Well, let me tell ya somethin’ about this Vancouver Grizzlies logo thing. I ain’t no fancy art critic or nothin’, but I can tell ya what I see, ya know?
First off, they say some fella named Josh Davis, he drew this logo way back in 1995. That’s a long time ago, even before my ol’ man started losin’ his teeth! Anyways, this logo, it had this bear on it, a grizzly bear, like the name says. Big ol’ bear, like the ones used to come around our farm, scaring the chickens and whatnot.
Now, this bear, he was howlin’ at first. You know, mouth wide open, like he was yellin’ at the moon or somethin’. Scary lookin’, I tell ya. But then, they changed it up. They made him all quiet and serious lookin’. Just his head, mind you, not the whole body. And no basketball neither. Some folks say that’s special, ’cause not many teams do that.
- They got the Bulls, they don’t got no basketball on their logo.
- And the Cavaliers too, I think.
- Oh, and them Bucks, yeah, no basketball for them neither.
- Hawks, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Rockets, and Spurs – all them fellas the same. Just the heads, no basketballs. Like our Grizzlies guy.
Them Grizzlies, they weren’t always in Memphis, you know. They started way up in Vancouver. That’s up in Canada, where it’s cold and they got all that maple syrup. Them and the Raptors, they were the first basketball teams up there in Canada. First ever! Can you believe it?
And get this, them Grizzlies, they were the first ones to have a website. A whatchamacallit, a website! In 1995! Bob Kerstein, he was the fella who made it. Smart fella, I guess. Imagine that, a whole basketball team on the computer! My grandkids wouldn’t believe it, they think the internet always been around.
So, back to the logo. There’s this one logo, it looks like a bear paw, all stretched out. They had it on them black jerseys, when they were still in Vancouver. I don’t know, it looks kinda funny to me, like a squashed pancake or somethin’. But folks liked it, I guess.
Then there’s talk about a “30th anniversary” and they gonna wear them old white Vancouver uniforms again. Thirty years, that’s a long time. Makes me feel old just thinkin’ about it. I remember when my kids were little, always runnin’ around… Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, the logo. It’s a bear. A real tough-lookin’ bear at first. But then they made him just tough-lookin’ on the inside, I guess. All stoic, they call it. Like he’s thinkin’ hard about somethin’, maybe how to win a basketball game.
They got all this talk about logos bein’ “dynamic” and “meticulous” and such. I don’t know about all that fancy talk. I just see a bear, ya know? A bear that means business. And that’s good enough for me. They say you can find these logos on some fella named Chris Creamer’s sports page, on the internet. It’s like a museum, but online. Full of old logos and jerseys. My grandkids would love it, they’re always lookin’ at stuff on them phones. But me? I like seein’ things with my own two eyes. But this Creamer fella, he’s done a good job, I guess, keepin’ track of all these old logos. It helps folks remember where teams came from, and how they changed. It’s like lookin’ at old family photos, you know? Reminds you of where you been.
So, that’s the story of the Vancouver Grizzlies logo, as far as I can tell ya. It’s a bear, plain and simple. And it’s been through some changes, just like the team itself. From howlin’ to stoic, from Vancouver to Memphis. It’s a story, just like everything else in life. And now you know it, just like I do.
