Unlike the old Dayton Aeros, the Dayton Bombers do not have a name which is ready to move to Texas at a moment's notice. But they do have a logo which is ready. I am of course referring to that damn star in the background. I'd be fine with there being a star in the logo if there was also something related to bombers in it. There isn't.

In fact, this is the Bombers' fourth logo, and the third which did not have a bomber in it. The first one did at least have a bomb, which is close enough for government work. It also had a star, and even better, the star was red with a gold outline. Wait...what the hell? Is Dayton the last vestige of the USSR or something? Oh well, they changed it with their second logo (which was basically identical to the current logo but with the star being yellow instead of blue).

Okay, so apparently the star keeps changing its mind as to whether it's going to vote republican, democrat, or...er...whatever party gets shows as yellow. There was, incidentally, one logo which did not have a star. The third logo, in addition to lacking a star, was also the only one to actually have a a bomber in it. With the lack of a star, I'd say that this means it is the one Dayton Bombers logo that wasn't ready for immediate export to Houston. But given the obvious similarity between this logo and the current Houston Aeros logo, I couldn't possibly say that and maintain any credibility. This logo used a triangle as its background, which was obviously a reference to the Dayton Triangle. Whatever that is.

I've seen the Dayton Triangle referenced several times on the web, but I can't quite make out what it is supposed to be. Half of the references seem to be saying that the Dayton Triangle is made up of three countries in the Balkans (probably due to the Dayton Accords). But that obviously isn't the only meaning, since there was an NFL team way back in the 1920s called the Dayton Triangles. I also found several websites where the Dayton Triangle is a real estate term used to describe a (quadrilateral-shaped) section of Aurora, Colorado. Again, the relation between this Dayton Triangle and the aforementioned NFL team seems tenuous at best. (The Dayton Triangles did indeed play in Dayton, Ohio. I checked.) I was originally going to make a joke that the "Dayton Triangle" was an area pilots avoided flying over because if they did fly over it, they'd either disappear or mysteriously show up in another part of the world. Now I'm beginning to wonder if my joke isn't somehow related to the truth.

One thing that has been constant in the team's logo — and it is arguably the most puzzling thing in the logo — is the name of the team. Obviously, the fact that the name is in there isn't confusing. But that script makes the logo look like something you'd find on a baseball team's jersey, or maybe the back of a high school jacket. The word "Dayton" on the banner actually makes it lean more toward a high school jacket, now that I think about it. The red-and-blue color scheme (I could be wrong, but I'd guess that's the most common color scheme in high school sports in the United States) only makes matters worse. Clearly, this does not look like the logo of a professional hockey team at any level.

In fact, as I think about it, this may be the least professional-looking logo in all of minor league hockey. There are certainly worse logos out there, but they at least look like they were the work of professionals whose technique was competent but whose taste was questionable (sort of like Keith Emerson). This, sad to say, looks like it was quite literally amateur work. And I know they must have paid someone a decent some of money to design it. All I can say is, they got ripped off.

Final Score: 18 points.
Penalties: Irrelevance, 14 pts; Name-Logo, 2 pts; Yucky-Logo, 5 pts.
Bonuses: Local, -3 pts.