Let’s talk sports slogans.
Marketing, branding and promoting sports is as old as the ancient Olympics from 776 BC to 336 AD, though the branding came from an oath sworn to by athletes and officials, who swore solemnly not to commit offences before the statue of Zeus, “the guardian of the oaths.” Zeus apparently knew how to self-market.
The first modern Olympics motto was created in 1881 by Dominican priest Henri Didion, who uttered the phrase at the opening ceremonies and was adopted 13 years later (1894). The original Olympics motto is in Latin: "Citius, altius, fortius," which translates to faster, higher, stronger.
In 2021, that was changed to: "Citius, altius, fortius – communiter," which means "faster, higher, stronger – together." OK, that one works.
After watching and listening to the MLB All-Star Game referred to as “The Midsummer Classic,” as a play on the World Series being called the “The Fall Classic,” I felt that this was more marketing than actual classicness. To me, that one is forced and very few fans call the game that. That slogan falls short. To be accurate, its promotional name is “Major League Baseball All-Star Game Midsummer Classic.” Few, if any fans call it that.
Some slogans and tags given to events and/or teams or leagues have been brilliant and transcend sports by becoming part of our culture, or at least sports culture. However, some are cheesy and laughable. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Sports marketing has a long history of promotions. In 1870, tobacco and cigarette companies piggybacked on sports by putting out trading cards with pictures of athletes on them. In 1923, pro golfer Gene Sarazen signed with Wilson Sporting Goods as a spokesman and in 1928, Coca-Cola began sponsoring the Olympics. Arguably the first sports slogan associated with a product was launched in 1934, when General Mills marketed Wheaties as “The Breakfast of Champions.” The first athlete featured on a cereal box was baseball legend Lou Gehrig.
Adidas first came on the marketing scene in the 1936 Olympics, promoting products with running star Jesse Owens. Since then, brands have put their names on stadiums, partnered with athletes and events and have created their own slogans such as Nike’s “Just do it,” Reebok’s “Life is not a spectator sport,” Puma’s “Forever faster,” Adidas’ “Impossible is nothing,” Titleist’s “The No. 1 ball in golf,” Everlast’s “Greatness is within,” EA’s “It’s in the game,” Spalding’s “True to the game” and Columbia Sportswear’s funny line, “Misery begins at the big toe and works its way up,” as well as Converse’s “Shoes are boring, wear sneakers.” They all work.
Some that don’t work for me include Fila’s “Power Style,” Reebok’s “I am what I am,” Adidas’ “Adidas is all in,” Russell Athletics’ “Together we R” and RipCurl’s “Live the search.”
Team slogans
The New York Yankees are known by some as “The Evil Empire,” but they didn’t coin that, their opponents, the Red Sox, did. The Yanks were happy enough with “Murderers’ Row” and “The Pinstripes.” The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys have been “America’s Team” since 1978, when a highlight film narrated by John Facenda put that phrase in America’s consciousness.
Team slogans that have worked include, in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Showtime,” The Indiana Pacers’ “Blue Collar. Gold Swagger,” the Milwaukee Bucks’ “Fear the Deer" and the Memphis Grizzlies’ “Grit ’n’ Grind.” In the NFL, the Las Vegas Raiders have two from their Oakland days: “Commitment to excellence" and “Just win, baby.” And there are the Chicago Bears’ “Bear down” and the Denver Broncs’ “Rocky Mountain Thunder.” In the NFL, Detroit’s Red Wings have “Hockeytown” and the Minnesota Wild have “It's In Our Blood.”
The 2001 Atlanta Braves hit with “Share the dream,” and the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers laid down a challenge to the L.A. Angels with “This is our town.”
Events
Event slogans that work and have become part of sports culture include:
The Run for the Roses – The Kentucky Derby, and far more recognizable than The Run for the Black-eyed Susans – The Preakness, and The Run for the Carnations – the Belmont Stakes, but the Belmont’s marketing slogan, “The test of champions,” is a good one. The others are nice, but they are no run for the roses.
“The most exciting two minutes in sports” is a good one as The Kentucky Derby scores again. Interestingly, only two horses have officially finished the race in under two minutes.
Other event winners include:
“The greatest spectacle in racing” – The Indy 500
“The grand-daddy of all bowl games” – The Rose Bowl
“March Madness” – NCAA Basketball championship
“The Frozen Four” – NCAA Hockey final four
“In Pursuit Of Greatness” – Wimbledon
“Now is All” – World Cup
"A tradition unlike any other" – The Masters
“The Great American Race” – Daytona 500
“Together for a Shared Future” – Winter Olympics
"Games Wide Open” – Summer Olympics
“No Guts, No Glory” – The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest
“The Thrilla in Manila” was the 1975 boxing classic that pitted Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier for the third time. And “The Rumble in the Jungle," in 1974, matched George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali. Ali came up with a classic for himself, that fit well – “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”
Sports
Some sports have slogans that work.
Badminton: “The world’s fastest bird.”
Baseball: “Hit hard, run fast, turn left” and “Babe Ruth is dead – throw strikes.”
Soccer: “Get your kicks.”
Swimming: “Sink or swim.”
Missed
Four losers – slogans that really didn’t cut it, were:
2006 Minnesota Twins: “Smell 'em”
2005 and 2006 Tampa Bay Rays: “Under construction"
2003 Houston Astros: “Root for the good guys”
2003 Montreal Expos: “Come see the Expos for all the right reasons.”
Which ones do you love and follow, and which ones make you laugh or cause you to shake your head? Do you have any that you’d like to see take center stage? Let me know at mike.blake@mountvernonnews.com.
