Awesome Sports Logos Blog

We Say Goodbye to an Awesome Sports Logo

Besides selling t-shirts, (which by the way, we can’t thank you enough for your business) the goal of Awesome Sports Logos is to educate you about the history of sports logos and to try to bring back the fun and creativity in the sports logo business which unfortunately has become a dying art. On Saturday night, the Houston Aeros were knocked out of the American Hockey League playoffs by the Grand Rapid Griffins (a cool logo) and with that the historic Aeros logo was buried in the logo cemetery.

 

This logo dates back to the 1970’s and the World Hockey Association. You wouldn’t think of Houston, Texas as a puck hotbed but Gordie Howe actually played in an Aeros uniform. The Aeros had a loyal fan base in Houston and finished in the top 6 in AHL attendance each year. Unfortunately, the rent became too high and there was no other arena suitable so the Aeros are off to their new home Iowa. Here’s where our continuous frustration with franchises continues. The parent club, the Minnesota Wild has decided to come up with the creative name and logo, ready, ready, drumroll…. The Iowa Wild. Uggh.

In their first press conference owner Craig Leipold said that he wanted to use the synergies of the brand, the Minnesota Wild. As I’ve said from day one, I get it that every chance you get, you want to expand your brand. I also think that it’s short sided. When we were kids, we didn’t buy minor league ball caps because they sported our major league logo. We bought them because they were creative and they were different. As more teams are owned by their parent club, creative names in the city in which they play are becoming a thing of the past. The Iowa Wild will join another minor league team in town, the Iowa Cubs. Who do you think they are the minor league affiliate of?

Why not the Iowa Monks? I’d buy that gear. The city is named after the Des Moines River, which may have been adapted from the French Rivière des Moines, literally meaning "River of the Monks”. Picture a mean looking monk holding a hockey stick in the face off position with a snarl on his face. That accentuates the history of the region with a cool name and that’s what makes an Awesome Sports Logo.

The good news is that talk of a new arena in Houston is in the works to support the Houston Rodeo. If that happens, you can bet that Houston will get another hockey team and hopefully continue the tradition of the Aeros. Until then, it’s the Iowa Wild taking on the Texas Stars…yawn.

At Awesome Sports Logos, we actually have an Iowa team and it’s my wife’s favorite. When she was a child, she would spend her summers in Decorah, Iowa, which is three and half hours north of Des Moines. Located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and US Route 52, this small city grows larger each July. My wife tells me one of her favorite childhood memories was attending the annual Nordic Fest, a celebration of the Norwegian culture. The troll is also a large part of this culture and we’ve created a semi-ugly yet cool looking troll holding a club-like baseball bat and dawning the Nordic colors. This logo has great history and is a great conversation piece. If an Iowa Wild t-shirt doesn’t excite you, we can guarantee some looks when you wear the Decorah Trolls awesome t-shirt.

  

Thanks as always for reading and supporting the cause!

How to Gush About Houston

Houston is awesome! Sure, I’m biased because that’s where Awesome Sports Logos began but there are a lot of major companies that call H-Town home. Like how I just put myself in the same category? We can dream can’t we? The 4th largest city isn’t really the tourist destination like other major cities but if you live in Houston, you grow to love Houston. You actually act like you work for the chamber of commerce by defending the Bayou City. “Humidity is overrated”, “Traffic is much better”. Fact is, the humidity has been worse in Dallas and they have done a great job improving the freeways. Like I said, you live there and you consider it a “hidden gem”.

Houston has two major sports teams. Now before you correct me, let's be honest, the Astros have fallen that bad. Sure they play teams from the Majors but when your entire payroll is less than Alex Rodriguez’s, you need help. The Rockets are in the playoffs for the first time in years and it looks as though they can model their franchise around James Harden. The Texans are the talk of the town. Kudos to the sports fans in Houston for suffering through nine subpar seasons before the team made the playoffs. They’ve sold out the stadium since day one. JJ Watt is a beast on defense and Andre Johnson is destined to be the first Texan’ inducted in Canton. Two straight years of playoff losses to the Ravens have the natives restless though. This is a big year for Gary Kubiak and his Texans to see if they can take it to the next level.

There’s a new baseball team in Houston that probably could pick up more wins than the Astros if it was an actual team. It’s the Houston Gushers. We picked the name “Gushers” because of the rich oil history in the area. Even though I didn’t live in the area at the time of their departure, I was heartbroken at the Oilers logo becoming extinct. I thought the city needed another logo that celebrated “black gold”. You still see people wearing Oilers merchandise throughout the city but they probably don’t realize that their passion for the former team is putting money back in the pocket of the man who moved them in the first place Bud Adams.

Houston is a great place that I have no problem “Gushing” about and when I do, I’ll proudly wear my Gushers awesome t-shirt to represent H-town.

 

Houston vs New England Preview

If the Houston Texans need any kind of inspiration to pull off what many think would be the upset of the year, they need to look no further than less than 24 hours ago when the #4 seeded Baltimore Ravens took down Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Denver was coming off a bye week fully rested and winners of eleven straight before yesterday’s amazing double overtime loss.

That’s exactly why you play the game and now both the Patriots and the Texans have further inspiration because the winner gets the AFC Championship on their turf. If the Texans have any chance, their offense has to revert back to its first quarter of the season form where they averaged nearly 32 points per game. They also need to not go away from feeding Arian Foster. In their last showcase meeting, New England dominated the line of scrimmage but the Texans were without Derek Newton and Garrett Graham. Here’s a great statistic to carry into today’s game. When Arian Foster rushes for 100 yards or more, the Texans are 8-0.

