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By Bob Brainerd Special to OnMadison.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Bob Brainerd

Published Aug. 15, 2006 at 5:34 a.m.

The Milwaukee Admirals killed off their sea sailing captain, and replaced him with a skull sporting a pirate's cap. The move was frightening to some, and completely wrong to others.

Shiver me timbers! It's JUST a logo!

If everyone who had an opinion about the new black, grey and Lake Michigan blue uniforms actually came to an Admirals game, the Bradley Center would be rockin' night in and night out. You can expect some grumbling when a team makes a change, but hockey fans seem to have a majority thought when it comes to this version of the American Hockey League team...walk the plank with that pirate!

The Admirals got a rink full of feedback following their big unveiling Aug. 1 at the Summerfest grounds. Some of it was positive. A lot was not.

"It wasn't a surprise," said Harris Turer, the Admirals owner and chief executive officer. "People that are positive, you tend not to hear that stuff. But when people are upset or have a very strong opinion on something, you're going to hear it."

Some fans who gathered in anticipation for the new look even voiced their displeasure on the spot. I'm not sure what they were expecting, but perhaps they thought a puffy shirt was soon to follow.

Polls sprung up everywhere, letting the voters have their say and comment on the garb. Those negative-minded tallies showed up in bunches. OnMadison.com logged 41% saying "It looks like it was designed by a child." In a Journal Sentinel poll, 72 percent of respondents gave the logo a thumbs-down.

Ouch!

But here we are, with the Packers in pads, the Brewers battling road woes, and the Bucks changing their roster almost daily and the minor league hockey team's color scheme and logo are creating the biggest buzz.

"You want people to talk about you," Turer said. "Now, do you want them to always talk negatively about you? Of course not. But, you DO want them to talk about you, and they were."

For the record, the guy who signs the paychecks loves the logo, and the free publicity that came with it. Turer began this logo transformation process over a year ago. He set sail in search of someone who could think outside the box.

Enter Joe Locher.

"Joe just didn't come up with this in a haphazard way, he really put a lot of thought into what the Admirals are," Turer said. "He's so creative, and he put a lot of thought into it, that's what I like. I loved that right away."

Locher, who runs his own local advertising agency, The Yes Men, didn't just conjure up a few designs and ask the Admirals brass to pick the best one. He researched the team, the city, the nickname and its history. Then he created a story to go along with his logo.

"As far as jersey designs, (I presented) literally dozens of looks," Locher said. "One was orange and black, based on the old James Caan Rollerball movie. One was really futuristic, black and lime green. Then there was a red, white and blue one that looked like it could have been from the 2024 Olympics. As far as the art style of the skeleton, we looked at about 6 or 7 different styles, from very spooky to Hello Kitty."

And what set the winning entry apart from the others?

"The one we decided on is actually inspired by skateboard art more than anything else, because that's what's popular with the age group we're after," Locher said.
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