Non-Logo Content: Walberg Resigns at Pepperdine

The Vance Walberg experiment has ended at Pepperdine. Walberg, the coach that jumped from high school to city college to Division I basketball, resigned today citing personal and family reasons for leaving.

It was a short, ugly tenure for Walberg, his 14-35 record speaks for itself and his final game as head coach was one of the worst Division I games I have ever watched. Gonzaga, who in fairness is hitting their stride and with Josh Heytvelt finally healthy might be good enough to beat anyone in the country, made Walberg’s Waves look downright silly in front of Pepperdine’s largest crowd of the season and the largest student crowd that I have seen in the threes years I’ve been going to their games.

It’s disappointing to see the experiment end this way. Walberg’s attack-attack-skip-attack-attack style of play – a style that emphasizes quick drives to the basket followed by a pass to outside shooters if the layup isn’t there - was supposed to, at the very least, make the Waves an interesting team to watch. As the originator of this style that has been partially implemented by many teams on all levels across the country including John Calipari at Memphis, Walberg was called on by Pepperdine to bring his style whole-heartedly to the Waves and take a team that had become dull and predictable under Paul Westphal and turn it into something exciting and completely crazy.

Unfortunately, the cupboard was left so bare by Westphal except for returning freshman Michael Gerrity and raw talent Kingsley Costain, Walberg never had the horses to make it work. Gerrity, a talented, gritty point guard, quickly transferred to Charlotte before the 2006-2007 season leaving just Costain to shoulder the load of a demanding style of play. He played admirably in a forgettable 8-23 season, but when he was mysteriously kicked out of school just before this season started, Pepperdine was left with a young, largely anonymous group of players that currently aren’t deep enough to make the system work. And except for occasional games against lower level teams like Division III Hope International earlier this month, we never got to see AASAA in all its glory.

Assistant coach Eric Bridgeland takes over for Walberg on an interim basis. If Pepperdine wants to continue working with and developing the AASAA style of play, Bridgeland is a good choice to take over for Walberg permanently. As a coach at Division III Puget Sound, his teams played a similar (if not the same) up-tempo style and were wildly successful. As Pepperdine’s recruiting coordinator, he has worked for two seasons to put together a team that eventually, with more experience and even more athletes on board, could make the system work. Their top three scorers are talented, athletic freshman. Crawford High School (San Diego) teammates Tyrone Shelley and Malcolm Thomas lead the way with 15.6 and 13.6 points per game respectively while Australian forward Daniel Johnson is chipping in 9.7 ppg.

I am of the opinion that this is the direction Pepperdine should take the program. It is unfair to these freshman and the recruits coming in next year that they recruited specifically to play this style to suddenly bring in someone that will totally change what they are doing. It’s a better option than completely throwing away the last two seasons and starting over, as tempting as that seems. It can’t get much worse than 14-35, but if they dump AASAA after just two seasons, I fear that it will get worse.

But I fully expect Pepperdine to go after a replacement with a bigger name than Bridgeland to make some, please excuse me, waves. They took a lot of heat for making such a bold decision to go after a gimmicky city college coach with no Divison I experience in Walberg and I have to think that they are wrongly excited to show the Pepperdine community that they are taking the losing very seriously and want to correct a mistake in judgement, whether it really is the right move or not.

This is Malibu after all, image is everything. Firestone Fieldhouse is not immune.

Indiana University

Happy new year everybody! The Sports Logo Pundit is back and I hope to keep this thing rolling along at a nice pace after this. I'll probably add in a little bit of general sports talk since I just don't have anywhere else to write about sports, but I'll try to keep it focused on logos as much as possible. So stay tuned, please tell your friends, and enjoy at least until my little girl is born in February and I totally disappear.

For my first post of the new year, I just simply want to point out the logos of the lesser schools of the Indiana University system. I couldn't believe how cheap they went with these. I guess I can understand it for NAIA schools like IU East, IU Northwest, IU Southeast and IU South Bend, but IUPUI? A large Division 1 school gets the same generic treatment as IU East? And why didn't IPFW have to conform?

And seriously, what the hell is going on over there? Should their motto be "The Indiana University system: keeping a weary eye on Illinois since 1820"?

Cal State Northridge vs. Utah Valley State

I just posted my first Big West Conference Report for the college basketball blog Storming The Floor. After seeing Cal State Northridge handle Utah Valley State, I had to name the Matadors the Team of the First Month...

