It sometimes amazes me how two teams can take an identical concept and execute them so differently. The perfect example of this is the Reading Royals and Manchester Monarchs, both of whom have a lion for their logo. It works so well in Reading. It doesn't work so well here.

The first mistake, I think, is including gold as a team color. Given the actual color of lions, you'd expect this to work better – a gold lion is certainly more realistic than the grey and purple lion Reading has. But Manchester makes a big mistake by coloring the left half of the lion realistically and making the other half grey. I suppose it's intended to be a shadow effect, but which is the shadow side? The right side with all the grey, or the left which has the proper color for a lion but also has more black than the other side? The gold creates the expectation of a realistically colored lion, and they don't deliver.

The drawing is also more cartoony, which is disappointing. It's not enough to actually earn the "cartoon" penalty, but it doesn't earn it any bonus points, either.

Third, there's the fact that this lion has apparently been sucking on grape popsicles all day and it's discolored his tongue. It reminds me of something that happened at work a few weeks ago. Our heat went out (why can't the heat every go out in September when it's not a big deal?), and one of my co-workers took a blueberry-flavored candy cane, sucked on it until her tongue was solid blue, and then licked her lips until they also had a distinct bluish tint. She then started making exaggerated shivering motions and went to our boss asking when the heat was going to be fixed. It was beautiful. You could have made a Mastercard commercial out of it. Box of blueberry candy canes, $4. Acting lessons, $95. The look on our boss's face, priceless.

But I'm getting sidetracked. The point here is that the Monarchs need to either be more realistic or less realistic with the logo. Were they less realistic, then (as with the Royals) the lack of realism would cease to be an issue. Were they more realistic, then there wouldn't be any lack of realism to be an issue. What they have here is the worst of both worlds. That, and what looks to be a lion suffering from gangrene.

Final Score: 9 points.
Penalties: Alliteration, 2 pts; Name-logo, 2 pts; Yucky-Logo, 5 pts.
Bonuses: None.