 }})
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2009
- Messages
- 55,807
- Reaction score
- 17,399
- Points
- 2,743
- Location
- Greensboro, NC
- Military Branch
- Alma Mater
At the risk of shocking my good friend Primus Porcus, who rightfully mentioned recently what a die-hard critic I am of anything associated with the name debacle and the 'brand'....
I voted 'Vastly improved'.
First of all, the reason why we are likely sticking with the 'W' in some form long-term is multi-fold. 'Washington' is now the brand. They have communicated this in a number of ways. The seeming unavailability of an alternate name that the vast majority of the fanbase would embrace leaves them no choice but to double down on 'Washington' and live with whatever follows it. There is no real 'logo' that clearly would reflect 'Commanders'. They have scrubbed the uni's of any mention of 'Commanders'. Commanders has zip to do with anything Native American and they are smart to move away from that idea and pivot to a vaguely military theme (whether it be greco-roman, medieval, or other vibe). The spear (I don't think) is intended to be a Native American symbol - it's just a general 'warrior' icon.
'W' is the best identifier we can have at this point. If they were to create some new logo and try to clean up 'Commanders' somehow and more clearly define it, it would be jarring as hell to this fanbase. They won't ever go back to having the Native American logo not because they 'can't', but because in the context of the 'Commanders' name, that logo makes NO SENSE. Its possible they might run it out there as an alt uniform at some point just to honor the past, but I think it's gone forever as the main logo and honestly it should be.
On the new uniform roll out - I have learned that my first reaction sometimes isn't a lasting one. I am averse to change to an extent so when I saw the spear logo it didn't land well at first. I like consistency and part of me just wants them to decide on a permanent logo and be done with it. So the idea of having two logos isn't generally appealing to me. At first glance, like a lot of you, the spear looked weird to me. But listening to Al Galdi (who loves the new uni's) made me look again and try and keep an open mind. The spear is large. But I think they did it that way so that it could be seen from the front on the black helmet. It actually is rapidly growing on me and I like that you can see the two spears from a frontside view. They more or less nailed the color scheme on the black uniforms and it no longer looks like a Steelers East uniform. Maybe the spear needs some work, but honestly, a year from now when we are used to it, I doubt folks will be screaming for a new version of it. We don't need feathers - because again, they are moving on from Native American imagery (largely because you can't link it to the actual team name any more). We probably need to stop screaming 'add a feather to it' - I think some of you stared at that ES logo too many times and just can't let it go.
I care less about the 'brand' and uniforms than almost anyone here. But I do think they are doing a good job of trying to meld lots of things together that don't naturally fit. The new guys inherited the biggest brand mess in NFL history so the fact that they aren't completely screwing the pooch on improvements is praise worthy. And if I AM SAYING THIS, that speaks volumes.
I voted 'Vastly improved'.
First of all, the reason why we are likely sticking with the 'W' in some form long-term is multi-fold. 'Washington' is now the brand. They have communicated this in a number of ways. The seeming unavailability of an alternate name that the vast majority of the fanbase would embrace leaves them no choice but to double down on 'Washington' and live with whatever follows it. There is no real 'logo' that clearly would reflect 'Commanders'. They have scrubbed the uni's of any mention of 'Commanders'. Commanders has zip to do with anything Native American and they are smart to move away from that idea and pivot to a vaguely military theme (whether it be greco-roman, medieval, or other vibe). The spear (I don't think) is intended to be a Native American symbol - it's just a general 'warrior' icon.
'W' is the best identifier we can have at this point. If they were to create some new logo and try to clean up 'Commanders' somehow and more clearly define it, it would be jarring as hell to this fanbase. They won't ever go back to having the Native American logo not because they 'can't', but because in the context of the 'Commanders' name, that logo makes NO SENSE. Its possible they might run it out there as an alt uniform at some point just to honor the past, but I think it's gone forever as the main logo and honestly it should be.
On the new uniform roll out - I have learned that my first reaction sometimes isn't a lasting one. I am averse to change to an extent so when I saw the spear logo it didn't land well at first. I like consistency and part of me just wants them to decide on a permanent logo and be done with it. So the idea of having two logos isn't generally appealing to me. At first glance, like a lot of you, the spear looked weird to me. But listening to Al Galdi (who loves the new uni's) made me look again and try and keep an open mind. The spear is large. But I think they did it that way so that it could be seen from the front on the black helmet. It actually is rapidly growing on me and I like that you can see the two spears from a frontside view. They more or less nailed the color scheme on the black uniforms and it no longer looks like a Steelers East uniform. Maybe the spear needs some work, but honestly, a year from now when we are used to it, I doubt folks will be screaming for a new version of it. We don't need feathers - because again, they are moving on from Native American imagery (largely because you can't link it to the actual team name any more). We probably need to stop screaming 'add a feather to it' - I think some of you stared at that ES logo too many times and just can't let it go.
I care less about the 'brand' and uniforms than almost anyone here. But I do think they are doing a good job of trying to meld lots of things together that don't naturally fit. The new guys inherited the biggest brand mess in NFL history so the fact that they aren't completely screwing the pooch on improvements is praise worthy. And if I AM SAYING THIS, that speaks volumes.
