Would Chennai Ever Call Its Team "The Crows"?

Would Chennai Ever Call Its Team "The Crows"?

Football season is here in the US, and while watching football recently, something completely unrelated to football got me thinking.

The Baltimore Ravens.

Think about that name for a minute.

A Raven.

A black bird.

Baltimore didn't try to make it glamorous by calling themselves the Baltimore Kings, Warriors, Emperors or Super Something.

They proudly called themselves the Ravens.

And then they built an entire identity around it.

The name comes from Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem The Raven. Poe had strong connections to Baltimore, and when the franchise needed a name, Ravens won the public vote.

But what fascinates me even more is what they did with that bird.

Black and purple became powerful colors. The raven became intelligent, aggressive and mysterious. Their mascots were even brilliantly named Edgar, Allan and Poe.

And today nobody looks at a Ravens player wearing black and thinks his skin color has anything to do with the bird on his helmet.

Black players. White players. Brown players.

They are all Ravens.

The bird represents the TEAM—not the complexion of the men playing for it.

That got this Chennai boy thinking.

Could we ever have called Chennai's IPL team the Chennai Crows?

Come on.

You know the answer.

There would have been a riot before the first ball was bowled!

And that is precisely why I find this interesting.

I grew up in Chennai. We are a city full of wonderfully brown and dark-skinned people.

And we are also a city full of crows!

They are everywhere.

More importantly, the crow is actually a remarkable bird—intelligent, adaptable, social, resourceful and incredibly good at surviving.

Those aren't bad qualities for a cricket team!

So imagine this:

CHENNAI CROWS.

Initially I thought—black jerseys!

Then the Chennai boy in me immediately said:

Are you crazy? Have you ever been to Chennai in Summer? 

Nobody wants to stand at Chepauk in 100-degree heat wearing an all-black jersey.

So forget the black jersey.

Keep the yellow!

Yellow for Chennai sunshine.

Then run a couple of sweeping black stripes across the yellow jersey. Shape those stripes cleverly so they form the outline of a crow.

No complicated logo required.

A couple of black strokes.

One little dot for the eye.

That's it.

The Chennai Crow.

Actually, the more I think about it, the cooler it sounds.

Forty thousand people at Chepauk wearing sunshine yellow with those black crow stripes.

And when the opposition loses a wicket?

CAW! CAW! CAW!

Tell me that wouldn't be intimidating!

But culturally, I am not sure we could have sold it.

Somewhere along the way, particularly in India, we have attached too much meaning to fairness, darkness, beauty and status.

Calling someone "black" or comparing someone to a crow can become an insult.

And that is where the Baltimore Ravens comparison becomes interesting to me.

Baltimore didn't run away from the darkness of the bird.

They marketed it.

They made it powerful.

They made it intelligent.

They made it cool.

People proudly pay good money to walk around wearing a raven on their chest.

Nobody is embarrassed to say:

"I am a Raven."

Now look at many of our IPL names.

Chennai Super Kings.

Punjab Kings.Rajasthan Royals.

Kolkata Knight Riders.

Gujarat Titans.

Lucknow Super Giants.

Royal Challengers.

Everybody wants to be a King, Royal, Knight, Titan, Giant or something SUPER! 😂

Nothing wrong with that. I am a Chennai guy and I love CSK.

But compare that with American sports.

Baltimore Ravens.

Philadelphia Eagles.

Seattle Seahawks.

Arizona Cardinals.

Atlanta Falcons.

And then Bears, Rams, Colts, Broncos, Dolphins, Jaguars and Panthers.

They take an animal, a bird or something connected to a place and ask:

What story can we build around it?

That difference fascinates me.

Baltimore took a black bird and gave it dignity.

And maybe that is where sports branding can teach us something much bigger than sports.

Maybe the problem was never the color.

Maybe the problem was the meaning we attached to the color.

A crow doesn't know it is "too black."

A raven doesn't know it is supposed to be beautiful or ugly.

Those judgments belong to us.

Maybe one day an Indian franchise should take something completely ordinary, local and even slightly unfashionable—and make us proud of it.

Forget another King.

Forget another Royal.

Give me the Chennai Crows.

Sunshine-yellow jersey.

Two sweeping black stripes.

One little dot for the eye.

Intelligence. Adaptability. Teamwork. Survival.

Very Chennai, if you ask me.

And then go win the IPL.

Trust me.

The same people who laughed at the name would be standing in line to buy that yellow-and-black jersey.

Because sometimes you don't need to change the color.

You need to change what the color means.

And perhaps that lesson goes far beyond cricket and football.

PS: Whoever eventually starts the Chennai Crows, remember where you got the jersey design. I want royalties.