2008 NBA All-Star Game

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm dead tired. I played beach volleyball tonight after playing rugby last night and I'm just about out of it. Granted it's pretty late, I should go to bed, but I've been doing so good with more regular posting that I really wanted to get something up tonight.

Thankfully, the 2008 NBA All-Star Game logo was brought to my attention. I don't really have to say much more about it other than WOW! That's a very impressive, classy, interesting, balanced and stunning logo. Easily the nicest NBA All-Star Game logo yet. It suits the city of New Orleans and the Hornets very well.

Very well done NBA and New Orleans, now start preparing for another major hurricane to blow through your town. Just ask the people of Las Vegas how much they enjoyed the NBA All-Star game.

New Orleans VooDoo

Much is being made of how the Arena Football League launches a new era with it's ESPN/ABC contract when they open play this weekend. While I do agree that this is HUGE for AFL, I still don't understand what ESPN sees in this relationship.

As much as I like seeing minor league sports featured on ESPN (does anyone else miss late-night Australian Rules Football?), I have a very hard time believing that these games will draw much in the way of ratings despite how hardcore football fans can be. I see it as a cheapening of their major league prestige. Say what you will about ESPN, but you have to admit that they normally bring you the best of the best when it comes to sports. So when I see AFL highlights on Sportscenter and hear ESPN Radio hosts talking to AFL coaches, it makes me wonder why they felt that this deal was necessary. It's still a minor league, these are still NFL washouts no matter which station they are being shown on.

One good thing about the Arena League kicking off this week is the return of my favorite AFL logo, the New Orleans VooDoo. After sitting out last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the VooDoo will open their home schedule on March 9th and become the first professional team to return full-time to the New Orleans Arena and they will do it in style.

I love bones and skulls and whatnot and I think that this logo does a good job of mixing the traditional voodoo imagery that is so prevalent in New Orleans with a bold, colorful, simplistic design that is needed in Arena Football.

My only beef is that they insist on using purple and red as the primary colors on t-shirts and jerseys rather than black with red and purple accents and that nearly all of the designs in their online store embellish the logo in dreadful ways. The skull and bones logo alone on a black t-shirt or polo (sadly out of stock) would be nearly perfect. There is no reason to trailer park/NASCAR it up the way that they do.

Team: New Orleans VooDoo
League: Arena Football League
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Arena: New Orleans Arena
Cheerleaders: The VooDoo Dolls
Mascots: Bones and Mojo
Online Store: Featuring Customizable jerseys!

Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers

While searching for a schedule for the new Everett Hawks football team I just happened to notice the Swashbucklers name at the top of the National Indoor Football League's homepage and had to see the logo. I love skulls and crossbones and all of that pirate crap and I thought the Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers would probably be right up my alley.

The primary logo is pictured on the right and it's alright. It's a very simple logo that looks like it would probably be better suited for a baseball team. In fact, I've been racking my brain and searching the internet to find a logo for a baseball team that looks very similar. I can't seem to find it anywhere and it's starting to drive me crazy. I want to say that the team was called the Sultans but I'm not totally sure. If anyone knows, please leave me a comment.

The other logos and accoutrements on the Swashbucklers website are what I like. For example, the skull and swords at the top of this post with the lacing down the head. Classic! Nothing says pirate football like that. There's also a t-shirt on the website with a very poorly drawn skull and crossbones that looks more like a gorilla head than a pirate. But it's still pretty menacing and perfect for fans of indoor football.

Plus the team's fan club is called the Scurvy Dogs. You gotta love that.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!! - Of course as soon as I published this, I found the logo I was talking about on Logo Server. It's the Springfield Sultans of the Midwest League. It's not really that similar but it's no wonder that the Swashbucklers logo reminded me of it.