I have edited some images to post in here, but can't figure out how to import them into the post, help?
Nike didn't come up with the "Don't Tread On Me" slogan, and yes, it is indeed part of our history, specifically our Revolutionary War / military history. They piggy backed off of history in an effort to create a marketing campaign that was supposed to stir patriotism, and thus, generate sales. If you like, you can argue motives behind the ad campaign ad naseum; however, the history is undeniable. http://www.usflag.org/history/gadsden.html The Gadsden Flag The rattlesnake was the favorite animal emblem of the Americans even before the Revolution. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette carried a bitter article protesting the British practice of sending convicts to America. The author suggested tht the colonists return the favor by shipping "a cargo of rattlesnakes, which could be distributed in St. James Park, Spring Garden, and other places of pleasure, and particularly in the noblemen's gardens." Three years later the same paper printed the picture (as seen above) of a snake as a commentary on the Albany Congress. To remind the delegates of the danger of disunity, the serpent was shown cut to pieces. Each segment is marked with the name of a colony, and the motto "Join or Die" below. Other newspapers took up the snake theme. By 1774 the segments of the snake had grown together, and the motto had been changed to read: "United Now Alive and Free Firm on this Basis Liberty Shall Stand and Thus Supported Ever Bless Our Land Till Time Becomes Eternity" Other authors felt the rattlesnake was a good example of America's virtues. They argued that it is unique to America; individually its rattles produce no sound, but united they can be heard by all; and while it does not attack unless provoked, it is deadly to step upon one. And then some more.... Colonel Christopher Gadsden of South Carolina had seen and liked a bright yellow banner with a hissing, coiled rattlesnake rising up in the center, and beneath the serpent the same words that appeared on the Striped Rattlesnake Flag - Don't Tread On Me. Colonel Gadsden made a copy of this flag and submitted the design to the Provincial Congress in South Carolina. Commodore Esek Hopkins, commander of the new Continental fleet, carried a similar flag in February, 1776, when his ships put to sea for the first time. Hopkins captured large stores of British cannon and military supplies in the Bahamas. His cruise marked the salt-water baptism of the American Navy, and it saw the first landing of the Corps of Marines, on whose drums the Gadsden symbol was painted.
Yeah, but it's a top sport in those countries. Here, no one would know what some of those proposed US Shields were for or from. I know I stated this before, but I happen to love the US Soccer Shield with a passion. I would never even think of changing it and that is the only thing that fuels my curiosity to keep reading this thread!
Last time I checked, Nike was in the business of selling athletic apparel and footwear. EVERYTHING they do is in the interest of promoting sport, and thus promoting their products. That said, the DTOM campaign was powerful and grabbed the attention of a lot of soccer fans. Nike as a corporation has a lot of vested interest in US and international soccer and it was great to see them create a campaign that leverages history in the name of promoting the game.
ur calling the country that doesnt give a crap about national teams the most nationalist country? as much as i like our national teams, the fact that avg americans dont care is a compliment to our non-nationalistic mindset. and socialist? i have no idea what standard u can use to claim were more socialist than europe (yes were socialist to a certain extent; im a libertarian, a govt official who can read and write qualifies as a socialist to me) and the rattlesnake/dtom does have military history. started off on franklin's comic strip (united we stand, divided we fall? pic of the snake cut into pieces representing the colonies). then a patriotic flag, the gadsden flag adopted it, put 'dont tread on me'; the rattlesnake responds only to provocation, we only got pissed at the brits when they started passing excessive laws. so, the navy used the rattlesnake as the first navy jack. a reader wrote to a newspaper sometime around 1776 saying the rattlesnake should be the mascot of the US; loads of historians think the anonymous writer was franklin (lol, i think to his own newspaper), franklin did that a lot. the writer/franklin said the rattlesnake was perfect becuz the animal was only in the americas (present in 47 of the 48 current contingous states, all but maine), and represents our 'leave me alone' mindset, but well fight hard if u violate it. o and i dont know if he said nike's illustration of it was freakin awesome. i think this makes the rattlesnake PERFECT. the rattlesnake was never adopted, only the eagle (dunno if its official). as a result, an important, general symbol of our country, yet not broadly used, so it can be associated now with the soccer team. c'mon, american sports teams have nicknames, its how we do things, and rattlesnakes cant use their arms. HOW CAN NEONE, EXCEPT THOSE WHO WANT TO AVOID BEING CHEESY BY SOCCER STANDARDS, NOT AGREE WITH THIS??? AAGHGH
Yes...While Nike came up with the ad campaign, US soccer fans have been flying the original DTOM flag in the stands for years. I like the DTOM logo and love the history behind it. Any American patriot can't help but be stirred by its defiant message and the parallels between the patriots of the time and US soccers current position in the world game are striking. Still like the current crest...but love DTOM...Nike or not...
