B-Rich

A pic would be nice...

On 4/22/2022 at 7:07 PM, MJWalker45 said:

But this league was never going to change colors. Yes they could have, but then they would get so much crap for doing that.

The Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars actually did change their colors slightly; they were red and old/metallic gold in the 1980s, but they are now wearing red and yellow (a.k.a. "athletic gold"), sort of like the KC Chiefs.

Always bothered me back in the day how the Stars and Stallions, two 'year one' teams, had exactly the same color scheme and almost the same uni template. 

It's a bit different this time around.

For those in the past who have doubted New Orleans' ability or desire to support an NBA team, this was from yesterday:

And please note that this is a number 9 seed team with a losing record that won play-in games to get into the playoffs, AND has played all year without their #1 draft pick "big name" player.

As an aside, J.J. Redick made some crack about the Pels fans being upset-- "all 12 of them".  Of course   a bunch of fans  took that and ran with it, creating the Pels 12 fan group:

 https://twitter.com/thepels12

19 hours ago, crashcarson15 said:

Are there "home run" markets out there? Not really, but there haven't been any "home run" markets available for expansion or relocation since like, the 60s or early 70s.

Great post overall (upvoted) but I have to disagree with you there; I think Denver was always a "home run" or shoo-in and have shown since 1993 that they are a great baseball market. 

Washington, once they got past the stink of losing two teams in about 12 years, was also a "home run" market available.  The main reason they didn't make the cut for 1993 was a bad prospective owner set-up that didn't have the money like Huizenga in Miami or the prospective Denver owners.   Washington has also shown (since the Expos were relocated there) that they ARE a great baseball market that fits the archetype mold:  a large population, upper East Coast metro area.

Pels win! 

Amazing what 1st year coach Willie Green has done with this squad, started 1-11 / 3-16, then went 33-30. All this without Zion for the whole year and without Brandon Ingram for 27 games. Kudos also to the front office and GM David Griffin for picking up some unheralded rookies (love how my Georgia Tech guy Jose Alvarado, unsigned and expected to be in Birmingham all year, showed his stuff and earned a roster spot and contract) AND making a great trade for C.J. McCollum.

We match up well against the Clips, too; 3 games to one record this season.  We'll see what happens Friday night, but even if they do get that 8 spot we'll still be lucky to not get swept by the Suns.

But next year-- especially IF Zion is able to come back to be the player he was was before his injury hiatus-- look out.

Oh, and to all those on the board saying N.O. doesn't support it NBA franchise, I hope you saw that sell-out crowd and its energy tonight for a 9 vs. 10 play-in game.  It's like any other team; play decently and win a bit, and the crowds will be there. 

On 3/16/2022 at 1:51 PM, McCall said:

As for the new PCL logo, it's beautiful. My only qualm is why the evergreen trees are navy outlined in green rather than just... green... against a navy background? Doesn't make any sense and would look a whole lot better.

Must be blue spruce evergreens...

The logo is a beautiful... as a picture. The League name, however and the imagery portrayed is now sort of like the 14 team Big 10, unlinked to reality.  How many teams can actually be said to be in the "Pacific Coast" region as portrayed in the logo?  Two, the Sacramento River Cats and the Tacoma Rainiers.  If you wanted to stretch it, you might be able to include the two Nevada teams (Las Vegas Aviators and Reno Aces).  But no way are the majority of the teams (Albuquerque, El Paso,  Oklahoma City, Round Rock [Austin] , Salt Lake, and Sugar Land  [Houston]  close to the Pacific Coast. 

So, as most of you know, I (mostly) grew up in  and live in metro New Orleans. 

As such, I am quite familiar with Loyola University of New Orleans, located right next to Tulane University in beautiful Uptown.  Even went to one semester of law school at Loyola (big mistake, but that's another story).

And as a logo geek from way back, I of course knew that Loyola's athletic teams had been known as the Wolfpack.  I say "had been" because when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s Loyola no longer had ANY intercollegiate athletic teams. 

Some time in the 1990s, they began some athletics again at the NAIA level, most notably baseball and basketball.   I never paid much attention to them,  and neither did the local sports media. This is, after all, NAIA we're talking about.

Well, the other day the local media spread the news that the basketball team was playing for the NAIA championship,  and it was going to be on TV (ESPN 3, of course).  So to support the home team, daughter #1 and I decided to watch.

I was unprepared for this monstrosity of a sports logo that I saw on unis, coaches' gear, and TV graphics:

I mean, seriously?  Who is responsible for this travesty?

I guess I am really just talking about the wolf-- the arched  "Loyola" with the smaller "New Orleans" is not bad at all (and was what was presented on the jersey front); it's just that profile wolf head looks like bad clip art, or something from an old video game, or a Nickelodeon Channel cartoon from the late 1990s. 

