My proposed refresh of the Columbus Crew’s logo has become unexpectedly controversial. I’ve had feedback of all kinds, ranging from enthusiastic support, constructive criticism, and (the most entertaining) inconsequential condescending ignorance. Shall we?

“Awesome! We need a new logo.”

Thanks. Join the Facebook group!

“NO!!! THIS IS RETARDED! WHAT A STUPID IDEA!!! NEVER CHANGE THE LOGO!!!”

Thanks! Are you employed?

“I have spent too long defending our logo to let it go now. Keep the old one!”

What if for some reason you couldn’t change your shirt for 12 years, and I offered you a fresh new shirt for free? I suppose you’ve defended being filthy for so long you’d rather stay that way. Good luck with those first impressions. I understand unconditional support, but save it for the team, not the logo.

“The imperfections in our logo make it special, à la the Tower of Pisa”

I laughed a lot at this. First off, the Tower is an architectural failure, an anomaly, and was never intended to lean. That’s the only reason people go see it. If you want people to come see Crew games just to look at our shitty logo then I will indeed have a tough time arguing with you.

Secondly, imperfections are something you get used to, not something you desire. If The Crew had started with a crisp logo, and I therefore never started this initiative, I doubt anyone would be begging for some imperfections to love.

“There’s nothing wrong with it! If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!”

There are quite a few things wrong with it actually. It is sloppy and lazy design work, and I shouldn’t have to say that is unacceptable for “America’s Hardest Working Team”. A bit of what I’m referring to: you notice the jagged angles and messy detail in the dude’s shirts? That happens when a designer uses tracing software to turn bitmap graphics into vectors. The computer to guesses how to draw your image, instead of doing it yourself. Essentially, a lazy designer let the computer do the work for him or her. The result? A logo with detail so irrelevant it doesn’t reproduce when embroidered (scarves, hats, jerseys) or when printed at sizes less than 2 inches (tickets, program guides, advertising).

I get into more detail about why the current logo sucks in the Photos section of the Facebook group.

“A logo can’t becoming iconic or legendary if you keep changing it.”

I almost fell for this one. It seems logical. However, an “iconic” team logo is nothing more than a symbol of what the team has accomplished. A team with a long history and great triumphs will have an iconic logo no matter how many times it changes. Some examples of legendary teams whose logos have changed multiple times:

Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Rangers, Aston Villa, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Ajax, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Lyon, Marseille, Bayern Munich

And for those of you kidding yourselves, The Crew has ONLY been around for 12 years. For some perspective, Arsenal, who have changed their badge many times, were founded in EIGHTEEN EIGHTY-SIX and enjoy worldwide support.

“Rebranding costs a fortune”

This is probably true. However, when done at the right time, the choice to make this investment is easy… and businesses do it all the time. A new championship is putting a lot of curious eyes on The Crew. We need to impress.

“I am not opposed to a new logo but this one isn’t my cup of tea”

Awesome. All I want is a crisp, professional-quality logo for my team. If it’s not mine, that’s OK. Please post up your ideas on the Facebook group.

After all that, I have made some changes based on the reasoned, constructive feedback I received from people. The updated version is below.

(Thanks to the Facebook group, the .02% of BigSoccer contributors that had something intelligent to say, a couple of people on Astroheader, and my friends)

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WOODWORK.

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WHAT THE? is my weekly Premiership review with only the interesting events that should not have happened in the first place.

• This was a boring week with the Big Four winning by big spreads, Man U won 4-0, Chelsea won 5-0. All the news came from the promoted teams.

• Hull City has continued their great run in the Prem with a 1-0 win against West Ham. After 8 weeks in the top flight, Hull City is in 3rd place on the table above Arsenal and Manchester United.

• Stoke took a big step in an attempt to get out of the regulation zone by beating…Tottenham (are you serious?) 2-1. Tottenham has hit rock bottom…again…somehow…by losing to the 2nd worse team in the league. This leaves Tottenham at the bottom with 2 points. How have they not fired the coach yet??