Skip to content
 

Pittsburgh Blue Jays, We Hardly Knew Ye

Well, that was fun while it lasted.

Yesterday morning, as the news spread about the Toronto Blue Jays would probably play their 2020 home games in Pittsburgh, lots of folks tried their hand at visualizing how the Jays’ visual program might be modified to reflect their new temporary home. My favorite idea came from Gabriel Hurl, who posted a photo of the cap shown above and said, “Time to lean all the way in on the Pittsburgh Blue Jays.” I initially thought it was a Photoshop concept, but it’s actually a real cap that was available for sale a few years back but is now unavailable.

Just as well. By the end of the day, the state of Pennsylvania announced that it would not allow the Jays to play in Pittsburgh, so the team is now back to square one. Still, for that brief period yesterday, it was fun to see people reimagining the Jays as a Pittsburgh-based team. Here are some of the best designs I saw:

Lots of people tinkered with the Jays’ familiar logo, including longtime Uni Watch pal/ally Todd Radom, who gave the logo a Pittsburgh-centric color scheme and a keystone icon:

Others left the Jays’ colors intact but swapped out the maple leaf for Steeltown signifiers:

For that last one, the bonus hypocycloid in the eyeball is a nice touch, right?

I do like this Jays/Pirates mash-up logo — especially the eye patch:

The same guy who did that mash-up concept also reduced “Pittsburgh Blue Jays” to its “PBJ” initials and had some sandwich-based fun:

———

So that was fun. But what’s going to happen to the Jays now that Pennsylvania has turned them away? Their first scheduled home game isn’t until next Wednesday, so they still have a bit of time to figure things out. Various reports say they might play in Baltimore, or at their Triple-A ballpark in Buffalo, or that they might play all their “home” games at the visiting teams’ ballparks.

That last option raises some intriguing uni-related possibilities. Let’s say, for example, the Jays are scheduled to host the Red Sox, and they end up playing the game in Boston. As the designated home team, the Jays will bat second. Will they also wear their home uniforms? Will the Sox wear their road greys at Fenway? Hmmmmm.

• • • • •

• • • • •

Play ball: The 2020 MLB season will finally commence this evening. The Nationals will be wearing their gold-accented championship uniforms while hosting the Yankees (suggested uni-related drinking game: Have a shot every time someone inaccurately says or writes that Yanks starter Gerrit Cole is making “his debut in pinstripes”), and then the Dodgers will host the Giants. Those are the only two games for today, with everyone else slated to kick off their seasons tomorrow.

If you need a refresher course on this season’s new uniforms (some of which were unveiled more than eight months ago!), you might want to check out the Uni Watch MLB Season Preview, which has been revised with assorted pandemic-related updates. Enjoy!

Speaking of MLB, there was some last-minute 2020 uni news yesterday, as the Yankees revealed a new memorial patch for owner Hank Steinbrenner, who died in April:

Note that the tweet presumptuously mentions that they’ll be wearing the patch in the postseason. Good to see that the insufferable Yankees arrogance hasn’t been affected by the pandemic.

Also, MLB announced that players will have the option of wearing a sleeve patch with either “Black Lives Matter” or “United for Change,” and teams will have the option of having a Black Lives Matter graphic on the back of the mound. It’s not yet clear, at least to me, if this mound graphic will be instead of, or in addition to, an ad projected onto the mound, but we’ll find out soon enough, because the Nats plan to use the BLM graphic tonight.

Finally, Fox has announced that its MLB broadcasts will include fake crowd noise. Sigh.

• • • • •

• • • • •

ITEM! Uni Watch key ring teaser: As many of you know, I’m fascinated by key rings (so much so that I even have a whole side project devoted to them), so I recently decided it would be good to add key rings to the roster of Uni Watch merchandise offerings.

I just got them in from the factory yesterday. As you can see in the video clip above, I went with the 3D rubberized style, and they turned out really, really well (and in keeping with longstanding Uni Watch merch protocol, they have no maker’s mark). I’m very pleased with them!

