come alive with the character. We were looking for something that had action to it. It was hard to take the Route 66 shield and apply any action to it.” - Donna Tuttle, Inland Empire 66ers co-owner “Although our old logo has served a great purpose for our office and organization, we did not feel it supported the enthusiasm and creativity that our organization is known for." - Joe Hudson, Inland Empire 66ers General Manager

While not minor-league, the new Worcester-based franchise in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League has announced the five finalists in its "Name The Team" contest. According to the team website, they are: Worcester Bravehearts - an homage to Worcester's brave men and women in uniform serving locally and abroad as well as a reference to "the Heart of the Commonwealth"Worcester Canal Diggers - a reference to Worcester's industrial history where scores of Irish immigrants dug the Blackstone canal through the regionWorcester Freight Trains - a reference to Worcester's proud past and present operation of locomotivesWorcester Mighty Caseys - a nod to the "Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888" poem written by Ernest Thayer on Chatham Street in WorcesterWorcester True Blues - meaning "unwaveringly or staunchly loyal, especially to a person, a cause, etc.; the real deal" and a reference to Worcester's pride and blue collar heritage Frankly, I can't say that any of them strike me as being particularly good. My gut tells me that they're going to go with Worcester Bravehearts. Of those five, I'd go with Canal Diggers. That said, my real preference would be to pay homage to Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" by naming the team the Worcester Nine. Barring that, I'd opt for the Worcester Blast in honor of the role the city has played in the fields of rocketry and space exploration (birthplace of rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard... home to David Clark Company, which has designed, developed, and manufactured air/space crew protective and communication equipment for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs... original home to Wyman-Gordon Company, one of the global leaders in forging aerospace parts... the first rocket propelled by liquid fuel launched in nearby Auburn, MA).

Typically outstanding work from Dan Simon and the team at Studio Simon. This is a logo package comprised of clean and iconic elements, without so much as a superfluous stroke or inconsistent line-weight to be found. Rather than selling a client on a complete abandonment of their previous identity, or a makeover so all-encompassing that little beyond the old name still exists once the dust settles, Studio Simon elected to simply refresh elements from the client's branding history - both existing marks and those from the team's storied past. This is the type of quality work that results from a designer and his team possessing the experience, talent, and self-confidence necessary to recognize that tasteful restraint can be as valuable a tool in the branding professional's arsenal as envelope-pushing excess.

In my opinion, the Charlotte Knights logo package is, unfortunately, another in the line of "misses" that Brandiose has turned out over the past two years. The wordmark is solid, if imperfect. I particularly like the fact that its font pays homage to the similarly-styled lettering that graced minor-league Charlotte Hornets jerseys circa 1950. That said, within the "KNIGHtS" wordmark, I think that the presence of the "Queen Charlotte's Crown" on the "H" and the "t" being rendered as a cross take away from the mark. They clutter what could be a simple, clean, classily-rendered wordmark." The primary/home cap logo is, again, solid, if imperfect. I love the Knight's helmet topped with a crown. What I'm not crazy about is the particular style of the stylized "C" surrounding the helmet. I'm not seeing a C "in the form of a horse's tail", as Brandiose and the Charlotte Knights claim. I'm seeing a letter "C" rendered in a font that seems not particularly well-designed and clashes with the wordmark font. The road cap logo is a complete miss in my book. Look, I'm open to modern, stylized logos. I can be a fan of pared-down simplicity. Lord knows that after excoriating Brandiose over the "everything-PLUS-the-kitchen-sink" and "more-is-less" design ethos that I thought plagued the company's work on behalf of the Lexington Legends, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, and Stockton Ports, that I should welcome a stylized and simple logo in the Knights' identity package. That said, this logo isn't it. This looks like nothing so much as a crude sketch of a brainstormed idea dashed-off early in the design process. It looks unfinished. Gothamite and sc49erfan15 raise pertinent questions: Is the knight riding a jet ski or a giant, frog-like creature? Either one would be apropos, given that the knight is clearly trying to make his way through... a flowing river? And if the knight is, in fact, making his way through water, where might I have seen a similarly-stylized depiction of water? Oh, that's right... in the logo adorning the road cap that Brandiose designed for the West Michigan Whitecaps. Wow, a logo that's rudimentary AND derivative. The alternate cap logo - featuring a stylized "K" comprised of a sword plunging through the chest of a winged dragon - is decent. That said, I find something awkwardly disturbing about the fact that a minor-pro franchise which features a dragon - Homer - as its beloved, kid-friendly mascot, will also sport a logo showing a dragon being skewered by a sword. The batting practice cap logo would likely be my favorite part of the new Charlotte Knights identity package... if the point of the sword that forms the upper-right stroke in the stylized "K" were allowed to peek out from behind the letter's stem. Is this logo package an upgrade over what the Charlotte Knights had? Sure. Then again, given what the Knights had been sporting up this point, that's not exactly saying much. I don't want to come across as hyper-critical, or be accused of kicking folks while they're down, but I'm getting a "spread-too-thin" vibe out of Brandiose over the past couple of years. I take no pleasure in saying so, as Jason and Casey not only strike me as great guys, but they're also the talent behind some of what I consider to be the finest identity packages out there (Clearwater Threshers... Lakeland Flying Tigers... Myrtle Beach Pelicans... Asheville Tourists). It just seems to me that a lot of their latest work isn't up to the quality of earlier efforts. I wonder whether the fact that they've become so popular amongst potential clients means that they're being asked to do too much? If you look at the sheer number of sports projects that they seem to be working on, factor in their work with other clients/partners like Hat Club and Mishka, then add their side-projects like the Clink Room to the mix, you have to wonder whether they can give any single project the amount of attention that they used to early in their career?

