Weekend Round Up: MLB Throwbacks, Timbers Revise Logo

On Saturday, I did a recap of the two new MLS teams for next year. I link to some reports and a video of the Portland fans booing and hating their new mark. Well they've already revised the new logo so here is the new, new logo. Changes they made: #1 They took away the yellow and green shadowing on the ax, going with just a plain, white ax. #2 They removed the line slashes that were pointing into the word mark. #3 They toned down the thickness of the outer yellow outline. As I stated before, I thought the new logo was fine and I don't feel any differently about this updated version. I guess after looking at it, the old, new version didn't need all that detail on the ax. The plain ax is still bold looking and gets the point across. But really I could go either way. I think their fans were being too picky but when they are drawing 3 times as many people as the Triple A baseball team, they care a lot (the Timbers draw 15 to 20 thousand people to their matches pre MLS).

The Brewers and Mariners broke out the old duds for a game in their weekend Interleague series. Now this isn't new for the Brewers who have a throwback alternate already, but the Mariners wore a version they don't go to very often. And really, this is another team that after years of using the "S" compass logo, might really need to look at going back to this old school beauty. Or at least incorporate it somehow. I see the trend of a lot of teams finally realizing their old look. I would like the Mariners to take that step.

The O's and Nats put on the throwbacks as well. The Nationals had to of course use the Senators, which is weird they are allowed to use them since the Texas Rangers were the result of the Washington franchise moving. The Senators uniforms are kind of boring but the work. I have to say that the Orioles look great. That old template looks fantastic and I love the cartoon bird. I don't know why the O's insist on using the actual oriole bird as their primary cap logo. An oriole is such a pacifistic bird so why not cartoon it up? I love the smiling bird on the cap and combine that with the O's cap, that the combo they should have. And don't get me wrong, I like the current Orioles look. But that cartoon bird is great. Which is strange because I hate the Indians Chief Wahoo guy on their cap.

A's-Buccos Break Out the 70's

The Athletics and the Pirates broke out into solid color 70's uniforms on Saturday. Both looked so awful, they looked fantastic. The A's were in all gold and the Bucs in all Black (link to photo gallery). After seeing the A's on Saturday in the gold and then they wore those stupid black uniforms on Sunday, I wish they would go with an alternate gold with the A's logo. The Bucs should think about the same thing. Although I don't care about their black alternate because they have black in their color scheme. I'm not a huge fan of the black alternates, I do kind of like the white outline. And I don't get why they kept the sleeveless pinstripe alternate. If they want to go pinstriped, go with this. Anyways, back to Saturday's game. The teams looked nice but I wish they both would have went with different colors for either the jersey or pants. The A's could have went with green pants, gold jersey and the Bucs black jersey, gold pants. It was a little too much solid colors. And I couldn't find a decent picture but I couldn't tell if either team was wearing real stirrups or if they were made into the socks. And the A's starting pitcher Cahill had the fake stripe socks on. Come on this ain't softball. It looked awful

Two New MLS Teams For Next Year

Starting in 2011, two new expansion teams will be joining the MLS. Those two teams have unveiled their logos. The Vancouver Whitecaps FC have been around in some form for over 30 years. The team name has been the pro soccer team moniker by deflate for 6 teams in 4 men's leagues and is also the current women's league name. The current Whitecaps of the USSF will move up to North America's highest pro league with the logo pictured left. The new logo is a welcomed change from their current logo, which is very cartoonish. It's not bad, very sleek but not much character. I like the baby blue and I don't know if the meant to but the almost have a interlocking "VW" formed on the bottom blue. If they did mean it I wonder why they didn't complete the formation of it?

Now the other team scheduled to make their debut, will move up from the USL to the MLS. The Portland Timbers unveiled their logo with only one minor problem: the fans hate it. Well not all of them but it seems a lot of people preferred the old one. I personally like it. I also like the old one. I guess that's the conundrum. Did it need to be changed? Some are calling the new one too cartoonish, unfinished looking, too busy, and many other negative things. It doesn't start well for a franchise when after it's unveiled at a public video display, the crowd chants vulgarities and boos. Watch this video on YouTube. At first they cheer and awkwardly applause then it's like it hits the crowd what they are looking at and then turn on it. Relax Portland. It's not that bad.

