Oklahoma City Barons

14

Why didn't this team just go ahead and call themselves the "Oklahoma City Oil Barons"? It's clearly the association they're aiming for. The imagery is all about oil. There's a derrick on the main logo. There's a drop of oil (at least, I assume it's oil) on their secondary logo. Their mascot is named Derrick. And, of course, the team is affiliated with the Edmonton Oilers. I know that "Oklahoma City Oil Barons" would be a mouthful, but so is "Oklahoma City Barons". For that matter, so is "Oklahoma City". When you've got six syllables in the team name before you even add a nickname, you may as well say the hell with it and go for a long nickname. Really, they should aim for something longer even longer than "Oklahoma City Oil Barons". The longest name in major league sports right now is the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim": ten syllables. "Oklahoma City Oil Barons" is only nine. I'm sure there's a way to tack another two syllables on this. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm open to your suggestions if you have any.

If they made that name change, they'd erase the only two complaints I have about the name and logo. One, I'm kind of old school, and after Cleveland had a team in the AHL called the "Barons" for thirty-five years, it seems to me other teams in the AHL should avoid that name. Two, all the oil references in the logo are technically irrelevant, but wouldn't be if they used the name "Oil Barons".

But if we put those two quibbles aside, it's hard to come up with much to criticize here. "Barons" is a good team name, after all, and one that doesn't get used in any sport very often. And the logo is good. It has strong colors that are just far enough from primary colors to avoid looking too basic. The derrick, relevant or not, is an easily recognizable shape that's neither too simple nor too busy. The same can be said for the shield shape of the background. I probably wouldn't have put the white "waves" in the background or make the ground two-toned, but I can't really say that either of these actually detracts from the logo.

In fact, what I'm going to say here may be regarded as heresy by some, but I think the Edmonton Oilers should ask for permission to take this logo as their own. Let's face it: Edmonton's logo is outdated and needs to be replaced. Change the "Oklahoma City" to "Edmonton" and the "Barons" to "Oilers", and this makes a great logo for the parent team. Oklahoma City could either keep using this logo or get a new one. If they chose to get a new one, they'd be in good hands if they hired the person who designed this one to design the new one as well.

Final Score: 14 points.
Penalties: Irrelevance, 14 pts, Name-logo, 2 pts.
Bonuses: None.