Monthly Archives: October 2016

Autumn … leaves changing beautiful colors, pumpkin spice, cooler weather, and FOOTBALL! This time of year is a favorite for all the wonderful things from hoodies to Oktoberfest beer, but perhaps the most anticipated event is the kick-off to the football season. Every fan nationwide pulls out their favorite team’s shirts, hats, bobble heads, flags, and colors to show their love for the home team. Fans can be fanatic about their teams, whether because they grew up watching them or because of an emotional tie to the team name and colors. Some of the NFL teams have been around since the 1920s, back when the league was known as the American Football League. Rooted in history, some of these franchises have changed names, cities, and owners over time, but their logos remained a part of the fabric of the team.

Patton, 1970

Just like countries, many cities across the world sport flags. Some of these are resplendent banners that portray an aspect of their city with dignity and clarity. Some of these are dreadful errors. A few examples of intriguing city flags follow.

We’ll start with some of the better ones, in no particular order.

Buffalo, New York

Now that’s a flag! Stars you can see on any number of flags, but lightning bolts are awesome. Throw in a pleasant old-style ship and lighthouse on the seal, and everyone in Buffalo has more to be proud of than just wings.

Flags are easy, right? A couple of colors on a rectangle, maybe a quick symbol … call it a day and hit the links. Sure, if all you’re looking for is to disappoint everyone in your entire country. Why not shake things up a little, like these visionaries did?

We’re actually going to limit this a bit to just the most unique symbols on flags, rather than the most striking designs, like, say, Nepal’s.

(That’s the whole thing, by the way. There’s no white beyond the blue. It’s the only non-quadrilateral flag of a country in the world.)

Instead, we’ll just take