I’m going to sell these myself, not via Teespring. I need a bit of time to figure out the best way to mail them (i.e., can I get away with just sending them in a regular envelope with a regular stamp, and thereby avoid having to charge a higher shipping rate?), so I’m sending out some test mailings. Should have it sorted out by next week, so I’ll have more info then — stay tuned.

• • • • •

• • • • •

Click to enlarge

Going, going…: Today is the next-to-last day to get in on our new line of Tour de France-inspired Uni Watch cycling jerseys: yellow (for the overall leader), green (Points Classification leader), and polka dot (King of the Mountains).

Each jersey can be customized with your choice of number (there’s a bib-style panel on the back for that) and/or NOB — or you can skip those elements and leave the back blank. Up to you!

You must place your order by tomorrow, which should allow us to get the finished jerseys to you by Aug. 29 — the first day of the Tour de France.

Full details, including rear views, a sizing chart, and more, here.

• • • • •

• • • • •

Bobble-pin update: Thanks to a nice little sales bump (thank you!), there are now fewer than 100 Uni Watch Pin Club bobble-pins remaining from our numbered edition of 500, and I’m starting to think they may actually sell out. They’re available here while supplies last. Need to get caught up? Here are the January, February, March, May, and June pins (sorry, April is sold out), along with our basic winged stirrup pin.

And remember, if you order multiple pins and/or Uni Watch cufflinks and get hit with multiple shipping charges, give me a shout and I can get you a partial refund on the shipping.

My thanks, as always, for your consideration.

• • • • •

• • • • •

The Ticker
By Lloyd Alaban

Baseball News: Royals P Ronald Bolaños, recently acquired from the Padres, wore his old team’s glove yesterday against the Cardinals (from @dynamodog2). … Dodgers P Clayton Kershaw has a new commercial out. It looks like the NNOB batter Kershaw is facing in the commercial is Phillies RF Bryce Harper (from Bryce Bement). … Alabama softball will wear teal-trimmed jerseys for ovarian cancer awareness (from Griffin Smith). … The Chinese Professional Baseball League is switching to a de-juiced ball (from Jeremy Brahm).

Football News: The NFL has confirmed that masks are required for fans should they be allowed to attend games this season. … With college football players now allowed to wear No. 0, Auburn LB Owen Pappoe will wear that number (from @MeanJoeFranco). … Here’s an analysis of how Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger performed with a sleeve on his throwing arm compared to no sleeve (from @Bradley_Locker). … Sentinels is reported to be one of the finalists for a renamed Washington NFL club (from multiple readers).

Hockey News: The new Seattle NHL franchise will reveal its name today at noon Eastern. … Even within the NHL bubble, the Wild have formed their own dress code (paywalled). … The Islanders’ new arena will be called the UBS Arena (from Mike Chamernik). … Also from Mike: Former Canucks G Roberto Luongo received a Vancouver Whitecaps shirt with his NOB on it, and the number 100 — rendered in the “100” emoji style. … New unis for the Connecticut Whale of the NWHL (from Chris Botta).

Basketball News: The Blazers are adding a memorial patch for team founder Harry Glickman, who died last month at 96 (from @ianb78).  … Check out the videoboard fan chants that the NBA is using for games in Orlando (from Andreas Papadopoulos). … From Timmy Donahue: New court for Peninsula College. … ESPN is still using the Spurs’ old logo, which the club hasn’t used since 2018 (from Cameron Songer). … Here are jersey-redesign concepts for every WNBA team (from @spiralJ).

