BallWonk Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 "Heck, three-syllable team names are usually too much for fans. "Rays" isn't much of a team name, but it's certainly more sensible than "Devil Rays" or "Manta Rays" or any other two-word appellation."That makes no sense. Devil Rays os better than rays. A devil ray IS a real fish. What is not sensible about it? And three syllable names are too much for fans? What??????Is a ray not also a real thing? A raccoon dog is a real animal; doesn't make "Raccoon Dogs" a good sports team name.My point was simply that two-word and three-plus-syllable team names tend to get shortened anyway. If you name your team the Devil Rays, everyone knows that fans will actually call them the Rays. If you name your team the Diamond Backs, everybody knows that fans will actually call them Backs or D-Backs or something. Blue Jays become Jays. Color Sox become Sox. Athletics become A's. Nationals become Nats. Patriots become Pats. Fortey-niners become Niners. Et cetera.Now, I don't mean to say that no team should have a two-word name or a name longer than three syllables. Just that if your long or two-word name isn't really, really good, you'd do better to pick a shorter or one-word name. And "Devil Ray" is nobody's idea of a really, really good team name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutyfree Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Well said, Ballwonk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubsFanBudMan Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 It works both ways. The single-syllable Cubs are often referred to as the Cubbies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Survival79 Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 I almost forgot about this proposed logo from Gameplan Creative. While all indications are that "Rays" will continue to refer to the animal and not the sun, perhaps it becomes relevant with the shift to blue? "If things have gone wrong, I'm talking to myself, and you've got a wet towel wrapped around your head." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallWonk Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 It works both ways. The single-syllable Cubs are often referred to as the Cubbies.Maybe it boils down to how smart the team's fans are. The Cubs probably have more fans with master's degrees, PhDs, MDs, and JDs than any other team, save perhaps the Red Sox, so they actually add syllables to their team's name. Hmmm: Minnesota is also a disproportionately well-educated place, and the fans there also lengthen the team name to "Twinkies". Philadelphia fans, by contrast, can't even deal with two syllables, so they have to shorten their team name to "Phils". Shame, though, that the Rays didn't start their new identity with green. Just saw a car with Florida plates, and the green and orange scheme of Florida's plates would be awesome for a baseball team called the Rays:Between the watery green and the sunny orange, the name can go either way depending on the context the team needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigShoop Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I like the idea of "more blue", but please....PLEASE dont make blue the primary color. There are ZERO teams that use green as a primary, but there are at least 10 that use blue. The new background of their website is almost purple, and THAT would REALLY suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boardname Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I like the idea of "more blue", but please....PLEASE dont make blue the primary color. There are ZERO teams that use green as a primary, but there are at least 10 that use blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigShoop Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Like moving the franchise to Tampa, and giving the area a competitive team?I'm not among those who would argue that Tampa's team has been anything but awful during its first decade of existence, but I wish fans would get to the point where they stop blaming the city, the stadium, or the nickname for the team's woes.Teams are only this bad for a long period for one reason: poor management of the franchise (i.e.: disinterested ownership). For further examples: see Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, or Arizona Cardinals.Is the Trop that much of a bad ballpark compared to the Metrodome, or to the <insert corporate sponser here> Coliseum in Oakland? Is it any worst than Shea Stadium (at least no airplanes fly overhead every 5 minutes while in the Trop)?If the "Devil" is to blame for Tampa's baseball woes, is Johnny Depp to blame for Pittsburgh's, or all royalty for Kansas City's?Go ahead and change the team nickname if you want to, but it will still be an awful baseball franchise until ownership and management start to plan and care about player development, scouting, and building a winning team.That seems to have helped put fans in the seats in places like Oakland, Minneapolis, and Flushing, NY.Sorry for the somewhat off-topic rant.I was with you until the bold statement...The new ownership group has put in a huge investment into those things you listed. Do your research on the new owners before blaming them for Naimoli's mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBTV Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Philadelphia fans, by contrast, can't even deal with two syllables, so they have to shorten their team name to "Phils". But our city name has five syllables, and since our state name has four, our city/state combo has nine, which outranks Boston, and is tied with Minneapolis.I am so smart. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. "The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubsFanBudMan Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Wow... the Rays site wasted no time. First the newspaper report and now this on the first day of spring training. Guess there's no question what direction they're leaning. Looks like a double blue with white might be an option, but I guess they really couldn't add the rumored yellow in there yet... right? Only using what the already have -- or variations of it. (Although the White Sox have alternately used green and red on their site before.) Still, the dominance of the blue is jarring.... but it has potential.Despite all of the changes, they really can't mess with tradition, since they used almost every color in their rainbow-esque gradient (that those Florida plates still use). Black, purple, green, blue.... cant's wait for the yellow alt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huggermugger Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I actually like the two blue idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxmet Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I actually like the two blue idea.The double blues look better than the blue/yellow combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 Can the Rays leave blue and gold open for the Brewers to take back soon? It's not a very Floridian combo. Like BallWonk said, I like green and orange for the Rays. If they're going to go with blue, they need to do something unique with it, like three-tone or blues with purple, or blues with pastels, or something, anything. Blue/gold doesn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Survival79 Posted February 15, 2007 Author Share Posted February 15, 2007 The new background of their website is almost purple, and THAT would REALLY suck.The colors look eerily similar to "Tampa Bay Devil Rays Purple" and "Tampa Bay Devil Rays Blue" from 1998 through 2000.Image courtesy of PANTONE... any thoughts? "If things have gone wrong, I'm talking to myself, and you've got a wet towel wrapped around your head." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dahatman Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I actually like the two blue idea.Great concept. Love the '70's throwback that looks like the old Padres hat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubsFanBudMan Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I actually like the two blue idea.Great concept. Love the '70's throwback that looks like the old Padres hat.I agree. The double blues look nice... I'd prefer the black be limited to an accent color (and the ray). I'd love to see a blue/yellow combo come back, but as someone else said, it'd be nice if the Brewers did that. And I'm afraid that the blue/yellow would be too Chargers throwback/ Nuggets/ Grizzlies. It might look nice and be unique to MLB, but is it just the latest teal/purple fad?Also, as much as I like those caps (and quite honestly, the current green ones if the blue stood out more), aren't we expecting the TB to change? Too bad... could be dangerous.And the Padres-esque cap was a nice touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutyfree Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Still, the logo is just too, too busy. And that font is so...so...what?...dated, dull, uninspired.Just the image of the Ray. Or just TB in a more dynamic font. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 The new background of their website is almost purple, and THAT would REALLY suck.The colors look eerily similar to "Tampa Bay Devil Rays Purple" and "Tampa Bay Devil Rays Blue" from 1998 through 2000.Image courtesy of PANTONE... any thoughts?I think that's actually a fascinating color pallette. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huggermugger Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 I agree that the current logo is kinda busy and that the lettering is boring. But if you use the old logo it works better.I'm also noticing that Black Blue and white are the Lightning's colors as well.Black and blue looks pretty bad-ass together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JStamper Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Still, the logo is just too, too busy. And that font is so...so...what?...dated, dull, uninspired.Just the image of the Ray. Or just TB in a more dynamic font.Colors aside, I have always thought that the logo on the Rays hat is just way to big. It takes up far to much of the front of the hat. The best, most classic hats (red sox, yankees, tigers, cubs) are very simple....one color, one lette (or two interlocking letters). How bout the Rays just go with a nice, simple, interlocking TB on the hat, and start to look like a real baseball team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.