04/23/24
January 30, 2008
All the Super Bowl Logos, from I to XLII.: An implicit mini-history of American design, good and bad.
Nice archive, but the arrogance of American sports pisses me off to no end. The first logo... "World Championship"... Yeah, a world championship involving one country... Cretins. And yes I realise someone will no doubt make the argument that the US probably IS the best in the world, but there's two problems with that statement. 1) Calling yourself world champion when you've not competed with anyone outside your own nation is petulant arrogance in the extreme and highlights anyone saying as much as a grade A asshole until they've proven they are worth of being called world champions, and until the rest of the world falls in love with football as much as the US and Canada (which will be around ten past never) it's a bogus claim. 2) People used to say the same thing about baseball, "Well the US would win anyway"... The World Baseball Classic shat all over that theory quite nicely. Sorry, pet peeve. That really is a nice collection of logos, and the designers, particularly of the later ones, have done awesome work, but the whole "world champion" thing really does my head in.
posted by Drood at 02:00 PM on January 30, 2008
world championship involving one country It's nearly as annoying as people getting touchy about it in a thread that has nothing to do with it. Cool link, rumple. Thanks.
posted by JJ at 02:10 PM on January 30, 2008
Am i the only one who thinks that the super bowl XLI logo looks like they just reheated the super bowl XL logo and put a pilon next to it? The XL logo was disappointing. Its super-bowl extra-large for God's sake! its the first time it had been in detroit in forever! that cant be the best they could come up with. how about a big engine, or a tire or something? Then miami was so lame that they had to steal detroits logo? At least this years is relatively origional.
posted by elijahin24 at 03:36 PM on January 30, 2008
2) People used to say the same thing about baseball, "Well the US would win anyway"... The World Baseball Classic shat all over that theory quite nicely. Sorry, how does a one off series in baseball "shat all over" that theory? Put a Japanese league or Cuban League or any other league team in a 162 game season with the other MLB teams, and see how they fare. Baseball is heavily dependent on scouting reports, pitching matchups, and fatigue, none of which came into play in such a short series. Still think its a cool tournament. And as for football, does anyone else actually play football? They actually held a football world cup recently, where the US sent a team of Division III collegiate players, and won handly. As far as the logos, cool find. Man, there have been a ton of games at the Super Dome!
posted by Chargdres at 04:39 PM on January 30, 2008
I like 33's logo from'98. It looks like a choo-choo train! I choo-choo-choose the Superdonkeys over the Birdies.
posted by tahoemoj at 06:16 PM on January 30, 2008
Thanks rumple, sportslogos.net has been a favorite of mine for quite a while now. I would suggest everyone take a look around the site. They put quite a collection together for all sports, minor league, pro, and NCAA.
posted by BoKnows at 06:46 PM on January 30, 2008
world championship involving one country It's nearly as annoying as people getting touchy about it in a thread that has nothing to do with it. Sydney Swans, 2005 World Champions. Yeah!
posted by owlhouse at 08:17 PM on January 30, 2008
No offense, but.....what a dumb post.
posted by LeftyPower at 05:46 AM on January 31, 2008
And yet that is offensive. Would you have preferred some AP Wire story about Super Bowl commercial rates?
posted by yerfatma at 07:07 AM on January 31, 2008
No offense, but.....what a dumb post. Followed up by a dumber comment. Detroit's most recent logo was rather boring. Aside for the numeral's size the logo was hardly fitting for Super Bowl XL.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:55 AM on January 31, 2008
I thot the Arizona one was pretty cool - I guessed that final was played in Arizona just by looking at the stereotypical "Native American/Arizona Ice Tea" patterns worked into the Roman numerals, not knowing it was actually played there. When I read the fine print that confirmed it, I got a new respect for the design. And I do agree, the later designs, including this year's, look rather boring, and almost chintzy.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:09 PM on January 31, 2008
I thot the Arizona one was pretty cool I meant the 1995 Arizona Super Bowl, not this year's. This year's was "put the state map on there and slap the Roman numerals on top." I mean, that state map might've been Ohio or Texas for all I could tell. And what's with the skewed perspective and curved shape? "Oh, straight on like I told you looks too boring. Let's make if look like it's speeding off the page right at you! Yah!" What about if they had made the "LII" in "XLII" into saguaro cacti or somethin'? And turned the "X" into a couple of crossed dried poblanos? That woulda been FUN! AND HOT! HOT! HOT!
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:18 PM on January 31, 2008
I meant the 1995 Arizona Super Bowl, not this year's. Me too, wc2k2. But, I guess I get excited when I see those three letters together.
posted by BoKnows at 01:27 PM on January 31, 2008
No offense, but.....what a dumb post. Unless you're talking about your own post, then you're wrong. The Super Bowl collectible market generates millions of dollars every year, and if you're not interested in it, then just be quiet and let people talk about it who are interested. Seriously, if that's the best you can offer, maybe you should just get up and walk away from the computer. All you're doing so far is building up quite the dossier of worthless comments.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:05 PM on January 31, 2008
All you're doing so far is building up quite the dossier of worthless comments. Sadly, that will conclude his body of work here at sportsfilter.
posted by justgary at 03:42 PM on January 31, 2008
Yeah, a world championship involving one country... Cretins. Sounds like a powerful country, although I have not met any Cretinites. So, really, it's just speculation.
posted by BoKnows at 04:30 PM on January 31, 2008
With lefty gone is there anyone else left to represent the Packers?
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:37 PM on January 31, 2008
Sadly, that will conclude his body of work here at sportsfilter. Since justgary is such a master of understatement, let me just say:
posted by worldcup2002 at 05:42 PM on January 31, 2008
Needs more dancing banana.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 08:03 PM on January 31, 2008
I like the Mardi Gras flavored logo of '96 and the earlier ones that tie in with the Rose Bowl. I imagine it would be hard to pick something from the state/city of choice and work it into the logo. But overall, I would say they are pretty neat. Sounds like a powerful country, although I have not met any Cretinites. So, really, it's just speculation. posted by BoKnows at 4:30 PM CST on January 31 I am one quarter Cretinite on my father's side.
posted by steelergirl at 11:33 PM on January 31, 2008
Of the Pittsburgh Cretinites?
posted by The_Black_Hand at 05:15 AM on February 01, 2008
My favorite logo has to be XXXVI. Especially when compared to the origional design. It was fugly. then 9-11 happened, and everything went red, white and blue. As awfull as the events of that day were, as a soldier, it was nice to see so much patriotism, even if it didnt last that long. It was good for all of us, i think, to see our colors displayed everywhere, to see our country honored everywhere we looked. That included the 50 yard line at the superbowl. Now of course President Bush has squandered all the good will we had built but at that time it was still beautifull.
posted by elijahin24 at 06:45 AM on February 01, 2008
Of the Pittsburgh Cretinites? Yes, TBH, but we migrated to Ohio the year of the big Cretinite persecution.
posted by steelergirl at 04:11 PM on February 01, 2008
cool find. thanks.