New Orleans Hornets Will Rebrand as Pelicans in Time for 2013-2014 NBA Season

[AcmePacker]

Introducing the New Orleans Pelicans.....Really? That is the worst possible name they could have come up with. Nothing screams terror like a pelican [sarcasm]. I am just proud that I am not the only one who agrees that this is bad.

Lemme ask you this, so any of the following names strike terror in you?

Lakers, clippers, celtics, kings, thunder, spurs, magic, mavericks, suns, Knicks, nets(maybe or sea creatures), jazz(fear inducing saxophones maybe?) supersonics, trailblazers, heat..?

Maybe I'm just all man and have no fear, or maybe people are overreacting.

LOL. those names are not exactly terrifying but most do come with a sense of local pride. the ones that don't have built a brand so strong there would be riots in the streets if they changed it. it's hard to get behind the Pelicans name, i dont think i'll ever like it, but it will grow on the majority of their fanbase over time.

It's basketball, not football.

I really don't think the names HAVE to be terrifying.

Exactly. That's such a lame argument.... and even in football, there's teams like the Cardinals. Have you seen a cardinal in your backyard or anywhere? A Pelican would eat one of those things in one gulp.

Idk...to be honest, Pelicans can be pretty damn terrifying haha, they can be aggressive as hell, they're vicious, and one of the few birds of their kind that are carnivores, that's pretty terrifying

[GeauxColonels]

Don't know how they can go from a unique, straight up Mardi Gras pallet to another generic R/W/B/G pallet.

It wasn't a Mardi Gras pallet.

[GeauxColonels]

Introducing the New Orleans Pelicans.....Really? That is the worst possible name they could have come up with. Nothing screams terror like a pelican [sarcasm]. I am just proud that I am not the only one who agrees that this is bad.

Lemme ask you this, so any of the following names strike terror in you?

Lakers, clippers, celtics, kings, thunder, spurs, magic, mavericks, suns, Knicks, nets(maybe or sea creatures), jazz(fear inducing saxophones maybe?) supersonics, trailblazers, heat..?

Maybe I'm just all man and have no fear, or maybe people are overreacting.

LOL. those names are not exactly terrifying but most do come with a sense of local pride. the ones that don't have built a brand so strong there would be riots in the streets if they changed it. it's hard to get behind the Pelicans name, i dont think i'll ever like it, but it will grow on the majority of their fanbase over time.

I don't think the people in New Orleans will find it hard to get behind. My understanding is that the bird has real local significance, and therefore has that sense of local pride.

So it's every bit as good as Celtics, Spurs, Mavericks, Suns, Knicks and the like.

Definitely. The pelican is on the state flag and state seal. There was a huge push in prior decades to bring back the brown pelican to Louisiana after it disappeared. The bird has made a huge comeback and you see them all over in the wetlands and along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. It has significance in the city and state. It's a good choice.

[C's]

Not bad, even though they look like the LeBron-era Cavs

[Nyk33]

This is a massive downgrade from the Hornets logo and colors. Everything about this identity is vastly inferior to the New Orleans Hornets identity.

Could they at least tried to be original instead of going for the Chinese knockoff version of the Lebron Cavs color?

[goforbroke]

Everyone's saying its a generic color scheme, but in reality it would be pretty unique. Primary navy with red and gold trim. The closest CURRENTLY in the NBA would be the Cavs but they are primarily Red with Gold. The Hawks don't have gold. And in other sports, the Florida Panthers are close but also primary Red, not Navy. The Washington Nationals have phased out the gold, and all the other red and navy teams don't have gold.

So, in the 4 majors theres only 3 teams out of 122 that have Red, Navy, and Gold as their colors and the Pelicans are the only ones that will be primarily Navy.

[OnWis97]

Introducing the New Orleans Pelicans.....Really? That is the worst possible name they could have come up with. Nothing screams terror like a pelican [sarcasm]. I am just proud that I am not the only one who agrees that this is bad.

Lemme ask you this, so any of the following names strike terror in you?

Lakers, clippers, celtics, kings, thunder, spurs, magic, mavericks, suns, Knicks, nets(maybe or sea creatures), jazz(fear inducing saxophones maybe?) supersonics, trailblazers, heat..?

Maybe I'm just all man and have no fear, or maybe people are overreacting.

LOL. those names are not exactly terrifying but most do come with a sense of local pride. the ones that don't have built a brand so strong there would be riots in the streets if they changed it. it's hard to get behind the Pelicans name, i dont think i'll ever like it, but it will grow on the majority of their fanbase over time.

It's basketball, not football.

I really don't think the names HAVE to be terrifying.

\

They don't have to be terrifying in football either. It's a fitting name for the region. Good enough for me.

[hjwii]

Introducing the New Orleans Pelicans.....Really? That is the worst possible name they could have come up with. Nothing screams terror like a pelican [sarcasm]. I am just proud that I am not the only one who agrees that this is bad.

Lemme ask you this, so any of the following names strike terror in you?

Lakers, clippers, celtics, kings, thunder, spurs, magic, mavericks, suns, Knicks, nets(maybe or sea creatures), jazz(fear inducing saxophones maybe?) supersonics, trailblazers, heat..?

Maybe I'm just all man and have no fear, or maybe people are overreacting.

LOL. those names are not exactly terrifying but most do come with a sense of local pride. the ones that don't have built a brand so strong there would be riots in the streets if they changed it. it's hard to get behind the Pelicans name, i dont think i'll ever like it, but it will grow on the majority of their fanbase over time.

