Evansville Thunderbolts

12

A lot of times I read the explanation for how a team's name ties into the history of the city it plays in and I just think "Wow, you really had to reach to come up with something, didn't you?" Or worse yet, I just think "Wow, that's some USDA Grade A bullshit right there." This time, I'm happy to report, is nothing like that. The name comes the fact that during World War II, Evansville was a major center of industrial production, which obviously meant a lot of military equipment was produced there. One of the things produced in Evansville was the P-47 Thunderbolt fighter plane.

When that's your history, why the hell wouldn't you name a team after that? "Thunderbolts" is a solid name under any circumstances. You could name a team in just about any city in the entire country the Thunderbolts and the worst criticism anyone could have of the name is that it would be a bit generic. But add the history in, and the name isn't generic anymore. Furthermore, the city still has a fairly big manufacturing sector, although the economy is apparently a bit more diverse these days. So the name is current as well as historic. Admittedly, you could name the team after something else that is being manufactured there now, but "Evansville Refrigerators" doesn't work nearly as well.

In fact, to me the following question is an obvious one to ask: Why has this name never been used before in Evansville? The previous hockey team was the Evansville Icemen; that name must rank in the top five of all-time pathetic team names. Probably not in the top five but certainly in the top twenty-five is the local soccer team, the Evansville Crush. The baseball team is the Evansville Otters...acceptable, I guess, but why use that when the team could be called the Thunderbolts? Looking at the names of teams from years gone by, you find such winners as the Hubs, Little Evas, and Pocketeers. They once had a basketball team called the Agogans. What the fuck does that even mean? There was one good name to be found (Blackbirds), but enough bad ones that it seems to me someone really should have thought of this one before now.

As you've probably guessed, the plane in the logo is supposed to be a P-47 Thunderbolt. From the pictures I've found, it's actually a pretty good rendering of one. About the only inaccuracy comes from the pilot's head. first of all, the P-47 Thunderbolt wasn't an open-air plane; the pilot had a bubble canopy to look out of. Second, the size of the pilot's head wreaks havoc on the scale. Looking at the logo you'd assume plane wasn't much bigger than the pilot; even if you assume a certain amount of exaggeration you'd probably guess that the Thunderbolt wasn't much bigger than a fighter from World War I. Uh-uh. Roughly 11 meters/36 feet long and with a wingspan of 12 m/41', the Thunderbolt was roughly one and a half times the size of most WWI aircraft. I'm not sure why the artist felt the need to have the pilot's head be visible in the first place, but I suppose I should allow it as artistic license, however misguided.

But even if I didn't, so what? One element of the logo is all I have to criticize here. That's not bad. And even better, I don't have to try to figure out what an agogan is.

Final Score: 12 points.
Penalties: Cartoon, 17 pts; Name-Logo, 2 pts.
Bonuses: Cool-Name, -4 pts; Local, -3 pts.