Special Report: Why We Hate Fashion Hats

December 12, 2011   kevkev   No comments


Hello and welcome to a PowerPlayGoal.com Special Report.

For years (well, in the UK at least), the logo for the New York Yankees could be considered as one most commonly seen sports logos around. Did this mean that they have a huge UK following? Far from it. The New York Yankees logo was sold out , whored and hijacked to become a generic mass market branded product. Everyone from 10 month old babies to my 55 year old Dad had or has a hat, hoodie, or other various item of sports clothing featuring this logo. Many people adorning this branded merchandise are unaware that they are actually wearing a team’s apparel, and those who did seemed not to care.

Other sports teams from various leagues across America have tried similar attempts to copy; notably the LA Dodgers, the Chicago Bulls and even the Oakland A’s (I kid you not).
None of them had any success and whilst a wide range of teams tried, the majority of NHL teams were absent from this attempt at fashion sales – though Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York appear to have tried. Now all this changed recently, and by recently we are talking in the last month because through a lot of observations there’s a new horrible growing trend in the UK: NHL team branded fashion caps.

Looking at a popular mass market sports shop which we refuse to name (and by sports shop I mean they sell jumpers, coats and hats – absolutely nothing to do with sports whatsoever) they have quickly adopted selling a range of NHL branded fashion hats covering most teams.
Now why is this bad? Because it dilutes the overall idea of a product that you wear to show support for your team. For example, you are a Detroit Red Wings fan. Even with their sizable fan base you will struggle to find other fans with ease in the UK given this country’s obsession with certain other sports. Wearing a Red Wings hat to you is a sign of support for your team and you want people to know that. Then along come these fashion hats and suddenly you’re being judged for wearing your hat on a “fashion” level. And if your hat isn’t a New Era one? Well the local kids are going to call you names. I kid you not.

Maybe you don’t care about that too much, fine that’s OK, but doesn’t it annoy you when people have absolutely no idea that they are actually wearing a team, or the logo of what used to be a team (they have Whalers branded caps!) and then they have no idea that its actually an ice hockey team, let alone a sports team.
Then of course you run into the issue of the types of people who wear them. A good example is what the UK media has politely dubbed “youth culture”. This is the generic mass assumption that anyone young, wears a hoodie or a fashion cap is generally up to no good or going to commit a crime. Now this isn’t entirely correct and not everyone in this situation is going to; however, now that NHL merchandise has suddenly become available, its branded merchandise is likely to also get muddled into this assumption and it will mean even wearing a jersey could potentially get you frowned upon by a segment of society for no reason.

And if none of this bothers you, then perhaps the designs will.

Never mind ruining the NHL’s image in the UK even further, these fashion caps are god-awful. I don’t know why they appeal to British youth culture so much. The flat peaks, oversized logos and text splattered in random places, all staples of those horrible snapback caps from the 90’s. No matter what team you’re a fan of, you wouldn’t be caught dead in one of these things. In fact, you’d rather collect them all for the purpose of setting fire to the whole lot.

Another head scratcher for me regarding the retailer-who-shall-not-be-named is that these hats aren’t even listed underneath their “team apparel” section on the website. There, you’ll only find hats for the big name English football teams such as Liverpool FC and West Ham United… but no NHL team stuff. No MLB stuff. No NBA or NFL stuff. Not even the Yankees. What’s really infuriating is that these hats are designed in a more normal way with some nicer design elements, a normal sized logo and a curved peak, yet all the North American leagues get the “gangsta” crap, making all of those teams in those leagues – or at the very least the ones that are available – look like fashion brands rather than real sports teams, allowing the English football fans to continue turning their noses up at the American sports which are, quite frankly, better.

Enough of my ranting, let’s have a look at some examples of these horrible, horrible things:

Randomly outdated Red Wings logo. What’s with the random smearing of paint behind it? Did it get run over?

The Edmonton Oilers Oilers? Way too much going on here. And that’s not even the right shade of blue.

The LA… What? The logo’s so needlessly oversized that the team’s name has been hidden.

The Montreal Habs? For the oldest team in all the NHL you went with their unofficial nickname? Are you pucking kidding me?! That’s just as ridiculous as those SENS and BOLTS jerseys. And the Canadiens don’t even wear black.

“UrGh” sums up my feelings on the whole range rather nicely.

So there we have it. You’ve seen our new fear, and it isn’t of a Franchise in Mexico, or extreme growth in the MLS: its this – The destruction of the NHL identity. And yes, I would be afraid; I would be very afraid if I were you.

And if you, like us didn’t see any of this coming; I am almost certain you have by now shouted “What The Puck?”

Im KevKev, and Wildwing64 wrote the part looking at the hats; we hope you enjoyed our article.

