MLB 2021

[sky1324]

10 hours ago, Quillz said:

Well that's the main issue with the City Connect. Fair enough, I don't like it much either. But my issue is more with how they spelled "Southside." It's been a few days and it still just looks off to me.

So then we're arguing over nothing.

 

10 hours ago, baseballfan2021 said:

when there’s 2 teams in chicago they have to put something other than chicago or else it wouldn’t make sense. plus like i said earlier chicagoans know the sox as southsiders so it fits perfect, and the fans love it. the marketing team doesn’t care if other fan bases don’t like it, because we love it

If they want to be the Southsiders so much, then change the name. Become the South Side White Sox. But until they do that, the only thing that belongs on a ChiSox jersey is White Sox, Chicago, or the Sox logo.

[coco1997]

17 hours ago, Quillz said:

This could work, too. Certainly would be a unique color scheme.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154002506611

[Crabcake]

17 hours ago, Marlins93 said:

 

And to think more than a handful of people on here were criticizing the City Connect naysayers for fearing that these jerseys would start encroaching upon the teams' primary identities. Those of us who were against City Connect from its inception knew that this is where we were headed.

I, for one, am shocked that Nike would introduce a new uniform series solely for the purpose of selling more jerseys down the line. Shocked, I tell you. 

[Brian E]

19 hours ago, Marlins93 said:

 

And to think more than a handful of people on here were criticizing the City Connect naysayers for fearing that these jerseys would start encroaching upon the teams' primary identities. Those of us who were against City Connect from its inception knew that this is where we were headed.

 

i think you certainly make a valid criticism and i'm sure at some point a team will eschew their primary look just to wear their city connect more, but it's worth noting here that the white sox's primary identity isn't really being encroached upon. if they wore this 20 more times over the usual primary uniform, then yeah. but it's in place of the alternate, so SHRUG. what do i care if they replace one black alternate with another? if anything, in this situation, that's probably preferable.

 

i don't know, i'm sort of fine with the city connect program as long as the colors stay anchored (or closely tied) to the team's identity. so  the white sox one works best for me, with the marlins second (because i'm just not a fan of their current look), and the red sox at the bottom.

 

[Marlins93]

5 minutes ago, Brian E said:

 

i think you certainly make a valid criticism and i'm sure at some point a team will eschew their primary look just to wear their city connect more, but it's worth noting here that the white sox's primary identity isn't really being encroached upon. if they wore this 20 more times over the usual primary uniform, then yeah. but it's in place of the alternate, so SHRUG. what do i care if they replace one black alternate with another? if anything, in this situation, that's probably preferable.

 

i don't know, i'm sort of fine with the city connect program as long as the colors stay anchored (or closely tied) to the team's identity. so  the white sox one works best for me, with the marlins second (because i'm just not a fan of their current look), and the red sox at the bottom.

 

 

If the White Sox were to wear these uniforms at least once per week, that's exactly the type of brand dilution that many of us on here were fearing and warning about. It's one thing to be cool with that kind of thing happening, but it's something else entirely for people to be calling us chicken littles, saying "it's only one game!" We all knew that Nike would be leaving way too much money on the table for it to be only one game.

 

Nobody here ever said that City Connect would replace the team's primary identity, but when you start mixing and matching design aesthetics, you certainly water things down.  If these jerseys see constant game use and are ubiquitously worn by fans, that's  encroaching upon the brand identity of a team.

 

This isn't a case of "replacing one black alternate with another" because, aside from the color scheme, there's absolutely no aesthetic similarities between the team's primary set and City Connect. 

 

I spoke positively of the Marlins City Connect set because I detest what they've been wearing on the field since 2019 (or 2012 for that matter) and feel like it's impossible to dilute an already terrible brand identity. But it pains me to see this happen to the Red Sox and White Sox, two teams that have elegant and longstanding brands.

 

 

[Ridleylash]

 More Cleveland-related tomfoolery;

"Warriors", "Heroes" and "Squires" would all be hilariously bad, and "Foresters" and "CBC" are not far behind that. "Natives" is about the kind of solves-nothing I could see Dolan pulling.

 

"Guardians" is probably the best of the challenged applications, but that's not really saying a whole lot. I think "Blues" makes the most sense for them since they already own the name, and "Bronchos" is too close to "Broncos" for me to think they go with it considering the Denver Broncos exist. 

 

I hope this means "Spiders" is off the table, at least.

[-Akronite-]

4 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

 More Cleveland-related tomfoolery;

"Warriors", "Heroes" and "Squires" would all be hilariously bad, and "Foresters" and "CBC" are not far behind that. "Natives" is about the kind of solves-nothing I could see Dolan pulling.

 

"Guardians" is probably the best of the challenged applications, but that's not really saying a whole lot. I think "Blues" makes the most sense for them since they already own the name, and "Bronchos" is too close to "Broncos" for me to think they go with it considering the Denver Broncos exist. 