Team of the First Month: Cal State Northridge
UC Santa Barbara was picked to win the Big West by the media and they have lived up to the billing by going 9-1 in the first month. No surprise there. Cal State Northridge didn't get a lot of preseason love but the Matadors have taken care of business against lesser opponents. Led by senior forward Calvin Chitwood (13.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and senior guard Jonathan Heard (12.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and complemented by junior three point specialist Deon Tresvant (11.4 ppg) and junior rebounding force Tremaine Townesend (10.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg), Northridge has only been beaten by Duquesne and Gonzaga. Both were thumpings and their biggest win so far was against Cleveland State, so it's hard to get too excited. But it's better than expected and better than any other non-Gaucho Big West squads.

Here are a handful of pictures from the game...


Welcome to the Matadome, all 1,600 seats of it. What a dump. It's an embarrassment of a Division I facility. But it is home to the hardest working cheerleaders in the NCAA...



Seriously, I've never seen cheerleaders lead more cheers. They performed during every single timeout and did a solid job. Not bad for what is essentially a glorified community college. Oh yeah...don't forget the basketball...



Too bad the students have forgotten. Despite a good team, students don't turn out that for games in any meaningful way and the ones that do sit on their hands. The loudest group of students was a bunch of deaf kids. Seriously.

Now, about that logo. It's a solid logo when you just quickly glance at it or see it in a much smaller form. But now that I've found a larger version and really looked at it, it's a bit rough. What is with the big thick black line on the nose and chin? I suppose it's supposed to be a shadow, but it's really unnecessary. And how big can one man's hands be?

Team: Cal State Northridge Matadors
Conference: Big West
Location: Northridge, California
Arena: The Matadome

Fresno Pacific Sunbirds

After a week of flashbacks and game reviews, I think I'll end the week on a high note and present you with a great logo that I just came across.

While doing some research on Southern California college basketball, I came across Fresno Pacific University and their absolutely gorgeous Sunbirds logo. I have a hard time believing that there is any NAIA school with a more attractive logo than Fresno Pacific's. There are a bunch of NCAA Division-I schools that should be jealous and all 1,200 of FPU's students should be very proud.


School: Fresno Pacific University Sunbirds
League: Golden State Athletic Conference
Location: Fresno, California
Merchandise: Sadly, the Sunbird logo isn't available anywhere online.

SBCC vs. VC - La Playa Stadium

I took in a community college football game this weekend up in Santa Barbara. The reason? Because I've wanted to see a game at La Playa Stadium on the campus of Santa Barbara City College, a stadium that probably has one of the most beautiful views in all of college football.

It just so happened that when I finally had a chance to go to La Playa Stadium, my hometown Ventura College Pirates were playing. I'm glad that there was an incredible view because a 7-3 game isn't exactly riveting football. But the Pirates did pick up the victory, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Anyway, here are some pictures from La Playa Stadium. Try to tell me that there is a stadium with a better view than this...





This was taken during halftime. The VC team didn't go back to a locker room, I'm not sure that there is a visitor's locker room, so they just went on the other side of the track and spread out on the grass. That's the first time I ever saw that. You gotta love community college football.




Aww...Only at a college football game in Santa Barbara. Purse dogs love football!

Chaminade University Silverswords

Quick question for all the logo designers out there. What would you ask in return to design a new logo and brand for a Division II college that gets a lot of national exposure for one week each season? Would a trip to Maui, tickets to the Maui Invitational and $200 spending money do it for you?

Well if it does, then I have good news for you. Chaminade University in Honolulu is holding a contest to design their new athletics logo. The winner gets everything above or $500 in cash. The contest is open to anyone 18 years or older and submissions must be received by September 1st.

If you decide to take the challenge, you have quite a bit to work with. I love the Silverswords as a nickname and the possible imagery that you can derive from that name, both abstract and literal, is endless.

On the literal end, the Silversword is a beautiful plant that grows only on Maui's volcano Haleakala that only blooms once every twenty years with one big flower. But one of the requirements is that the logo have the possibility in the future of a mascot tie-in so they are basically asking for an abstraction of the literal.

I'd be willing to bet, or at least hoping, that what they are looking for is a mixture of both done in a classy, conservative, Hawaiian way.

