Unchosen Sabres logos

[Bigredno8]

Dont forget their first logo

[iconoclast]

On the other hand, of Buffalo's 2 major-league sports teams, the Bills use a buffalo as its entire identity package (although I will admit that I couldn't figure out how to draw a Bill either, short of a Western cowboy), and the Sabres' original logo was dominated by a buffalo with a smaller acknowledgement of the team's nickname off-center.  That was scrapped for the "goat head", and relegated any appearance of the nickname to the secondary logos.  Few other sports teams, if any, pay more attention to their city name at the expense of the nickname. 

Moreover, I don't know that it was conclusively proven that the city of Buffalo was even named for the animal.  So while the name conveniently lends itself to being depicted by the animal, it's not necessarily even correct.

I don't like the predominance of the buffalo in Buffalo sports logos.  It reeks of a lack of imagination, and it's too safe of a gimmick to fall back on.  The exception is the MiLB Bisons, since the name makes the logo and the animal more appropriate for use.  "Sabres" is such a great nickname, it ought to be the focal point of the logo.

The "Beau fleuve" theory on the origin of the name of Buffalo has no historical evidence to support it. Buffalo was named after Buffalo Creek, which in turn was probably originally called "Buffalo's Creek," after a local Indian who lived there named "Buffalo." So, yes, in all likelihood, Buffalo was named after the buffalo. BTW, buffalo (actually bison) are reported to have lived as far east as Pennsylvania at one time.

The fact that Buffalo only has 2 (current) major league teams skews the fact that "all" their teams have a bison motif. Regarding the Bills, the team was named after Buffalo Bill Cody, who earned his nickname by killing buffalo, so a buffalo logo is totally appropriate. Yes, the Sabres have dropped the ball by going with a primary logo of only a buffalo. Regarding the original logo, crossed sabres alone would've been boring, and adding the bison made it one of the best logos ever.

[Stampman]

...First off, few cities could pull this off: San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis (in fact the Browns did this in their past), Seattle, Los Angeles could be personified by the person/people they were named for, as could Houston - but would you know what Sam Houston looked like well enough to have a redesigned Houston Rockets logo that featured Sam Houston and made no mention of a rocket to go, "Oh yeah.  That's Houston all right"?  This leaves a lot of cities out of the running, and even those in the running would be left with unwieldy logos.

What would you use for San Diego? Surely no league would allow the proper German translation to be depicted in a logo for a team from San Diego!

German?

San Diego is Spanish. (The English version would be Saint James, James being derived from Jacob as was Diego.)

And if you're going to make movie references--make sure they have some basis in fact, or make it make sense.

Non-Anchorman fans FTL.

Yeah I know where the "joke" is from--but it's not funny...

It's forced and out of left field--at least when I make a Python reference it's as if the person who posted the comment I refer to is setting me up...

(And Python was funny--but hey that's adebate for another thread!)

[Puck]

Can a sports team from Buffalo ever have a logo that doesn't have a Buffalo in it? Besides the Braves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Wings_(roller_hockey)

The Buffalo Wings of the old RHI.

[tommytimp]

I don't see why people are puzzled by the fact that Buffalo teams use a depiction of said animal in their logs. It's about as pictorial a city name as there is in sports, so wouldn't the absence of a buffalo in a Buffalo logo be the equivalent of the elephant in the living room?

Anyway, I loved the original logo, and just never thought the Goat Lord was particularly attractive, and yes, it is a little busy. The lug is way too slick and pre-tested-looking for me, as well as to Saturday-morning-cartoony for a primary NHL logo.

[js °]

I don't see why people are puzzled by the fact that Buffalo teams use a depiction of said animal in their logs. It's about as pictorial a city name as there is in sports, so wouldn't the absence of a buffalo in a Buffalo logo be the equivalent of the elephant in the living room?

Anyway, I loved the original logo, and just never thought the Goat Lord was particularly attractive, and yes, it is a little busy. The lug is way too slick and pre-tested-looking for me, as well as to Saturday-morning-cartoony for a primary NHL logo.

I really couldn't agree more tommytimp, the red and black buffalo logo, for all its illustrative brilliance, was soulless, as is this new one.

For the soul of a logo (which is a unique characterstic necessary in developing sports identities as opposed to developing a corporate identity) to come through with meaning to its fans, it has to have justifiable reasoning for every line in it .. and neither of those had it .. which is why fans never adapted them as their own.

If you look at every great sports logo ... whether its old, new, modern, classic, flashy, rustic, etc ... the fans will gladly accept it as the symbol of their beloved team as long as it has some soul in it, some sort of representational quality of who they stand for.

That entire concept was lost in the development of the sabres logos. Appeal to the core, then you can take liberties with making the illustrative qualities and branding choices to appeal to a wider audience.