I've taken the career risk once again of handing over control of the blog to another guest columnist! Today's column is written by Marc Swanson, who is one of our most prolific commenters. I know you will enjoy Marc's wit and humor, as well as his sports design knowledge.
By Marc Swanson,
First off, a big thanks to Jim for letting me contribute to the Sports Design Blog. This is my first writing gig, so be gentle with me. I’ve been a regular reader of the SDB for forty-seven years now and Jim’s finally giving me the keys to the kingdom, so thanks dude, I’ll try not to break anything.
Anyway… the topic today is pennants. My taste in design runs more toward classic, so I’d like to compare old vs. new. OK, maybe it’s more like “I like old pennants. The new ones, not so much.”
IMHO, there’s a lack of charm in most newer pennants. Sure the graphics are slick and some even incorporate full color photos, but the old-school graphics had more personality and the designers seemed to have a better feel for the media. Newer pennants frequently suffer from the “more is more” design philosophy in which negative space is eschewed for graphics for the sake of graphics. I can’t help but feel a pennant today has to go cross the desk of the CEO of Amalgamated Pennant Co. for approval before having a stick shoved up its pennant-hole prior to shipping. Old school pennants had that certain something that made you want to take it home and create a humongous pennant pizza-pie on your bedroom wall. Ah, good times…
Let’s start with the new-school. Check out the Atlanta Braves’ pennant. Sure, it’s got all your classic baseball imagery… a baseball, cap, glove (what’s with the Rawlings logo?), Braves logo, and… do I see... no it can’t be… a pennant? On a pennant? Wha?! It’s like looking into a felt infinity mirror. This pennant is… ummmmmm… not good. Not good at all.
More new school silliness -- likely from the 80s -- this San Diego Padres pennant is the embodiment of eschewing negative space for unnecessary crud. Sure it’s got a lot going on besides a logo and wordmark, but c’mon… it’s butter-knife dull.
The player pennant is one I can’t get into. I can see why others would like them (particularly kids), but I – like Jerry
Seinfeld said – root for laundry. I can’t imagine rooting for teams other than my hometown Browns, Indians and Cavs. As much as I’ve loved players like Bernie Kosar, Omar Vizquel, Mark Price and, of course, LeBron James, I can’t picture myself ever feeling the need to purchase a pennant featuring any of their likenesses (no offense, guys). I’m all about the team. That plus these things make all the players appear to have the same proportions as Roger from “American Dad.”
OK, on to the good stuff. Dig that Milwaukee Braves pennant from the 50s! My brother had one just like it. Despite its deplorable depiction of Native Americans, I love this pennant in design terms. The character looks fierce as hell and the scroll graphic border featuring player names is a timeless element. I have to admit that as a kid, this pennant scared the bejeezus out of me.
I had a dream one night when I was about 5 years old that the lil’guy jumped off the pennant and chased me around the house waving his tomahawk while “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream played in the background. Yikes. Either someone slipped some acid in my milk or it was the same night my brother jumped out of the closet in our darkened bedroom shoving one of those coconut pirate-head things in my shrieking face leaving me with a lifelong fear of coconut pirates. I’m digressing…
Check out the Brooklyn Dodgers’ pennant. I love how they play off the team nickname “Da Bums.” The simple graphic is nice and I kind of like the unofficial typeface. Odd that it’s green, but whatever. There’s a cleanness graphically that just isn’t found in today’s flags… plus today you couldn’t give away a pennant featuring a homeless guy with the ol’ doo-rag-on-a-stick thing carried by only the most discriminating bums of the 40s.
The College All-Stars flag is another that my brother once had. This was and is my favorite pennant ever. Dynamite colors, stars on the helmet and shoulders, cool fonts, and a dude that looks like he’s about to bust out of that pennant and bowl you over on the way to the end zone. There’s a bunch of stars on that pennant which could very easily have gotten out of hand, but the designer knew when to apply the brakes. Very nice.
In all fairness, I shouldn’t trash all modern pennants just as I shouldn’t over-romanticize the old ones. A lot of new pennants incorporate classic design as well as the old ones did and really look great. Add to that, there’s a bunch of really cool new retro-styled pennants floating around now as well. All in all, “less is more” is definitely the philosophy that should apply to pennants. Thanks for taking the time to read my inane ramblings