But is the reward enough to get what they are looking for? This is a pretty good opportunity for a young, up-and-coming or, perhaps, amateur designer, but I doubt that many professionals will be lining up for the opportunity. Maybe I'm wrong. I might take a stab at it just for kicks. It's enough of a reward for me but I know I won't win.

No matter what happens, it will be an improvement over what they use now. Notice that I didn't add a logo to this post? That's because they don't really have one. They just use the university crest when needed.

For more information, here's the press release and here's the PDF flyer. If you do submit a logo for the contest, I would love to see it. I swear that I won't share it with anybody.


Team: Chaminade University Silverswords
League: Pacific West Conference - incidentally, one of my favorite league logos
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii - Not Lahaina like I thought when I visited Maui. You should have seen the look on the lady in Lahaina's face when I asked her where the college was. They just play the tournament there.

Saint Mary's College Gaels

I've been sitting here trying to figure out some way of cleverly describing why I like the new Saint Mary's College logo, but it's just not coming to me. Darn you serious lack of creativity! Actually, I'm still thinking about this. So here's a boring, one paragraph review...

I just simply like it. It's classic but unique and does a nice job of illustrating Celtic traditions (they describe a Gael as a Celtic warrior). And it is a huge improvement over the previous generic "SMC" logo.

Thoughts anybody?

Team: Saint Mary's College Gaels
Conference: West Coast Conference
Location: Moraga, CA
Facilities: Alas, no pictures
Merchandise: Not too much with the new logo yet

UCLA Bruins

With the games less than four hours away, let's finish up our Final Four preview with the UCLA Bruins...

Logo: The script Ucla logo is one of the most recognizable logos in all of college athletics. It's synonymous with championship basketball and you relate it to some of the greatest basketball players and teams of all time. I think that aesthetically it's fine. It's eye-catching, it has instant recognizability and it's traditional. I just have never understood why one would script out an abbreviation. Did they at one point think they would be referred to as ucla as opposed to U C L A? If not, then why is the "U" capitalized and nothing else?

Their secondary logo (left) makes a ton more sense but it doesn't have that traditional uniqueness that the script logo does.

One thing that I think is really interesting about the UCLA logo, color scheme and nickname is how all of the University of California system has kept or adopted the same scheme. All UC schools wear gold and blue, whether it be the navy of Cal Berkeley or the UCLA blue, and a few of them use a bear as their mascot including the UC-Riverside Highlanders whose logo consists of a bear in a tartan. I think it's a very smart move by the UC system to give all of their schools a common bond.

Jerseys: With all three of the previous schools I talked about how they have fairly traditional jerseys. Except for Ohio State's new look, nothing is too outlandish or wild and all three have done a good job to keep it modern but traditional. But nothing can compare to the traditional jerseys of UCLA. Other than a little higher quality stitching and an Adidas logo on the shorts, their jerseys haven't changed a bit since before Lew Alcindor wore one. You have to respect that. I can't imagine what it would be like if someone came in and tried to Nike-ize their jerseys. All hell would break loose. Thank god Adidas has their heads on straight.

Mascot: Unfortunately, I couldn't find a decent picture of Joe and Josephine Bruin but really all you have to do is imagine Albert and Alberta or Freddie and Frieda as bears.

Cheerleaders: I've tried to approach the cheerleaders section of this preview with a little bit of class. The last thing I want to do is come off as some male chauvinistic pig salivating all over racy pictures of cheerleaders. I kind of wanted to present them in a way that commented on their choice of uniform and whether or not they were stunt oriented or generally just there to be eye candy. I didn't expect to find initiation photos of the Georgetown dance team, that was a bonus.

But I knew coming into it that the UCLA cheerleaders wouldn't be able to be presented without a little bit of chauvinistic pig. It is, after all, Los Angeles, what do you expect. So without further ado, I give you everything you need to know about the UCLA cheerleaders...

To be fair, having seen these ladies perform at a couple games, I can tell you that they are actually pretty talented dancers. Sure the Song Girls across town get all the publicity for being Song Girls, but the UCLA squad tears them apart in actual athletic, dancing ability.

Overall: UCLA is all about tradition and rightfully so. Despite my complaints about the logo, I do think it is very effective, the jerseys could never be improved upon, the mascots are a little boring but decent and the cheerleaders, well, who doesn't like knee socks? Probably my favorite of the four teams both on the floor and off.

