FiddySicks

The High Desert Mavericks have work this black jersey for literally every single game of the season so far:

From what I've heard, they got these midway through last season, along with solid white pants. So apparently they fell in love with the solid white pants and ended up ditching the home pinstripes as a result. The red alts, meanwhile, are nowhere to be seen.

They more or less alternate between just two caps: the solid black former "alternate" with the cowboy logo known in inner circles as "the dude":

...and its solid red Diamond Era equivalent. The classic "M" cap and the faux blast-from-the-past "HD/sun/mountain" cap are also MIA. The "dude" cap, from what I've seen and been told, was rarely used in the past. What gives?

Strange things happening in the High Desert...or is it all just a mirage?

I went to a Mavs game a few summers ago with Cujo and really wanted one of those red HD caps, but they had almost none left. Same with the classic M cap. They had a ton of "The dude" caps, though. I assume that this is a shift they've been planning for quite some time now.

So a few weeks ago I decided to take a risk and snag one of those Chinese made championship rings off of E Bay. I know that counterfeit merchandise is always a risk, but the price was pretty low and I wanted to see just how jacked up these things are.

It's not perfect, but I gotta say, it's pretty damn impressive for $25.

Mine as well.

2010 was almost too cutesy.

2012 had WAY too much white gold

This one? Just about perfect. Still wish they used orange stones on the SF logo, but the balance is nice otherwise. LOVE the three trophies on the side too. A little out there, but in a good way.

Giants new World Series ring.

What a beauty

Yeah, ASU hockey has the potential to get REALLY big out here. The Phoenix area has a surprisingly big hockey following, and if they could get an arena on campus or work something out with the basketball arena downtown (not even sure what it's called anymore) they could end up filling a void WAY better than the Coyotes ever could. Plus, it's basically a spot where the Juniors version of Shane Doan can come to keep his head down and just collect those sweet, sweet pay checks

I liked the teal and navy better for them, but I LOVE that they paid homage to those classic rainouts (woah, it autocorrected Rainiers to that. I'm gonna keep it because it's fitting for that area) team with the red set. Definitely better than the boring set they used to use.

I liked these

Yeah, I miss those too.

is there any pics of these against a home team wearing a cream based jersey? maybe vs San Fran? the colors are kinda similar so im interested to see a matchup of that.

I went to a good handful of Padres Giants games at AT&T when they wore that set, and it was never a problem. That sand color, especially from a distance, was VERY pronounced.

I liked these

Yeah, I miss those too.

The colors are a little strange, but I actually really like it.

The Rink in a Stick logo completely fails because it doesn't look like a C. It's as simple as that.

The inner white part is clearly a C. The blue part is an ugly C, but it's still a C.

It is a C in the deformed possible sense. Honestly I've never looked at the white part, but it looking like a rectangular c doesn't justify the logo's existence.

Ok, what justifies a logo's existence?

Being good.

So we can agree the stick in rink's existence is justified then.

Nope. That stick in rink logo is AWFUL.

(Sorry in advance for large photo sizes) I'm having a hard time deciding if the High Desert Mavericks (Single-A Rangers affiliate) need to rebrand, or if they should stick with what they've got and run with it proudly.

Because at first glance, this...

...looks incredibly dated. But when you look at their ballpark atmosphere...

...the logo and identity package's desolate datedness actually fits in pretty well with the very remote setting in the Mojave Desert. The stadium is on the very outer reaches of Adelanto, CA, a "suburb" of the larger city of Victorville.

Man. You're a long way from the Show here.

A long way from anything. I'm not agoraphobic but those pictures make me want to be.

The pictures are kind of misleading. There is a lot of urban stuff like a mile over. To defend the team a little bit, my wife and I went on a little vacation and hit up a few minor league games on the route. The people at the Mavericks game were so nice. Way better than any other minor league game I've been to. They had the biggest group of fans that were there for a random Tuesday night. Lots of them wearing jerseys and stuff. It was strange.

The logos definitely fit the team/city/location. Thought they were kinda funny before, but they fit very well.

It does look really nice though. I do enjoy remotely located minor league fields like that.

I actually just passed through Adelanto last week while heading from Phoenix to Reno. The Park is pretty much right at the very southern start of highway 395. It's definitely remote, but it doesn't even compare to some of the little s**t:censored: towns you run across heading north along that route (Like Bridgeport or anything near Mono County). It's actually not that far from Los Angeles, and sits just above San Bernardino. Games there are a bit strange because the park feels like a 1980s public swimming pool complex, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The starkness and age of the park actually gave it some real charm. Makes you feel like you're REALLY seeing guys pay their dues in the minors. I actually went to a game there with fellow board members Acme Packer and Cujo a few summers ago when both were living around that area (I don't wanna speak for them too much, but I know that both of them are VERY happy to not be stuck out there any longer).

If you're ever around the Southern California deserts and are bored (OF COURSE you'll be bored), California League games are a ton of fun and are usually really cheap.

