Monday, February 04, 2008

Logo for Super Bowl XLIII revealed.

The logo for the NFL's forty-third Super Bowl was revealed today. Super Bowl XLIII will be held in Tampa, Florida February 1st 2009.


















I like the logo. It's clean, simple, and I like the colors. The red star represents the AFC while the blue star represents the NFC. As you probably know, the winner of the AFC (American Football Conference) plays the winner of the NFC (National Football Conference) in the Super Bowl. As a pro-football historian, I can tell you that not all Super Bowl logos have been that pleasing to the eye.

The first Super Bowl wasn't even called the Super Bowl at the time. It was not-so-simply called the First World Championship Game NFL vs AFL (Green Bay defeated Kansas City 35-10). Not a bad design but it would have looked a lot better if the AFL and NFL script was colored in. You can barely see NFL and AFL in the logo. Still, it holds up fairly well though it will not win any awards for best Super Bowl logo:

Logo


Super Bowl II was a nice improvement. It's simple, timeless, and more colorful. You could use the same script style today and no one would think it was outdated. I like simple and bold and the logo for Super Bowl II is one of my favorites:

Logo
While the logo to Super Bowl III is big and bold and tells you right away that it represents something grand, it does look dated. It isn't a bad design by any means but it isn't one of the best:
Logo
The logo for Super Bowl IV is too simple; it's boring. Shadow script is fine but put some color in it! It's isn't bad as in a Attack of the Clones kind of bad, it's just so ordinary, in a Phantom Menace way, that it isn't memorable in at all:
Logo
You want dated? Take a look at the Super Bowl V logo. It's so dated, it's very bad:
Logo
I'm a sucker for that Old West saloon-style font (hey, I'm a 'Niners fan and that's the font they used to use). Any way, I like the logo for the sixth Super Bowl. Simple but effective:
Logo
Dated and the shadow in the shadow font look overly bulky. Thumbs down for Super Bowl VII's logo. It screams seventies:
Logo
The Super Bowl VIII logo is one of my favorites. It stands those time tests quite well:
Logo
Super Bowl or Silly Bowl? I can't decide! What the hell is wrong with that X? It looks terrible! One of the worst Super Bowl logos. Hell, maybe ol' number nine is the worst SB logo:
Logo
Plain? Check. Unicolor? Check. Better than the previous Super Bowl logo? Check! No, the logo for SB X isn't bad at all. A little plain but that's better than too cute:
Logo
Similar to the logo for Super Bowl VIII, it works because it's a solid design. Eleven is pretty:
Logo
Now that I've bored the six of you to tears with my analysis of, all things, Super Bowl logos, tell me what you think. Agree? Respond. Think I'm nuts? Leave a comment. Maybe you even like the logo to Super Bowl IX? Tell me why.
Eleven Super Bowls down, thirty-two to go.

3 comments:

Michael said...

I love the new logo. As you said, clean and distinctive.

Somebody pointed out that the logo for Super Bowl XLII looked like a minivan door opening. It really does, doesn't it?

I doubt the next Super Bowl is going to be anywhere near as good a game as this one, though.

Anonymous said...

I have mixed feelings about the Super Bowl XLII logo. I love the colors and the style but having the state of Arizona as the backdrop for the rest of the logo was a bad decision and, as you said, it does look like a car door.

It will be hard to beat Super Bowl XLII. Though I must point out that the last eleven seasons have given us many great Super Bowl games. It's the Golden Age of Super Bowls based on competitive, close games. It started in Super Bowl XXXII with Denver edging out Green Bay (remember the John Elway dive?). Skip XXXIII and go to XXXIV when Kevin Dyson of the Titans fell just short of tying the Rams in what would have been the first overtime SB. Pass up the Ravens' slaughter of the Giants in XXXV and you get to New England's huge upset over the Rams by a last second field goal in SB XXXVI. Skip XXXVII (Tampa Bay over Oakland) and you get two back-to-back three point victories by New England in XXXIII and XXXIX. Pittsburgh over Seattle in XL was a sloppy game but fairly close while the Colts victory in XLI over the Bears was boring even though that one was fairly close. I know that's only batting about fifty percent but that's better than any other ten year period in SB history.

Michael said...

I grew up in Colorado. Of course I remember the Elway dive. :)