Witchita Wingnuts

Ugh. The Wichita Wingnuts? Ridiculous.

The Wichita Wranglers of the Double-A Texas League moved to Springfield, Arkansas to become the Northwest Arkansas Naturals after the season and the independent American Association quickly jumped into Wichita and Lawrence Dumont Stadium. Definitely a smart move as Wichita isn't a dead baseball market, it just doesn't have a stadium and won't be building one anytime soon that can compete in the continuing upgrading of the Texas League facilities and franchises.

One thing that the Wingnuts have to do is convince people that the American Association isn't a vastly inferior product and that the team should be taken just as seriously as the Wranglers were. So announcing an identity as bush league as this new Wingnuts nickname and logo is very counter productive.

I'm usually all for different, goofy and fun but only in the right situation. This was not the right situation. They needed something a little more dignified to illustrate their arrival. I have a hard time taking them seriously with that silly rabbit, baseball, wingnut, dog thing that they have going on below. Maybe the Wingnuts is the right name. It definitely is catchy, but these logos are amateur and don't give off the right impression that this team needs to build.


At the very least, if you are going to try to do something different and make a big splash, the name and the logos shouldn't be unoriginal. Remember the Lansing Lugnuts? Yeah, same idea, except done 11 years ago and done so much better then.


Team: Wichita Wingnuts
League: American Association
Location: Wichita, Kansas
Stadium: Lawrence Dumont Stadium

Topeka Roadrunners

Tonight marks a step forward for The Sports Logo Pundit as I unveil our very first Correspondent. Thanks to Chris Roberts of Turning 25 for stepping up and tackling a pretty rank logo (IMO) that I chose at random for him. Look for more reviews in the future from Chris and other correspondents. For the guys that have emailed me and I haven't yet responded, don't worry, I'll get back to you this week.


Logos for sports teams are funny in that you almost always have to suspend belief when you approach them.

What do I mean? Well, without question we accept a smug leprechaun to front the Boston Celtics, and for the past couple of years we have tolerated a buffalo-slug hybrid to represent a team called the “Sabres.” Realism isn’t a thing of necessity when it comes to sports logos. When executed rightly, you don’t need to be realistic, either – see also “Iron Pigs” and “Cardinals, Arizona.”

The suspension of belief should come naturally, though, as if the logo itself compels you to just [cue whisper] believe. I shouldn’t have to get myself into the zone to buy into a logo.

Inside that zone today is the logo for the Topeka RoadRunners. The team from Topeka is originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the RoadRunners moniker certainly passes better muster. This NAHL team is moving to Kansas’ capital this season after a grassroots movement among the city’s hockey fans to woo the team away from the land of enchantment.

Instead of a complete redesign, which a junior A hockey team probably couldn’t swing budget-wise, the RoadRunners are simply recoloring their logo and changing up the font in the word mark for the move. New this season are the golden-brown beak, changed from a much less natural blue, the silver color in the feathering, and a semi-serif-style font in place of the non-styled block-serif for the word mark.

Looking at the bulk of the logo, the roadrunner’s head, I’m first distracted by the whole “prehistoric” styling – the jagged black lines outlining the areas of color, the silver head-feathers sweeping up behind the beak to conjure imagery of mean, nasty horns or spikes (which you could easily mistake them for altogether at first glance).

Bothering me the most are the teeth – roadrunners don’t have teeth, so why make that such a prominent feature on your logo? Yes, it’s obviously a treatment to make the logo look meaner, but we’re back to the whole “forced suspension of belief” deal.

Plus, it’s an unnecessary liberty taken with the real bird’s morphology. Really unnecessary considering how successfully birds can be styled to look “mean” without adding teeth – see the Seahawks, the Ravens, and the aforementioned Arizona Cardinals.

Roadrunner head aside, the new font fits well and isn’t really all that bad. While I personally would stay away from a font like that, the style fits here pretty well.

While Topeka’s new, used hockey team comes with a refreshed logo that could be worse, it’s nowhere near the front of the pack, or flock if you want so badly that easy, easy pun. For that, I’m willing to give this guy a C+.


Team: Topeka RoadRunners
League: North American Hockey League
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Arena: Landon Arena
Mascot: Yes, it’s a roadrunner (surprise), but I can’t find his/her name anywhere!
Merchandise: Not online yet