Greenville Drive

44

When I did a review of the Greenville Road Warriors, it never occurred to me that the name of the team might be related to the city in any way. Furthermore, no one ever wrote to point out that it was*. However, when I saw that the name of the baseball team was the Drive, it suddenly seemed plausible that there's some kind of automotive injustry present in the area. A little bit of digging indicated that this is indeed true. Indeed, it goes a bit beyond just automobiles: the area is home to facilities for Michelin, BMW, Sage Automotive Interiors, Lockheed Martin, and Caterpillar. In fact, Sage Automotive Interiors' headquarters are in Greenville, as are the North American headquarters for Michelin and BMW.

Okay, so the name fits. But is it a good name? No, not really. It has that soccer-esque, singular-abstract-noun-as-team-name quality to it. I don't like that sort of name in soccer, and I don't like it in baseball, either.

But the logo...oh, I do like this logo. When I first saw it, I thought it reminded me of an actual motorcycle manufacturer's logo. I think I was wrong — at least, I can't find any actual motorcycle manufacturer's logos that look very similar to this — but the wing effect in the logo is definitely reminiscent of more than a few motorcycle manufacturers' logos. Playing around on the internet turned up more motorcycle logos with wings than you can shake a drumstick at. Ducati. Buell. Honda (their motorcycles don't use the same logo as their cars, for those who are looking quizzically at their inclusion). Boss Hoss. Zongshen. Gima. Moto Morini. Indian doesn't have an actual wing, but the feathers in the headdress of one of their older logos serves the same purpose.

And this makes perfect sense, of course, because we all know motorcycles can fly. Don't believe me? Just look at the cover to Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell. It's even clearer on the sequel album, where the cycle manages to reach the same height as the top of the Chrysler Building. Don't ask me how motorcycles can fly despite a lack of wings or propellers. They just can. And this explains why I've I don't ride motorcycles: I'm afraid of heights.

Of course, it's not enough for this logo to remind you of motorcycle logos. It also has to be a baseball logo. And it does a good job there. You've got the subtle "G". You've got the word "Drive" in baseball script. And you've got connotations of speed provided by the "speed lines" on the edges of the logo. And most importantly, you've got wings. Because as we all know, baseball players can fly.

*	Or at least no one had when I wrote that. Between the time that I wrote this article and the time that I posted it, someone did in fact write in to point out that very thing.

Final Score: 44 points.
Penalties: Singular, 15 pts; Script, 7 pts; Letter, 24 pts; Name, 10 pts.
Bonuses: Logo, -12 pts.