Which Bulls logo is most worthy: Bengaluru Bulls, Chicago Bulls, or Rock's Brahma Bull?
The Bulls are synonymous with Chicago, as bread goes with butter. Times changing with the pace that they are, bread is being consumed with an assortment of condiments besides butter. To the extent that when a psychologist goes all word association on you, they have a good shot at getting a number of answers to 'Bread'.
Today we'll take a look at two sports franchises and a one man brand and try to judge which one does more justice to representing a bovine creature. The Chicago Bulls of the NBA or the Bengaluru Bulls of the Pro Kabaddi League or the Brahma Bull of the Rock.
If a rose were called by any other name, it would still tear an Achilles heel as Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls would attest. I love Derrick Rose, as I've detailed here, but that's one perpetually hobbled Bull. Before we begin, I have heard of the Chicago Bulls long before I heard of the Bengaluru Bulls. I've had the good fortune and pleasure of speaking to Luc Longley, a 3-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls.
That being said, the following paragraph is meant to be read with the speed and voice of those “Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks, please read the offer carefully before investing” warnings.
Disclaimer: The NBA team in question here has a storied legacy, one which I'll choose to ignore for the moment. This doesn't in any way take anything away from the team's legacy, and if one were to feel otherwise from this lighthearted poke at it, perhaps it's reputation isn't as rock solid as expected (troll bait, hook, line and sinker).
Now that we have that out of the way, lets take a look at the challenger to the throne.
Any upstart challenger's mettle is judged by the ferocity with which they are willing to attack the competition. The Bengaluru Bulls did finish third in the 2014 Pro Kabaddi league, but their master stroke in establishing a bullish identity can be seen in the colour scheme of their logo. This here may be a coincidence or a deeply thought out strategic maneuver on the part of the Bengaluru Bulls. The colour scheme they have chosen could have had any number of colours, but this is the one they chose –
What better way to take on a new nickname from a old franchise than by giving a hat tip to the fierce nemesis, the arch-rivals of that franchise? There are precious few rivalries left in the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls is right up at the top of that list. The number of times Chicago's center Joakim Noah has tussled with LeBron James is too numerous to recount. There is no love lost between these two teams. Even the uniform colours of the Bengaluru Bulls matches.
You can tell me that this isn't a well thought out chess move on the part of the Bengaluru Bulls, but the conspiracy theorist in me would respectfully disagree. Here's how the Chicago Bulls choose to represent the bull in their logo –
As a rule, what we fear the most is the unknown. It is why the darkness terrifies, as most of the surroundings are shrouded in shadows. In the case of the Chicago Bulls, a Bull is neatly stenciled in and you clearly see what you are up against. Looking at the Bengaluru Bulls, they have a half silhouette of a Bull which was clearly drawn hastily by an artist beating a backpedaling retreat as a bull charged against it.
In case of art it is often a matter of what you leave out, as much as what you put in. Artists will focus on a certain aspect of the subject, regardless of how impartial they try to be. A romantic artist my devote special attention to the eyes, a nature loving painter may perfectly capture the breeze blowing through the grass. The level of detail an artist chooses to grace a portion of the art with, speaks volumes about what attribute of the subject has grabbed their attention the most – The horns.
A horn has already skewered the boundaries of the vector logo which the artist designed, and will have no qualms about skewering anything else in its path. I'm told that this bull loves the word 'skewer'. Speaking of a Brahma Bull, let's take a look at the real Brahma Bull:
It is near impossible to look at the Brahma Bull logo of the Rock and not hear the following in his voice:
“You know, Brock Lesnar, you wanna play games with The Rock? Ya think you wanna play mind games, is that what you wanna do? You think you're real smart, Brock Lesnar, why, because you came down here and you brought yourself a front row ticket? You and that big fat walrus so he could cheer you on? But you see, you're real smart, Brock, 'cause you do have a front row ticket, but you've also got another ticket, and that's to a big brahma bull ass whoopin', not yesterday, no no no no no, no no, no no no no no no, no, the ass whoopin' is not yesterday, it's not tomorrow, the brahma bull a*s whoopin' is toinght! - ( as said by the Rock in the promo on Brock Lesnar on the August 12, edition of Raw in Seattle)
The Brahma Bull clearly is the meanest bull on the prairies here. One who gores first and asks questions later, if in the mood. It's mean, visceral, and has a nose ring to boot. While the Chicago Bulls' bull was tame enough to have it's horns painted, this bull has clearly had enough of Old McDonald who had a farm and was fond of going E-I-E-I-O. Here, he could get to 'With a moo moo here, and a moo moo there', this bull flipped the script and took the farmer's family crest for his nose ring.
Conclusion
Ask yourself, forgetting for a moment which logo belongs to whom, if the three bulls mentioned here were to collide, which bull would bully his way past the other and maintain a certain elegance and panache while doing it? I'd love to be a homer here and go with the Bengaluru Bulls. They have alliteration going for them after all. I'm even tempted to pay homage to my basketball roots and give a nod to the Chicago Bulls.
But, the Brahma Bull blowing and snorting down my shoulder as I type this leaves little room for speculation. The Rock's Brahma Bull clearly takes the cake, kitchen sink and the entire farm here.