Not bad for a t-shirt guy breaking down today’s game. We love the NFL playoffs here at Awesome Sports Logos and this is one of the best sports weekends of the year. We also love the history of sports logos so let’s get into who wins in the sports logo business.

The modern day edge goes to the Texans with their bull logo. It’s slick, clean, with a great color scheme that wears well and is the same colors as the state of Texas which so many Texans take great pride in.

 

The modern day Patriots logo is a bit of a different story. I didn’t realize that Elvis was such a revolutionary war fan?  I was living in New England when this logo came out back in the early 90’s. I didn’t like it then and I’m not a huge fan of it now. I completely understand why the Patriots made the change. Your logo is your image and the face of your franchise. The old Patriots logo, “Pat Patriot” which we will get to in a moment had a lot of bad memories including many “blackout” years, player scandals, constant talk of moving the franchise, an NFL stadium that today’s high school stadiums would rival and attendance that would also rival some Texas high school games as well.

 

Modern day logo winner: Texans

Let’s take a look at Pat Patriot, the old Pats logo. What’s interesting is the Patriots have brought this logo back for one or two games each year and the fans love it. This was a great move by the Patriots marketing arm because you see this logo all over the place whether it’s on back windshields or various clothing. This retro logo has caught the city by storm.

 

We do want to mention that the name Texans has been used in football three times before. The Dallas Texans played one year in the NFL back in 1952 and went 1-11. They actually had the same exact colors that the Cowboys use today.  The Texans re-emerged in 1960 in the AFL and after a couple of years including winning the 1962 AFL Championship, they moved to Kansas City and are the modern day Kansas City Chiefs. There was also a Dallas Texans arena football team that played in the old Reunion Arena. Now that we have that history out of the way, the other old logo that we are more familiar with is the Houston Oilers. The Oilers took Houston by storm especially with the “Luv Ya Blue” Oilers under the coaching of Bum Phillips. Phillips son Wade is currently the Defensive Coordinator with the Texans and was the Defensive Line coach with the Oilers during their “Luv Ya Blue” run to two AFC Championship games. Unfortunately for Oilers fans the “Luv Ya Blue” nickname between 1978-1980 ran into another legendary nickname, “The Steel Curtain” of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I love this logo and the baby blue colors. I think most Texans fans would have loved to see the Oilers logo live on with a new franchise similar to what the Browns did in Cleveland. The NFL should have prevented Bud Adams from taking the logo. He was to seize the records and history to Tennessee. Just not the people that actually created those records and history. I remember talking with Robert Brazile who was nicknamed “Dr. Doom”. Before Lawrence Taylor, there was Robert Brazile and he was the first true outside rushing Linebacker. After playing tennis one afternoon with Robert who is a great tennis player, I asked him if he’s ever been asked to go to a Tennessee game. He replied, “Never once have I received a call”. He then said something that truly resonated. “All of us Oilers players don’t have a home”.  Wow, think of names like Dan Pastorini, Earl Campbell and Billy “White Shoes” Johnson not having a home. That being said, I credit the Texans organization for embracing a lot of these players. Last week before the Texans/Bengals playoff game, the team came out of the tunnel with Earl Campbell leading the way. I do a lot of work with the Houston Texans organization so I understand if you think the next statement might come across bias. The Houston Texans are a first class organization and they deserve a lot of credit for embracing the Oilers of the past and giving them a home they so richly deserve.

 

We actually have four awesome t-shirts in our collection from New England and Houston. Hopefully you’ll support the cause to start 2013. Here are the Cape Cod Scrod, the Boston Accents, The Houston Gushers and the Texas Roadkill.

 

 

Thanks for reading and enjoy the game everyone!!

Gavin Spittle

Founder, Logo Lover and T-shirt Wearer

www.awesomesportslogos.com

Fifty Shades of Grey in an Awesome Sports Logos World

I could tell from that look in her eye and the way that she touched my shoulder that….wait a minute, I can’t do this. I’m not a romance novel writer, I’m a t-shirt guy. Under thousands of Christmas trees will be copies of the book that has sold over 65 million copies worldwide, 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James. Meanwhile, the number of Awesome Sports Logos funny sports t-shirts under Christmas trees will be one or two fewer.

So curl up, make sure you’re alone as we present 50 shades of Grey T-shirt parody by Awesome Sports Logos. The first thing we want to make sure is that you are properly protected. You can’t be too careful these days. Therefore, make sure you have your rubbers, Akron Rubbers that is. Akron is the rubber capital of the United States.

 

Since we’re talking fantasy, who doesn’t love an older woman who knows what she wants and gets it every time. Those women are known as Cougars, prowling the upscale streets of Boca Raton.

You want your stud to be as big as the state of Texas. And in Texas, there is a ton of Roadkill. You’re right, dead animals are not a turn on but I need to sell some t-shirts here. I stared at my computer for a long time and nothing is sexy about a dead armadillo.

 

Ladies, now that you’ve found your Stud, it’s time to be a Beefeater. OMG, that fit in perfect. Maybe I should write trashy romance novels after all?

 

San Francisco Swallows and Savannah Seamen. You do the math on these two.