I'm pretty sure Sacramento's new downtown arena is going to end up housing an AHL team eventually.

Not so much sanctity as common sense. And sure, a little bit of integrity when it comes to one team playing a 76-game season, another playing a 64-game season because they're in the Cool California Kids Club, and calling it the same league.

If there's going to be a AAA league for western states, fine, whatever, have fun with it, but it shouldn't come at great expense to the small-town northeast, where hockey is kinda their thing. I honestly don't care one bit about losing Norfolk or Oklahoma City, and I'd be pleased as punch to see Charlotte drop off the map as well, but I feel bad for the good folks in New England and upstate New York where there's not a lot going on but get to have this tradition. And actually, of all the franchise relocations I'm still pissed about, Peoria is in the lead on that.

Yeah but at least the people in upstate New York or New England (even more so) are all within, what, two hours of a pro team? I think they'll be fine. And, if hockey up there really is so strong, this may signal a shift of more east coast based teams moving their AHL operations up there to compensate, rather than having to follow prospects who will ultimately end up on the other side of the country anyway.

And the only way to build a strong fan base anyway is to move a team to a non traditional market and let the fanbase grow after pouring government money into their building... Oh my God I'm officially in Cototes fan speak mode.

Maybe this really is a stupid idea.

You guys are putting way too much thought into how the AHL and ECHL should function.

As Admiral keeps pointing out (upon deaf ears, apparently), the point of minor leagues is to get practice time and develop as a player in game situations, and to keep costs down. It's not about playing equal schedules or seeing every team or even winning a championship (and a parent team will never admit that last point publicly). It's getting their younger players ready for the top league and helping players rehabilitate and get back in game shape.

It's not really a necessity to have your AHL team located near the parent club when you have an allowance of carrying three extra skaters.

I think I should clarify a few things. While the point of the AHL, for the most part, is to develop players for the parent team, that doesn't mean that it should be a slapdash operation where teams just get games in whenever it's convenient, however many games that may be from team to team. While I certainly don't advocate the Calgary/New Jersey model where every possible corner is cut in terms of running a minor-league operation, I also wouldn't want a whole league full of tweener superstars where quality prospects get their minutes where they can, because that doesn't serve the NHL well, and like everyone except that CHRDANHUTCH weirdo who pops up around the internet, I am an NHL fan first and foremost. Affiliates should be in harmony with their parent teams in terms of running systems, maintaining a clear line of communication about who gets and needs ice time, but at the AHL level, there still has to be an effort to present the teams as engaged civic entities that want to provide a quality product at an affordable price. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think there can be an amenable middle ground where affiliates make the most of their talent without running mere scrimmages.

As for a league footprint, it should be obvious that keeping everyone in close quarters means cheaper travel and more time to practice. Let's face it: minor-league hockey is never going to exist on fat profit margins. Being able to drive a prospect from Rockford to Chicago, Allentown to Philadelphia, or one street in Toronto to another street in Toronto are luxuries of geography, not entitlements. We can't have a minor league that looks just like the NHL with all the dots on the map moved 75 miles in one direction or another. For most cities outside the northeast/midwest, tough crap. To me, the biggest irony of the Sharks claiming that they can't properly monitor their prospects in Worcester, besides the fact that their prospects are generally hockey's answer to the Putty Patrol, is that we live in a world that has never been smaller. To hear it from these Silicon Valley whiners, of all people, you'd think they were relying on telegrams to hear how their kids were looking. DEAR DOUG WILSON STOP TOMMY WINGELS CANNOT CEASE SCORING STOP PLEASE REQUEST HIS PRESENCE BY CONESTOGA AT YOUR SOONEST CONVENIENCE STOP. I find it very hard to believe that the Sharks were monitoring their prospects any worse than anyone else. But while information travels quickly and easily, hockey teams don't. That the Sharks need to have their prospects right in their own building because flying them from the Northeast Corridor was slightly inconvenient was born of the same kind of spoiled empty-headedness that gave us sweaters without stripes to be 2% faster.

This California thing is inefficient, indulgent, and compromises the integrity of the league. I don't like it and won't ever like it. The scale of minor-league hockey makes it foolish to run more than regional circuits: preferably one in the northeast, one in the midwest.

THEYRE RUINING THE SANCTITY OF EAST COAST BUS TRAVEL, DAMMIT!!!

I'd be cool with the Devils finally having a bona fide superstar forward as long as Jurassic Lou gets bounced before the draft. I don't trust him not to trade the first overall pick for goddamn Patrick Marleau.

I'd be cool with that.

I don't see why the Coyotes need a West Coast team when they won't be in Arizona in a few years.

A move to Seattle would fix this problem.

Not a "change" per se, but something a little different: the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (Short-season A affiliate of the Giants)...

...have this cap (charcoal gray/black) as their home cap:

...with a jersey that's white with red script and trim.

And they wear this cap...

...with a road gray vest that has black sleeves and a red script. Any other MiLB/indy/collegiate teams that have their caps and jerseys almost "backwards" like this?

