MilSox

On 5/7/2020 at 9:42 AM, WideRight said:

I am not imagining a world where a city or the CFL could afford to build new stadiums for CFL in the USA, so there has to be a stadium in place that with some adjustments could hold a CFL field.  That means mostly football or soccer stadiums, which rules out cities like Milwaukee and Omaha, which only have large-ish baseball stadiums, and some smaller cities such as Duluth, which is both way smaller than even Halifax and also does not have a stadium capable of holding even 15k. 

 

So, we are looking for cities with populations of about 500k or more, and with a football stadium of at least 18,000 but less than 60,000.  It makes the options list a lot smaller, doesn't it?

 

 

What about the Milwaukee Mile? The Packers played in the infield of the race track until County Stadium was built.

Pretty cool stuff!  I was a lurker back then as well and I love to see how that project evolved.  Love your brief description of the history of each team and how it actually plays into the real life local sporting culture.

Obviously I'd be a Third Ward supporter in this universe.  But I have to say even though I didn't see an issue with it the first time around, it's hard for me to wrap my head around their colors not including blue.  Especially for a team so steeped in Bavarian heritage.  I'm guessing since you're local (enough) you know of Bavarians SC and didn't want to do something that was essentially a take on their identity.  But the Milwaukee Wave and Milwaukee Torrent wear blue as well.  Then, of course, you have the Brewers, Marquette, and even the Bucks found a way to work it into their identity.  Blue is Milwaukee's sporting color (as odd as it is for me, a UWM alum, to admit that). 

Perhaps we could see a version of Third Ward that is blue and cream?  I do love the crest though.  That doesn't have to change even if the kit colors do, IMO.

Whatever market there could conceivably be for any of these names is already served by all the other goofy names in MiLB.  I just came up with the name RiverRockers.  Even if they were the Rock River RiverRockers, it's still more palatable than the crap they actually came up with.

Also, to the point about the Moo being too close to Wisconsin's Udder Tuggers brand.  Supper Clubbers is a reject of another recent rebrand (I want to say Green Bay).

The "logic" behind all these nonsense rebrands is that people who don't live anywhere near where the team actually plays will buy the merch as a novelty.  

But if Beloit rebrands, I am officially done complaining about the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers name.  They will be THE Wisconsin team in the Midwest League as far as I'm concerned; and the Brewers affiliate at that.

If they absolutely MUST rebrand, do so in a way that includes Rockford and the entire border area.  But even then, I can't see that yielding something better than what we have now.  This new owner is an ass who definitely has more money than brains.  And it doesn't seem like he has a whole lot of either.

The blue wahoo is an actual fish. Polka pike sounds like something made up by marketing people who think leisure suits are cool. 

How are any of the names they've unveiled so far in any way more desirable than Snappers?

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

 

That set was bland, but think of how dreadful the two before it were. It must have been a breath of fresh air at the time. Pullovers with belly stripes and white front panels, untucked contrasting-collared shirts that crossed Eurostile with Tuscan lettering? That's truly awful stuff compared to the current package, a modern classic. It drives me nuts to see any vestiges of the Winning Ugly set popping up on merchandise today. It should be as dead and buried as the Mariners stuff that just said "M's."

 

Two things I like a lot about the 87-90 set are a hat with a C and the full team name on the home jersey. I'd like that White Sox script to appear on jackets and miscellaneous tertiary stuff (it's a lot better than the new one they've tried to work in), and I wish they could get away with the curly C somewhere as well, though I have to admit the current hat is too ~iconic~ to replace. Slot it in wherever they're using that stupid batter logo now, I guess.

Those are what I like about the late 80s Sox. Both the script C and White Sox script would fit seamlessly with their current brand. 

But for all people trash the BiG for being too generic, the Batter Man seems to fly right under the radar. 

On 8/22/2020 at 6:21 AM, Davidellias said:

the 1987-1990 White Sox uni's may be the worst in baseball or at least most uninspired.

I always thought if they were black and red or black amd silver, theyd be considered quite timeless.

But as they were? It was Joe Baseball Uni.

C'mon Beloit.  Be better than this.
 

It's upsetting to know they're willing to squander away 25 years of cache with a Snappers name that has held up amazingly well. 

It'd be a shame to see a great name like Snappers go. Just an update to the team's logo package is all they need. 

Also, how odd is it that Beloit still has a team?

On 5/18/2020 at 11:12 AM, in_a_rush said:

Well I hope people have liked the past few logos I posted. Here it is, the last one in the series... the NHL's Milwaukee Hunters!