Team: UCLA Bruins
Conference: Pac-10
Location: Los Angeles, California
Arena: Pauley Pavilion (which surprisingly is a big dump)

University of Florida Gators

Logo: I guess I've never really looked very closely at the Florida Gators logo. With apologies to Clueless, It's a bit of a Monet: pretty from far away but a mess up close. The details of the logo are pretty rough, in particular the white outline around the gator.

I also don't like the circle around the gator head. I understand that it has to be there to give the logo balance but because the orange is so bright in comparison to the blue and green, the circle and the tongue end up being more of the focal point than they probably should be. My eye is drawn first to the tongue and then I have to change my focus to see the gator. That reason alone makes this logo not work for me.

Jerseys: Florida basically has the same jerseys as Georgetown. They are fairly basic in design but have the typical Nike embellishments all over the place that we have come to know and love. For what it's worth, they are pretty timid for a Nike designed jersey.

Enjoy it while you can because if the Nike website is any indication, they will join Arizona, Syracuse and previously reviewed Ohio State in wearing form fitting jerseys tops Lebron's and these ones come complete with a hideous alligator pattern. Good lord, they are horrible! The other three teams wore their jerseys throughout the postseason but Florida has yet to premier their new design. Perhaps next season? I sure hope not.

Mascots: Albert and Alberta or as I like to call them, ripoff Freddie and Frieda Falcon. They are good, traditional mascots that I'm sure are beloved by Gator fans. Personally I am partial to more mobile mascots who don't wear clothes but I guess these two will do. I can't imagine that being the mascot is too much fun, I'd be willing to bet that in the Florida humidity those costumes stink something fierce.

Cheerleaders: I am very surprised to see that the cheer squad and dance team seem to lean much more to the Ohio State side of conservative in dress that I would have expected given how bad the orange and blue looks on anybody and how ridiculously hot and humid gameday can be.

I also find it interesting that there appears to be separate cheerleading squads for sporting events and for competitions. Makes perfect sense to me and I'm surprised that more squads don't separate themselves this way.

Overall: Of the four Final Four competitors, I am the least impressed with Florida's package. The logo does nothing for me, the jerseys might go Lebron next year, the mascots are stinky and frumpy and so are the cheerleaders (not really, just kidding, it just sounded good).

Team: University of Florida Gators
League: SEC
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Arena: Stephen C. O'Connell Center

Georgetown University Hoyas

This week I am reviewing what is really important about the Final Four to me: Logos, Jerseys, Mascots and Cheerleaders. On Monday I did the Ohio State Buckeyes. Today, their opponent, the Georgetown Hoyas.

Logo: First of all, you may ask yourself, what the heck is a Hoya. Lucky for you there is a section on the Georgetown website devoted to such a question. The official word on where the nickname Hoya came from a student who a started the "Hoya Saxa" cheer using a combination of greek and latin terms that roughly translated to "What Rocks!" Somehow it caught on and in 1928 sportswriters began referring to Georgetown's football team as the Hoyas.

So what does a bulldog have to do with the Hoyas? Nothing. The bulldog comes from Jack the Bulldog, the school's mascot. In the early 60's Jack became the visual representation of the school and the bulldog logo has evolved into what you see today.

It's a great design that you rarely see anymore. It's fierce and tough without being calculated and fake and it's one of my favorite logos in all of college athletics. Also, the cap that the bulldog is wearing is the same cap that students once wore during their freshman year at GU. Nice touch.

Jerseys: For the first 50 years of their existence, the Georgetown jerseys barely changed at all. In 1982 they started tweaking things and by the mid-90's the tweaking had gone crazy, thanks to Nike. In 1994, during the Iverson years, the Hoya jerseys hit a low featuring what the Georgetown Jersey History page describes as "a jersey trim resembling kente cloth". To me it looked like Zubaz had invaded college basketball.

Thank goodness they finally came to their senses in 2005. The current jerseys still suffer from the randomness of Nike designs with chunks of color placed in odd places, but at least the design is back to the basic navy and gray and comes closer to the traditional Georgetown jerseys.

Mascot: Two great things about Jack the Bulldog:

1. The human version of the mascot doesn't wear anything but a hat. Personally, I don't see the need to throw a mascot in say...a rugby shirt and sweatpants .