The sleeve emblem logo is outstanding. It's easily the best aspect of the entire identity package... and by a large margin. The Texas League All-Star Game logo is quite nice. The alternative logo is solid. Beyond that, I can't say that this identity system does much for me. In the primary cap logo, the interplay of the horse's head, the letter A, and what are meant to be the horse's mane and - I presume - the reins of the horse's bridle make for a visually convoluted mark. The road cap logo is serviceable. The custom font script is, "Meh", at best. The fashion cap logo is brutal.

For what it's worth, the Miami Herald is reporting that Vinnie Viola is purchasing Sunrise Sports & Entertainment in its entirety, including both the Florida Panthers and the management rights to the BB&T Center. The latter portion of the SS&E portfolio is what generates the considerable revenue that offsets the Panthers losses. http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/19/3634940/new-york-businessman-leading-group.html "Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, which operates the arena, is the profitable arm of the Florida Panthers family of companies and is said to be part of the transaction."

With regard to backing up one's logic: The Red Sox - a franchise that has called the City of Boston home for 113 seasons and has long since established itself as a civic institution - couldn't get local political leaders to sign-off on allowing team ownership to build a new ballpark in the Fenway neighborhood that the "Olde Towne Team" has been ensconced in since 1912, let alone construct such a facility on the municipality's extremely valuable waterfront property. That being the case, what logically indicates to you that a relocated Miami Marlins club would succeed in convincing city fathers where the much-beloved Red Sox failed?

The artists' renderings and models on the project's official website do seem to indicate that the towers will not be visible in the finished structure. I don't know whether that's changed or not.

Good God, no!!! Look, you can have all the yellow you like in your Norwich FC unis, just keep your lemony-colored mits off of the Magpies' kits.

I believe the term you're looking for is non-Phoenicians.

I'm not going to suggest that a Seattle-based NHL franchise would outstrip a Quebec City-based franchise in terms of fan support. Doing so would be foolhardy. After all, hockey amounts to a secular religion throughout Canada. That said, I've never understood those who are willing to dismiss Seattle as a city with no ice hockey "tradition". The municipality played host to either a major or minor-pro franchise in the sport for 50 of 60 seasons between the Seattle Metropolitans' 1915-16 campaign and the Seattle Totems' last stand in 1974-75. During that time, Seattle never went more than 4 consecutive seasons without a pro hockey team. Factor in the city's run hosting Major Junior hockey for the past 36 seasons and Seattle has played host to major-pro, minor-pro, or major junior hockey for 58 of the last 70 seasons. By contrast, people fall all over themselves to trumpet the "hockey tradition" of Hartford, Connecticut, a city that didn't sniff major or minor-pro ice hockey until the World Hockey Association Whalers arrived in time for the second half of the 1975-75 season... and averaged just 11,518 fans-per-game during the 21 full WHA and NHL seasons the team called the city home (12,236 fans-per-game during the 17 full NHL seasons). The Whalers were drawing an average of just 10,407 fans-per-game as a late as the 1993-94 NHL season, yet virtually nobody claims that Hartford lacked in "hockey tradition". I'm not saying that Seattle's run as a home to major-pro, minor-pro, and major junior hockey entitles the city to an NHL franchise, but could we please retire the meme that holds that the city lacks in "hockey tradition".

