The Fresno Falcons' logo ought to look more menacing than it does. When you consider his size relative to the stick he's carrying in his feet, it ought to be obvious that this is a fairly large bird we're dealing with. And since this very large bird clearly ought to be a Falcon, we ought to be scared. But somehow, it just doesn't work.

I think it's the fact that he's blue. Are you familiar with the National Geographic photograph "The Angry Bluebird"? (If not, just do a google search on it.) That's what this logo reminds me of.

And that's a shame, if you ask me. From an objective point of view, there's a lot to like about this logo and not a lot to dislike. The name is one of the classic sports nicknames -- it's hard to go wrong naming your team after a bird of prey. The face-to-face view of a creature is a good look, too. Think about how well the Florida Panthers logo works, for example. Yes, there's a hockey stick, but all in all the gratuitous hockey references are kept to a minimum here.

But in spite of all of this, the logo simply doesn't look right.

The more I look at it, the more I think that the color scheme is the problem. It isn't just the fact that he's blue, although that certainly doesn't help. It's also the particular shade of blue that's being used. The sort of tan accent color is no good, either. In fact, I did some playing with a GIF editing program and made the main color a pure blue (it's fairly greenish right now) and the tan a pure yellow, and that improved it dramatically. Make the primary color black and replace the accent blue with a purer shade and you've got something really good looking on your hands. In fact, if you do that the bird actually looks like a falcon, something that it doesn't do now.

It's amazing how much difference these little details can make.

NOTE: Because of the weak color scheme involved, I went ahead and gave the team the "colorful" logo even though it doesn't technically apply. They do not get the "Ripoff" penalty because they are actually older than the Springfield Falcons, having existed as a semi-pro team prior to making their pro league debut in the same year the Springfield Falcons came about.

Final Score: 22 points.
Penalties: Allteration, 2 pts; Name-Logo, 2 pts; Equip-Logo, 5 pts; Colorful, 13 pts.
Bonuses: None.