Just To Freak You Out XXXV

I know you've all been waiting for two whole weeks, but I'm all set just to freak you out now. And some of these should really get the job done.

We'll begin in none other than the Windy City with a couple of logos that almost had tears coming out of my eyes I was laughing so hard.

Yeah, it's a Blackhawk and two tomahawks. I'm not saying the idea was over-the-top clever, but the execution had me on the floor.

Then there's this.

Which looks a bit more like a goose than a penguin. I guess that's what they were going for.

Not entirely sure what's going on there but the guy with the stick and... the eyes... that guys creeps me out.

We'll transition now from logo designs to jersey artwork. First, a completely new concept for the New York Rangers.

Yeah, they're the Broadway Blueshirts all right, I suppose. Which is a good reason why this should never happen.

Also, a not entirely unexpected result of naming your team the Ducks could be the nickname "mallards" — a completely harmless and ridiculous looking bird, let's all just be glad they didn't go with uniform colors to match.

Because as you can see, it could have been way worse.

Or you could just put a bug on your sweater.

I don't recommend it. However, if you're a Pens fan, I do recommend a trip to The Pensblog for some of the most entertaining coverage of Pittsburgh hockey. Their series of site logos during this playoff season has cracked me up. Enjoy this one (unless you're a Sens fan).

Unfortunately for them, there'll be no broom-clad penguin sweeping away wings of some sort.

Hoped you enjoyed this edition of the Freak Out Friday. Keep sending in the craziest artwork you can find/make and join me again in two weeks for another riveting episode.

Just To Freak You Out XXXIII

Hell has frozen over!

Indeed, the Freak Out Friday has returned. After two weeks off, it's been resurrected. All the talk last month about the league returning to the third jersey program next season has died down, but folks are still trying to come up with the best solution to this alternate sweater issue. The ones that fail tend to end up here.

See what I mean? What happened with the D there? And don't get me wrong, I like that blue for my Bolts, but I can't imagine having that written on the front of the jersey. There's more.

Same goes for the other team that joined the league the same year as Tampa Bay.

I know these are designs based on previously discussed rumors, but I always thought they were too horrible to actually see.

I've got some other stuff too — like a new alternate logo for the Blue Jackets.

And a sweater to boot.

But my favorite pair of sweaters for this week's Freak Out are based on the Minnesota Wild and the previous NHL club that occupied the state.

And finally, I know you guys hated the guitar thing, but someone else made this one and I thought it was kind of interesting.

So keep the crazy artwork coming in each week if you want me to be able to continue this series. I'm counting on you! Yes, you! And that's that for this week. Hopefully I'll return next Friday with a brand new batch of insanity.

LFV Day 6: Last Day In Canada

LIVE FROM VANCOUVER!

Well, today is a sad day for me. My flight back to Tampa is tonight. I have to leave this wonderful weather (yes, I know it's raining right now) and go back to work on Wednesday. And since I've been away, the Lightning just keep losing. So this concept post is meant to honor all those teams that defeated the Bolts in my absence.

The teams I'm talking about would be the New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets, and of course, the Philadelphia Flyers. We'll start with them.

Also got a white version of that.

Not a bad design at all. There are also a couple of orange ones with the alternate Flyers logo.

This one is based on the old New York Islanders third jersey.

And speaking of alternate logos, here's something different.

Not really sure what to say about those. Not normal but not quite crazy enough to warrant a Friday post.

We've also got a very sharp jersey set for the Blue Jackets.

And a fan suggesting they switch from red pants to blue.

And either wishful thinking that one day a certain Sedin will find his way to Columbus or the idea that the Jackets would look better in a jersey with striping similar to the Canucks.

Moving on now to the New Jersey Devils. Here's a black concept without the circle in the logo.

My feeling is that if you're going to dump the circle, you need to make some upgrades to the rest of the logo. Something like this might work well.

Continuing on the tack of black jerseys, there's this one.

Very nice. Then there's this set.

Those jerseys look like hoodies to me, though. Maybe I'm just losing my mind. And finally, here's why it's a good thing that the Devils dumped green out of the logo and uniforms.

It looks bad!

And that's it for this afternoon. Gotta get things packed up and maybe take one last walk around the city before heading to the airport this evening. Bye Vancouver!

Poll: Blue Jackets vs Stars

	vs
Columbus BLUE JACKETS		Dallas STARS

REMEMBER: You're choosing the WORST logo!

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Wed Feb 6

Poll closing date Sun Feb 10

Poll: Blue Jackets '99 vs Blue Jackets '00

	vs
Columbus BLUE JACKETS '99		Columbus BLUE JACKETS '00

REMEMBER: You're choosing the WORST logo!

We know the Columbus Blue Jackets first hit the ice in 2000, so why is there a logo here marked 1999? Let me explain. The "bug logo" was featured on the shoulders of the team's uniforms for several years from their inception — sans the wordmark part. The version of the logo with the wordmark was used in promotional items and ads for the team prior to their inaugural season. I could've just used the bug-only version but I went with this one instead. Wish I had a better reason for you. Let your voices be heard!

