gosioux76

And we all know she had some serious style ...

Or maybe a lot of people just really think the dissenters are wrong. I'm sure regular, everyday disagreements happen all the time on Reddit. They're not all conspiracies.

And once that happens, I presume there will be some sort of dispersal draft or redistribution of players with contracts tied to defunct teams.

The problem isn't the red band blue, it's that they're using way too many colors. I can't really tell what colors this team is supposed to be.

I think the Marlins branding is a really odd case. I really love the colors -- the combo of black, pink and a bright aqua is unique. But the super black-heavy way it's applied makes it lose all the vibrancy of those other colors. Just drowns it out and makes everything look drab and hard to read. I agree that the easiest, and more popular move, would be a return to the retro branding. Moreso, I'd like to see some modernization of it, akin to what San Diego and Minnesota did with their rebrands. Come to think of it, the current design of the uniforms might have been a good modernization of the old look had they reverted to the original colors. At the very least, I'd like to see some color redistribution with their current look. I think there's some really strong potential there that's lost in a sea of black.

Also from that story:

Portland has taken a different route now, replacing Alaska with DaBella, a little-known chain of 46 home-improvement stores. It's a huge downgrade in stature, and likely revenue, but a boon for an entity like DaBella that's looking to raise its profile.

I genuinely don't understand this take. This is nothing but additive to the NBA schedule. It harms nothing, has no bearing on the regular season, and is just an attempt to add another layer of intrigue in the early part of the season, when fans have the NFL and college football to divert their attention. I don't care about either the Boston Celtics or the Indiana Pacers, but I genuinely enjoyed watching Tyrese Halliburton dismantle the Celtics in the in-season tournament. I think it's incredibly cool that the Pacers and Pelicans, two teams that don't stand a chance at sniffing a title this year, are now in the semifinals of this tournament. And I'm willing to bet their fanbases are energized by it, too. I wouldn't be surprised if this run in the In-Season Tournament causes some of those fans to STAY engaged throughout the rest of the season. And I ask again, what is the harm in that?

It also doesn't really hurt them either. It's not like these are extra games; they count toward their regular season record. And it adds a degree of intrigue and gives a reason to watch some of these early-season games that might otherwise be easy to ignore. As as far as there being "no benefit," it seems logical, at some point, that winning this trophy will become something teams come to covet. Just look at the Pacers. They're not going to win an NBA title this year, but winning the NBA Cup would be a positive takeaway from what would otherwise be a lost season.

I thought the new USFL was borne from the prior Spring Football League, or was at least initiated by that organization to the point that thy retain ownership over that brand. I night be wrong, though.

That's right. It would be a different story if this were an acquisition instead of a merger. I agree that keeping USFL or XFL branding would be ideal, but it would also incorrectly suggest it was a straight-up takeover, which this isn't.

This is the correct take. This merger is a retrenchment -- a restart of two leagues whose models on their own weren't likely sustainable. This was never going to be an expanded single league. And I wouldn't look at the exclusion of certain markets as a condemnation of their viability. I believe it if the merged league describes those markets as "on hold." They've got to get a firmer footing before moving back into markets where they either don't have a current stadium deal or would add excess travel demands onto their schedule. I wouldn't expect this to stay an 8-team league for long, assuming it finds a sense of stability as a merged league. That's still the big unanswered question.

They should play one outside and call it the Winter Classic.

The entire purpose of these companies buying a shirt sponsorship is to become more well-known. Teams are trying to attract an advertiser that finds the exposure valuable to growing their brand. It's about benefiting the advertiser -- the paying customer, in this case. It's not to solicit a more well-known brand to benefit the team. Besides, some of the bigger, more recognizable brands are already league-wide sponsors, which would make a shirt sponsorship deal unnecessarily duplicative.

That would be fun. But if it's successful, we'd start hearing Philly fans make claims that they should be a two-team market.

This weeks-long break in the middle of the playoffs is ridiculous. The MLS for years has struggled with making the end of its season as widely engaging as the beginning. The playoffs are already easy to ignore for casual fans or those who support teams who didn't make it far. Taking weeks off doesn't help that. I had forgotten the the playoffs weren't over by the time I saw ads that they were starting back up again. I understand the logic behind expanding a playoff system so that you can include more markets, but in a sport in which postseason tournaments aren't the norm, and in a country in which the league will inevitably be drowned out by other sports in the fall, the best path would be to make the playoffs pass as quickly as possible.

The St. Louis Battlehawks this week just promoted the fact that they're opening season ticket sales to the 400-level at the Dome at America's Center, the first time they've done that. They've opened it up to single-game tickets, but not season tickets in prior years. It seems to suggest the obvious, that the Battlehawks will be included in the merged league. Not a surprise to anybody. https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2023/11/21/xfl-battlehawks-season-tickets-usfl-merger.html

I'm glad they leaned into the turquoise look, and I like almost this entire set with the exception of the off-white home jersey. The black piping gives the whole thing a generic teamwear feel, and it's the one set in which the turquoise feels forced. The contrast of bright turquoise outlining the logo next to off-white is unpleasant.

I get it, and I don't blame them. But at the same time, it's not like the club has its pick of any brand it or its fans want. I have to imagine that the value proposition of associating with the Timbers, considering all of the issues the franchise has endured in the past few years, isn't as desirable as it once was. I can't imagine beloved local brands were just lining up for this opportunity. In this case, they attracted a much smaller brand -- one that's barely recognizable even in Portland -- that wants to raise its profile on a broader scale. They probably paid a lot less than what Alaska Airlines did, too.

DaBella last year relocated its headquarters from Oregon to Austin, Texas. https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2022/10/11/west-coast-relocates-austin-eastern-expansion.html

By the time Vegas runs out of water, the A's will have already relocated to Omaha. At this point, the A's are just a really slow-moving nomadic tribe.

I felt that way about him after last season. But so far this year, based on what I've seen and read from beat reporters, he's finally filling that role of the No. 2 superstar on this team, which he is. He and Gobert are not one-for-one duplicates. They're fundamentally different players, so suggesting we don't need one because we've got the other doesn't make a lot of sense.

For what it's worth, the team URL listed at the bottom of that news release doesn't work.

Those give off a real "Brand X" vibe.

It would have been a lot easier to just make the court one big green screen.