Dayton Gems

39

For those who don't understand where the name comes from, there are arguably two sources. First, Dayton's nickname is the "Gem City". No one quite seems to understand why it has this nickname (or more accurately, lots of people are sure but they don't all agree). It may be related to a racehorse from the area, or it may be that Dayton was regarded as a nicer town than other nearby towns; hence, a "gem" of a city. One thing that does seem to be widely agreed upon is that it has nothing to do with actual gems of any sort.

The second source is that the Dayton Gems play in the United Hockey League, which thinks that every day is Halloween and the only appropriate costume is the old International Hockey League. The UHL actually calls itself the International Hockey League these days, and over half the league's teams use the names of teams from the old (i.e., real) IHL. I think there's a rule in the league requiring teams to pretend they belong to an earlier era. Quad City and Bloomington probably have to pay higher league fees for having the audacity to exist in cities that the glorious Original* International Hockey League did not have teams in. And as for the Port Huron Icehawks, who are in an old IHL city but don't use the name of the old IHL team, I don't even want to think about the punishment the owners are subjected to. I imagine it involves some combination of electricity and testicles, but I admit that I'm theorizing here. Let's just say that somebody in Port Huron is paying a gory price for not calling the team the Flags.

So when the Dayton Bombers pulled out of the ECHL, someone saw an obvious opportunity and swooped in to put a UHL franchise there. I'm not sure what team name they originally intended to use, but it was only a matter of time before the bent-nose guys from the league office came by and "suggested" the team call itself the Gems. And so they did.

"Dayton Gems" is not a good name, but it's not as bad as it may seem like. It's one of those traditional names like "Toronto Maple Leafs" or "Chicago Cubs", where the name is patently stupid but has been around long enough that we grudgingly respect it just because we can't get worked up about it anymore. "Dayton Gems" hasn't shown quite the longevity of these names, since it's not yet even fifty years old and has only been in use for fourteen of the forty-five years since it has debuted. In other words, it really doesn't deserve to be put in the same category as "Toronto Maple Leafs" and "Chicago Cubs" at all, and is fair game. So ignore everything I've said in this paragraph so far: This name sucks dead, chunky dog through a bendy straw, and people should be utterly ashamed to be associated with it. About the only thing you can say in favor of this name is that it's better than "Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees". And only just.

Oddly, they didn't resurrect the old Dayton Gems' red-white-and-blue color scheme. Instead they're using blue and gold. And they're very proud of this fact: proud enough to actually put the words "blue and gold" in the logo. Congratulations, guys, you've actually managed to find something even dumber than "pro hockey" to put in a logo. The logo also makes prominent use of the now-passé "fade" effect on both sticks and on every facet of the diamond. Truth be told, it looks like someone was playing around in Photoshop. This is at least an improvement over the Texas Stars logo, which looked like someone was playing in MS Paint, but it still looks unprofessional. It also has me concerned where this trend ends. Am I going to have to do a review later this season for a logo that looks like it was made by someone playing in PowerPoint, complete with silly animation effects?

Oh, that's right: this is the last review for this season, so there is no "later this season. And you thought being saved by the bell was only for boxing and high school.

*	The IHL in question here isn't actually the first league with that name, but it is what everyone thinks of when they hear "International Hockey League". Hey, it's no worse than the fact that four of the "original six" were not in fact original members of the NHL.

Final Score: 39 points.
Penalties: Name-Logo (triply-egregious for the "Blue and Gold" line), 7 pts; Equip-Logo (egregious), 8 pts; Colorful, 13 pts; Fade, 6 pts; Yucky-Logo, 5 pts.
Bonuses: Local, -3 pts.