3 Sept 2005. DePaul is right off an El train stop in upper Chicago. DePaul blends in nicely with the urban setting, not trying too hard to stand out, knowing that Chitown is a huge place without a long enough attention span to stop and observe. Small bookstore for a huge campus. Again, acknowledging that a bevy of locally owned campus supply shops would pop up no matter how much retail square footage was committed by Barnes & Noble. They were founded on religious principles, specifically Vincentian. I don't know what Vincentian means, so it's probably like Jesuit, meaning they are good at starting colleges but not so great at keeping members. When was the last time you met a Jesuit or a Vincentian?
If you are liking the logos here, go ahead and kill an hour at SportsLogos.net. The public comments on the logos crack me up. For example, they encourage Marvel comics to sue, claiming that DePaul stole the Nightcrawler character from X-Men. The collection at that site dwarfs anything that will be displayed on the CCP. Now if you don't mind, I have to tend to an 'unlawful verbiage' subpoena from the Dwarf Anti-defamation League.
1 July 2005. Never having seen a volcano or a volcanic island, I was stunned at the sight of the vegetated Hawai'ian mountains jutting out of the horizon. They are the green version of the crags in the western U.S., but because of their igneous properties, they form much more vertically and fill most of your vision. Volcanic soil is very fertile and there is an abundance of plant life that sprouts up. Perhaps because of the natural beauty of these islands, the University of Hawai'i's flagship campus in the Manoa valley is riddled with awful concrete buildings. Just as I was taken aback at the amazing feats of nature, I was mostly confused at how much of the school aims to be a sore thumb. Maybe the original architects figured there was no way to compete with the environment and just gave up. Or maybe concretin' was the cool thing for architects to do back then.
But they got it right with the athletic logo and all its associated identities. A deep green - Kelly? Hunter? - accented with silver and black. The men are the Rainbow Warriors and the women are the Rainbow Wahine, pronounced wah-hee-nay. The NCAA's battle against Native American mascots and imagery proves it is nothing more than arbitrary halfassery in glossing over Hawai'i. I am glad they did.
2 April 2005. Southern California entices you to live there with its sunny moderate climate. Southern California dares you to live there with earthquakes, wildfires, high cost of living, horrendous motorcar traffic and the accompanying smog. This day happened to be disaster-free, and after utilizing the thinly-stretched public bus system, I arrived at Long Beach State, or simply, "The Beach" as their marketing literature calls it. School was in session and it was a brilliant day that the student body had anticipated for a while. The sky was cloudless and Earl Warren Drive was free of detritus save for fallen palm fronds. The atomic fountains misted passersby and the big blue Walter Pyramid distracted pilots approaching Daugherty Field. Yes, this was a day that orientation brochure photographers dream of. They even had an outdoor swimming pool at their student center, but it seemed like a necessary luxury in this environment. And outdoor escalators too! Who has outdoor escalators?
The two story built-in bookstore had a wide selection of - oh, what's this? A big tumbler in an uncollected color? I simply must have it!
Brother Mathias.
There is no specific date for the JMU entry as I have collected a few along the years. Only a handful are shown in this photo here. There are two generic giant tumblers that fit in with the rest, a couple of pilsners that reveal the Duke Dog's face at the bottom of the glass when you finish your Dominion root beer, a glass bottle filled with purple and gold candies, a bulldoggin' reusable travel mug that I actually designed for a contest, a commemorative Madison Century soda bottle, an insulated stadium cup, and various other plastic throwaways. The 'Duke Dog and JMU' design has been replaced in some instances solely by the Duke Dog's head and collar for simplicity's sake. Other than the 'what does a duke have to do with a bulldog?' question, this logo is solid in layout and color. It could use more purple, but the two color version satisfies that argument.
In December 2004, JMU won their first Division I-AA football national championship without even playing a game in Harrisonburg. They were the first team to win four straight road games on their way to winning the title: Lehigh, Furman, William & Mary, and Montana (at a neutral site in Chattanooga).
JMU is another school in the Appalachians, specifically the Shenandoah Valley, an underrated part of the country visually and naturally. Be warned, Interstate 81 always has heavy truck traffic (as a north-south alternate to Interstate 95) but get around that and you will find civil war history, small town hospitality, gorgeous scenery, and open air poultry tractor trailers. Pluck 'em if you got 'em.
27 Nov 2004. Goodman Stadium in eastern Pennsylvania was filling up as the first round of the Division I-AA football playoffs approached. The expansive grass lots were receiving the ant trails of tailgating vehicles, their passengers layered up in anticipation of a chilly few hours. No longer the Engineers, Mountain Hawk fans could shop for rebranded souvenirs at a temporary canvas tent located between the main entrance and the field. The selection was mainly cold weather apparel, but there was a fat cup that later revealed its own mortality from a spin in the Whirlpool. There's something about wide tumblers and nondishwashersafeness it seems.