Soccer News: New home shirt for Roma (from Mark Barnett). … Charlotte’s new MLS club will be named Charlotte FC (from Kary Klismet). … New home shirt for Fortuna Düsseldorf (from our own Anthony Emerson). … New away shirt for Stranraer FC (from Ed Zelaski). … Also from Ed: French company Macron will now be outfitting Czech side Viktoria Plzen. … One more from Ed: New home and away shirts for Osnabrück. … Liverpool D Joe Gomez was missing his Western Union sleeve ad yesterday (from Moe Khan). … The confetti to celebrate Liverpool’s Premier League win has messaging on it. Presumably, the messages are tweets from fans (from Joe Farris). … Greenville Triumph of USL League One will wear an anti-racism sleeve patch for the remainder of the season (from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: New home, away, and third kits for Cruz Azul. … Cross-listed from the hockey section: Former Vancouver Canucks G Roberto Luongo of the NHL received a Whitecaps shirt with his NOB on it, and the number 100 — rendered in the “100” emoji style (from Mike Chamernik). … Chicago Red Star D Bianca St. Georges’s NOB includes a lowercase “t” (from David Tra). … Italian league Serie A is the latest to go with a standardized league-wide number/NOB font (from Ryan Maquiñana). … New away kit for French side Reims (from Ed Zelaski).

Grab Bag: New logo and wordmark for University of Albany athletics (from multiple readers). … A Baton Rouge Advocate columnist says LSU needs to address the historic ties of its “Tigers” team name to Confederate soldiers from Louisiana (from Kary Klismet). … Here is the U.S. Space Force’s new logo (from Timmy Donahue). … Fort Worth, Texas, will be home to the latest National Lacrosse League franchise (from Wade Heidt). … The Department of Defense says it’s “concerned” about law enforcement across the country dressing up in Army uniforms (from Jon Vieira). … The new episode of the design podcast 99% Invisible is about why the British overseas territory of Anguilla has a dolphin on its flag (from Andrew Cosentino).

• • • • •

[adrotate group=”2″]

• • • • •

Click to enlarge

What Paul did last night: That’s our friend Jay. He biked over yesterday evening from Queens (about 13 miles). A thunderstorm hit soon after he arrived, so we all shared drinks and cherries on the porch for a few hours. When the storm let up, he biked home. (If it hadn’t stopped raining, he planned to bring his bike home on the subway, which would have been his first time on the subway since March.)

Such a treat to have a friend over — we’ve really been starved for social interaction. For Jay’s part, he has a high school-age daughter in the house, so he was glad to hang out with adults. A win-win!

As always, you can see the full set of daily Pandemic Porch Cocktails™ photos here.

 
  
 
Comments (97)

    Still waiting for the UniWatch jockstrap! I’m sure at this rate it’s not too far off…Lol

    I was hoping for the new Islanders arena to have Coliseum in the name, especially with the possibility that The Barn may close for good.

    “Sentinels” might be a marketing coup, at least for fans of the movie, and it’s not a terrible name (a sentinel is a soldier who stands guard, like link, or link), but it’s not a great name either. I think it’s marginally better than Warriors or (forgive me again) link, which I really hope they don’t choose.

    I’m still partial to link.

    As much as I love the idea of a new named based on the team’s glory years, I really dread the thought of calling them Warthogs.

    I’m coming around to the idea of Red Wolves, given some of the uni designs I’ve seen floating around.

    “Warthogs” is a lot more palatable if it’s based (and the logo is based) on the A-10. Even though the league already has a team called the “Jets.”

    I have deep problems with Warriors as a name, but I’d be a fan of the team if the adopt Sentinels.

    I like the idea and meaning behind Red Tails, but it seems a bit clunky as a team name. Just about anything Red [noun] feels off to me, not because of the similarity to the old name but because the suggestions tend to feel forced. Like, red wolves are critically endangered and of the very few alive in the wild, the closest to DC are in North Carolina. The other Red [noun] suggestions I’ve seen have been similarly off.

    Best-case scenario: The Washington No Longer Owned by Dan Snyders.

    Not a fan of Sentinels. Having watched this team for decades, the last thing I want is more standing around!

    My favourite remains Red Tails. Contrary to the notion of clunky, I think it fits well as a “red” replacement. I like the fact that the range of the bird in question includes the DC area, and the additional nod to the Tuskeegee Airmen, after decades of using a slur of a monicker, is a great touch.