Cavs Change Their Colors Slighly

The Cleveland Cavaliers went public with their already leaked color change (link to Cavs press release). Nothing ground breaking. In fact it's almost the same. But they are going with what they are claiming are the original wine and gold to embrace their history. Took them long enough. Like I said nothing ground breaking. It looks good but I wouldn't say it looks better. I nothing this change. I don't hate it, I don't love it. I practically have no opinion about it. No word when we will see the new uniforms and no word whether Lebron is swayed to stay with the new colors. I wonder if Lebron picked them out? Here are the alternate logos below:

The Warriors Don't Look Terrible Anymore!

The Golden State Warriors went with what is the new school thing to do; go old school. On the day of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers Game 7, the Warriors showed their new, old colors, logos, and potentially what their uniform will look like. I like the new primary, a lot. It's cool, it's classic and it's not the RoboCop lightning thrower anymore. I'm definitely going to have to move them up, way up on my ranking list but I'm going to wait because I don't want to over react with it's initial release. They have several alternate logos as well with one with the standard basketball inside the NBA logo (which almost every team does), a state of California with a W on it, and one that doesn't make too much sense to me. If you look they have a logo with "SF" on it. I'm assuming this is for San Francisco however they aren't the San Francisco Warriors anymore and they play in Oakland. I would think GS would work better. My other complaint is the font. That font is Copperplate Gothic which can be used by anyone with Microsoft Office applications. So really, anyone can use the Warriors new font. I would have like to see something a little more creative. And the new uniforms they have displayed looks like they are going to use the whole logo on the front and put the players number inside the logo next to the bridge. Very throwback to "The City" uniforms from the 70's. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet though. I need to see the real thing. Overall, major upgrade and I'm glad to see it.

Maple Leafs Fix Their Sweaters

The Toronto Maple Leafs, where hockey is 1 and then family is 2, unveiled their new jerseys. Well I wouldn't call them new, they just fixed them to the design before Reebok took over the NHL. What it boils down to, they added the stripes back to the hem and put the classic Maple Leaf on the shoulders, replacing the "TML" logo. It really isn't that big of a change but when they removed it, it was noticeable if not down right bad. The RBK designs did that to a few teams. Unnecessary changes where made to the Leafs, Oilers, Avalanche, and Penguins. Those are the four I consider that didn't need to be changed from the pre-RBK era. And it's not like every team got a makeover. The Red Wings, Rangers, Canadiens, and Blackhawks got to keep their designs. The Maple Leafs should have been in that group as well. They look good now. It's amazing what a little hem striping can do.

Jazz and Magic Release New Logos

Well the Jazz and Magic unveiled their new logos. Both are okay; upgrades for both. I wouldn't call it a total win though. Both teams upgraded their looks. Last month I ranked all the NBA logo's. With these changes really am not inclined to improve either's rankings. I had the Jazz #28 and the Magic at #10. You would think that the Jazz bringing back the old music note, they would surely move up. But let me breakdown the changes.

Utah Jazz

I love the music note logo. The Jazz brought back the look but not fully. The primary color is navy blue instead of the traditional purple. I am in the camp that purple is a fine color when used properly. But the NBA has enough team using purple: Lakers, Hornets, Suns, and Kings. So a change to purple wasn't necessary. It keeps them seperated a bit. They added the yellow and green which was apart of the original color scheme and they fixed the basketball so it now has proper striping. So why is this not a total win? Because this is their secondary logo. The Jazz kept their old primary "snow mountains" logo and just recolored it. So now they have to completely separate logos that don't match each other. I have no idea which one they plan to use the most and they didn't release their new uniforms. The music note logo is supposed to decorate the Jazz home floor. I'm guesing they are going to use the new music note more , but who knows? Stupid.

Orlando Magic

The Magic basically matched thier logo to their current jersey font. It's a more streamlined look and the reduced the number of stars being used. I like the new logo but not in love with it. They kept the swooshy magic basketball which I like. As I stated before, I'm not sure how else you illustrate magic without being silly. I will say the new logo lost a little character. At least everything matches now. That's always important and it's something the Jazz completely ignored.