2. The real thing is the real thing. Who doesn't love a bulldog?

Cheerleaders: The Georgetown cheerleaders are a pretty normal group of cheerleaders complete with pompoms and the requisite amount of lifts and aerials, but they are also kind of dull and I couldn't find a decent photo of them anywhere.

But then I found the 2005-2006 Hoya Dance Team photo album and boy do these girls know how to party! Natty Light for everybody! In reality these pictures are pretty tame, but some of them are still good and embarrassing. Like this one, this one, this one, this one, this is a really good one, this one, this one, and finally, this one. To see them all, click here.

Overall: Georgetown has one of my favorite college logos, has gone back to more traditional jerseys, has a sweet bulldog for their mascot and has a dance team willing to post embarrassing photos of themselves online. How can you argue with that?

Team: Georgetown University Hoyas
Conference: Big East
Location: Washington, DC
Arena: The Verizon Center and the super cool McDonough Gymnasium

the Ohio State University Buckeyes

While everybody else is breaking down the games by the X's and O's in the upcoming NCAA Final Four games this weekend, I prefer to focus on what I really think is important - logos, jerseys, mascots and cheerleaders.

First up, the Ohio State University Buckeyes (I refuse to capitalize "The"). First of all, let me preface this by saying that I hate everything about Ohio State. Everything. Living in Bowling Green, Ohio for three years I had to put up with nothing but Buckeye fans and that experience turned me off to OSU sports forever. The arrogance is unrivaled in all of sports and nothing makes me happier than to see a Buckeye cry. I will even root for Florida football if it makes an OSU fan weep. That being said, I'll try to be as objective as I can, but my passionate hatred wells up whenever I even think about Ohio State, so it's going to be tough.

Logo: It pains me to say this, in fact it makes me feel ill just typing it, but I like the Ohio State logo just fine. It's very simple but still makes a unique and bold statement. It's a logo that is classically designed and will never go out of style as much as I might want it to. That being said, I can't think of anything else to say about this logo, it's that uneventful.

Jerseys: The same could be said about Ohio State's jerseys until the Big Ten tournament started and they plum lost their minds. On the surface, they are still a classic looking, simple jersey, but then you see them in game action and you realize what a joke they are. Form fitting tops, itty bitty little arm holes, weird silver wings on each shoulder and big ass baggy shorts. Nike should be ashamed of themselves. Lebron James should be ashamed of himself. They aren't as bad as Syracuse's "Orange" jerseys, but they still look really strange. The future of basketball jerseys? I hope not. Maybe in the WNBA, but please, not college basketball.

Mascot: Seriously, this is the mascot of the nation's largest university and one of the most successful, profitable and popular athletic programs in the country? It's a felt nut wearing a rugby shirt and sweatpants! Classically designed and simple? Yes. Perhaps time to upgrade? Definitely.

On the other hand, it's probably one of the most accurate mascots anywhere. That's the expression that most Ohio State fans have on their face when reading, writing or doing arithmetic (objectivity be damned!).

Cheerleaders: If there is a more conservative group of cheerleaders in all of the NCAA, I have yet to see them. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University cheer squad dresses dirtier than this. The guys are showing more skin than the ladies and the basketball team's jerseys are more revealing. But what can you say, just like everything else about Ohio State, they are simple, classic and conservative. Anything else would seem out of place.

Overall: As I have said ad nauseum, Ohio State is simple, classic, conservative and...who am I kidding...boring, just like the state that it represents.

Team: the Ohio State University
Conference: Big Ten
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Arena: Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center

Bowling Green State University Falcons

Congratulations have to go out to my Bowling Green State University Fighting Falcons women's basketball team for knocking off #2 seed Vanderbilt tonight 59-56 to earn a trip to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history and Mid-American Conference history. Yes Ryne Hamblet (above, right), that just happened.

Two seasons ago I got the opportunity to see most of this team in the first round of the tournament in Seattle when they were beaten handily by Kansas State as a #13 seed. Despite the loss, you could see the talent that Curt Miller had brought in and how they were only going to get better and the excitement that was being built for this program. Last season, with a 28-2 record going into the tournament, the Falcons were given a #12 seed and had to play #5 UCLA and once again were beaten fairly easily.

This season, after only three losses including a much closer than the final score nine point loss to Duke, they were given some respect with a #7 seed and have run with it by first beating Oklahoma State and then earning tonight's historic victory. Saturday they look to make history again when they face #3 Arizona State.