Frankly, I don't believe that Patrick Roy's decision to become head coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Colorado Avalanche has anything whatsoever to do with the Phoenix Coyotes potentially dislodging the Quebec Remparts from the Quebec City market. Roy's decision is simply a case of making a move from overseeing the operations of a junior hockey team to calling the shots for a franchise in the world's top professional hockey league.

Maybe. Maybe not. Ben Bolch of the the Los Angeles Times is reporting that... "Commissioner David Stern indicated this week that the decision of whether the Kings can be sold to Seattle investors could extend beyond the NBA Board of Governors meeting April 18-19 in New York. "It had been widely expected that the board's vote on the proposed sale and relocation of the team would be the final say on the matter, but Stern told reporters there were 'complex' issues that needed to be resolved before a final decision could be reached. "Stern did not say when the Kings' fate would ultimately be decided other than in time to prepare for next season." Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee reported last Thursday that Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch has announced that he plans to strike down a provision of AB 900, the two-year-old California law designed to fast-track major construction projects that face legal challenges on environmental grounds. The portion of the law that Roesch would strike down requires opponents of big construction projects to file their lawsuits in state appellate court, which would have just 175 days to rule. Roesch, ruling in a case brought by the Planing and Conservation League, said that opponents of projects should have the right to begin the legal process in lower courts. Beginning the process in lower courts could then take longer than 175 days. So, the "lead" that members of a proposed Sacramento ownership group felt they'd gained in the race to complete construction of an arena when Chris Hansen conceded that it might take longer than originally stated to build in Seattle may well have evaporated. In other words, the situations surrounding where the NBA's Kings will be playing long-term - and how that impacts where the NHL's Coyotes will be moving - continue to be in a state of flux.

The former Big East football schools are NOT keeping the Big East name for their new football conference. Going forward, the Big East name will belong solely to a top-tier non-football conference anchored by the so-called "Catholic 7" schools. The conference comprised of the former Big East football schools will be adopting a name across-the-board for all sports under its umbrella.

Don Levin, owner of the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves, has expressed an interest in owning a Seattle-based National Hockey League franchise. Initially, Levin was focused on owning an NHL team that would operate out of a proposed arena in Bellevue, Washington. However, he has since made it known that he would be open to setting-up shop in Chris Hansen's proposed Seattle arena. In February of last year, Levin told the Globe and Mail: "If he's successful, I'd be very happy to be involved. I told [Hansen] if he has something put together I would be interested." Levin is the principal in Glenview, Illinois-based DRL Enterprises, a company with holdings in a variety of industries including tobacco processing, aircraft and medical equipment leasing, manufacturing and distribution of licensed sports products, and motion picture production and distribution.

Technically speaking, the Pac-12 doesn't exist as an intercollegiate water polo conference for either men or women. The water polo programs from Pac-12 institutions - California, Stanford, UCLA and USC for men; Arizona State, California, Stanford, UCLA and USC for women - compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The NCAA-affiliated Men's Water Polo conferences and their Division 1 members are... Collegiate Water Polo Association Brown University Bucknell University Fordham University George Washington University Harvard University Iona College Princeton University Saint Francis College United States Naval Academy Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Long Beach State University Pepperdine University Stanford University University of California, Berkley University of California, Irvine University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Santa Barbara University of Southern California University of the Pacific Western Water Polo Association Loyola Marymount University Santa Clara University United States Air Force Academy University of California, Davis University of California, San Diego

Though, to be perfectly fair, the City of Glendale's dealings with the National Hockey League didn't set that trend in motion. The Glendale-Phoenix Coyotes situation is simply the latest and - to date - most egregious example of a municipality selling its fiduciary "soul" to the pro sports "devil". As much as I hate to say it, I wholeheartedly believe it is not outside the realm of possibility that we will someday see a financial relationship between a local government and a pro sports team that makes the Coyotes' saga in Glendale seem quaint by comparison.

Well, if Jeremy Jacobs happened to be in Boston on Bruins business, I believe he is the Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors.