OT: Spartan Logo Change

Submitted by BlindRef on

http://www.spartantailgate.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=articl…;

Apparently there are some rumors about a new Sparty logo, I've heard this from some Spartan Alumni too...

I feel like the more creative folks on this board could come up with some suggestions for the new logo.

Edit: Mlive link with proposed new logo.

http://blog.mlive.com/ganggreen/2010/01/michigan_state_spartans_to_unv…

Ridiculous

Section 1

January 21st, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^

Seriously, did you guys know that MAC/MSC/MSU used to have winged helmets just like Big Brother, back in the 1930's-40's?

Here's a terrific picture of Tom Harmon (Evashevski blocking) playing against "State" (Michigan State College at the time) in Ann Arbor.

I believe that the Spartans' (Were they Spartans then? I think so) colors were black and silver at the time. And yes, that is a block "S" parked in the middle of the front of their helmets.

http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/helmet/harmmsl.jpg

(Somebody has this photo as their avatar, I know; I have a big version of this photo; it is a beauty. I honestly don't know if this photo is from 1940 or 1939, because both games were in Ann Arbor I think. It is probably 1940.)

jmblue

January 21st, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^

Pretty much everyone had wings on the helmets then; it was part of the leather stitching. Fritz Crisler's innovation was not the wings, but the three stripes. Our wings only became noteworthy after we decided to keep them when the sport went to plastic helmets.

Section 1

January 21st, 2010 at 8:36 PM ^

story...

This is an old, standard Bentley Historial Library entry on the subject:

http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/helmet/mhelmet.htm

The entry is pretty much authoritative as far as I know. (It also corrects me on the date of the Harmon-Evy photo, as 1939.)

Anyway, a standard-model Spalding FH-5 that anybody could order had the three stripes. Maybe, before Spalding came out with the FH-5 in 1937, Crisler had worked up the design for the Princeton Tigers, and Spalding copied it for 1937. I don't know. Before my time, as they say.

By the way, I could never understand why the Spartans ever strayed from the 1966-68 uniform design. They have tried one fugly thing after another since then.

I'm glad that these guys are just a sweet memory of the golden days of Michigan State:

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/mihr/33.2/images/smith_fig01…

The '66 Spartan helmet also had a smaller Spartan image on it, that is amazingly similar to the USC helmet-Trojan. Why they junked that, I'll never understand. It's worked okay for the Trojans.

http://img1.scorehere.com/img/product/ITEM-0008309/s/120/image.png

captainlonghair

January 21st, 2010 at 3:51 PM ^

A school with no history is forced to create its own by changing the logo and manipulating its football uniform repeatedly. White stripe on the helmet, remove the white stripe, bring back the white stripe, S on the helment, spartan head on the helmet, Michigan State on the uni, STATE on the uni, Michigan State on the uni...

Plegerize

January 21st, 2010 at 3:57 PM ^

Echoing what Captainlonghair said, this is what happens when you have little in the tradition of football or athletics.

I personally like the original better, but if they think it is going to make them world beaters then I can see why they did it.

WichitanWolverine

January 21st, 2010 at 4:07 PM ^

I'm so glad that Michigan has its own identity. How many schools in the country are known mononymously as "State"? Putting a big "S" on your athletic gear is very creative and original...

Mr. Robot

January 21st, 2010 at 4:14 PM ^

Really, 300 is starting to get a little old. I'm sure Ole Miss isn't going on and on about The Blind Side as much as they are about 300 even though that movie is still new and still free game for the Rebs to talk about.

Also, I would like to take the time to thank everybody in the Athletic Department even remotely responsible for making sure we were least identifiable via our mascot. I would especially like to thank Fritz Crisler for giving us the helmet we have and will continue to use with little to no variation for the rest of our existence (Its cool if Princeton wants to stay in, since they technically got it from Fritz first, but Delaware seriously needs to get their own idea).

bjk

January 21st, 2010 at 4:20 PM ^

From MGoBoard FAQ:

ONTOPIC

* Anything Michigan sports related
* Anything related to other Big Ten teams or upcoming opponents
* Stuff about the blog itself
* University of Michigan topics that don't relate to sports

Adrian

January 21st, 2010 at 4:22 PM ^

I think it looks uglier than the one that they have now. The older one looked a little more realistic the new one looks like a little kid drew it

bjk

January 21st, 2010 at 4:43 PM ^

Azmsufan (comment) is a seasoned cynic:

They know what they are doing. We all need to go buy new stuff now

Sounds like the reasoning behind new editions for college textbooks.

And none of the Sparties in the comment section likes the new one better.

hockeyguy9125

January 21st, 2010 at 5:04 PM ^

basically trashed the new logo. Said his dog would take a crap that looks better than that new logo. Took the piece of paper with the picture on it, ripped and crumpled it up and threw it away. It was an entertaining couple minutes.

el segundo

January 21st, 2010 at 5:07 PM ^

From the mlive.com article:

"The logo redesign is 'the result of a two-year collaboration between MSU Athletics and a team of top designers from Nike.'"

It took a week to make that slight change in the logo. It took a year and 51 weeks for the "team of top designers from Nike" to develop a system of simple words and hand gestures, so that they could explain the change to the MSU administrators.