Meet the Brothers - Mike

The year I was born...

1. Michael Jordan hit “The Shot” over Ehlo.
2. Pete Rose was banned from baseball.
3. An earthquake shook the World Series.

My Teams

NFL – Green Bay Packers (part-owner with 1 share of stock), Cleveland Browns

MLB – Cleveland Indians

NHL – Detroit Red Wings

NCAAFB & BB – Akron Zips (the rubber capitol of the world!)

My Favorite Sports Moment

The Packers winning Super Bowl XLV.

 It's weird the way one's fandom is shaped, and it's always interesting to look back on.

Favre made me a Packer fan. Yzerman a Red Wings fan. When you're 8, you pick the team that wins the big one. Being born in Akron, the Tribe was in my blood (plus my Gran would kill me if I rooted for any other team). The Browns weren't there when I started watching football but came back in '99, so they became my secondary team and haven't done much for me since.

I'm a sports logo geek. Ever since I was 8 years old I have been fascinated by logos, jerseys, posters—if it's got a design on it, I've got to look at it and say something about it. My love for the artistic side of sports was furthered when I realized there weren't a lot of teams in any sport looking for a 5'9”, 150 lb. string bean with a horrible 40 time and even worse endurance.

This love has driven me to become a sports graphic designer. I eat, sleep and breathe the stuff along with the sports themselves. I've worked with the Univ. of Memphis, the Knoxville Ice Bears, and UT-Chattanooga to name a few. I will be concentrating the majority of my design time in minor league baseball when I start working with the Tennessee Smokies, the AA-affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, this upcoming week.

As you can see, I've sampled most all the sports in my design life, and have certainly watched enough of them over the years. Here's to an highly opinionated and over debated 2013!

-Mike