    I too favor Red Tails(or Redtails) and would love to see the return/re-imagining of the rear feather helmet logo even if some view that as highly problematic or wholly inappropriate.

    Ironically, the old USFL Federals uniforms (who I doubt Washington would want to commemorate in any way) would make great new uniforms for the Philadelphia Eagles.

    If they portray the Sentinel as more of a Minuteman, the nickname might gain some traction. But, yeah, a Sentinel, like a Monument, just gathers dust.

    The Dolphin Flag, from the brief Republic of Anguilla, is everywhere on the island. You only see the official national flag (with the Union Jack) on official buildings and on boats that are obligated to fly the official flag.

    The ad for the Seattle name drop seems to indicate Kraken. Disappointing, was hoping for something more classic and timeless, like Emeralds or Evergreens.

    I’m fine with an unusual name, but only if it’s plural. Seattle Krackens would be great. Kracken, not so much.

    Should have been Seattle Breakers. I’m disappointed that name had not really been considered.

    The story behind the Roberto Luongo Whitecaps jersey. Vancouver G Maxime Crepeau broke his hand at the tourney in Orlando. Whitecaps jokingly reached out to Luongo to be their emergency backup goalie since he lives in Florida.

    link

    The Whitecaps did secure a backup G. Jonathan Sirois suiting up for Vancouver on loan from the Montreal Impact.

    link

    “Let’s say,…, the Jays are scheduled to host the Red Sox, and they end up playing the game in Boston. As the designated home team, the Jays will bat second. Will they also wear their home uniforms? Will the Sox wear their road greys at Fenway?”

    There is some precedent (credit to UW’s Phil Hecken and Morris Levin)-

    link

    “In 2010, the G8 summit moved a Blue Jays-Phillies series scheduled for Toronto to Citizens Bank Park. The Blue Jays batted last and the designated hitter was used, and it led to the awful image of the Phillies dressing like visitors in their own home.”

    I really like the Pittsburgh Blue Jays mashups. This trend should continue for all the parks they play home games in this year! As for the away-at-home teams, just bust out a complementary color alternate (every team has about 8 now right?) and let the opponent wear home whites (or appropriate alternate). Boom easy done

    I went with the 3D rubberized style, and they turned out really, really well

    Good choice. I love the idea of something to add to my key ring, but the added weight is usually a deal breaker. I’d buy that.

    A Baton Rouge Advocate columnist says LSU needs to address the historic ties of its “Tigers” team name to Confederate soldiers from Louisiana

    So let’s just get rid of nicknames altogether then. It’s never enough, is it?
    I bet most people never made/make that connection.

    People not having made the connection is the whole point. I never knew about this myself, and I’m glad to have learned about it — it’s a history lesson. Why would you (or anyone) object to a history lesson?

    Now, whether that means the name should be changed, I’m not ready to say. But I’m glad to know about something that I was previously ignorant about.

    I’m not objecting to a history lesson. But what’s there to address? The name came from a particular source, almost no one realizes it…why bring it up unless you’re advocating to change it? I don’t think it needs changed because…never mind. They can do whatever they want.

    I’m not objecting to a history lesson. But what’s there to address? The name came from a particular source, almost no one realizes it…why bring it up unless you’re advocating to change it?

    Really? You think the only point of knowledge is for it to be actionable? You don’t think there’s any point in learning something for its own sake, or just to add perspective? You would prefer that the knowledge not be shared?

    I don’t think you really believe that, Jim. I think, respectfully, that you just don’t like where this particular bit of knowledge might lead.

    And if it leads to a debate about the Tigers’ team name, what exactly is wrong with that? What’s wrong with reassessing and discussing things we’ve long taken for granted, especially when new knowledge about them comes to light? I fail to see the problem.

    And to be clear, I’m not saying they should keep it *because* of its origin. I just thought that sometimes a tiger is just a tiger.

    But again, if they want to change it now, I don’t care.

    Perspective is wonderful.

