Awesome Sports Logos Blog

The NBA Scheduling Needs to Change

There has always been debate about the scheduling in basketball. Many argue that the scheduling needs a change. Others state that the scheduling is fine. The main issue with the current scheduling is when players are getting rest. Back to back games are causing coaches to rest star athletes. It has caused some concern from the NBA. Lately, many notable names associated with the NBA have been vocalizing their thoughts on the subject.

Doc Rivers, the head coach of the LA Clippers, is just one of many who are making their opinions heard. In a recent game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Doc Rivers’ team saw a plus to having star players getting rested. The Cavs rested LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love that game. The Clippers easily toppled the Cleveland backups. Even though his team won, Doc Rivers was critical of the NBA scheduling that caused the Cavs to feel the need to rest their stars.

In a report from ESPN.com, Rivers made it clear that he wasn’t upset with the Cleveland coaching staff. However, he was critical of the NBA scheduling a team to play back-to-back nationally broadcasted games. In that same report, Rivers mentioned the true victim of the current NBA scheduling: the fans.

When a team has to play on national TV for two days in a row, the fans ultimately suffer. Coaches and team medical staffs will want to ensure the players aren’t getting overworked. If that means sitting a player, or limiting minutes, then so be it. They don’t care if it’s on TV across the country. They are there to ensure the safety and health of their players.

But when the fans want to watch LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, they get upset when those marquee players are riding the bench. It really stinks for the fans that actually take the time to buy tickets to the game, pay for parking, and hit up the concession stands. Could you imagine their reaction when they finally get to their seats? What about the little kiddos that were probably pumped to see their favorite player?

Karl Malone, a former player and two-time NBA MVP, has essentially told players to suck it up. He is among several other people that are tired of seeing NBA stars getting rested.

Malone reportedly told ESPN’s Sage Steele "If you don't have at least 10 years experience, get your ass playing. It's not work, it's called playing. Besides, tell our underpaid service members and police and first responders to rest. Dammit, they can't."

The NBA has often times told teams that the association isn’t happy when they sit their stars. While I can understand that the NBA wants to display a certain quality of product, they are hurting themselves. Spread out the schedule and cut out back-to-back nationally televised games. That’s a start to making both sides of this argument happy.

One basketball team tough enough to handle any issue, is the El Paso Luchadores.

 

This basketball club logo takes on the name of the rich Luchador tradition that dates back to the early part of the 20th century. The popularity of the Luchadores has spilled over not just to wrestling but also to cartoons and movies. Many Luchador wrestlers are heroes in their culture and you will look like a hero by sporting this soft, funny and cool El Paso t-shirt with vibrant colors. Add this super soft tee to your t-shirt of the month club order, and wait for it (and any other awesome shirt you pick) to arrive on your doorstep at the first of every month!

We appreciate you visiting and reading!

Stay Awesome!

Blake Cole

T-Shirt Wearer

Logo Lover

Awesome Sports Logos

NBA Sports Logos That Need an Upgrade

We previously discussed the Cleveland Cavaliers, and their not-so-hot team logo. Well, it got me thinking. With the NBA season tipping off and their team logos about to be firmly planted in our faces for the next several months, what can basketball fans NOT look forward to? We’re going to take a look at some of the worst team logos in the National Basketball Association. With 30 teams to analyze and review, we found the ones that need the most improvement. Let’s find out what organization needs the most help.

 

The Los Angeles Clippers are a franchise notable for their struggles. Up until about 2010, the team failed to gain any significant postseason action. Despite finding success with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul, one aspect of the Clippers organization that hasn’t improved over time is the team logo. The team unveiled a new primary emblem in June of 2015, and it’s not very good.

When you first see this logo, the word “CLIPPERS” smacks you right in the face. One would think that having the name, as the primary feature of a logo would be a good thing. However, the Clippers didn’t exactly make it eye appealing. The letters are too close, giving off a jumbled look. The font is poor, and stretches the lettering too tall. Once you go beyond the team name, everything else in this look is either too busy, or completely unnecessary. I can see how the team wants to incorporate the red and blue colors into their logo, but the arched lines aren’t the way to do it. They seem to highlight the team name, but also trail off into nothing worth seeing. The city initials at the top of the logo are done poorly. While the idea of having “LA” encapsulated in the Clippers “C” probably sounded good in planning, the execution is terrible. Centered in the middle of the basketball, it creates a disorganized, hard to read appearance.

Overall, their logo seems to be going in multiple directions at once. I think the club needs to re-think their image, figure out one solid idea or flow, and make that happen. Now that the team seems to have the right ownership and seems to have kept a fan base pleased, a new image could be the last stepping stone to becoming a serious NBA contender.