Couldn't agree with you more, Bud. Just because Nike came up with the "official" campaign does not mean it does not KICK ASS. The history behind it makes it a rich and compelling reminder of our country's proud traditions. It looks really frickin' cool too...
again... I hate detracting from the actual purpose of this thread... but so many keep insulting my intelligence by making assertions that I am stupid for saying what I have said about America... (not letting "nationalistic" pride stop them from defending it by responding here...) but who doesnt care about their national teams? the USOC and USSF have huge coffers of cash both from large donations from interested countrymen, but also selling off large quantities of merchandise plus everyone relives our succeses on a national stage over and over again everytime the olympics come around, you hear the old names again jesse owens always brought up, spitz, heiden, kerry strug was a star for quite some time... miracle (as in the miracle on ice) was box office hit not so long ago the dream team when it was started was a huge success and everyone was waiting to play up the us baseball team, until we crapped out everyone was even hyped about the us in the world cup people who weren't soccer fans before the world cup... hell the president even called bruce to encourage him before the game, and I doubt he has sat through a game in his entire life... because everyone comes together for the national teams... and chants right along mindlessly... U, S, A... and right after 911, how many people made it rich selling off flags? and you saw all the nationalism in full effect right then albums with songs all about America... all the nationalistic we are the world's best country talk to follow... you see it in the immigration debates as well... as far as socialism goes... govt onwership/control of everything... similar often to fascism often heavily powered by militaristic ideals if you dont see that let me raise your eyebrow to a few things which have occured right at the same time the Nazi's were rising to power in Europe as a result of their failed economy and weak leadership in governement we were facing our own economic trouble with the stock market crash and the resultant lassez-faire attitude almost compounding it to make it worse Roosevelt came in and created a whole framework of govt programs to take control of the situation... creates all sorts of programs such as wlfare and social security and immediately involves us in the wars, by helping produce weapons for England... and soon has us a factory nation fighting world war 2 then the cold war... and boom, thats exactly what you get... continuation of militaristic and nationalistic policies heavy sensorship of everything, FBI and CIA spying on public or you could just look the the FCC's reaction to janet Jackson's boob being flashed on the NFL half-time show... and how the networks are restricted on showing stuff along with Bush's spy programs... its all there, everything you see has govt control/regulation to it even these boards... if the govt has the desire to shut em down, they will and what do we do on july 4th? parades, with servicemen... flags and national colors everywhere... air force fighter jet fly overs... remenisce about military successes... huge gatherings and public speakers talking about how great america is... while bands everywhere play classic pieces as a back drop to the pomp and circumstance which goes on... only thing different from the Nazis would be the fireworks... and thats borrowed from the Chinese.... and maybe the cookouts with family and freinds where we eat "hamburgers" "frankfurters" and "bratwurst" and couple it with "german potato salad" don't get me wrong here, I love America but its a very nationalistic country... and very socialist as well... and a whole bunch of our governement and military policies have been shaped in the same fashion as they were in Nazi Germany (and with Bush in office, always good to watch out for the SS)
please... enough of the side discussion in this thread (and I know I am as guilty of it as the next person) but could we keep this to trying to think up ideas for a "New US MNT Shield" and maybe turn the side conversations to private messages...