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Sat Jan 26

Poll closing date Wed Jan 30

Just To Freak You Out XXI

The Freak Out series hits 21 this week — old enough to get hammered. And boy, I think some of the designers this week had to have been hammered. I mean, just look at this.

It might take a moment or two to notice that this is an "If They Mated" example. It's the new Sharks secondary logo merged with the Mighty Ducks third jersey of the mid-90s. But I love it!

This Flames jersey is on fire! Someone on eBay is really selling it. For real.

Sidney Crosby recently dropped the gloves in a rare on-ice event. This picture isn't real but it cracks me up nonetheless. There's just so much about it that's so wrong. I'm curious to see if the guys over at Pensblog have anything to say about this.

And finally, we have a plethora of "matings" here to share.

To sum things up, what you see above is the Flyers and Bruins, Rangers and Islanders, Devils and Sabres, Blue Jackets and Blackhawks, Avalanche and Wild, Blues and Red Wings, Canucks and Hurricanes (weird!), Bruins and Flyers (opposite of the first one) and Stars and Coyotes.

But wait, there's more.

This one is interesting because it's all opposites of the previous image. They are the Coyotes and Stars, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets, Hurricanes and Canucks, Islanders and Rangers, Sabres and Devils, Red Wings and Blues (what the—?), and Wild and Avalanche.

Hope you enjoyed being freaked out. Have a fantastic weekend!

Poll: Kings vs Blue Jackets

	vs
Los Angeles KINGS		Columbus BLUE JACKETS

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Sat Dec 15

Poll closing date Wed Dec 19

07SCTRN | #1H | LAKvCBJ

Concept Art Grab Bag

I don't really have a theme for tonight's concepts post. Mainly, I just thought these were different and interesting. Kind of curious to see what sort of feedback they get.

One of my favorite things is seeing really nice concepts painted onto game action photos. So I'll start with those. There's this one Kings design from a while back that I liked a lot.

I think it's kind of funny that Roberto Luongo is wearing it. I guess L.A. fans can dream, right?

There was also a bit of Canadiens artwork that I made part of a Freak Out post that a lot of people responded rather well too. Here you can see what it looks like on Cristobal Huet.

I wonder why both designers decided to paint fake jerseys onto goalies. Hmm.

Anyway here are a few more wacky designs that don't quite warrant being included in the Freak Out series.

For those who don't care for the sky blue, how about maroon? Doesn't look terrible either. I'm sure the asymmetry is still driving you nuts though. And how about the Ducks' logo and colors on a Sabres jersey? That's pretty weird.

I thought the colors were interesting on the Bruins jersey. That logo really did wear out its welcome, though, didn't it? And for a complete change of pace, I've got a Flyers jersey with a redesigned set of logos.

And to finish things off, as far as ironies go, I thought this was a pretty good one.

The Columbus Blue Jackets wearing red sweaters. Don't get me wrong. I think it's a really nice-looking jersey, but blue is in their name. It's one of those no-brainers.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think of those. I'll try to have more posted tomorrow.

Poll: Blue Jackets vs Panthers

	vs
Columbus BLUE JACKETS		Florida PANTHERS

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Fri Dec 7

Poll closing date Tue Dec 11

07SCTRN | #0B | CBJvFLA

Just To Freak You Out XVII

Welcome to the belated 17th installment of the Freak Out series. Time's been getting away from me the last few days so I apologize for the delay. Anyway, this week's art has a very specific theme. I asked for you guys to send me stuff of the "If They Mated" variety and some of you actually responded.

We'll start with a couple of logos I thought were "special."

If you're staring at that and just can't place it, look no further than the Ottawa Senators. You'll recognize his cap from the Columbus Blue Jackets' shoulder patch. That one just cracks me up every time I look at it. It's like the guy took the day off to go to a baseball game but he still can't seem to wipe that constipated look off his face.

The next one goes out to all my Connecticut readers.

It's a combination of the Hartford Whalers and Hartford Wolf Pack. And the more astute among you might notice the nod to the New England Whalers. That's three leagues covered in one logo. Impressive.

So going back to Ontario now, try to imagine what would happen if the Leafs and Sens (perish the very thought) were to swap uniforms and colors?

Don't send me hate mail. I'm illiterate anyway.

And now for a rivalry absolutely no one could care less about.

Personally, I'm disgusted by this but it does make me laugh a little. What's with the black tongue on the panther? Someone should tell him to stop chewing on his pen.

This here is more of a fusion of past Coyotes jerseys. We've got the old colors on the new uniform. How many of you like me would prefer to gouge out your own eyes before watching a team wear a jersey with two different color shoulder yokes? That's got to be breaking some sort of law.

Speaking of law-breaking, remember the scary Blackhawks logo I used to kick off last week's Freak Out post?

Somebody glued it on a jersey. D'oh!

And then I thought this was mildly amusing if nothing else.

But this is what happens when you guys stop sending in the really good stuff. Hope you enjoyed another week's worth of Freak Out art. Hopefully I'll be back with more on Friday. Enjoy what's left of your weekend!