When I went to school at BG, our men's basketball team was king featuring studs like Anthony Stacey and Keith McLeod. Football was terrible, women's basketball was a joke and hockey was mediocre. As soon as I left, football got good but men's basketball stumbled. The past two years, football has struggled while women's basketball has dominated the landscape. Point is, only one BGSU sport can be good at one time.

So how did the women's basketball team grow to be so strong while at the same time the men's program fell apart? Simple. Old-school jerseys. The men have switched from great, simple, understated jerseys complete with brown and orange striped socks to a more modern jersey complete with the new athletic marks that the school has been trying to slowly integrate.

The women, on the other hand, have resisted change and are still wearing an old jersey design that, to me, is what BGSU basketball should look like. I personally am not a big fan of the new Bowling Green athletic marks, and to go along with it, I'm not a fan of jerseys that use one solid script logo on the front. I prefer individually sewn letters like the ones the men used to wear and the women are currently wearing.

So to whoever takes over as the men's coach (I was sad to see Dakich go, but something had to happen) please think about ditching these fancy new jerseys for something traditional. I'm telling you, they have some seriously good mojo.

And to my other favorite team, the University of Washington Huskies who are currently looking for a new head coach, may I please introduce you to Curt Miller? He has built a great tradition of winning at BG, got the community excited about women's basketball and come Saturday, unlike June Daugherty, he will have beaten Arizona State this season.

Ay Ziggy Zoomba! Go Falcons!

Team: Bowling Green State University Falcons
Conference: Mid-American Conference
Location: Bowling Green, Ohio
Arena: Anderson Arena

KYNCAATLs - Washington State Cougars

As, first and foremost, a University of Washington Husky fan, I'm not supposed to be saying this. But my Dawgs laid an egg this season and didn't even manage to secure an NIT bid (we was robbed). So I, like so many Wazzu students, have to settle on my safety school in the tournament. Go Cougs!

Thankfully, I am actually a big Cougar fan. In fact, I am a huge fan of all college basketball in the State of Washington. Like I said, I'm a Husky first, then a Gonzaga Bulldog fan, then a Cougar fan, then an Eastern Washington fan. I even root for all the Division II and NAIA schools in the state. Northwest University scored a massive upset at the NAIA Division II championships last week in Branson and I couldn't have been prouder.

And I have always been a big fan of Wazzu's logo. I personally think it's one of the most simple, attractive and clever logos in all of college athletics. I understand why many people don't like it. Sometimes when I just glance at it, all I see is the "S". If you take away the "W" and the "U", the "S" looks like a slug that has managed to stand up.

But I don't really care in the long run. It works for Washington State and that's all that matters. If it's good enough for Tom Tuttle of Tacoma, Washington, it's good enough for me.

By the way, for all of the pundits who are giving the Cougs no respect whatsoever, I'd be willing to bet that they will be around next week - they are tougher than anybody gives them credit for. I'd also be willing to bet that they will manage to lose in a particularly heartbreaking way. That is the dictionary definition of "Couging It".

Team: Washington State Cougars
Conference: Pac-10
Location: Pullman, Washington
Arena: Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum

KYNCAATLs - Florida A&M Rattlers

Let's be 100% honest with ourselves here...The Tar Heels? Ooooo, I'm quaking in my boots. The Great Danes? What are they going to do, lick me to death? The Quakers? Please. Even a nickname like the Gators doesn't evoke much fear, especially when they bring out that big fluffy mascot.

One name that does: The Rattlers of Florida A&M, winners of the MEAC automatic-bid on a crazy last second layup and my candidate for the most badass, scary nickname in the tournament (or at least in the play-in-game). And there is something about their crazy looking Natural History Museum snake that helps make them so intimidating. It's just so literal. Is there another logo out there that looks so much like what it actually is?

It doesn't help that I'm a little nervous about rattlers in general. I wouldn't say that I am scared of snakes, I'm not. Normal snakes in a controlled habitat don't scare me in the least bit. However, when I think about hiking around in Southern California my mind immediately considers all of the warnings that I have read about possibly encountering rattlesnakes, and suddenly I want to go hiking a lot less than I wanted to before.

If I were a player, I think the same thing would happen to me when thinking about the Florida A&M Rattlers. I would hear who we were playing and suddenly not want to play basketball anymore. Perhaps I am the only one.