 

I hope this means "Spiders" is off the table, at least.

 

Heroes is easily the worst sounding of those options. No idea where Squires comes from. Warriors is a copout & generic to boot. Natives would sound great but inherently problematic given the whole situation.

 

I'll take Blues over Guardians, which is about even with Foresters for me. And I wouldn't count out Spiders. Still offers the best logo possibilities and the team claims their looking at a :censored: ton of names.

[Marlins93]

9 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

I hope this means "Spiders" is off the table, at least.

 

I wouldn't count on it. I don't think that will be the name in the end, but it certainly seems to have the most buzz. I am curious about its rights status, though. I'm guessing those "challenges" are similar to what Washington had to go through when those dimwits were buying the rights for potential names thinking that they were in line for a massive payday.

[SFGiants58]

I still want Dan Gilbert to buy the team to bring the world the Cleveland (Baseball) Cavaliers! Just dump every terrible Cavs design from the second Lebron era into one identity.

[Glover]

30 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

 More Cleveland-related tomfoolery;

"Warriors", "Heroes" and "Squires" would all be hilariously bad, and "Foresters" and "CBC" are not far behind that. "Natives" is about the kind of solves-nothing I could see Dolan pulling.

 

"Guardians" is probably the best of the challenged applications, but that's not really saying a whole lot. I think "Blues" makes the most sense for them since they already own the name, and "Bronchos" is too close to "Broncos" for me to think they go with it considering the Denver Broncos exist. 

 

I hope this means "Spiders" is off the table, at least.

Just think if they went with Warriors - then the "Warriors blew a 3-1 series lead in 2016" jokes would have double meaning.

[coco1997]

2 hours ago, Marlins93 said:

This isn't a case of "replacing one black alternate with another" because, aside from the color scheme, there's absolutely no aesthetic similarities between the team's primary set and City Connect. 

Huh? The scripts and numbers are based off the Gothic “Sox” logo they’ve used for 30+ years. The Sox are the only team so far whose City Connect uniforms have aesthetic similarities to their regular look. 

[Marlins93]

1 hour ago, coco1997 said:

Huh? The scripts and numbers are based off the Gothic “Sox” logo they’ve used for 30+ years. The Sox are the only team whose City Connect uniforms have aesthetic similarities to their regular look. 

 

That's the inspiration, yeah, but I think that the City Connect uniform feels aesthetically distinct from the standard black alternate, home white, and road grey.

 

I should retract the "absolutely no aesthetic similarity" remark because that does feel like an overstatement now that I think about it, but the Southside wordmark to me is a jarring juxtaposition with the rest. My larger point is that this does noticeably depart from their standard set and I stand by that belief.

[bosrs1]

16 hours ago, joekono said:

I had a feeling this s**t would happen!!! Hit the nail right on the head DietDrP.epper. This crap starting just as the league is probably looking the best it has been collectively in years.(Thanks you for the brown back Padres, Milwaukee looks great, Arizona...thank god you came to your senses and that leaves Miami that needs some work and Texas should've stayed in 2019). CityConnect even sounds so NBA.

 

Blame Nike. Everything they touch turns to :censored:. I was worried this crap would start happening the second they announced the switch to Nike. 

[Wings]

A combination of a team from long ago and Cy Young's middle name:

 

Cleveland TrueBlues

[DCarp1231]

Cleveland Legends? Referencing the Rock n Roll HoF

[Ridleylash]

34 minutes ago, DNAsports said:

Cleveland Legends? Referencing the Rock n Roll HoF

Well, if there's one way to make Clevelanders dislike Paul Dolan even more, it'd be giving the team the most cliched, trite and played out reference possible in the city of Cleveland.

[SFGiants58]

1 minute ago, Ridleylash said:

Well, if there's one way to make Clevelanders dislike Paul Dolan even more, it'd be giving the team the most cliched, trite and played out reference possible in the city of Cleveland.

 

Well, Squires could fall victim to that, depending on which "Squire" is picked.

 

 

Then again, he's not in that crummy museum. 

[andrewharrington]

I wonder what grounds they have to challenge trademarks they’ve never used. Doesn’t seem fair.

[Gothamite]

1 hour ago, andrewharrington said:

I wonder what grounds they have to challenge trademarks they’ve never used. Doesn’t seem fair.

IANAL, but if the people they’re challenging haven’t used them either, and are only squatting on them because they think the ball club might want them, that doesn’t seem fair either. 

[Frylock]

9 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

I think "Blues" makes the most sense for them since they already own the name, and "Bronchos" is too close to "Broncos" for me to think they go with it considering the Denver Broncos exist. 

But, by that logic, they shouldn’t use “Blues”, due to the existence of the St. Louis Blues.

 

Warriors? Natives? How much more tonedeaf can this franchise get? Call them the Guardians or Spiders and call it a day.