04/16/24
January 25, 2012
NFL Logos of the Non-Existent Past: "Gridiron League is a collection of idealized NFL insignias that pay tribute to each team's history and geography in a period-specific aesthetic that glorifies the Vince Lombardi-era over the Cold-Activated-era. ... Many NFL franchises ... have updated their uniforms and logos to a swooshed-out, dropped-shadowed, and more commercial-ready image, ignoring a good deal of their team's heritage and the original rough-and-tumble character that the league stood for." -- Wes Kull
I vote we force all teams to adopt those logos immediately. Although, with Nike taking over next year, I'm guessing that the move will be away from classic styling rather than toward it.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:04 PM on January 25, 2012
All the Bucs got was a "Coming Soon" sign.
posted by bperk at 04:11 PM on January 25, 2012
This is not an exercise in nostalgia
Yes, yes it is. It's all very nice, but design changes. The same guy was probably bitching about the invention of perspective back in the 13th century.
posted by yerfatma at 04:30 PM on January 25, 2012
So good. I don't suppose he can make t-shirts out of these.
posted by tron7 at 04:32 PM on January 25, 2012
I love the leaping Jaguar letters, but do they really have to lose teal?
posted by rcade at 04:43 PM on January 25, 2012
Most of them are great. Just a few gripes/questions:
Why would the Miami franchise not have a picture of a dolphin?
The Vikings have to have a nordic helmet or horn. The oars don't work.
The Arizona logo looks too "modern". That kind of negative space usage is from the 1990s and beyond.
They sure do love intertwined lettering (Giants, 49ers, Chargers, Packers, Panthers, Chiefs, Falcons).
And why is everything given a "distressed" colour scheme?
posted by grum@work at 04:55 PM on January 25, 2012
Yeah, the Chargers one is pretty meh. The Chargers still use their old-school horse-head logo on a lot of stuff, and that's really the target this guy has to beat. So he comes up with a baseball hat design and a little lightning bolt?
It's also kind of weird that when he does the initials, he includes the team name in the acronym, so the Chiefs get KCC, Chargers get SDC, Panthers get CP, which is kind of off-putting. Especially so in the case of Kansas City, which people colloquially refer to as KC, so what's that extra C doing there? Why doesn't the blue field on the Pats logo then say NEP?
Otherwise, I like most of these a lot, including the ones for Seattle, Dallas, New Orleans, and Denver
posted by LionIndex at 06:32 PM on January 25, 2012
The oars most certainly don't work for the Vikings
posted by dviking at 08:22 PM on January 25, 2012
Love the New Orleans Saints insignia. Want a t-shirt with that on it.
posted by govtdrone at 08:30 PM on January 25, 2012
The Vikings look like a rowing club. And what's with the Jaguar car script - a bit too close for copyright comfort.
posted by owlhouse at 09:27 PM on January 25, 2012
And what's with the Jaguar car script - a bit too close for copyright comfort
When Jacksonville first received the franchise the original logo looked a lot like the Jaguar motor logo, and they were sued by Jaguar. They changed their uniforms and logo prior to their first season because of this (they had about year and half from the time they were selected to have a franchise and their first game). You can see the original helmet here
posted by jagsnumberone at 03:09 AM on January 26, 2012
Yep, I was thinking that the Vikings and Giants looked like yacht club insignias.
The Dolphins logo is great and truly reminds me of a bygone era in Florida (pre-McDonalds, where you would walk into a funky seafood shack and they would automatically put a big basket of fried shrimp down on the table. And the paper placemats were actually hurricane tracking charts). But it flat out looks like a cocktail napkin.
Fella, you can not put an Oilers logo on a Texans design. Luv Ya Blue is gone forever, Houston ain't the same, and the pain still remains (but it don't have a house of its own any more).
But in general, this is fun, he did a great job and I love stuff like this.
posted by beaverboard at 08:52 AM on January 26, 2012
I like quite a few of these. As for the Giants' resembling a yacht club logo, well, considering the price of tickets at the New Meadowlands Stadium that seems appropriate to me.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:07 PM on January 26, 2012
Love the New Orleans Saints insignia. Want a t-shirt with that on it.
Slightly, different logo, but Mitchell & Ness sells (expensive) throw back gear using a badge/crest logo like that for the Saints in the linked piece from the FPP -- see the t-shirt here and the hat here, for example.
posted by holden at 01:11 PM on January 26, 2012
Looks like he just changed the Texans logo. It did have the Oiler logo involved in it yesterday. Wonder if Bud Adams sent him a nasty-gram.
posted by pholcomb at 04:04 PM on January 26, 2012
Kull also is the coauthor of Daily Champion on Tumblr.