    It’s too early in my morning to know “where this particular bit of knowledge might lead,” so I’m going to stop now.

    What’s wrong with reassessing and discussing things we’ve long taken for granted, especially when new knowledge about them comes to light?

    I think that question pretty much nails the fulcrum of our current cultural divide. One “side” insists upon “reassessing … things we’ve long taken for granted” while the other insists that we not do that.

    I think that’s a false equivalence, especially when new info comes to light, as is the case here. In an open society, what’s wrong with a robust debate? Anyone who believes their position is the correct one should welcome that. If a person’s position is as strong as he/she thinks it is, it will carry the day. Bring it!

    Just to be clear, Chris: I’m not saying the team name should be changed. But I’m intrigued to learn something about its background that I didn’t previously know, and I welcome any discussion about that. That’s all.

    One “side” insists upon “reassessing … things we’ve long taken for granted” while the other insists that we not do that.

    You’re assuming I have a “side.”
    I see the good (and the stupid) in both sides, and am not identifying with either one anymore. If there is more than one answer to society’s problems, I believe there are more than two answers.

    Why does *everything* have to have a “side” these days? Can’t some discussions be robust, as Paul said, instead of partisan?

    Why does *everything* have to have a “side” these days? Can’t some discussions be robust, as Paul said, instead of partisan?

    Wait wait wait. Jim, the whole reason this thread exists is that *you’re* the one who singled out that one item in the Ticker for ridicule (and with a bad-faith argument too, suggesting that we should just eliminate team names altogether, which is a ludicrously reductive response to original Ticker item). In short, you pretty plainly chose your side. Then you quickly backtracked and now you’re trying to act all above the fray, but this is a fight that you picked. Own it.

    If your position has merit — which you apparently think it does, or else it wouldn’t be your position — then it will carry the day, so you have nothing to worry about.

    Yes, I took a side in this particular discussion. It was then implied that by doing so I took a cultural/political side as well. That was my complaint.

    I still think the name is harmless. It’s a tiger.

    If LSU wants to say, “the views of the people who gave us our mascot do not reflect the views of our current institution,” wonderful. If the university wants to revisit this and change their nickname, they are certainly in their right to do so. In the end it’s not my business and I should’ve just kept out of it. I’m sorry.

    I’m also sorry for using sarcasm in my very first sentence. That’s a bad habit I’ve been trying to overcome, with mixed results.

    I’m sorry, but in the current situation I don’t think that anyone who’s ostensibly “learning something for its own sake, or just to add perspective” has earned the remotest benefit of the doubt. The notion that someone’s bringing this up just because it’s allegedly interesting doesn’t pass the laugh test.

    I didn’t say that’s why the writer brought it up. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be received that way. Simply dismissing the information, or the providing of that information, because you don’t like the particular ax that the writer is grinding seems like the very definition of closed-mindedness.

    Did you know LSU’s team name had a Confederate connection? I didn’t. That’s an interesting new thing to have learned. Does it render the name unacceptable? I’m still thinking about that. But I welcome a discussion of the pros and cons, and I fail to see why anyone would feel otherwise. This what people do when new information comes to light: They think, they discuss.

    “I’m not objecting to a history lesson. But what’s there to address? The name came from a particular source, almost no one realizes it…why bring it up unless you’re advocating to change it?”

    I find this a strange argument, since the most common trope wheeled out against removing statues and names is the accusation that you’re “erasing history”.

    BTW, you’re not erasing history – that’s not possible. You are allowed, however, to reconsider what you choose to celebrate from your history.

    Weren’t pillbox style caps used in the All Star game a few years back? I think that is where that Toronto design originates from.

    New Era put out a line of pillbox caps, most with throwback logos, a couple years ago. I picked up the Brewers version, which had an almost-accurate 1970 Brewers M on it. Just about the only time I’ve ever seen New Era get that logo even close to right.

    A few years ago in Cincinnati, the ASG caps were modern-typical six-panel, but had two horizontal stripes to echo the mascot. I think that’s what you’re thinking of.
    AFAIK, the Blue Jays pillbox we see here is in the style that National League teams wore for the 1976 centennial, but that only the Pirates maintained afterwards.

