Jacksonville Beats Miami To Logo Punch
By Brian Miller
The Jacksonville Jaguars announced this morning that they would be changing their logo. This afternoon, they decided they had kept the fans hostage long enough. At a “State of the Jaguars” address, the Jacksonville Jaguars released their logo to the media and fans alike.
While the logo is a little more streamlined it really isn’t that much different from the previous logo seen below. The colors are still the same and frankly the Jaguar really doesn’t invoke any fear. The ears are more pronounced and pinned back as you would expect a Jaguar to appear but somehow the teal still doesn’t come through as though it belongs. I still can’t seem to grasp the patches on the head. Yes I know that a Jaguar has spots but while it improves on the former’s spots it still comes across as something done in MS Paint. However, if I were a Jaguar fan I have to be thrilled with the upgrade.
With that being said, we have only seen rumored versions of the soon to be Miami Dolphins logo. The rumored logo is also pictured. The question is simple. Is that really the logo the Dolphins are going to move forward with? If it is, then like all logos, it left a little bit on the table. I don’t love it yet but I am far from disliking it too. Of course I am one who has never liked the “Jimmy Johnson” cartoon Dolphin. There is one area that I do have an issue with. The announcement.
The Dolphins plan to “unveil” the logo at this years draft. My question is why? The NFL Draft is a spectacle event much like the Super Bowl but it also has a lot of things working at the same time. A countdown clock, invited collegiate athletes, non-invited draftees, trades, and so on. In the stands there will be Dolphins fans, as there are every year, why not give them the ability to wear the new design instead of the soon to be outdated one?
One reason and maybe the only reason for the delay is the plethora of current merchandise sporting the logo as it stands today. The Dolphins have a lot of merchandise on sale and on closeout at the team store. Why would anyone want to buy the old stuff when the logo is going to change soon? The answer is because it is still a Miami Dolphins logo. I hope the team doesn’t believe that come September the stadium is going to be full of the new design. It won’t.
So that brings me back to my point. Why wait until April? After the draft, “fandamonium” will slide into the off-season until training camps get started. The Dolphins have a huge opportunity to use the time between now and the start of free agency to throw a “logo party“. If I were Mike Dee and Stephen Ross I would open up the stadium club level and invite our fans to a raucous event.
Live band? Check. Former and current players? Check. How about a hack-writer like myself walking out in the new uniforms? O.k. well not likely but you get the idea. The Dolphins should be planning a party, an event, and make the logo’s first time presentation something that is inspiring and not something that simply get’s lost in the shuffle of draft coverage. Unless of course they fear the logo will be received with not so favorable reactions. Of course if they hand out a couple hundred towels with the logo on it I’m sure the fans will be forgiving rather quickly.
The Dolphins have been a franchise that has had to endure a lot of black eyes over the last 10 years and while the logo may get slammed, if it is anything like the “rumored” logo, fans will embrace it. If not immediately, over the course of a few months when it sinks in. I’m just not 100% sold that the Dolphins should be using such a high profile event like the draft to unveil their future team logo.
Fans deserve a little bit more and so does the team. Mike Dee and Stephen Ross are trying to re-imagine the team and it’s image. So why not actually plan a party, invite your fans, and reveal the image? After all, we are the Miami Dolphins. We don’t have to share the announcement of our logo with the other 31 teams and draft picks.