 

Truthfully I might workshop this a bit more, but I'm hoping for some C&C to get some outside ideas. I don't think it's bad, but it doesn't feel quite like it's where I want it to be yet either. I wanted to use the orange from the Blaze along with the blue to give a color scheme that would stand out from the other franchises without seeming like an independent entity. The hunter's hat and rifle were replaced with a hockey stick and helmet, and the stick is resting in the antlers like a hunter might rest a rifle on a tree branch to keep it steady. The Buck antlers are meant to frame the whole thing in, and the inner antlers are wrapping around a puck with the M logo on it. My goal was to keep the Hunter in the logo in more traditional hunting colors while blue represents the hockey-specific aspects of the logo.  Unless someone has a sport they would like to see aside from what I've already done this will wrap up the new logos, but if I get feedback to help I may keep workshopping some of them. While I'm very much liking some of he logos, I know things can always be improved. Otherwise I'll move on to the next planned logo series. Thanks and enjoy!

 

I'm not sure how well this name/identity would go over locally.  Seems a bit northwoodsy for Milwaukee, where the only people who hunt tend to be transplants from upstate. 

Maybe try something a little more mythological (say, Orion) if you're set on the Hunters name.

I like where you're going with this,but I think the logos and some of these names need work.

I kind of want to see more if these teams run with the deer theme. Like what if you went with Milwaukee Stags or Staghorns instead of Mustangs? You could brand the team around a badass helmet design like the Rams, but deer horns and in Bucks colors.

Brew City FC could be Cream City FC and extend the city jersey's Cream City branding.

Milwaukee Ferment sounds a little goofy to me. Maybe Milwaukee Whitetails (or Wisconsin Whitetails if you're into alliteration) after the specific breed of deer that is the official state wildlife animal. 

If you wanna do the MLL, Milwaukee Harts. That's a breed of British deer and such a team would presumably play at Hart Park Stadium. 

Massive upgrade on the Mustangs logo.  Still not feeling the colors or side panels though.

Phenomenal job on Memphis.  I forgot how much I loved those helmets and what you did with the numbers just works.  I even like the minimal,yet just enough blue.

D'oh. I totally forgot about that version of the uniform too.

Your Barnstormers concept is your best work so far. Perfect update to a classic identity!

Didn't scroll through the entire thing, but for exactly one year, a much leaner Giannis wore the Christmas unis.

Indiana: The uniforms look great.  Although I'm disappointed that they're not in Albany.  I kind of see them as being to the AFL what Green Bay is to the NFL.  Not many cities embraced arena ball and their team the way Albany did with the Firebirds.

Arizona: No complaints here.  You either stuck with what worked for them, or improved on it.

Milwaukee: Very torn on this one.  You stayed true to their identity, which (as you alluded to) definitely hasn't aged well.  Although a lot of buildings in the Milwaukee area that were being renovated at this time were given purple and/or teal makeovers, which may have had an influence on the Mustangs identity.  That said, I would probably start by tweaking the colors to be more similar to what the Bucks were using at the time.

Three of the best!

I am thoroughly enjoying this series.  Hoping to see the Milwaukee Mustangs, Iowa Barnstormers, and New Orleans Night.

Why not just have one that says Reno in that font?

Very torn on this one.  I rather like when MiLB clubs which play in the same market as their affiliate adopt an identity that pays homage to the parent club.

But seeing the logos side-by-side, I'm glad they stuck with 66ers. 

Most of the uniforms look great on the field.  I might even say they have a better good to bad ratio than the NFL.  But I can't help but think some of a lot of these colors wound up on the wrong team.  LA's colors belong on Tampa, Dallas' colors belong on Houston, and New York's colors belong on LA. 

My biggest gripe is that some of the helmet colors really clash with the road uniforms.  Looking at you LA and Tampa.  But in Tampa's case I love the colors so much that I'll overlook it.  I'd like to imagine that's what the Minnesota North Stars would be wearing if they were still around.

21 minutes ago, eastfirst107 said:

"Traverse City Pit Spitters" ain't swimming in the deep end of the "dignified identities" pool, either...

Yeah. Can't say I'm a fan of the last couple identities they unveiled. I hope it doesn't become a trend because, at this point, being a league full of teams with (mostly) "normal" names really makes them stand out amongst the lower levels of baseball. Especially when a surprisingly large amount of them (Mallards, Honkers, Woodchucks, Loggers, etc.) actually carry on a "Northwoods" theme.

23 hours ago, sc49erfan15 said:

It's a collegiate wood bat league. This isn't about "staying power" or literally anything else other than selling merchandise, which collegiate summer teams rarely do.

Maybe we're just spoiled in this part of the country where the Northwoods League has avoided the fly by night reputation of a lot of college summer leagues and has actually proven to be more stable than many affiliated minor leagues.  Something they've done with a league full of teams with dignified identities..... and the Green Bay Booyah.