New LA Soccer Team Crushes Logo Game

I'm not from the Los Angeles area originally, so I don't hold specific LA logos as sacrosanct. My mother loves the Dodgers more than most people love baseball, and I grew up with them as my favorite NL team, but their interlocking "LA" logo, taken from an earlier version of the PCL Angels franchise, resembles the typewriter font on any word processor. It's currently so beloved around here and in most baseball circles as to be essentially untouchable.

Enter to this crowded sports landscape a new soccer team, LAFC, headed by such LA luminaries like Magic Johnson, Will Ferrell, and Mia Hamm, and we may have the best LA logo of them all:

It's part art-deco, part homage to the OG LA soccer team Aztecs, partly based on the LA city seal, and incorporates elements of flight and power and speed, and we may have a winner.

Here's the graphic designer Matthew Wolff's explanation graphic:

When compared with the other LA logos, from Wolff's own site and we get to compare and contrast:

Without the emotional connections to the Dodgers and Lakers, which logo is even close? The Ducks footprint is pretty cool, and the Clippers is high art for comedy's sake, but really, it's not that close.

More Than An Inspiration

I do enjoy a good minor league logo, and sometimes I even enjoy a good minor league logo that's "inspired" by the parent affiliate.

Two of the most iconic NBA teams, one each in the largest metropolitan areas in the country, have affiliated D-League (soon to be Gatorade League (G-League)) teams, and the "inspiration" on their logos from the parent is strong.

On the east coast:

The Knicks have been a model of futility for over a decade now, with a single playoff appearance over that span. Maybe. Pretty sure, right? One year that was 50+ wins for Melo and JR Smith...

Their D-League team, the Westchester Knicks, changed their original logo to this much more direct copy of the parent. Here's the original Westchester Knicks look, as inspired-but-not-copied:

And on the west coast:

Having been futile for less time than the Knicks, the Lakers still haven't been the model franchise the NBA needs for a few years now, ever since the Dwight Howard/Steve Nash debacle.

Anyway, I do like the South Bay Lakers look and alternate logo better than their D-Fenders identity. Maybe because I live in the south bay. Here's that alternate:

And here's the far-less inspiring D-Fenders logo:

India and Miami, Strangely Enough

I have written before about the similarities between India and Niger's flags, but when I saw the flag for the city of Miami in south Florida, I was struck by its similarity to the other two:

India

Miami, FL

It's interesting that nobody knows why this design was chosen for the flag of Miami, and there is talk of updating it as well. Here's the leading proponent for replacement:

I like it, but I don't (and wouldn't) live in Miami. Read about it here.