    My first thought was, if the Pennsylvania Department of Health shut down the Blue Jays in Pittsburgh, then (not that they tried, but) the Blue Jays can’t be in Philadelphia either. Too bad…Philly could have had both the other Blue Jays and their own (Phillies) team once briefly called but not well-known as the Blue Jays!

    Cleveland owner made a statement to the ongoing name change issue. Unfortunately it seems to me that it’s leading to no change.

    link

    Call it a curse if you want, but the cemetery across the street from the stadium is the resting place of Joc-O-Sot, former Chief of the Meskwaki/Sauk tribe.

    link

    They can’t change the name soon enough.

    So all that hypothetical Pittsburgh Blue Jays merchandise is hypothetically now headed overseas ala Super Bowl runners-up merch… Too bad because that “Painfully cool logo circulating across southern Ontario” is brilliant.

    Once again… I’d like to thank the NFL and MLB for having every team end in the “s” sound.

    3. Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. – Not really uni-related, but they will be wearing oversized 12oz gloves.

    That Seattle logo might be the best use of negative space I’ve ever seen. F’ing brilliant.

    It really is. Best use of bevels in a logo in a looooong time, and as a cephalopod fan, I’m a sucker for the suckers in the negative space. The logo is so good that I might have to adopt the team as my third rooting interest in the NHL, despite the singular name. (I’m already a Wild fan, so to heck with standards.)

    Seattle vying for the NHL’s “Look at our clever use of negative space” award. Of course that award was retired when the Whalers moved south, but it’s a nice effort.

    I wonder if they realized Red Wings fans throw baby krakens on the ice during the playoffs?

    From the new Kraken web page:

    The largest octopus on planet Earth lives right here in Puget Sound. The Giant Pacific Octopus lurks in the deep around Seattle. According to Tacoma legend, they inhabit the ruins of collapsed bridge “Galloping Gertie” with the infamous “King Octopus.” National Geographic notes the biggest on record at 30 ft wide and over 600 lbs. If you encountered that in the depths of our Sound, you’d tell tales of one thing…You just saw the Kraken.

    I foresee Seattle Kraken supporters throwing Octopus on the ice…

    Washington Football Team is gonna stick with burgundy and gold and is ripping off all the racist logos…including the helmet decals, which will be replaced by players’ respective jersey numbers. Fascinating because I don’t think we’ve seen a literal interim identity since the Tennessee Oilers! (I’m differentiating that from the most recent LA Rams from St. Louis…they were always gonna be the Rams, but they were just hanging on to old jerseys so they could have new jerseys with the new field.)

    Overall thumbs up for Seattle. The “S” is a clean crisp logo, the colors – yep the NHL has a lot of dark uniforms – but overall has a fresh look. Some relatively unique shades of blue and they avoided firefly green

    The Kraken logos, colors and jerseys look fantastic.

    And the Washington Football Team dropping the helmet logo and adding the uni number to the their helmets is a big upgrade…

    Best name I heard for the now-lost Torontonians abroad was the Pittsburgh Blue Jags.

    Paul, I’ve been reading articles for the last thirty minutes about Seattle unveiling their “name” and colors. Not a single story says they revealed their new “nickname.” And yet a large percentage of stories about Washington’s football team incorrectly refer to them changing their “nickname.” Did journalists/news sources finally figure out the difference? Or are they maddeningly incompetent AND inconsistent?

    Didn’t think I’d care for Seattle Kraken, and never cared for “origin stories” or team-specific titles to colours like “Deep Sea Blue” and “Boundless Blue”, but the overall package – colour, logo, secondary logo, etc, is tight. Well done.

    The secondary (anchor) logo even evokes the Space Needle, which is a nice touch, as the arena is in its shadow…

    Hate the name, but MOSTLY like all the logos and sweaters. Just wish they went with the teal color as their primary jersey, we have more than enough navy teams in sports.
    However, bonus points for maintaining the color identity in the city among the 3 teams, navy with teal/greenish trim.