If you enjoyed our article, why not follow us on twitter – @powerplaygoal

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Fire The Coach!

November 28, 2011   kevkev   No comments

So you all know the deal.
The teams lost maybe 2 or 3 games in a row, one of them was a pretty bad loss but the other two were one goal jobs where a small mistake by a player led to the other team capitalizing the mistake. Jump on to any major hockey forum (official forums are a good choice here), and you will find at least one comment or thread saying that the teams coach, or teams GM should be fired.
Three losses is a little melodramatic. However continuous problems, losses, a sudden plummet in the standings or just all out destruction could well be a more reasonable cause for fans to question whether the coaching staff is cut out for the team anymore.
After years of success, or following a pattern that has worked until now it is quite reasonable to expect things to require change after so long and a coaching adjustment is one option that can be considered – however it is both a controversial and drastic change; whereas often a simple change of team tactics could be considered.

Just this weekend for example, The Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau was fired. Boudreau is considered by many to have been responsible for the “rebirth” so to speak of the Capitals and notably in the season before his arrival, the Capitals were not playoff contenders however ever season after his arrival the team finished 1st in the East and made the playoffs falling in the semi finals or quarterfinals. Given this track record, you would have thought that he could be allowed to make a few slip ups and would remain relatively unscathed. However currently, the Capitals are under performing this season. They have some real talent on the team and as of the time of me writing this sit at 8th in the Eastern division. A playoff spot we can agree, however given the teams setup; some of the games this season and statistics, it was found that he was no longer working for the organization. A bold move to fire him was made by management after a pretty brutal 5-1 loss to Buffalo and former London Knights coach Hunter was brought in to shake things up in the team.

So, thats a good example this season of a coach who by all means was very successful in what he did and achieved being fired after what some teams would consider an “average” season start but wasn’t considered good enough for the team. If that doesn’t send chills down the spines of coaches around the NHL, what will?

This weekend wasn’t all about the Capitals however as in a slightly more unprecedented move Carolina fired their coach. Paul Maurice was, for the 2nd time relieved of his coaching duties for the Hurricanes after a far less successful stint as Head Coach however the reasons for his dismissal were virtually the same. The first time round, he was fired after the team missed the playoffs and started the season 8-12, the second time round for starting the season 8-13-4. Notably the team only once made the playoffs under his second time as coach and that their cup win came whilst Maurice was the coach of Toronto; who also then fired him for not getting them to the playoffs. Will his replacement help improve Carolina? Time will have to tell here, however this a good example of a coach who had been less than successful with a team that got the boot early on in the season when people started to say enough is enough.

Another example of a recent coach being fired came on the 6th of November when St Louis said goodbye to their interim coach Davis Payne.
Davis Payne picked up from Andy Murray and pretty much carried on with the track record of not making the playoffs. Whilst it is agreeable that the team improved under his reign, they did not improve enough for him to remain. Notably at the time of him being fired the team was 6-7-0 and 13th, whilst at the time of writing now the team is 13-8-2 and 4th in the West. This improvement is of considerable notice and many fans do feel the performance boost from the team came from this firing and with the team being 7-1-0 off the back of a new coach its pretty clear why they feel this way – granted it is still to early in the season to see how well this change will work out for the team in the rest of the season.

Montreal were also quick off the mark firing of a coach this season when they dismissed long time assistant coach Perry Pearn in late October following a  1-5-2 start this season; the worst for the team since 1941. Whilst this firing was only of an Assistant Coach, it was deemed as an organizational structure change for the team and its worth noting that the Canadiens are now 10-10-4 just one month later; and sure it isnt high enough to say they are out of the woods just yet it does say that since firing Pearn they are 9-4-2 which is not a bad record to say the least; so for all the people who want their teams Head Coach fired, perhaps a few smaller shakeups are all you need for your team to get a kick start.

The off season is arguably a good time to fire your teams Head Coach as it does allow for a whole off season of preparing and anticipation for a new coach which can help the organization greatly; teams such as Dallas, Florida and New Jersey all made big changes to their coaching staff this off season and particularly in Florida’s case this has been seen to have helped greatly. Dallas whom many people wrote off early on this summer are currently 13-9-1 and whilst the whole team deserves a credit for this record so far their new coach Glen Gulutzan has done a great job working with the issues faced by the Stars recent years of poor investment.

So, what coach is in line next for the chopping block? Its a hard answer to question and does contain a lot of if’s and but’s, as the bottom teams often aren’t always the ones who will / need to fire their coach and are in the position they are through being in a process of rebuilding or just an unlucky slump; however there are exceptions to that argument as always.

Possible contenders in my own opinion include Randy Carlyle Head Coach of the Anaheim Ducks and Joe Sacco of the Colorado Avalanche; though I would possibly argue that Brent Sutter, head coach of The Calgary Flames may appear on that list at somepoint this season.

