The NEW Winnipeg Jets!

What can I say? Amazing first game here in Winnipeg. Just a few of photos from the game:

Hitting the ice:

Last 20 seconds of the first Jets WIN in 15 years!:

New Winnipeg Jets jerseys

Hey there. Here is a quickie post to let you know that I'm still alive. Due to a recent career change the posting has been a little sparse lately, but I can't let something as important as the Jets uniforms to go uncommented.

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Much like the logo, the jerseys are not bad but not quite right either. The colours are sharp in jersey format and the logo has found it's home right in the middle of the chest like a bullseye. I think where the uniforms go wrong is with the arms, and in particular the stripes on the sleeves.

The horizontal strips are low down on the sleeves and give the appearance of the uniform being bottom heavy because they create visual width below the mid-point of the uniform, while there is nothing up top to balance that. This is more pronounced on the white uniform, but the dark one also has that width down low.


If you are a pear-shaped Jets fan, this is bad news for you. Fortunately, other than the Dustin Byfuglien, none of the Jets are currently pear-shaped. Furthermore, the jerseys should appear more balanced when the players are all geared up with the shoulder pads. If I buy one -- and I probably will -- it will probably be blue.

For my analysis of the logo, click here.
For my original jersey concept, click here.

UPDATED: New Jets logo, tweaked

Evan Marnoch articulates well my thoughts on the new Jets logos.

Let's get the secondary logos out of the way first. This logo, which I presume is a shouder patch, is very nice. I approve!This alternate scripty-looking logo is not good at all. It's disjointed and clumsy, and the plain sans serif WINNIPEG does add anything. I hope they reconsider this one.
Now on to the main logo. I don't think it's bad, but it could be better. Evan does too, saying this:

The main logo could have been so much stronger if they were able to cut ties with the maple leaf ... The shape of the plane alone occupies a similar shape to the leaf and I think it, along with utilizing similar colours (ie. blue circle & red plane), would have been enough. Sure, some people might miss the reference. But for those that would get it - it would allow them to feel closer to the concept, as if they were in on the reference. This would have created a much bolder mark. Much more identifiable. Instead - they tried to do too much by including both images.

The plane superimposed on top of the leaf looks forced and uncomfortable to me. You have too many pointy things everywhere. This logo has bad feng shui, plus the red little pointy tail beneath the plane bugs me because that is not part of the maple leaf. It's like they took the top part of the leaf and stuck it where the stem is supposed to be, or turned the maple leaf into a jet plane flying south.
So the first thing we do is get rid of the maple leaf, because our team is The Jets, not The Maple Leafs (thank God).
It's much cleaner, but too drab. Evan suggests making the plane red so let's do that:
Better? I think it's better. You have the red inside the blue circle which leaves a strong resemblance to the original RCAF logo without going to unnecessary lengths to replicate it. One minor problem is that the grey or silver is relegated to a secondary color, when I'm sure the mandate was to make it prominent.

Thoughts? Better? Too plain? (Too plane?)

original logo soure
h/t Brent Lauman

UPDATE ****************************************
Right, well it appears that I wasted my time modifying the logos. Some guy not only made the exact same change, but went through the trouble of mocking up the uniforms on Jonathan Toews. I only hope he spent more time on it than I did:

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h/t: shifty

Schram Hockey

Back in high school we had a phys ed teacher named Schram. He had a first name, but nobody used it. Anyhow, one of almost every student's favourite activities during phys ed class was a sport we dubbed "Schram ball". The rules are as follows:

1. there is a net in opposite corners of the gym
2. put the ball in the other team's net

Those are the rules. You can kick the ball, throw the ball, carry the ball. You can body check, grab, tackle. Whatever you want. I suppose eye gouging was frowned upon, but there was no explicit rule against it.

I tell you this, because last night's game 7 Stanley Cup final was not unlike Schram Ball. It was not the same sport that the Canucks excelled at during the regular season. It was a slightly different sport. One where slashing, holding and interference were legal. Now, I am generally a fan of physical hockey and "letting them play", but you don't need dirty hockey to have an exciting game. The 2011 Winter Olympic final is a good example of that.

Set the tone early by chucking people who hold or interfere into the bin, and then pull back a bit and refrain from calling any marginal stuff. That gets you good hockey. You know, I'm not sure that Aaron Rome's hit that earned him a 4 game suspension would have even earned him a minor penalty last night.

And this is certainly no excuse for the rioting after the game. That unfortunate debacle could ruin the chances of us watching the Jets on the big screen at 201 Portage if they ever make a playoff run. However, when you get so far only to have the rules changed on you, it would be very aggravating. Especially when the new rules hurt your best players and favour the other team.

It was certainly a deliberate decision - one that the refs discussed prior to the game. Perhaps they even received direction from league VP of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy on how to call the game. The same Mike Murphy who suspended Rome for 4 games based not on precedent, but on a gut feeling. The same Mike Murphy who overturned a Canuck goal in the first round last year upon video review, then later admitted it was the wrong call -- according to this wiki article.

Whoever made the decision, it's something for the league's owners and new director of officiating to think about before next year's playoffs. (note: I am a little bit bitter because I was cheering for the Canucks, so you can take that into account. )

related local post: S&M

Return of the Jets / Portage & Main party

As a Winnipeg blogger I am obligated by an obscure bi-law to write a post about the return of the NHL to our fair city. Okay, I'll do it, but it will be mostly pictures.

The long awaited moment -- even longer awaited than IKEA -- has finally come! The press conference this morning confirmed it. Chipman was professional and passionate in his announcement. Bettman looked like he was telling his patient that he had inoperable brain cancer. Premier Selinger's speech went something like this:

It's such a pleasure to be here for this announcement. It wasn't long ago that we retired Mark Keane's jersey. Mark was such an outstanding player and he sold me a great mattress. No wait, that was David Keane. Haha. Yooooouuuu'll find us! I love that guy! Except he drives too fast. No wait, that was Steve McQueen. Great actor. Loved it when he sang happy birthday to the President. No wait, that was Norma Jean. Norma Jean is not my lover.She's just a girl that says I am the one. Haha. Where was I? Oh right, welcome back to the NFL!

Oh well, we all make mistakes. The important thing is: we're getting the Jets back!

You hear three things as you approach Portage and Main from the south: wind howling through the buildings, beer cans clanking along the road, and the din of a crowd. The closer you get, the more the crowd noise takes over, until you find yourself in the midst of a mob. Here are a few photos and a video of a conga line that eventually encircled almost the entire intersection.

Winnipeg's new NHL team unveiled

The end of the Phoenix Coyotes' season is nigh, and with that comes the announcement of Winnipeg's new NHL team. The accountants and lawyers have worked out all the details under the shroud of a secrecy agreement to prevent information from being leaked out, but it's tricky to keep everything under wraps. And so it is that I have come across some important information, via a friend of the Peanut who happens to be connected with the Chipman family.

Ever since rumours of the Coyotes coming back to Winnipeg started, there has been speculation about what the name might be. Will they be called the Jets again, or something else? If something else, what?

Well, I have the answer for you. And not only that, I have a prototype of their jersey. They will not be called the Jets, primarily for marketing reasons. Virtually everybody in the city has a Jets jersey in their closet at this point, so there will be a new name and new colours, forcing all true fans to buy new gear. The name will have a connection to the City of Winnipeg, it will invoke the pride of Manitobans everywhere, and will symbolize the best of what we have to offer the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you:

drumroll....

There is of course a back-up name, in case this one doesn't work out for some reason, though I can't understand how there could possibly be a problem. But just in case: welcome to the Falcons!

(yes, I'm recycling material. Whatcha gonna do about it.)