Actually, another Giants affiliate, the Richmond Flying Squirrels, wear black caps at home and red caps on the road. I always thought that was somewhat strange.

Ottawa does seem like the kind of town where a big parcel of downtown land could sit undeveloped for fifty years. "Hey, can we put some condos here?" "Condos? Oh, I don't know if we're ready to think that big."

This reminds me so much of the tour guide I had on one of those double decker bus tours in Victoria, BC earlier this year.

"If you look to the left you can see the original capital building of Vic-Tor-Yah, which is has now been turned into condaminyums. To your right, you'll see the first courthouse, which has recently been transformed into Vic-Tor-Yah's second newest set of condaminyums. Now we're passing through the oldest China Town in North America, which is the home of Vic-Tor-Yah's newest set of condaminyums. Just beyond the capital building is the oldest tree in Canada. It used to be in an open field, but it now sits in the courtyard of brand new, you guessed it, condaminyums."

Condaminyums as far as the eye can see, I tell ya.

There's an irony to it for me...it doesn't make sense, but then again it does. I've only ever seen a few around in my life, but it doesn't surprise me in the sense that it's truly one of the more iconic hats in MiLB. Lots of people draw blanks when they see many other minor league caps, but quite often when they see those eyes, they say "hey, the Storm!"

And for some background: Lake Elsinore is a popular place for extreme sports--motocross, BMX, skydiving, etc. To me at least, that cap just screams "extreme sports," with the fierce look and black and red colorway. That's how I see it, at least. I'm willing to bet that more than a few kids at the bike track or skate park wear those caps, it just "fits."

I've always found the link to extreme sports the Inland Empire to be kind of ironic in and of itself. Lake Elsinore is probably the most stark and boring place I've ever been. It's about as "extreme" as a nursing home for priests.

Oh look, navy and red. What a unique color combination for a baseball team

(Sorry in advance for large photo sizes) I'm having a hard time deciding if the High Desert Mavericks (Single-A Rangers affiliate) need to rebrand, or if they should stick with what they've got and run with it proudly.

Because at first glance, this...

...looks incredibly dated. But when you look at their ballpark atmosphere...

...the logo and identity package's desolate datedness actually fits in pretty well with the very remote setting in the Mojave Desert. The stadium is on the very outer reaches of Adelanto, CA, a "suburb" of the larger city of Victorville.

I went to a High Desert Mavs game with Cujo a few summers ago, and I was surprised how much I liked their park. It's old and in the middle of nowhere, but that's part of the charm. It's definitely the crappiest park in the California League, but it's oddly fitting for low level minor league baseball.

Not quite sure what makes this the "2014-2015 Anti- hread." All we've talked about is relocation and such. That and this thread's been going on for three years now.

That's part of the gag. The name keeps changing every few months or so. By the time this season is over the title of this thread will be lyrics from a Morrissey song or something.

I had a question, but something more important has arisen and has suddenly made me forget what I was going to originally ask.

Is there any way we can edit who started this thread so we're not all subjected to seeing Sk8rboi's ugly mug whenever we have am inquiry?

PS: JOSTEN SEW is patented Silver Elite precious metal created by jostens. Unlike regular silver which turns black after a while, SEW does not do so. Turning black is the major factors most ring companies never could produce cheaper silver rings as opposed to gold rings. They had to settle for cheaper none precious metals such as Lustrium. Miami Heat has 6 different class of rings for their 2013 rings. Somewhere between players 14 K gold and the bottom none precious metal Staff II rings they produced SEW rings which were mostly the ones ordered by players for their extra championship rings, avoiding high cost of 10K and 14K gold rings.

Don't kid yourself, that BCS ring is Lustrium. They can call it whatever they want, but that's what it is. They used to even refer to it in their brochures as a 'jewelers-grade stainless steel'. And that's not far from the truth. Nothing wrong with it, In fact it's quite durable. My Green Bay Packers shareholders ring is made of this and I find that I really like it. It's lighter than gold, which is kinda nice for a ring this size. My other championship rings are 10k yellow gold and very heavy.

But its NOT actual silver. Sterling Silver is very soft and would not be a good choice for the wear and tear that comes with such a big ring. Also, from a jewelers standpoint, setting diamonds in silver is not desirable (or easy). At one store I worked at we carried a line of silver jewelry that had diamonds set in it, but let me tell you...those stones were channel-set and drill-set (literally a hole was drilled and the stone set in the hole with metal worked over the edges of the stone to hold it ). The way diamonds and CZ's are set in championship rings, Sterling silver would not be a good choice.

Just my .02

Karl

I've always thought that silver was a strange metal to make a ring out of anyway. If I was a pro athlete, I'd be really disappointed to get a silver ring because not only does gold look better IMO, it's be pretty much unwearable for me because I'm pretty severely allergic to silver. I've never heard of people having allergic reactions to gold.

Oh yeah that's perfect. Expand to Vegas, of all places. That's not even a lateral move from Phoenix!