Sioux Falls (Fighting) Pheasants

64

Just what the hell is this team's name, anyway? Their logo says "Sioux Falls Pheasants". Their website is at http://www.sfpheasants.com. But go to that website and click on any of the pages other than the home page, and it says "Sioux Falls Fighting Pheasants" — including the page which has the roster and is titled "the Pheasants". A press release on the team website from March 29 of this year consistently calls the team the "Pheasants" (although it never actually says "Sioux Falls Pheasants"); another press release from March 10 calls them the "Sioux Falls Fighting Pheasants". I'm not convinced anyone, including the owners, knows what the team's actual name is.

For the record, I firmly believe "Sioux Falls Pheasants" is better. "Sioux Falls Fighting Pheasants" is too long, too alliterative, and too goofy. Either "Pheasants" is a good name and you don't need the adjective, or "Pheasants" is not a good name and the adjective won't fix it. If there was a species actually called the fighting pheasant, then it would be fine. There isn't. But there is a species known as the blood pheasant. Tell me that wouldn't make a good name. "Sioux Falls Blood Pheasants" sounds...um, never mind; I take it back. It sounded good until I actually typed it, then I realized it looks just as goofy as "Sioux Falls Fighting Pheasants". Just drop the word "Fighting", guys; "Sioux Falls Pheasants" is fine.

As for the logo, I want to like it but I have to say it's flawed. I like the no-nonsense expression on the bird's face that still looks like an expression you might actually see on a bird's face. In general I like the accuracy in shape (not a hint of anthropomorphizing here) and color. But at the same time, it's too colorful. This is one of those rare times when a less accurate rendering would have been better. I'd lose the black triangles on the bird's chest, make both sides of its chest the same color (probably the lighter shade on the right, since that matches the beak and thus would reduce the overall number of colors in the bird), and make the green crest match the blue on its face. I'd also lose the marsh in the background, which just looks busy. Finally, I wouldn't have the body cut off a bit above the name. Either drop the name altogether (it's not a sin to have a logo with no team name, people...it really isn't) or have the bird's body go all the way down to the name. With the lighter shading across the bird you could do that and there's be no confusion at a distance.

All that being said, though, I do still like it. Just because it's flawed doesn't mean it's bad. If I gave each of these teams a letter grade (and I'm a little surprised to realize I've been at this for over eight years without having once done that), I'd give it a B, maybe even a B+. It's definitely a good logo. It just definitely isn't one of the best.

Final Score: 64 points.
Penalties: Alliteration (egregious for the "Fighting"...assuming that is in fact part of the name), 11 pts; Script, 7 pts; Scenery, 11 pts; Colorful, 31 pts; Name, 10 pts.
Bonuses: Local, -6 pts.