The Detroit Tigers, who are competing in the World Series right now, have a pretty famous logo. It is, naturally, depicted on both their hats and their jerseys. But take a closer look–those logos are different! What’s up with that?

At first glance, the two logos appear almost identical. But once you take a closer look, the distinctions start jumping off the screen: The perimeter of the cap D is comprised of jagged, pointy strokes, while the outline of the jersey D is much rounder; the left side of the cap D has two vertical strokes, both of which are curved, with two horizontal spokes in between them, while the jersey D has three vertical strokes, two of which are straight, and no horizontal spokes; and the two horizontal prongs inside the center of the cap D are concave, while the prongs on the jersey D are convex. Identical twins? More like second cousins.

So why the inconsistency? “I’ve been asked that question before, and unfortunately I don’t have an answer for you,” says Sharon Arend, director of archives and historical documents for Ilitch Holdings, the Tigers’ owner. “As far as I can determine, the two D’s matched until the early ’60s, but then they split. I can’t explain it. It’s just one of those things that happened over the years. It’s very frustrating — I wish I could come up with the answer.”

It’s a complicated situation!

This entire post ripped off from ESPN’s Uni Watch column–there’s a lot of interesting information in there, both about the Detroit logo mess and about other World Series stuff (it’s only interesting if you find this minutia interesting, of course).

• This octopus’s chameleonish camoflage is incredible. [Wohba!]
• Tony Hawk has gone through the selling-out looking glass. He’s simultaneously promoting a) his video game; b) some brand’s skateboards; c) Jeep; d) Rolling Stone; e) his charity; f) some bands; g; McDonald’s; and h) probably a bunch of other corporate entities. But somehow it doesn’t offend me–I think it’s a combination of transparency (he’s not exactly shying away from admitting his many marketing obligations), credibility (he’s promoting brands that fit with the rest of his persona, or at least he’s done a great job of crafting a persona to fit those brands), tradition (Hawk’s been incorporating brand logos into his games for a decade) and avant-garde pastiche (at a certain point, the excess becomes a statement in its own right–other examples are the incredible collage of advertisements on soccer jerseys abroad and NASCAR vehicles here in America and the sheer overwhelming tastelessness of the Vegas strip). For whatever reason, Hawk’s massive and interpolated marketing campaigns just don’t set off my sell-out radar as much as they ought to. If you’re interested, the New York Times article I linked at the beginning of this rambling paragraph is a good read. [NY Times Technology page]
• Jack Black’s anti-piracy PSA, produced as part of the run-up to the upcoming Tenacious D movie (which you can count on to be better than its horrible preview, but probably not so much better as to be actually good), is excellent. It does a great job of laying out the reasons why it’s so important to stop internet pirates before artists lose any motivation to create. Do your duty as a global citizen and watch it right away. [Boing Boing]