NLL Insider

Today’s announcement of the Toronto Rock and the New York Titans playing a National Lacrosse League regular-season game down in the Sunshine State is pretty cool. Kinda gets ya to thinking of the expansion possibilities and while the league hasn’t come right out and said it outright, why else would there be a game there but to test the waters?

This is the kinda stuff that gets a man to thinking, especially an old man like myself, of all the expansion experiments the NLL has taken over the years. Some of these expansion teams have produced fantastic memories but one of the things everyone looks at first, and remembers the most, is the logo. And team colors. So let’s take a look at some of the teams past and figure out which extinct team had the worst logo. Go ahead and click on the “read more” tag to take a stroll down memory lane and then drop your vote for whichever team had the most god-awful logo.

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Let’s start with the Albany Attack. The Attack played four seasons, from 2000 to 2003 and was 33-25 overall. Terry Sanderson and Bob McMahon were coaches for this franchises and the club’s best year was 2002, when it lost to Toronto in the title game. Shining alumni of this club includes Josh Sanderson, Jim Moss, Rob Blasdell and Gary Rosyski before it bolted to the West Coast and became the San Jose Stealth. Logo’s kinda cool and agressive, even if Albany’s known to New Yorkers more for its donkeys and elephants.

We’re gonna include the New Jersey Storm and Anaheim Storm in one take here. The Storm debuted in New Jersey in 2002 with former NBA baller Jayson Williams as its owner. Dude didn’t know much about lacrosse, but he saw a game somewhere along the line and like it so much he figured to get involved. At the time, it was pretty cool. Thankfully for the lacrosse world, no one that we know of ever took a tour of Williams’ mansion because in 2002, Williams was charged and later acquited of murder in the death of his limo driver, who was accidently shot by Williams as he showed off a shotgun to visitors.

In the two seasons in Jersey, the Storm went 8-24 before poor attendance sent the club to Anaheim for two seasons. In Anaheim, even the presence of Casey Powell and coach Derek Keenan couldn’t help the team as it went 6-26 in its two seasons there. The Storm folded in 2005, but Williams is still awaiting a re-trial on charges of reckless manslaughter. The move out West must not have included any artists because the same exact logo also went from east to west with nary a change.

In 1987, the Baltimore Thunder debuted and promptly won the 1987 MILL title. Buzz Sheain was the title game MVP under coach Bob Griebe and the team was 49-67 overall before it became the Pittsburgh Crossefire in 2000. The one season in Pittburgh was an average one with a 6-6 record. I’d be remiss not to show some love for the franchise, though. I was a college punk when this Crossefire team hit the floor and it included some boys I went to high school with in Bobby Martino and Bill O’Hanlon. Martino stuck with the team after its one season in Pittsburgh and headed to Washington to play with the Power in 2001. Two seasons were all for the Power, which went 18-12 in its two seaons but the squad did manage some playoff success, losing in the semifinal round both seasons. Not hard to believe when you know that Darris Kilgour was the coach. The franchise has settled down quite nicely, though, and today you know this team as the Colorado Mammoth.

The Thunder logo evokes some power and who among us can’t get into the explosion theme? Things that blow up are way cool, but that Crossefire logo always kinda gave me the creeps. I see it and feel like I need to go to church.

Go back to 1996. Remember the Charlotte Cobras. If you were a fan of the team, you most likely want to NOT remember. These boys played just one season and didn’t win a game. The team went 0-10 and was outscored 85-186. They kinda remind of my rec league indoor team up here in Rochester, which also happens to be named the Cobras. How bad are we? Bad enough to keep reminding ourselves that the score of the game isn’t important because we’re getting a workout. I can’t confirm this, but our team may have invented the phrase: “A bad day of lacrosse is still better than a good day at work.” What’s not to like about the Charlotte Cobras logo, though? It’s perfect for a franchise that appeared to be snake-bitten from the start.

