It’s time for the second attempt by Vince McMahon to venture into professional football, with his league again bearing the name, the XFL. While the league kicks off in February, the team names and logos were just released. As in all sports, there’s a wide variety of names: some nimals, some inspired by mythology, and some just fictional.
Here’s a look at what they came up with and my grade on both the name and logo for each.
Seattle Dragons
If nothing else, the fire-breathing dragon logo, consisting of green and orange, is definitely, well, fire. But why the dragons for the city home to grunge music
Name B+, Logo A.
St. Louis Battlehawks
The Hawks would have been just fine, but you have to remember who is running the league. The logo is a silver and blue sword in between the same color Pegasus type wings.
Name C, Logo C.
Tampa Vipers
This logo is another eye catcher. The name is one of the better ones out of the eight. The great yet simple logo is a green and yellow V that looks like a snake eye.
Name B, Logo A.
Houston Roughnecks
As a fan of the Tennessee Titans, the former Houston Oilers, this may be my favorite of the eight. It looks to be inspired by the old Oilers logo.
Name B, Logo A.
Dallas Renegades
The logo is a baby blue face with red eyes. For a city home to the likes of Cowboys and Mavericks, this one is understandable.
Name A, Logo A.
New York Guardians
The hustle and bustle of this city, and that’s the best they could come up with? The logo is a grey sabertooth tiger-looking thing. Does that really scream New York to you?
Name D, Logo C.
D.C. Defenders
The XFL dropped the ball on this one. There are way better names out there. Maybe Destroyers? A red shield containing white lightning bolts and stars is what makes up this team’s appearance.
Name F, Logo B.
L.A. Wildcats
I wonder if they can get Goldie Hawn out of retirement to coach. With a name like Wildcats, you’d think the logo would contain, I don’t know… a cat. Nope, think again, as that is not the case. Just an L in an orange font with an adjoining red A in a flashier style.
Name B, Logo F.
If nothing else the first time around, the XFL was entertaining. This time, hopefully Mr. McMahon learned from where he went wrong before. I, for one, will give it a look. No, it won’t be the NFL … nothing is — just ask the AAF.
But it will be football post-Super Bowl. My question is if there is enough talent to make the XFL must-watch television. If the first player to sign with the league, Landry Jones, the former quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Oklahoma Sooners, is any indication, we shouldn’t hold our breath.
Maybe the smartest move McMahon made is that he chose eight cities that perfectly span the country in hopes of cornering each market as opposed to having, for example, a Philadelphia team, which would’ve taken away from the New York market.
Only time will tell what this league will be, and if it will last. We will find out come February. And that’s the bottom line.
