The 80s Win Again 11:20 PM

As one candidate has put it,today provides for a choice between the past and the future. Unfortunately, despite lots of quality discussion (http://jasontbrown.blogspot.com/2008/08/whats-in-name.html) Bowling Green has named their baseball team in the distinctive past, notably with a distinctive 80s flair. Not the Cave Shrimp, or the Cake Batters...put your hands together (or rev your engines...meh) for the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

The logo is seizure-inducing busy - with baseball hubcaps, stitched up wordmark, motion lines on the base paths (on a logo which is not a diamond), and a burnt orange car spewing flames. No simple elegance here - just heaped on design elements like a five-year-olds Lego creation. I count four colors - but there might be more. I am not the best person to go to for colors.

Give me the Cake Batters (or just the Batters) and a little chef with a whisk for a bat. Give me the Cave Shrimp, and a little squinty shrimp looking for a pitch. Anything but this busier than any road in Bowling Green logo.

What's in a Name? 2:26 PM

The ever-expanding metropolis of Bowling Green, Kentucky (known to some as little California or little Texas ;) ) recently announced it will be getting its own single-A baseball team. True to form, the folks bringing baseball to Bowling Green are holding a "Name the Team" contest. It is interesting that most of the names have some local flavor, instead of name that just alliterates with Bowling Green. Here are the finalists:

Bowling Green Speedsters - for Bowling Green's automotive heritage, which is fair, but boring; you can already see the cartoon car with the "speed lines" for the mascot.

Bowling Green Hot Rods - for the local, historical Hot Rod race track and the annual Hot Rod festival held here. Makes me think of something nuclear or the old Transformers movie...

Bowling Green Bluegills - a tenth of a point deduction for the alliteration; "named for the multitude of local residents who fish for Bluegill"; isn't the plural of "bluegill" also "bluegill"? like "bass" or "jazz" or "fish"? I've never heard someone say "I'm fishing for bluegills" but I don't fish.

Bowling Green Turbos - again, the automotive link; meh. makes me think of NBA Live. Maybe when a "turbo" hits a homerun the public address announcer can say, "He's on fire!"

Bowling Green Sparkplugs - "celebrating the city's love of motorsports with a name that minor league baseball is known for"; Not bad. Will they be the "plugs" for short?

Bowling Green Mammoths - One of my favorites. This whole region of Kentucky is above Mammoth Cave, the world's largest cave system. Not sure how you would work a mascot around a cave, but I like it alot.

Bowling Green Cave Shrimp - far and away my favorite. The perfect name for a minor league baseball team that is equal parts local and hilarious. "Cave Shrimp" are endangered albino shrimp that are indigenous to Mammoth Cave.

Bring on the Cave Shrimp!!!