I wonder if the folks in charge know how bad it is.  I guess that ignorance is bliss in this case; as no one in town really talks about Loyola athletics and you see no one around town repping this logo on merch.

But man, if I were a student, or alum, or especially an athlete from there I'd be embarrassed by that.

Thoughts?

21 hours ago, speedy said:

Coors: For a great view of the mountains, wildfire dependent, sit down the 1st baseline in the 300's. It's high up but still a great view. I usually decide to go about an hour or so before a game and grab the Rock Pile (that weird half-oval thing above the batters-eye) for $5 - not the greatest seats but I'd recommend taking a jog up there anyway. If it's a day game, avoid everywhere but the 3rd baseline field level because you will melt. Keep in mind the entire outfield is bleachers, and not by name only, they're metal bleachers.

That's what we did last year, Father's Day weekend. 

I enjoyed the view but my selfie generation, lovin' all things bougie/Gucci college student daughters lamented  that we weren't down lower (like we usually are).

On 3/5/2022 at 6:05 PM, TrueNorth13 said:

 

C&C is appreciated!

Similar to what Francis10 said about the Calgary design, those of us old enough to remember NHL hockey in the late 70s/very early 80s may find your city jersey logo very familiar:
 

NHL Colorado Rockies, 1976-82

Perhaps unknowingly, you've yet again created a neat throwback hearkening.

8 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

I'll agree with this one - prettiest to my eyes...

On 1/11/2022 at 12:12 PM, monkeypower said:

 

https://www.columbiarestaurant.com/

 

Sadly no, it's a Spanish restaurant with seven locations in Florida. 

On 1/11/2022 at 3:02 PM, IceCap said:

They're really good. 

 

is there now 

They ARE really, really good. 

We went to the one in St. Augustine on Lundi Gras night last year (since Mardi Gras was canceled we took a road trip); other than the lengthy wait for a table, it was fantastic and the food was delicious.   Also  a tremendous atmosphere:

48 minutes ago, tBBP said:

It's almost as if they knew these would be temporary stopgaps prior to releasing a new identity.  (And I remind that we very nearly had the Tennessee Pioneers rather than the Titans we actually got.)

From what  I remember,  it WAS a given and they DID know. 

The new stadium in Nashville was not to be complete until 1999, and there was an announcement from the organization that they would NOT change their identity until they moved into the new STADIUM.    Which is why they were still the Tennessee Oilers in Nashville at Vanderbilt, after the Memphis/Liberty Bowl turned out to be such a mistake (remember, they were SUPPOSED to play there both 1997 and 1998).

48 minutes ago, tBBP said:

(All this said, I will say that the '99 Tennessee Titans > whatever their current brand has become.)

I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree. 

On 12/15/2021 at 7:36 PM, SFGiants58 said:

 

Mormons get involved in true crime more often than Jews.

...among others. I've never picked up on many Jewish serial killers, weird murderers, or cult leaders.

Umm, one of the biggest ones-- this guy?

46 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

What I learned, in digging through trademark filings, is that the league has trademarks for just the names, without city designations. It also filed applications using USFL names but with different cities. For example, in January they made a  St. Louis Invaders trademark claim, as well as a Dallas Stallions. In June it filed trademark claims for four different former USFL team names in Austin ,Texas: Austin Wranglers, Austin Renegades, Austin Outlaws and Austin Gamblers. 

Good detective work there.  I'm gonna start calling you "Mannix".

Just a neat observation:

Growing up and into adulthood, I knew that one of Louisiana's "four corners" state universities was Northeast Louisiana University, located in Monroe, LA (the other three were Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond).  Their mascot was  the "Indians", not unusual for the times, and they had  an interesting logo which used the "L" in the middle of their initials 'NLU' as an indian brave in profile, with the upper vertical portion of the "L" being a feather:
  

In 1999, the college system was changed a bit in Louisiana, with a new University of Louisiana system being created, and USL changing to UL- Lafayette, and NLU changing to UL- Monroe.

So, the athletics changed from the NLU Indians to the ULM Indians, with an updated logo:

however, around that time the football team also took to wearing a Florida State-style spear on their helmet:


The "ULM Indians" period was short lived; in 2006 they rid themselves of the Native American mascot and imagery and switched to their new name of "Warhawks", at the same time adopting a rather modern logo for print graphics, merch and helmets:
  

I saw ULM play LSU this past Saturday, and noticed on the helmets there was a new logo, which harkens back to their original, old NLU logo. Same font, but with a warhawk head profile instead of the indian head, and the upper "L" feather has returned, maybe it's a wing, or maybe it's just a feather; kind of hard to tell:

Anyway, it's kind of neat when compared to the old one:
  

On 11/5/2021 at 7:10 PM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Also add the Kingdome, construction of which was begun in 1972.