In 2004, the Arizona Sting came to life and went 33-31 in its three seasons. Bob Hamley was the coach who led this team to a pair of title games, but both ended in losses. Not too bad, of course, and this club is probably the fresh in all of our minds because it’s the most recent to fold. The lockout before the 2008 season forced management to suspend operations and it became official afterwards that it wasn’t gonna come back.  The Sting sported a nice clean logo that pretty much conveyed the attitude of the team. It works on all levels and even displays the fundamentals of scooping the ball with two hands on the stick.

Before the Sting were the Sting, they were the Columbus Landsharks, who were 16-30 in the two seasons they played. After two quiet seasons in Ohio in 2001 and 2003, the team moved west and became the Sting. Coaches for the Landsharks include Marty Cooper, Ron Roy, Wayne Colley, Chris Gallagher and Hamley. No hands for a shark, even if it is a landshark. So holding a stick with your mouth looks mighty uncomfortable and the logo reminds me more of a tuna add than it does a tenacious lacrosse team.

How can we forget the Detroit Turbos? We didn’t. Engrained in my mind is the awful spandex that was the rage when the Turbos played from 1989 to 1994. The Turbos aren’t the only guily ones to sport the spandex and despite that, the team was a respectable one. It won the 1991 title and was 29-21 in its six seasons. Notable alumni include Steve “Chugger” Dietrich and current Minnesota Swarm coach Duane Jacobs along with a logo that obviously was the result of an eccentric imagination.

That brings us to Syracuse. That hotbed of lacrosse, right? Not if it’s indoors. The Syracuse Smash was anything but a smash it. From 1998 to 2000, the team went 6-30 and didn’t win a single road game. Not even with Paul Gait on the team. What sticks out is the team playing three seasons and having five coaches! Well, to be fair, Freeman Bucktooth, Pat Donahue and Steve Scaramuzzino were co-coaches for a season but still … five coaches? I remember covering a season opener in Syracuse, which lost the game by at least 15 goals to a Rochester Knighthawks team and one of the Smash players told me his team hadn’t even had a single full-team practice before the opener.

What’s up with the Smash logo? Is that a surfer dude? In Syracuse? That surfer image always made me thing the netting in the back of the logo is a volleyball net and anyone from Central New York is gonna tell you straight up that the Salt City is hardly a beach paradise. Not when you can develop your film in the polluted waters of Onondaga Lake.

The Vancouver Ravens ran the floor from 2002 to 2004 and finished right on par with a 24-24 record. Poor attendance hurt this team and it folded up tent but that tent might be pitched again. Vancouver’s right in the mix among expansion rumors and as recently as June of this year, the NLL received an application to get the NLL back up and running in Vancouver. Let’s hope that works out and while we’re hoping, let’s hope a new logo is brought in. A bird with pecs like that just ain’t right, especially with a ‘V’ tat on it. And with the black and red colors, all I can think of is the movie “V is for Vendetta,” which was kinda cool, but not lacrosse cool.

Finally, a pair of quick hitters before we wrap this up. The Ottawa Rebel were 9-37 from 2001 to 2003 before becoming the Edmonton Rush in 2005 and the Montreal Express was 8-8 in 2002, its only season. Under coach Terry Sanderson, though, the Express won its first game 32-17 over fellow-expansion team Calgary. Calgary seems to have recovered well enough. I dig both of these logos, especially the Montreal design. Mysterious and spooky, kinda like Batman. Too bad the team didn’t have a superhero’s welcome, or result. And yaaarrrrgh! It’s too bad the Rebel didn’t last longer than it did. Does talking like a pirate ever suck? Didn’t think so.

So there ya have it. The memories may be painful for some and glorious for others but it being such a nice autumn day here in Western New York, I figured it’s a good day to take a stroll, even if it is in our memories.

• Cast your Laxie Award vote today at IL: InsideLacrosse.com
• Fleming ready to Rock in Toronto: The Sarnia Observer
• Hurley’s ready to Rock, too: Georgina Advocate
• Knighthawks radio show debuts Oct. 6: Knighthawks.net

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