The Oklahoma City Thunder is a team that you can’t take lightly. Since relocating to Oklahoma, the former Seattle SuperSonics have found great success. With a Conference Championship and a Finals appearance under their belt, the Thunder has proven that a successful professional sports team can be sustained in Oklahoma. That said the team could use some work on their logo.

 

When I see this image, the first thing that comes to mind is the lack of thunderbolts. With such a strong name, high in intimidation potential, I would have expected some clever and fierce way to display a thunderbolt. It’s almost as if having one could completely turn this look around, all on its own. In addition to the lack of thunderbolts, the images and wording on the shield all seem too misaligned to make sense. I’m not one to be obsessive compulsive about having images or lines within a logo to be perfectly symmetrical. That being said, the Thunder images just seem like they were glued together by a kindergarten that was holding that glue stick for the first time ever. I really like the font of “OKC” angled across the basketball and “THUNDER” atop the whole image. If the logo was sans-shield and without the red and blue streaks behind it all, it may seem to flow better. All in all, the look needs serious work.

At Awesome Sports Logos, all of our basketball logos have been perfectly crafted to be the best in class. Our Montunos Del Interior logo is one of the best we have! This Panamanian Basketball League sports logo is the only team based outside of Panama City, and in Panama they call that the Interior. In the Interior, raising cattle and farming is the chief industry. This logo is a farmer yelling at cattle, which is fairly common for them to do in Panama.

 

They also make their own drinks and my Panamanian source tells me that they use battery acid and bury their liquor under the ground until it’s ready. We’ll stick to the American fermentation process. Enjoy this Panama sports logo t-shirt! Add the super soft tee to your t-shirt of the month club rotation, and be pleasantly surprised when it arrives right to your door!

We hope you enjoyed this article, and we appreciate you stopping by!

Keep Calm and Stay Awesome!

Blake Cole

Sports Logo Lover

T-Shirt Wearer

The Sports Illustrated Cover Curse Is Real

I know it’s hard to believe but back before the World Wide Web, we used to huddle to read our favorite magazines, one of which was Sports Illustrated.

When I found out that one of my favorite teams or athletes were on the cover, I ran to my corner store, (I really did run, too young for a car) to pick up SI.  Then I heard about the Sports Illustrated cover curse.

Earlier this year, the New York Times did a great recap of the curse and several sports moments that took a turn after the cover came out. The article includes Pete Rose’s chase for the DiMaggio’s ending after he appeared on the cover. Tom Brady hits the 2008 Sports Illustrated cover for their NFL preview. In week 1, he tears up his MCL and ACL for the first and only major injury in his NFL career. This is a terrific article that dives into the curse. You can read it here.

 Here are a few of the most recent curses that I’ve noticed.

 

 Covers courtesy of Sports Illustrated

After beating the Rangers in a thrilling five game series in 2015 this cover hit the day after. The Blue Jays got hit themselves immediately by the Kansas City Royals who went on to become World Champions.

How about the Houston Astros to start this baseball season? Sports Illustrated not only put them on the cover, they sped up their rebuilding and said that the Astros will win the World Series.

 

I think the Cubs and Indians would disagree with this prediction as I write this. The Astros failed to make the playoffs and were a huge disappointment to many. They started 7-17 and played catch up the rest of the way finishing just above .500 with 84 wins.

That brings us to the latest cover and if you are an Oklahoma City Thunder fan, you are not going to like this.

 

Hopefully Russell Westbrook stays healthy but if something happens, you know the fingers would be pointing towards this cover. 

The flip side is that Sports Illustrated has put out thousands of covers over the years where nothing has happened. That said, no one remembers the Michael Jordan misses at the buzzer, only the numerous game winning shots. Thus is the case here with the SI cover.  That said, I’m a superstitious guy so if I was an athlete, I’d stay away.

One thing that athletes aren’t superstitious about is wearing our Awesome Sports Logos t-shirts.  Check out pitcher Derek Holland looking good in our Cocksville Blockers awesome t-shirt.

 

 Here is former pitcher Mike Bacsik looking good in several of our t-shirts.

 

 

Three time Super Bowl Champion Ted Johnson had some fun with me wearing our El Paso Luchadores t-shirt. Thank goodness we had his size.

You certainly don’t need to be an athlete to wear our t-shirts.  In fact, all of us arm chair Quarterbacks look good. Grab yourself some awesome and remember, we offer even more savings with our t-shirt of the month club.

Thanks as always for reading!