What's that Purple Eagles of Niagara? You want to go hiking with me on Tuesday evening? Alright, if we have to.

Team: Florida A&M Rattlers
Conference: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Location: Tallahassee, Florida

KYNCAATLs - Virginia Commonwealth Rams

Today in Know Your NCAA Tournament Logos: The Virginia Commonwealth Rams. VCU withstood an upstart George Mason squad to earn the automatic berth out of the Colonial Athletic Association and are being projected as a #10 seed by Joe Lunardi (he has them playing Butler in the first round, that would be a great game).

I know absolutely nothing about VCU the school so I was very surprised to find out that there are over 30,000 students in attendance on two different downtown Richmond campuses. However, it appears that VCU is primarily a commuter school based on the fact that on-campus housing only has enough room for 4,000 students. The school is relatively young having officially been established in 1968 but it evolved from various other Richmond institutions dating back to 1838.

I guess I'm not very brushed up on my college basketball history either, because I didn't realize that Virginia Commonwealth was once a powerhouse program. Under the leadership of Head Coach J.D. Barnett and as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, the Rams went to five NCAA tournaments in six seasons starting as a #12 seed in 1980 and topping out as an amazing #2 seed in 1985. In three of those four appearances they advanced out of the first round but couldn't get out of the second including being upset by #7 seed Alabama in 1985. This year's appearance will be their eighth NCAA appearance and third as a member of the CAA.

As far as the logo goes, it's one of those old logos that might not be very pleasing to you and me, but has been a part of the school's athletic program for so long that dumping it would probably be a mistake in the long run. I personally would like to see them update it and do something more modern and professional. But it's probably like my love for my Bowling Green State University empty falcon head - It just wouldn't be BGSU sports without that logo. Just like it probably wouldn't be VCU basketball without that ram.

Team: Virginia Commonwealth University
Conference: Colonial Athletic Association
Location: Richmond, Virginia (my second straight Richmond team!)
Arena: Alltel Pavilion at the Siegel Center

Know Your NCAA Tourney Logos - Eastern Kentucky Colonels

It's the most wonderful time of the year, without a doubt. Championship week and the NCAA Tournament are my Hanukkah and my Christmas all wrapped up into one. I really wanted to do a logo tournament this year, and I still might, but I will be enjoying the first two rounds of the tournament from the Mandalay Bay sports book in Las Vegas far away from my computer so it might be tough. Instead, everyday until I leave for Vegas on Wednesday night, I will introducing you to some of the lesser known NCAA Tournament logos.

Tonight we take a look at the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, who beat top-seeded Austin (Let's Go) Peay 63-62 to capture the automatic bid out of the Ohio Valley Conference thanks to a floater with 2.9 seconds left by freshman Josh Taylor. They were his only points of the game - you got to love that.

I reviewed their logo two years ago when the Colonels made their first appearance in The Big Dance since 1979. Since then, Travis Ford left to go coach at Massachusetts and EKU decided to "improve" their logo last year and now feature the snarling, angry dude above.

Unfortunately, that means that they ditched the happy Colonel Sanders logo that I was really digging on back in 2005. I don't think the new logo is a bad design necessarily, although he kind of scares me because I think I know why he is so angry, but I loved their old logo. It was a nice throwback without being exceedingly unprofessional and it had more personality than the engineered intensity of the new one.

So welcome back to the tournament Eastern Kentucky, I wish you all the luck and I hope that you upset either the #2 or #3 seed that you will face. Just don't think that your angry Colonel will intimidate anyone, it won't. In fact, I have my stinking suspicion that it just might make some players play even harder just to stick it to him.

Team: Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Conference: Ohio Valley Conference
Location: Richmond, Kentucky
Arena: Alumni Coliseum

In the Meantime, Please Enjoy Peter The Anteater...

I didn't mean to take an extended break from The Sports Logo Pundit, but I took a vacation to Mexico over the weekend and the Washington Huskies Pac-10 Tournament games have been running late ever since I got back. I have some changes that I want to make to the site to improve the functionality and now that the Huskies are NIT bound, I won't have to make a trip to LA tomorrow to see them lose to USC. So hopefully, if all goes well, regular posting will be back tomorrow along with a few improvements.

In the meantime, please enjoy the above picture of the freaky mascot for UC Irvine that I saw this evening while watching some of the Big West Tournament. It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but Peter The Anteater is totally buff and it makes him look really, really weird.