    I think Seattle NHL did okay.

    There’s a playfulness in naming the club Kraken that is distinctly Seattle. Weird in a good way.

    The sweater stripes and colors looks decent and the logo is nicely understated given its source inspiration.

    My only quibble is that the blue border around the logo on the white sweater is too thick; clunks it up.

    I live in Seattle, am a NHL fan, put money down for season tickets…and I really didn’t want “Seattle Kraken” to win out. Well, it did. I’m not going to whine about it.

    The big plus? I really like the logo and sweaters. Only very minor quibbles. I love that they kept the crest simple, and didn’t try to visualize a mythical creature. Yes, negative space use is well executed. Sure, the quibbles about “too much navy blue in the NHL” and “isn’t that the Seagram’s ‘S'” are fair – but I am going to be happy to sport a cap or shirt with this logo.

    Also, I am VERY happy they resisted the urge to use that neon green that the Seahawks and Sounders use.

    I’m an NHL fan (live in Colorado and have Av’s season tickets), and I have to tell you that I absolutely love the name. And, from an outside perspective, Seattle is one of the few places where that name kinda fits.

    Whoever came up with the colors and sweater design knocked it out of the park. I also wondered if they’d incorporate that day glow green. Glad they didn’t!

    Finally, I’m also a fan of the logo. The ‘S’ reminded me of the Mariners logo a bit, which I suspect was the point (if not, then it was a great accident).

    I HATED the name “Avalanche”, but over the years have come to accept and love it and I’m sure you’ll feel the same.

    I feel not a concern about too many navy blue jerseys because that really is the past. Will only be the Kraken, Blue Jackets and Jets wearing navy as their primary dark jerseys.

    There used to be many more dating back to the aughts. Sabres (next year), Oilers, Panthers, Predators, Islanders and Canucks all have dropped navy blue as their primary dark jersey since then.

    Loved this line

    “Good to see that the insufferable Yankees arrogance hasn’t been affected by the pandemic”

    Seattle Kraken – love the logo, love the Navy Blue. I was hoping for Totems, as I thought it could have been done respectfully. I’d rather it was Krakens. I followed a Seattle fan page on Facebook and the reason I mostly balked at Kraken was because of the people who were championing the name – bullying and ridiculing anyone who had other ideas for a moniker.

    The one thing that’s always bothered me is the Nats, after a minor tweak, could’ve flipped over & used the Expos red, white & blue ‘M’ for their caps/logo. They whiffed imo.

    Seattle Kracken now added to the list of sports teams that don’t end with an “s”.

    I’m a little surprised that nobody noteworthy has floated “Senators” as a nickname for the former Redskins. God knows, it’s got plenty of local history, having been used by two modern-era AL teams as well as several 19th-century NL baseball teams. And pro football teams have a rich, storied history of borrowing or slightly adapting the local baseball team’s nickname as its own (as, indeed, the Boston Redskins did when deciding to echo the Boston Braves!)

    Hats off to the folks that designed the new Seattle Kraken logo, sweaters and chose the colors knocked it out of the park! Clean logo with the obvious great use of negative space and the colors work well together. The sweaters are also very clean and not overly done.

    I don’t see this as a use of “negative space” as much as it’s an add-on. Maybe I’m missing it, but all I see is a tentacle added to an “S.” I like it just the same – really, it’s a great logo – but I’m staring trying to find a true use of negative space.

    Interesting discussion during the late innings of the Cubs-Twins exhibition game two days ago: Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies were talking about how they don’t like “Twinkies” as a secondary nickname for the Twins. They went on to discuss other ones, like “Cubbies” (which they don’t like to say), but what was relevant to this site was how they were pretty consistent in using “official nickname” for the official ones that appear on uniforms and other merchandise, and “secondary nickname” for the sometimes-goofy ones that are unofficial.

Comments are closed.