Farewell to Butch Jones.
Archive for sports
As a follow-up to my NCAA Ohio salute, here’s a vintage Kentucky license plate to honor tomorrow’s “Final Four War of 2012″ in basketball:
“Blue-Red State” replaces “Bluegrass State” and a “ball pass” icon (honoring these teams’ up-tempo offenses and quick outlet passes) replaces the horse icon. Note that Kentucky was involved in basketball’s most famous pass.
Media highlights of the UK-Louisville rivalry and Calipari vs. Pitino:
“It bears stating: This is the single biggest sporting event in the state’s history.” – The Wall Street Journal
“Ah, kings at each other’s throats — flawed, driven, prideful men scheming for power and empire. Theirs is a tale replete with willful violations of rules legal, moral, and ethical. Ghosts move in the shadows. Blood is on everyone’s hands. How delicious that all this is told inside a basketball game this weekend in New Orleans — Kentucky against Louisville, Calipari against Pitino.” – Grantland
“We don’t send each other Christmas cards,” Calipari said recently. Said Pitino of the coming showdown: “There will be people at Kentucky that will have a nervous breakdown if they lose to us.” – The Wall Street Journal
“Outside my home here in Louisville, all hell is breaking loose. Insults and predictions are dropping like bombs. Rational people are fleeing bars and restaurants in search of sanctuary. Offices have become battlegrounds, families are being torn apart, and minor events such as weddings are being reorganized.” – Sports Illustrated
Lastly, a salute to 2012 tourney teams Murray State (for a rare “horse viewed from the front” logo) and Western Kentucky (for their mascot.)
A salute to the first state to have four teams in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
(An old state slogan was “The Heart Of It All.”)
Combining all of the teams (University of Cincinnati Bearcats, Ohio University Bobcats, Ohio State University Buckeyes, and Xavier University Musketeers) on a vintage “smog sunset” Ohio license plate.
Bo knows baseball, but T-Bo knows prayer! Based on Nike’s “Bo Knows” ads (from 1990) for their cross-training shoes, here’s a parody update with Tim Tebow praying. Cross-training indeed!
Photo image: Tim Tebow prays right after scoring the dramatic winning touchdown on November 17, 2011. Parody ad bonus: Reebok and Nike logo confusion.
More Tebowing.
What a week for Buckeye Nation. After Jim Tressel’s resignation, we now try to figure out if he’s good or bad. This reminds me of another good/bad icon, Darth Vader–whom the younger generation sees as generally good, but the older generation does not.
After the OSU press conference debacle earlier in the year, it was obvious that this whole thing would not end well. Who is this guy behind the vest? I don’t know, but that red vest looks mighty fine on another pop culture icon. Time for a parody. Order t-shirts here.
The variant below addresses Tressel’s replacement, Luke Fickell. T-shirt here.
Keep Calm and Carmen Ohio, Buckeye fans! We can get through this. T-shirt here.
Tonight’s NCAA Finals between Connecticut and Butler feature two blue dogs as the mascots. The blues are very similar, but UConn’s blue (Pantone 281) is warmer (has more red) than Butler’s blue (Pantone 541) which is cooler (less red). Just remember the in-game personalities of the two coaches–UConn’s Jim Calhoun tends to get “warm” while Butler’s Brad Stevens remains “cool!”
This UConn dog logo dates to 1996; see the previous dog here.
The Packers and Steelers share the same yellow gold color, Pantone 1235:
This would make a decent flag…
…for my friends, whose house is divided:
Another flag option, a horizontal tricolor:
Jamaica flag!
Here’s a sign I designed for the Kentucky Symphony’s annual Gala. (The ladies here—I think they were Ben-Gals—did not know this, and I didn’t mention it.) When they asked if I wanted to be in the picture with them, I replied “No thanks.” Thankfully, they did not cover up the sign–otherwise I would’ve had to ask them to step aside!
The 2008 college football season ends tonight (a battle of two Ohio boys), so here are some random design observations from two games I attended–arguably the two best rivalry games in the country.
. . .
Ohio-State Michigan. Years ago there was a gray “O” at midfield, and I greatly preferred it. In fact, I think Ohio State should play up the “gray” angle because 1) no one else does and it would be proprietary, and 2) nobody does gray like the upper midwest in November–gray sky, gray stadium, gray everything.
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The top four teams in this week’s AP poll have uniforms that use only one team color and white. There are other teams that do this (Michigan State’s dark green and white comes to mind), but most teams use a combination of two (Scarlet & Gray, Maize & Blue, Garnet & Gold, etc.) Since many teams also add black as yet another uniform color (usually in stripes), here’s a toast to the top teams and the purity of one color and white.
1. Texas Longhorns, Burnt Orange (Pantone 159)
A beautiful design system with an “ownable color” (in brandspeak) and a great symbol (Longhorn on helmet).
2. Alabama Crimson Tide, Crimson (Pantone 201)
Props for having the color in their team name and for the unique typography (player numbers) on the helmets.
3. Penn State Nittany Lions, Dark Blue (Pantone 282)
With their “White Out” at home games they just might “own” white in college football–so why not have the team wear their white (away) uniforms for some of those games?
4. Oklahoma Sooners, Crimson (Pantone 201)
Same color as Alabama. Official colors are “crimson and cream; white is an acceptable alternative for cream and more commonly used.”