Awesome Sports Logos Blog

Sports Logo Review of the Houston Rockets

I'm not the biggest fan of the Rockets logo. After talking to a few folks, I get the sense I’m in the minority, too. Maybe I just think Dwight Howard's annoying. If I don't make much sense here, default to that bias.

 

 Let's talk hoops for a second. When you take a player first overall in the draft, you expect him to be an absolute stud and, in most cases--if not all-- a franchise building block. If he becomes a 13-year NBA vet who is a great role player, it's kind of a disappointment. But, if that same player gets selected 21st overall or in the second round, you're ecstatic about his development. Fair or unfair, players are weighed against expectation and projection.

A rocket is a pretty cool nickname. There's so many logo possibilities. Houston's logo is the 1st overall pick that becomes a really good role player. Nothing wrong with it, but you hoped it would have been so much more.

Let's start with the colors. Red is a no-brainer. But without anything to complement it, the coloring screams plain. I could see a successful application of yellow, orange, silver, or blue, to name a few, and that's without considering specific definitions of each. But just red? Not for me.

Where this logo gets it right is the application of "H" and "R". The "H" is below the "R", forming with the flames at the base of the "R" and the ring. The left shaft of the "R" takes the shape of a rocket. All of this subtle detail is really cool.

I like the shape of things, too. The tight, thin lining is appropriate. The logo fits a vertical rectangular template. Tall and thin. What’s a rocket? Tall and thin.

The "Rockets" and Houston are a match made in heaven with NASA's Johnson Space Center located in Clutch City. One of the top items on my checklist is having a logo that represents the city, the region, or the state. A logo isn’t just an image with shapes and colors. It’s the “face” of your organization. 

Houston’s logo could be soooooooooo gnarly. But it isn't. The colors rub me the wrong way. Or maybe it's just Dwight Howard...

At Awesome Sports Logos, we feature a t-shirt with that features the culture of H-town. It was in 1901 that oil gushed for the first time in Houston, and because of the port, the city has become a petrochemical leader, as well as the leading city for building oilfield equipment. Did I just use petrochemical in a sentence? The bottom line, we love this retro logo with a wood derrick that is also the letter “H” gushing with oil. We hope you love this cool Houston t-shirt as well!

Thanks as always for reading,

Jared Sandler

Awesome Sports Logos Columnist