I don't think the people in New Orleans will find it hard to get behind. My understanding is that the bird has real local significance, and therefore has that sense of local pride.

So it's every bit as good as Celtics, Spurs, Mavericks, Suns, Knicks and the like.

*DING DING* we have a winner. The people of New Orleans are an lot. I don;t think we can be compared to anyone else in the country. Whereas Pelicans may have not been the first name to come to mind for the natives, it is certainly something they can/will relate to. Moreso than Hornets (altho the city has come to accept that name) or any nondesript name they could have chosen.

Afterall, what did everybody think when we named our football team after dead prophets of a specific religion? And then stuck a flower on the side of the helmet...?

[goforbroke]

This isn't the XFL.

[Sodboy13]

I'd have had a big loopy script like the old Pittsburgh Penguins script with a pelican holding a basketball in its beak.

This is kind of what I had in mind, but more refined, of course:

"No, no! It's perfect just like it is. Here's $40. Wait, my wallet must be in my other pants. Do you take Camel Cash?"

--The ABA

[Saintsfan]

Everyone's saying its a generic color scheme, but in reality it would be pretty unique. Primary navy with red and gold trim. The closest CURRENTLY in the NBA would be the Cavs but they are primarily Red with Gold. The Hawks don't have gold. And in other sports, the Florida Panthers are close but also primary Red, not Navy. The Washington Nationals have phased out the gold, and all the other red and navy teams don't have gold.

So, in the 4 majors theres only 3 teams out of 122 that have Red, Navy, and Gold as their colors and the Pelicans are the only ones that will be primarily Navy.

Depends on the uniform, but they could end up looking quite like the Atlanta Hawks. I doubt that's going to happen however.

[TruColor]

Everyone's saying its a generic color scheme, but in reality it would be pretty unique. Primary navy with red and gold trim. The closest CURRENTLY in the NBA would be the Cavs but they are primarily Red with Gold. The Hawks don't have gold. And in other sports, the Florida Panthers are close but also primary Red, not Navy. The Washington Nationals have phased out the gold, and all the other red and navy teams don't have gold.

So, in the 4 majors theres only 3 teams out of 122 that have Red, Navy, and Gold as their colors and the Pelicans are the only ones that will be primarily Navy.

From the Extreme Obscurity Dept. - I need to confirm my findings (don't have the official files yet), but it looks like this new color palette will match exactly (down to the Pantone values) to the old Quad City Steamwheelers of the arenafootball2 league.

(I told you it was obscure.)

[OnWis97]

Everyone's saying its a generic color scheme, but in reality it would be pretty unique. Primary navy with red and gold trim. The closest CURRENTLY in the NBA would be the Cavs but they are primarily Red with Gold. The Hawks don't have gold. And in other sports, the Florida Panthers are close but also primary Red, not Navy. The Washington Nationals have phased out the gold, and all the other red and navy teams don't have gold.

So, in the 4 majors theres only 3 teams out of 122 that have Red, Navy, and Gold as their colors and the Pelicans are the only ones that will be primarily Navy.

From the Extreme Obscurity Dept. - I need to confirm my findings (don't have the official files yet), but it looks like this new color palette will match exactly (down to the Pantone values) to the old Quad City Steamwheelers of the arenafootball2 league.

(I told you it was obscure.)

Well then they'll just have to find another color scheme.

[shaydre1019]

The problem with the Bird-de-lis is that they basically took a fleur-de-lis and tried to cram a pelican into it. The beauty of the fleur-de-bee was that it looked like they designed the hornet in such a way to resemble a fleur-de-lee.

Like, what's going on with the "wings"? Whats that little flair around the tip of the beak? What's the horizontal line across the basketball? I understand that it is done to complete the shape of the fleur-de-lis, but it just looks like they took the easy way out on it and it shows.

And my biggest gripe is there was no need to do that because from my understanding a fluer-de-lis isn't an EXACT shape, like a square. There are many different interpretations of the shape, so they could have designed it a little better.

It just seems the bee appeared more naturally in the shape the way it was designed while the dird seems more squeezed in there. HAVING SAID all of that I still think its a nice logo and I love the overall package.

Where can I get one of those hoodies?

[BrandMooreArt]

put all my thoughts here: http://brandmooreart.blogspot.com/2013/01/gumbo-birds.html

[NatsFan2004]

I for one welcome our new Pelican overlords...

[BlueSky]

My problem with the logos is the overemphasis on the city name. The nickname is basically an afterthought.

[goforbroke]

Everyone's saying its a generic color scheme, but in reality it would be pretty unique. Primary navy with red and gold trim. The closest CURRENTLY in the NBA would be the Cavs but they are primarily Red with Gold. The Hawks don't have gold. And in other sports, the Florida Panthers are close but also primary Red, not Navy. The Washington Nationals have phased out the gold, and all the other red and navy teams don't have gold.

So, in the 4 majors theres only 3 teams out of 122 that have Red, Navy, and Gold as their colors and the Pelicans are the only ones that will be primarily Navy.

From the Extreme Obscurity Dept. - I need to confirm my findings (don't have the official files yet), but it looks like this new color palette will match exactly (down to the Pantone values) to the old Quad City Steamwheelers of the arenafootball2 league.

(I told you it was obscure.)

I stand very much corrected sir. This is a total ripoff. Burn down the stadium and take the logo out back and shoot it.

[Conrad.]

Ben's work on his fictional "Crescent City Curse" might make its way into the Pels branding perhaps (hopefully!):

Once i get a sec, i'm gonna put together a mash-up rendering of the Pels logos/colors with these uni and court concepts. Should turn out nicely.

[Atom]

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.