Gavin Spittle

Founder/Logo Lover/T-shirt Fanatic

Awesome Sports Logos

Time for a New Cleveland Cavaliers Logo

The NBA season will begin in just a couple of weeks. It seems like just yesterday that we were watching the Cleveland Cavaliers come back from being down 3-1 in the series, to win a close Game 7 and become the Finals Champions for the first time in franchise history. In what was a rematch of the previous year’s Finals, the Cavs and the Golden State Warriors faced off in a heated back and forth series. LeBron James emerged from the Finals as MVP, and secured his place among talks of best players in the game. He’ll look to lead the Cavs to another run at the Finals this season.

The team’s center, Tristan Thompson, has already missed the first preseason game, and is scheduled to miss more. Reports indicate that he has a sore left foot. Thompson hasn’t missed a game in four seasons, and started every game in Cleveland’s amazing Finals Championship season. Also circling the water cooler, will the club keep Kevin Love? They just signed JR Smith to a new deal according to ESPN. 

Whether the Cleveland makes it to their third-straight Finals or not, whether they become back-to-back Champions or not, they have certainly become a force to be reckoned with on the court. With such a reputation behind them, and with dominance on their mind for the future, I say the Cavs are in need of a new team image. Let’s see what they’re working with these days.

Let’s get right to the point. It isn’t a great logo. By definition, the adjective form of the word cavalier means “showing a lack of proper concern”. Well, the team has shown a definite lack of concern in keeping up with awesome logos in today’s sports world. I can see where they are trying to go with this look, displaying a 17^th Century sword in an attempt to be the “swordsman” or “knight on horseback” version of the word cavalier, but that’s really all they have working for them.

The text font is plain, the basketball in the background is plain and the gold outlining of the whole image seems off-putting. Frankly, it seems too easy for a professional NBA team. If this was the look of a D-League team, or some other minor league sports franchise, I could let this slip by. For a team considered in the top tier of their sport, they need a logo that screams just that.

We have one logo in particular that is just SCREAMING awesome. The Parque Lefevre Canguros are rocking their look!

 

But seriously, who doesn’t love the kangaroo and why wouldn’t you want wear it with pride? We do, and that’s why we’re glad we have this awesome Parque Lefevre sports t-shirt as part of our collection. Be sure to add this super-soft tee to your t-shirt of the month club rotation! Get more details on that awesome deal right here.

Thanks for reading and supporting us!

YOU are AWESOME!

Blake Cole

The Best NBA D-League Sports Logos

In a previous blog, I discussed the pure awesomeness of just a few, of many, Minor League Baseball logos. Those MiLB logos get quirky, funny and crazy! Well, those logos got me thinking. Do any other sports have minor league systems with logos just as great? Leave it to us at Awesome Sports Logos to do the hard investigative work! Today, I present you some of the best logos in the National Basketball Association’s Developmental League, better known as the D-League.

The Delaware 87ers, who go by the nickname “The Sevens”, are the D-League affiliate to none other than the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sevens definitely get cool points for the clever marketing strategy involved in the name of the organization. Now, about that logo. Is it super funny? Is it super awesome? Well, at first glance, one might say “no” to those questions. However, the eerie similarity that the Sevens logo has to the 76ers logo is hilarious. That similarity alone gives them my nod as one of the best NBA D-League logos out there. I wonder if anyone mistakenly purchased Sevens merchandise, intending to get 76ers gear? You can see the comparison below:

 

Now, on to a funny by design logo, featuring the Boston Celtics developmental team. The Maine Red Claws began playing in the 2009-2010 season. This expansion team came out of the gate with one crabby logo. Crabby as in their mascot looks grumpy! Maine is known for their spectacular seafood. It seems now that they’re working towards getting known for an awesome basketball logo. The lobster looks tough, and with basketballs at the ends of his antennae, we know he means business on the court! This developmental league logo definitely runs in line with some of the funnier Minor League Baseball looks!

  

This next team has, in my opinion, the best logo in all of the D-League. Now, before you scroll down to see what all the hype is about, let some of this imagery set into your mind. Ants. Mad ants. Mad ants running all over a basketball court, slamming the sweetest dunks and hitting the deepest three pointers. That, my friends, is what this next logo brings to the table. That’s right. The rest of the D-League should be cowering in fear to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants!

 

This developmental team to the Indiana Pacers, has THE best logo in the NBA’s D-League. Just look at this pure awesomeness! When you think about all of the team mascots and logos in the sports world today, you never suspected that ants would be the best in their class. The Mad Ants just flat did their logo the right way. Front and center is the main attraction. The angry head of this ant is followed by the body of a basketball. Surrounding the main image is a cool font, scripting out the team’s name. Congratulations Fort Wayne Mad Ants, you get this website’s award for BEST logo in the D-League. Everyone give a round of applause for the Mad Ants!  

 

A New Era of Advertising in the NBA