Not a case of the spec-approved and spec-built "if you build it, they will come."  More like  "we'll come, but you need to build a new stadium".   It was approved by Seattle voters AFTER the city was awarded the Pilots franchise.

Per Wikipedia:

In 1967, the American League granted Seattle an expansion franchise that would be known as the  Seattle Pilots. The league clearly stated Sick's Stadium was not adequate as a major-league stadium, and stipulated that as a condition of being awarded the franchise, bonds had to be issued to fund construction of a domed stadium that had to be completed by 1970; additionally, the capacity at Sick's Stadium had to be expanded from 11,000 to 30,000 by  opening day 1969, when the team was scheduled to begin playing. The Pilots were supposed to begin play in 1971 along with the Kansas City Royals. However, when  Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri got wind of those plans, he demanded both teams begin play in 1969.  The American League had birthed the Royals and Pilots as a result of the Kansas City Athletics moving to Oakland, and Symington would not accept the prospect of KAnsas City  waiting three years for baseball's return.

On February 13, 1968, King County voters approved the issue of $40 million in bonds to fund construction of the "King County Multipurpose Domed Stadium" with 62 percent in favor...

2 hours ago, Burmy said:

Do they try and convince New Orleans (and A&M-Corpus Christi) to start up football programs?  

Nothing personal to you, Burmy my man, but my response to that is...

 

Not even a snowball's chance in hell that will happen at UNO. 

On 10/19/2021 at 2:30 PM, OnWis97 said:

Was Milwaukee County Stadium built for the Braves or was it more of a Metropolitan Stadium situation?

On 10/19/2021 at 4:24 PM, the admiral said:

It was built to attract a baseball team and to accommodate the Packers, who I think were playing their Milwaukee games at State Fair Park prior to that. 

15 hours ago, Gothamite said:

you forgot Milwaukee - the OG.

15 hours ago, Gothamite said:

It was built jointly for the old American Association Brewers and to attract a major league franchise.  Some thought it might be the Braves, since they owned the Brewers and with it the territory, but the Browns also tried to move in before Bill Veeck sold them and they were Baltimore bound.

 

Packers were an afterthought at best.  But then again, so was the NFL in the early 1950s. 

Yeah, Milwaukee County Stadium is kind of a fine line there.   

I mean, it WAS meant to attract an MLB team, BUT it had an existing tenant ( two, if you count the Packers).  I was originally including those building constructed purely on spec, with no solid guarantee of a tenant. 

Then again, not sure how the Alamodome  fits into that standard, because while it was clearly built to lure an NFL franchise, it was used as a ready-made home for the Spurs when it opened in 1993.

So...

 and have added County Stadium to the list.

1 hour ago, leopard88 said:

 

I assume your standard for this is that the stadium was actually built before a team committed to moving.  The plans were in place for M&T Bank Stadium for if/when a team signed on the dotted line, whether by expansion or relocation.  However, the stadium was not built until after the team agreed to move.

Correct.  Built on spec.

2 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

Don't forget Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota!

Good point.  Updated and added.

1 hour ago, McCall said:

It worked in Las Vegas with T-Mobile Arena.

 

And although it hasn't landed a major league-level team yet, the T-Mobile Center in KC has done very well without a major tennant.

Las Vegas is another good one I forgot. Updated and added to the list.

I have heard the same about T-Mobile  Center doing so well in terms of concerts and events that they aren't really LOOKING for a major league tenant, but especially in light of the last year and a half  of the COVID situation I wonder how well they are really doing, and still think they would LOVE a big league hockey or b-ball franchise there... maybe the  Kansas City Tornadoes or Kansas City Twisters?

2 hours ago, Camden Crazy said:

Probably have to add Quebec City’s new arena to the list as well.

Hmm... didn't realize  it has been there since 2015.  Good point.  Updating/added  that to list #2. 

On 10/18/2021 at 11:52 AM, SFGiants58 said:

Thanks to the magic of the Wayback Machine, I rediscovered this clip!

 

"If you build it, they will come"

Places this worked:

1. Milwaukee (Milwaukee County Stadium)

2. Minnesota (Metropolitan Stadium)

3. Indianapolis (Hoosier/RCA Dome)

4. Orlando (Orlando/Amway Arena)

5. St. Petersburg (Suncoast Dome/Tropicana Field)

6. St. Louis (TransWorld/ Edward Jones Dome)

7. Memphis (kinda/sorta, with spec-built Pyramid serving as a temporary home, but  they had to agree to build the FedEx Forum to actually get a team).

