*Weekly Mirror Special: Color Rush Roundup, Part 2!

[jreed12]

50/50 @griis @jreed12


A new season means a new assault on the eyes—in the annual ritual of aesthetic sacrilege, ISFL team members work tirelessly to design the most garish and outlandish fields and uniforms possible in the league’s Color Rush tradition! Half of the teams donned their colors last week, and the second half shall be revealed today!

Grading Rubric! Commitment to Unbiased Journalism!

As mentioned last week, in an effort to eschew bias in our fine publication, the ISFL Weekly Mirror uses a calculated formula of quantitative aesthetic metrics. We are only grading the field on how it looks—any inside jokes, sappy references to bygone players, blah blah blah we don’t care. To keep a level metaphorical playing field, we will be ranking the literal playing fields purely on aesthetics and assigning a letter grade. Let’s pick up where we left off:


Chicago Butchers

Huh? Much like when Triceracop suddenly replaced <redacted>, the Chicago Butchers vanished, when the world needed them most, in lieu of a creature nobody expected—a green tree frog! We assume there is some reference here, but since we are merely grading based upon aesthetics, we must judge the book solely for its cover. The center logo looks very clean and professional, on par with many of the current active ISFL logos. The end zones leave something to be inspired, but overall the fonts and design is very clean without trying to do too much. However, the field does not take many creative risks other than a subdued silhouette of the jungle embroidering the bottom. Grade: B–


Sarasota Sailfish

Now this is a mighty fine field! If you’ve ever been to a cheesy seafood restaurant or the clearance section of a Bass Pro, then you’re all too acquainted with a Big Mouth Billy Bass. This was an excellent crafty touch by Sarasota, with some rods and lures on the field as well to complete the look. The oars also look excellent in the end zone, if not for the font being a tiny bit small. It was also a nice touch that each 5 yard increment was a wooden “plank”. However, a few points of critique include the 40 and 50 yard line numbers blur together with the bass, and the cropping of the rods and oars is a little wonky. However, still a very quirky and creative design stands out for its boldness. Grade: B+


Captet’n Crash

Now THIS was a clever branding concept. However, the field itself left something to be desired. The color scheme was overall pleasant, with a few red and blue ISFL logos dotting the field as “berries”, but the majority of the field and the end zones were very bland. The hat photoshopped onto the rhino was clean, but the eyebrows look a little wonky. Overall, this is a very creative idea that could have used some more robust execution. Grade: C–


Berlin Fire Salamanders

The German Coat of Arms, used throughout history, provided a noble backdrop for a game we couldn’t even tell the score of (an editing goof made Berlin’s scoreboard completely blanked out and both teams showed up in white jerseys). However, since the ISFL Weekly Mirror is an unbiased publication, we must take the field design for what it’s worth and give an honest grade. The numerical fonts on the field are neat, and the German flag translates well. However, the spacing on some of the numbers is slightly off, and the logo on the field does not match the logo on the scoreboard (although after some research it seems these are both official variations). In the end zones, the “ich bin ein Berliner” translates to an infamous JFK speech given amidst the Cold War, but the font is a little strange and the spacing is a little wonky. Overall, this has some good aesthetic and creative potential, but misses on a few key notes. Blame Dewalt! Grade: C




Yellowknife Wraiths

“It reminds me of whatever that guy from Overwatch’s name is…” said Number One as the viewers of the Game Day stream attempted to figure out the creative source of the Wraiths field. Although the ISFL Weekly Mirror is strongly against Overwatch, as this is a known source of brain rot, we must stay true to our motives and grade on aesthetics only. This field has a neat texture to it—the entire surface seems a little more grassy and doesn’t just look like a screen. The font choices are also neat for the numbering and end zone, giving a component of fantasy futurism. The background of the field is aesthetically pleasing, if not a bit uncreative. The logo in the middle is cool but has no other branding to connect it to the Wraiths. Grade: B+


Colorado Yeti

Wow, look at this game, I wonder what the score is? Aww, that’s a cute dog… AHHH MY EYES!!! Aside from the white-on-highlighter-yellow scoreboard, this Yeti color rush field is just the regular Yeti field with slightly different colors that made the field look even uglier than it normally is. The two senior correspondents of the ISFL Weekly Mirror were both originally born in Colorado, and this disgraceful massacre of a design is just flat out disrespect to our birthright. The fonts are ugly, the colors are ugly, hell, the LOGO is somehow GRAINY. Somehow the quality of performance the tanking Yeti put out on the field paled in comparison to their less than illustrious backdrop, as NOLA absolutely massacred these clunky cryptids and coasted to an easy W. At least the dog was cute though. Grade: F–


Baltimore Hawks

In the final entry to the S47 color rush saga, we arrive at the Baltimore Hawks—who are now rebranded the Baltimore Barons. Upon first glance of this field, it really was a mystery who designed it. The center-field logo looks very professional and clever, and the fonts throughout are very tasteful. The color scheme also suits the mini-hawk logos nicely, as these gleam like little gemstones on the 25-yard markers. That being said, the glaring misfortune of the color scheme is that the end zone and the home-team dots are nearly impossible to read. The pink of the lettering blurs in with the blue, and it probably would have been a better call to swap the pink font out for white for legibility sake. Grade: B


Overall, the second round of fields was holistically more disappointing than the first outing. We felt that HON and SJS would have easily claimed best in show over any of the fields this week, although AZ had the lower floor than COL because heck Arizona.

Winner of the night: Yellowknife Wraiths
Loser of the night: Colorado Yeti
Most creative honorable mention: Sarasota Sailfish

[Baron1898]

yeah the font def should've been white over pink

[ForSucksFake]

BAL’s was a tribute to the great @Baron1898.

[TubaDeus]

The logo in the middle is cool but has no other branding to connect it to the Wraiths

ahem

YELLOW. KNIFE.

I rest my case.

[jreed12]

The logo in the middle is cool but has no other branding to connect it to the Wraiths

ahem

YELLOW. KNIFE.

I rest my case.

A knife for what chopping down trees? Them things are mega swords