Equipment Check

		Wiffle Logos in Words
		by Brandon Corbett

There is a trend in the NBA that is a joke on par with "that's what she said" at college parties. It almost seems to be mandatory that a team's primary logo feature a basketball, or in some cases be nothing but a basketball. You would think that a team at the pinnacle of the sport would be recognized as a basketball team, and thus render the inclusion of a basketball completely redundant. They keep showing up, though, and it humors design-geeks worldwide.

Now, it may be redundant for the biggest professional basketball league, but how about for a sport as grassroots and "up-and-coming" as Wiffleball? In our case, I think inclusion of a Wiffle ball or bat as a design element can actually be a good service to both the team and sport as a whole. Even with all the success a team like Freaky Franchise had in 2012, nobody outside of a Wiffleball circle will recognize that name as an NWLA Tournament champion. When they see the ball-headed logo, though, they will make the connection. Same for a storied team like the KWL's Industrials: "is that a labor union? Beer-league hockey? Oh, that's that plastic ball we played with in the backyard as kids!" Boom. Connected.

I thought it would be fun to look at exactly where Wiffleball leagues, in general, measure up in relation to the NBA and other sports leagues when it comes to using equipment in their team's primary designs. I included 14 Wiffleball leagues to get a decently varied sample. Also, note that the term "ball" includes the puck for NHL teams.

League	# Teams	# w/ Ball	% w/ Ball	# w/ Other Equip*	% w/ Any Equip
NBA	30	20	66.67	1	70.00
NFL	32	2	6.25	3	15.63
MLB	30	10	33.33	3	43.33
NHL	30	5	16.67	2	23.33
MLS	19	8	42.11	0	42.11
WIFFLE	160	105	65.63	19	77.50
Wiffle leagues used:  CWA, GSWL, HFWB, HRL, KWL, NWBL, OCWA, ORWBL, PWLSD, SWBL, WATL, WDSL, WSEM, WWL

As should be expected, the NFL takes a stand as a league of teams not needing to identify their sport. Only two teams feature a football: the Buccaneers and Jets. Three teams - Miami, Oakland, and Cleveland (duh) - also showcase a helmet. Still, this makes up only 15.63% of the league: by far the lowest proportion of all the professional leagues. The NHL is the next lowest with just 7 of 30 teams using a puck or stick in their design. The Hurricanes, Avalanche, Islanders, Flyers, and Capitals all have a puck, while the Penguins and Sharks both showcase a stick. This still amounts to only 23.33% of NHL teams does not exist.

MLB, a source of many Wiffle team logos, and MLS jump up a bit and come in at 42.33% and 42.11%, respectively. Very similar overall, but while all of the MLS teams feature a soccer ball only 10 of the 30 (33.33%) MLB teams use a baseball. The Pirates and Cardinals both feature a bat, and the Rays use the infield diamond to add to the total use of equipment, though.

I mentioned "mandatory" earlier in regard to NBA teams using equipment, and now we see just how close to accurate that is. Two-thirds of the league uses a basketball in their primary logo. When you add in the Rockets use of the rim, you end up with 70% of the league. Stout, and sure enough, Wiffleball stands toe-to-toe with the NBA numbers. 65.63% of the 160 teams sampled utilize a Wiffleball as part of their primary mark: just over 1% shy of the NBA. Since Wiffle has more vivid equipment to play with - bat, plate, etc. - we leapfrog the NBA in that category, though, bumping all the way up to 77.5%!

Breaking it down by individual Wiffle leagues, of the leagues sampled, we see that the HRL does the best job mimicking the NBA: two-thirds of their 18 teams feature a ball. Looking at the extremes, three leagues - GSWL, SWBL, and HFWB - have 100% of their teams showing a piece of equipment. SWBL and HFWB both have the Wiffle ball in 100% of their teams' primaries. On the other end, the WWL has the lowest percentage of teams with a ball, of leagues sampled, in their design at 12.5%. However, ORWBL has the least amount of equipment in general, just 25%.

Going to equipment seems extraneous and a bit cliche for professional teams, but in Wiffleball it seems less like a crutch and more like a sign of community and pride. It is true that the popularity of Wiffle has grown immensely over the past five years, however, the sport is still rarely recognized outside our circles. When teams promote the sport along with themselves by using a ball or bat it does not come off as a joke, rather as a vanguard for the game. In thirty years when Wiffle is dominating the programming on ESPN8 we can revisit the issue, but for now, keep flashing those balls!

* i.e. bat, stick, rim, helmet, playing surface. Not counted if ball also included
** roundels or ellipses alone not taken to represent ball or puck

Draw the (State) Line

		Wiffle Logos in Words
		by Brandon Corbett

Using state, county, or other geographic outlines in logos is a fantastic way to class up a team identity, and one that is highly underutilized. Even as a fan of showing off regional pride I count that as a good thing; under-use keeps over-saturation and commonplace out of the picture, after all. If state outlines ever became an overblown fad like grey in college basketball, random light/navy blue thirds in hockey, or "let's have a fashion show every week" in college football, I would probably start burning maps and moving loads of earth in lieu of sleep and financial responsibility just to screw up the designs #harlequin. Happily, that is not the case. Texas gets used quite often: Stars, Dallas Texans, Astros, but is best executed by the Houston Gamblers. Wisconsin also gets a bit of outlined love with the Brewers, Braves before them, and this awesome Packers alternate. Louisiana lends itself perfectly to an 'L' team, the Twins probably have my favorite of all of these, though the Squires are not far behind, the Kansas City Chiefs get a special nod for trying to capture nearly all land west of the Mississippi, while the Islanders win the "not a state, but we should be!" honor.

This trend translates to Wiffleball with leagues utilizing their home states to show off their game, and help outsiders easily identify their location. This is not a ranking, just a showcase for geographic flare in the Wiffle flavor. Who is up for an e-road trip?

BWBL	Very Dallas Texans-esque. Within a few seconds of looking at the BWBL logo I can tell - even hungover - that they play Wiffleball, that they play Wiffleball in Illinois, and not only do they play in Illinois, but they play Wiffleball up in the northeast corner of Illinois. This is effective.
KWLNY	The Empire State is an odd case in that it has a unique shape, but is still rarely used in logos. So, kudos to KWLNY for representing New York. I believe the ball pulls double duty as a location identifier, but I may be wrong. Either way, it is a good use of the irregular shape.
MNWA	I am not sure if this is the official MNWA logo, but it is used as the link on the NWLA site. Plus the Golden Gopher colors go well with the fantastic league logos MNWA uses, so I am going to roll with it. Everyone likes acronyms, and I obviously dig state outlines, so naturally working the acronym into Minnesota is an excellent move.
ORWBL	At a quick glance you might miss that Indiana is the base for the ORWBL logo. That is due to the great execution of including the Old Republic, a building in New Carlisle and league namesake, atop the state. Everything balances out very well.
SWBL	The smoothed outline and faint, almost watermarked Wiffle ball give a very clean look to the SWBL. The slight bit of red on the letters, yellow bat underline, and yellow location dot add a little pop, as well.
WSEM	In the spirit of unbiased opine, I cannot really talk about WSEM's design. So, I will just drop one quick comment: How can you not do this with a Michigan Wiffle logo?
CCWA	I know I said this is not a ranking, but if it was... hypothetically... Columbia Cowlitz is my favorite. So, we end our e-road trip there. Two states(!), negative space, a great swinging silhouette, well-balanced, and simple.