In the Ducks case, the team is currently 6-13-4; one point off of being the worst team in the NHL and loaded with good talent that just doesn’t seem to be clicking right now. A change of coaching could be a welcome breath of fresh air for the team; working the talent to its full potential and pulling them out of the current rut they are stuck in. Granted Carlyle is the coach who gave the Anaheim Ducks their first cup and for three out of four seasons since then has been responsible for getting them close to the cup. However, their victory in the Stanley Cup gets further and further back in time each year and it is certainly arguable that you cannot hold on to the past for ever. In the case of The Washington Capitals, Bruce Boudreau up until this season had been successful – yet he went when the team failed.
For the Avalanche, the team has been less successful than the Ducks for example in recent history and under Joe Sacco made the playoffs once but have degraded since then and can hardly be argued to be playing at their full potential either.

To conclude, its easy to sit behind a computer screen and go “well that teams playing lousy, fire their coach”; but its a lot harder to actually read between the lines and weigh up whether booting the Head Coach mid season would work out for the team in the long run or would it be a huge mistake later on regretted by all. The players of course also share some responsibility towards the team loosing as well, and its not unfair to place some of the blame with the teams owners who should sometimes take a little more control in what their “investment” is getting up to.

When times get tough, we must ride it out and stick with our team. You might not be having the best of time now but its impossible to tell what sits around the corner. Let the management, players, coaches do their thing and in the end everything will hopefully work out for the best.

I’m KevKev and I hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you did, how about following us on twitter? Just add @PowerPlayGoal to your feed.

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War On Logos #21 – THREEEEE DEEEEE

November 25, 2011   wildwing64   No comments

The Philadelphia Flyers have one of the most iconic logos in hockey history. The black winged P with the orange circle – which is apparently also supposed to be a flying puck – has remained untouched since its introduction in 1967. And the Flyers for many years never introduced a secondary logo to compliment their brand (why would they need to?), and even when they did introduce their first ever secondary mark, it wasn’t much more than a simple modification to the iconic winged P.

Back in 2002, and after going without an orange jersey for a year, the Flyers introduced a new alternate jersey with orange as its base colour. It was a pretty nice looking jersey, and was an unusually modern take on a more familiar look for this franchise. But what drew the ire of Flyers fans were the adjustments they made to the team’s crest. “Really?” I sometimes thought, “You hate it even though it’s basically the same thing with very minor changes, and actually looks pretty sharp, also a good way to update this franchise’s identity into the 21st century?” Then again, this is a fanbase that seemingly prefers that their team’s identity is stuck in the 70’s.

But to be honest, I haven’t looked at the modified logo for quite some time now. I thought it was pretty cool at the time, maybe my opinion has changed? Since I’m talking about the logo and I haven’t actually seen it for a while I might as well take a look at it agai-OH DEAR MOTHER OF LORD STANLEY, WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU.

…Okay. Now I see why the Flyers organisation has pretty much regressed back to their roots with their current uniforms, and even went with a faux-retro nameplate that they never even wore in the first place. Someone showed them the future; a horrible, horrible future, that looked something like this. The threeeee-deeeeee generation kicks in and affects everything from films to TV to videogames, and even the Flyers logo. It’s almost as if the Terminator jumped back in time to show the team this uniform and logo set and say “DIS IS WHAT YOUR JEERRSEEY WILL LOOOOK LIKE IN DA FUUTURE. FUUTURE IS BAD. DON’T LET YOOUR JEERRSIIES LOOOOK LIKE DIS.”

But seriously, what made them want to add the vaguely metallic, 3D bevel to their logo? The Flyers crest is a classic mark. Adding a pointless feature such as this actually takes away from what it’s supposed to be. It reminds me of when a certain other team’s graphic design department *coughduckscough* obsesses over Photoshop’s bevel and emboss effect, then you look at some of their web graphics, and you think “Oh, great, they used sodding bevel and emboss. Again.” But I digress.

Getting back to the point, there doesn’t seem to have been any real reason for them to add the bevel to the logo. They could have just slapped on the regular ordinary Flyers logo onto the third jersey and it would have been fine. But no. After all, THREEEEE DEEEEEE. Plus it gave them a lousy excuse to add a silver trim to the third jersey, which again takes away from what the Flyers are supposed to be. And speaking of taking away, the stupid bevel makes the wings look skinny. That’s not something you do to the Flyers. The Flyers are big, bold, bad and tough, and their fans don’t expect anything less from them. Having skinny wings and a puck that has apparently lost weight is not exactly something the fans take too kindly to. And now I know why their fashion sense is stuck in the 70’s.

…But other than all of that, it really was a nice third jersey.

I’m Wildwing64, and I declare War On Logos.

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