8. New Orleans (New Orleans Arena/Smoothie King Center)

9. Oklahoma City (Ford Center/Chesapeake Energy Arena)

10. Las Vegas (T-Mobile Arena)

Places this didn't work:

1.  San Antonio (Alamodome - never got an NFL franchise)

2.  Kansas City (Sprint/T-Mobile Center - hasn't got an NBA or NHL franchise yet)

3. Quebec City (Videotron Centre)

1 hour ago, leopard88 said:

 

Where's the Maryland love? 

Yeah, I just the listed the college teams they CAME from (directly, right before the pros)

17 hours ago, DoctorWhom said:

What college coaches have actually worked out in the NFL? 

Umm... in addition to the afore-mentioned Pete Carroll, there are quite a few  college head coaches that did very well in the NFL:

Paul Brown - Ohio State (four AAFC titles and 3 NFL titles with the Browns).

Bill Walsh  - Stanford (three Super Bowl wins, six NFC West Titles).

Jimmy Johnson - University of Miami (two Super Bowl wins with Cowboys, another 3 years with the Dolphins)

Tom Coughlin - Boston College ( two Super Bowl wins with the Giants, helmed the most successful expansion team in league history in Jacksonville -- during Coughlin's tenure there, the Jaguars made four consecutive playoff appearances and went to the AFC Championship Game twice). 

Dick Vermiel - UCLA (led the Eagles to the Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams).

Barry Switzer - Oklahoma (45-26 record with the Cowboys and won a Super Bowl-- albeit with Jimmy Johnson's players).

Bobby Ross - Georgia Tech (led the Chargers to their only Super Bowl; won two division titles and made the playoffs three times; not so good in Detroit afterwards).

John Robinson - USC (2 NFC Title games during his 8 year tenure with  the LA Rams).

Dennis Green - Stanford (97–62 record as Vikings head coach and came within a missed field goal of a Super Bowl in 1998; not so good with the Cardinals afterwards).

John McKay  - USC (built the Buccaneers from an expansion laughing stock to the NFC Title Game in their 4th year). 

Steve Mariucci - Cal (57-39 in six seasons with the 49ers, including two NFC West titles; not so good in Detroit afterwards).

1 hour ago, Digby said:

I hate the monstrosity of a new stand that Portland build on the northeast side. The way the stadium originally (at least as a full-time soccer stadium) opened up to the tree-lined sidewalk was so cool, with the trolleys passing by. I guess it's cool on its merits being so tall and steep, but knowing what it replaced is too bad, and what terrible timing to build that just before Covid.

 Yep.  This is what that side looked like when we attended a game in 2016:

I guess the replacement stands were a factor of their success at the gate; as is seen in this picture the place was PACKED for games and I guess  they figured they could add (and sell) more seats. 

Meanwhile  in the original portion on the other side (where we sat) it wasn't nearly as nice.  That section appears little changed from the original stadium set-up and configuration: pole-blocked views,  painted wooden bleachers, exposed concrete understructure, etc.    Felt like we were one of these guys:

Just realized I've been to THREE of those mentioned to date for soccer games (Lumen Field, Providence Park, Highmark Stadium).
 

Here is a fourth (not yet mentioned) that I visited (for a Houston Dash game) while evacuated for Hurricane Ida: 

BBVA Stadium, Houston

Here's another MLS stadium that I've been to that is rather urban-- and not at all "in a natural setting and with lots of greenery" as per the OP:

Red Bull Stadium, Newark, NJ.   Close by downtown, but in a sort of redeveloping, industrial area. 

A couple of MLS stadia that I have visited that do NOT qualify:

1. Q2 Stadium, Austin

Austin has a pretty well-defined (and impressive) downtown , but the metro area is a sprawling mess, and Q2 is out in the middle of it rather than being near downtown (you can see the skyline in the distance on the horizon at the top of the photo)...   It IS a very nice SSS, however, and the crowd/experience were great.  Parking, though-- not so much.

2. Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, CA

Way out in suburban Carson; you can see what surrounds this SSS.   Lots of suburban low-scale growth.

But, hey, it hosted the LA Chargers!

On 9/14/2021 at 4:45 PM, Red Comet said:

>Lil Bow Wow

 

  Hide contents

If you ever get the chance, catch the movie he did as a teenager, Roll Bounce.  Fun, touching period piece set in Chicago during the heyday of skating and disco (late 1970s).  Wayne Brady, Mike Epps and Zero from Holes are in it; Chi McBride plays his dad, and Bow Wow did a fantastic job acting.   Also, a great movie you can watch with your kids.