just so we are reminded... this is what the thread was about... and these are what I thought were the best submissions so far... i liked these, keep em coming... and i didnt even get a comment on this one... not even by the haters...
that very last one is what you want to appear on our uniform? im sorry, i just dont know about that one...no offense of course
The stars on the US shield are internal to the emblem which is a breakdown of the stars and stripes flag (makes perfect sense). Stars external to the shield reflect World Cups won, while those internal do not (Italy is the exception). Ghana has a black star internal to its shield which reflects the black star on their flag.
you know what, I think itd be a good idesa... and I like the cool emblem thing you got there, if it only had some red white and blue, ussf, and a soccer ball included it could be one of the best so far
im not putting this in the board so as not to distract from the topic: USA immigration debates? a reflection of the fact THAT WE HAVE SO MANY IMMIGRANTS. o, i hate rooseelt. and the only difference between us and the nazis being fireworks? how about that and a president who has a menorah lighting ceremony? o, and this is the same president whose brother is married to a mexican and converted to catholicism for her. the fact that this country values human beings based on their principles and their contribution to society is y i love it. my grandmother was born on a farm in eastern europe, she's prob the only person born in that town to still have real/fake teeth at this age, and she's gonna die in a condo in miami beach. those nazis and their immigration policies, UGH. o, and u wanna talk about facism and mind-controlling? ya, and u wanna be a public school teacher. u wanna be a part of the program that teaches our kids how the world works for 6 hours a day, 5 days a wk, 9 months a yr, for over a decade. thats what u want to dedicate ur life to. UR the problem.
and im not defending everything this country has done, i HATE govt controls. but g-d damn it, U WANNA BE A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER. how can ppl not compare ne govt propaganda program to PUBLIC SCHOOLS? just think about it, plz.
Public Schools do not go deeply into Military History but they do in fact spend quite some time from about 5th grade on discussing the events leading up to and involving the Revolutionary War. You know the war that essentially founded this country's independence. Or perhaps in your curriculum the Revolutionary War is washed over as a minor speed bump in this country's history. You're one to throw about the term "ignorant"
I believe someone, early in the thread, mentioned tat-ability. I am planning on getting a DTOM tattoo in the near future. Being a US Govt. teacher and a lover of the game of soccer, can't think of a better one. However, my favorite for the US uniforms would be the 1950's style shield.
most of history is political; as decisive as military history is, what happensit before and afterwards politically is more easy to control and hence we can actually criticize it and apply it. US history is taught to our students, lies r taught (lincoln once said he'd prefer maintaining the union w/o freeing a single slave; hamilton by ne modern standard was a fascist, and its known that he wanted to install washington as king, but washington refused; fdr made the great depression last longer, and it was caused in the first place by govt controls; id keep going but ppl will get annoyed.) o but thank g-d we have YOU. o i cant wait to have someone who think were nazis to teach MY KIDS. ya, private school or home school plz. do us all a favor and make money 1. voluntarily, not through the IRS putting a gun to my head once a yr and 2. by reponding to what we want, not what politicians want america's next generation to believe.
great job of keeping the political/historical side discussions from ruining the thread guys.... (for those of you who did take stabs I will respond in Private Messages... but will delay that for now to make sure the thread's topic takes prevalence here...) to answer the guy about tatablity... I think that's cool you want to get a tat of it... but did you pick that design from a whole list of choices... or are you just picking it because it is the US's current logo (as in if it had been something different you would still likley want the US logo tattoo)? I guarantee you if you look at the design of the US Logo it does not compare with most tattoo designs... and that the one I sketched quickly is far more in line with what tattoos normally look like (especially the military and sailor-like tattoos...) I mean clearly you could argue whether someone would want my logo there as a tattoo... but as we have no choice over which tattoo to get... i think people who chose the US logo for a tattoo only chose it because it is the US logo... which conjures up those feelings of pride for american soccer which die-hard fans have for the team... and would easily do the same if it were nearly any other image as the logo but if it were something else which was appealing even the half hearted fans, they would be willing to go out and get it because it was cool... and looked like a good tat...