It’s All In the Logo

In the same year the cartoon bird made its return to the Baltimore Orioles’ hats, the Orioles returned to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.  It’s probably mere coincidence, but, through my keen powers of observation, I’ve noticed that the Orioles aren’t the only team that’s changed had a sudden change of fortune on the field in the same season they’ve made a logo change in recent years.  A logo change, obviously, isn’t a sure-fire road to success for everybody, just ask the Blue Jays and Marlins, the two teams that went through a complete makeover this year, only to end up in last place.  But for the most part, a logo change has been that thing to bring a team that’s on the verge of being good over the top.

Baseball
1987 Twins: These sudden reversals can be traced all the way back to the 1987 Twins, who won the World Series the year after they went from those two guys shaking hands to the “Twins” script on top of a baseball and the hats with an “M” on them.  That logo has since been modified, but Minnesota won the World Series again in 1991.

2002 Angels: 2002 was the year in which the Angles decided to start doing their all-red thing (the rationale being that the Dodgers are blue, so the Angels should wear red).  And they celebrated their first year in red by winning their first World Series.  They’ve since changed their name from “Anaheim Angels” to “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,” but the red uniforms have remained.

2007 Diamondbacks: I’m still not entirely sure why the Diamondbacks changed their uniforms in 2007.  They went from the only team with that unique purple, black, gold, teal color scheme to a red/black uniform that was basically exactly the same as Houston’s now-retired get-up.  That’s all they changed.  Same logo, different colors.  Regardless, the Diamondbacks finished with the best record in the National League and lost the NLCS in 2007.

2008 Rays: I’m not sure if it was the uniform/logo change or dropping the “Devils,” but 2008 marked the year the Rays became an actual Major League team.  Out of nowhere, they went from a laughingstock to the World Series that season, and they’ve been good ever since.  Again, not sure there’s a correlation, but the 2008 season was a turning point for this franchise in more ways than one.

Football
1997-98 Broncos: The classic case of a logo change breeding success, the Broncos got rid of the beloved D with a horse inside (and the awesome orange jerseys) and replaced it with the horse head helmets with the stripes that I still don’t quite understand.  As upset as people might’ve been with the new uniforms, they won the Super Bowl in the first two seasons they wore them, which were also the final two seasons of John Elway’s career.  This year, to celebrate Peyton’s arrival, they went one better and brought back the orange jerseys.

1997 Buccaneers: What is it about teams from Tampa Bay?  The Bucs ditched the creamsicle pirates and introduced us to pewter for the 1997 season.  And with that, they went from one of the worst teams in the NFL to one of the best, making the playoffs for the first time in forever and winning the Super Bowl a few seasons later.

1998 Jets: Bill Parcells brought “Flying Elvis” to New England when he became coach of the Patriots, and one of his first orders of business when he took over the Jets was to bring back the old logo.  It worked.  They went to the AFC Championship Game that season.

1999 Titans: The Oilers left Houston in 1996, but weren’t really home in Tennessee until 1999.  That’s when LP Field opened and they established their new identity, complete with a total rebranding.  The newly rechristened Tennessee “Titans” nearly went all the way, losing one of the greatest Super Bowls ever to the Rams.

2000 Giants: Two years after the Jets brought back their old logo, the Giants did the same thing.  Except they didn’t stop at just getting to the NFC Championship Game.  They had the best record in the NFC and went to the Super Bowl (a game that us Giants fans prefer not to talk about).  Their two most recent trips to the Super Bowl have gone much better.

Hockey
1995-96 Avalanche: The artists formerly known as the Quebec Nordiques brought NHL hockey back to the Rockies in 1995-96.  Obviously, a French Canadian nickname would’ve made absolutely no sense in Denver, so they went with the incredibly fitting “Avalanche.”  And it took them a grand total of eight months to bring a Stanley Cup to the long-suffering fans of Colorado.

2006-07 Ducks: The Ducks were no longer “Mighty” after the 2005-06 season.  Along with the name change came new colors and a new logo, as they went from the awesome duck-billed goalie mask to what’s quite possibly the most boring logo in all of sports.  It worked, though.  Just like the Avalanche, they celebrated by lifting the Cup.

2006-07 Sabres: Ah, the buffaslug.  The year I left Buffalo after six years of residency was also the year the Sabres went back to their original blue and gold color scheme with that ridiculous logo that was rightfully met with near universal disdain.  The Sabres had success on the ice in 2006-07, reaching the conference finals, but the poor buffaslug never caught on.  It only lasted four seasons.

2011-12 Kings: The most recent example of new logo=newfound success is the reigning Stanley Cup champions.  The current Kings logo is only a slight modification of the shoulder logo on their previous jerseys, but they ditched the purple and made it the primary logo, so it counts.  And following in recent tradition, they won their first Stanley Cup the season they made the change.