Methodist University Monarchs

A big thank you goes out to Jamie for suggesting that I review Methodist University's new athletic logos and for his very kind compliments. I think that this suggestion gives me a good opportunity to share with you the process that I use to determine whether or not I like a logo.

I first saw the Methodist University Monarchs logo on the Sportslogos.net forums a couple of months ago. There it was being picked apart piece by piece (as is nearly every new logo released) by the professional designers and largely amateur sports logo nerds (I say that in the most loving way possible) that populate that board. Some of them took issue with some of the technical aspects of the design, particularly with how the crown sits on top of the head.

While I don't have any kind of background in art or graphic design, I can see some of these flaws, the crown does seem a little awkward. But this isn't how I determine what I like and don't like for The Sports Logo Pundit. My process consists of two or three simple questions:

"Would I buy a t-shirt or hat with that logo on it?"

"If I were a fan of this team or an alum of this school, would I be proud of this logo?"

And, if the logo is an update or upgrade from an old logo:

"Is the new logo an improvement?"

From there I examine the circumstances of the logo more closely and ask some more questions, but usually my opinion comes down to those first three questions.

So, let's use this criteria for the Monarchs logos. Put any of these logos (click here to see the whole package) on a green t-shirt or hoodie and I would most definitely buy one. And if I went to Methodist, I would be very proud of this logo especially since it is a major upgrade from the numerous and seemingly random Methodist logos of the past. It's an interesting and striking new identity for an institution that made a major transition going from Methodist College to Methodist University earlier this year.

Sure it's got a couple of technical issues that graphic designers and sports logo nerds will find issue with, but for the average fan (myself included) it's a solid effort from a school that we probably wouldn't have even noticed otherwise.

Team: Methodist University Monarchs
League: USA South Athletic Conference
Location: Fayetteville, North Carolina
Facilities: I love it when schools post pictures of their facilities

Webster University Gorloks

A big Sports Logo Pundit thank you goes out to graphic designer Benjamin Shown (check out his website, he's done some pretty fine work himself) for alerting me to the new athletics logo for his Webster University Gorloks. I guess I should also thank him for alerting me to the existence of Webster University in general. Somehow I had never heard this school.

"What's a Gorlok?" you ask. Don't worry, I had no idea either. According to the Webster University website a Gorlok is " reported to have the paws of a speeding cheetah, the horns of a fierce buffalo and the face of a dependable Saint Bernard. The myth of the Gorlok embodies the highest standards of speed, agility and stamina in an atmosphere of fairness and good conduct." The name was derived from two intersecting streets in Webster and was first used as their nickname in 1984.

The new Gorlok athletic logo (above) debuted in October after years of using a goofy, seemingly hand drawn Gorlok (right). Because of the old logo's amateur but accessible and unique quality, I think was a tough task for the designer and for the school to come up with something acceptable to all. How do you take a logo that has it's own homegrown, goofy, beloved spirit and give it a sleek modern look without losing what makes it unique?

The new logo does lose a little bit of that spirit, but I think that it does a better job of fulfilling the description of what the Gorlok is. It definitely "embodies the highest standards of speed, agility and stamina" better than the old logo who, to me, looks more like John Belushi in Animal House than a dependable Saint Bernard.

But in case you don't like the sleek new logo and prefer the old Gorlock, fear not. Both logos are still in use throughout Webster University today.

Team: Webster University Gorloks
League: St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (Division III)
Location: Webster Groves, Missouri
Facilities: Facilities include GCS Stadium, home to the Gateway Grizzlies

Loyola Marymount vs. Gonzaga - Scenes From An Upset

Last night was Big Monday on the campus of Loyola Marymount University when the Lions took on the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Welcome to Gersten Pavilion, also lovingly referred to as Hank's House after LMU superstar Hank Gathers who sadly passed away on this court in 1990.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a happy trip to LMU since the Zags continued to confuse with their odd lapses in awesomeness, dropping the game 67-61. It was a huge win for the Lions who played one of their best games and now appear to have figured out how to play together without the injured Brandon Worthy. They are going to be a really tough out in the WCC tourney.

Oh well, it was a fun game even if Gonzaga blew it. Here are some scenes from an upset, straight from the depressed side of the arena. Note: I just got a new camera that's very complicated and I haven't totally figured it out yet, hence all these blurry photos that actually look kind of cool anyway.