The South That Roared

The Predators are rolling out new road jerseys this weekend and new home jerseys in mid-July, but their new logo set began circulating yesterday (some people say it was a leak, others say it was planned this way all along, but whatever — it’s out there). Let’s take a look:

• The new primary logo: A subtle change, but a strong one. Never liked the metallic gleam on the fangs or all the comic book-style gewgaws. The new version is simpler, stronger, better. So is it good or is it stupid? Good.

• The new wordmark: Again, nothing too drastic, but a major improvement nonetheless. The old version looked like something out of arena football (or maybe just NikeLand); the new version says, “Okay, we’ve put away childish things.” I like the wider kerning on “Nashville,” too. Very, very good.

• The new secondary logo: Really like the guitar pick shape. Two quibbles, though: First, the three stars are supposed to evoke the Tennessee flag — a good concept, but the stars on the flag are oriented differently than the ones on the logo. And second, this mark would be soooo much stronger without the “NP” initials at the bottom. Still, the guitar pick idea is excellent — here’s hoping they put this on a third jersey soon (at which point we should expect to see a lot of hockey stick air guitar). Good, but could’ve been even better.

• The new initials: Whatever — not unattractive, but also not necessary. Feels like overkill. Stupid.

Overall, some major strides by the Preds — well done. Additional info here, here, here, and here.

Meanwhile, over in the NBA, several readers noted that the Knicks logo on the team’s online store appeared to ditch the black yesterday. Then someone put this style guide sheet up on Twitter. No idea how legit that is, or what it might portend for the team’s uniforms this fall, but the lack of black on the online store page is promising.

+ + + + +

Important site-related issue: When we switched over from uniwatchblog.com to uni-watch.com last month, anyone going to a page with the old domain name was supposed to be automatically redirected to a corresponding page with the new domain name. And that’s exactly how it’s worked — until today. For reasons we’re still trying to figure out, uniwatchblog.com pages are failing to redirected and failing to load at all. So if you have a bookmark to an old page, update it. We’ll try to get this fixed pronto.

+ + + + +
Uni Watch News Ticker: The 49ers, who had already announced plans to wear a Joe Perry memorial decal, are now adding one for John Henry Johnson (as noted by Mike Rowinski). ”¦ Dodgers and Tigers did the throwback thing yesterday. Additional pics here. It’s kinda sad when the visiting team honors the old school concept — at least pants/socks-wise — more than the home team does. ”¦ See how the collar on Salty’s chest protector looks like maybe it has something whited out or taped over? According to Dave Deslauriers, it originally said, “Phil 4:13” (that would be this passage from the Bible), but now he appears to have covered it up. ”¦ Ithaca College has called off its plan to have a new mascot (with thanks to Rick DiRubbo). ”¦ “The Japan Rugby Football Union is having a charity match between the National Team and the Top League XV (15),” reports Jeremy Brahm. “Here is the Top League XV uniform, which is based on the league’s logo.” ”¦ Bet you’ve never seen one of these before: a Star-Kist Tuna baseball uniform, complete with a Charlie the Tuna sleeve patch. ”¦ Here’s the WNBA ball that was for Tuesday night’s Shock/Storm game. The only problem is that Donna Orender, whose signature is on the ball, resigned as WNBA president back in December. “The president of the Shock told me that they have to preorder the balls six months in advance, so they didn’t have enough time to change the balls,” says Yogi Combs. ”¦ Larry Leibowitz informs me that the new issue of Food Arts magazine includes a photo featuring a certain T-shirt that’s near and dear to my heart. I still have a handful of them left — get in touch if you want in. ”¦ New football gloves for Nebraska. ”¦ The just-completed Yanks/Reds series ran from June 20-22. But the base jewels — or at least one of them — had the wrong end date (good catch by Doug Smith). ”¦ Jimmy Rollins is apparently doing some sort of publicity stunt with a super-charged bat, but I honestly don’t care enough to sift through the details (as noted by Adam Brodsky). ”¦ Scott Little co-owns a bowling alley, and his local beer distributor recently gave him a neon Rainier sign. Just one little problem: They misspelled their own brand. “Emil Sick must be rolling over in his grave,” say Scott. ”¦ Keith Stokes came across a site with lots of info on stadiums. ”¦ The MLS all-star jerseys are, in Matthew Robins’s words, “very scary.” ”¦ Here’s more about the elimination of the cigar from the Rays’ upcoming thowbacks (with thanks to Jim Donnelly). ”¦ Mack Abbott was driving in Ontario and saw a truck that had managed to rip off the L.A. Kings’ primary and secondary logos simultaneously. Plus the name of the trucking line sounds like a male porn star or something. ”¦ Notice anything unusual about this shot of Mets GM Sandy Alderson from last night? The logo placard behind him includes the old “NY,” which was banished from the team’s skyline logo way back in 1999. Now, the team always admitted that they left some of the old “NY”-inclusive logo signs scattered around Shea, but this is the first time I’ve noticed one of the old logos at the new ballpark. Kinda surprising that they didn’t spring for new signage, but I’m fine with it because I prefer the logo with the “NY” (great catch by Mike Baur). ”¦ I had my eye on this beauty but got outbid. Dang. ”¦ Cubbie catcher Koyie Hill took a foul ball off his mask that sent paint chips flying last night (screen shots courtesy of Matt Shepardson). ”¦ Here’s something really good: a history of the fallout shelter sign design (major thanks to David Gratt). ”¦ “Mexico played Honduras Wednesday night in the Gold Cup semi-final,” writes Coachie Ballgames. “Honduras wore white, leaving Mexico free to wear its traditional green shirt — but nope, all black. Even their crest was stripped of the national red, green and white.” ”¦ “I used to think USA rugby was too subtle with the jersey stylings,” writes Caleb Borchers. “They certainly don’t have that problem anymore. That kit debuted back on Saturday.” ”¦ Rolling Stone published a feature on Zach Galifianakis earlier this month. At one point they mention how he’s blown several potentially lucrative gigs, including this one: “After the success of The Hangover, Nike contacted him. ‘We had a conference call,’ he says. ‘The first thing I said was, “So, do you guys still have seven-year-olds making your stuff?”’ He didn’t get the job” (with thanks to Chris Flinn). ”¦ By now most of you have probably heard about yesterday’s brutal Tiki Barber interview. Personally, I don’t care who Barber’s fucking, which teevee network he is or isn’t working for, or that he somehow has the chutzpah to compare himself to Anne Frank. I also don’t care whether he’s capable of being a good football player anymore (well, maybe unless he catches a game-winning TD pass against the Niners). I wouldn’t care about why he’s coming back, either, except that he’s gone out of his way to tell everyone: “[Returning to football] is a redemption for me. I need to be good at something, I need something to get out of bed and look forward to, and something I’ve always been good at is playing football.” I’ll give Barber this much: He was way better at football than he was at, say, research. But what that quote really translates to is this: “Like most athletes, I’m a profoundly boring person and lack the imagination to do anything productive with my life.” Come on, dude — learn photography, take up the drums, do volunteer work, open an ice cream shop, teach kids to read, start a foundation, anything to show that you can actually be an engaged human being. Like I’ve been saying for years, spending most of your time in gyms, hotels, and airports does not produce an interesting person, and no amount of tooth bleaching can hide that.