In case you missed, it the USFL is coming back this year, an otherwise bright spot in our continued hellscape. At least for those of us who will watch pretty much any football.

The league is starting off with eight teams, all of which are using the names, logos, etc. of teams from the original incarnation. Which I will now rank in order of preference, because I didn't have the chance to do so in 1983.

8. Philadelphia Stars. It seems odd that I'm putting the most successful USFL franchise last, but it lands on the bottom for being a generic name with a generic logo. It looks like they've made minor tweaks to the Stars word art, and they've dumped the old gold color in favor of both orange and gold. None of which helps.

7. New Jersey Generals. I don't like the changes they've made to the logo. I find the stars too close together. Also not a fan that they still have five official colors. But the name is fine if generic.

6. Birmingham Stallions. They've also cleaned up the word art and logo, but have kept the colors more or less the same. Nothing wrong here per se, but I like the other five teams better (as well as this other Stallions franchise).

5. Michigan Panthers. Another case of making the logo and word art sharper, and the light blue accent seems more prominent than the original. I was going to rail about both changes, but in looking at old photos I think the changes are less significant than I originally assumed. 

4. New Orleans Breakers. New word art, but the logo looks very close to the original. I'm probably being a total homer for ranking them this high, but they will always be the Boston Breakers to me.

3. Pittsburgh Maulers. I was never a fan of their color scheme. But I like the name and the logo, and the changes they made to the word art and logo are an improvement. 

2. Tampa Bay Bandits. They've also neatened up their word art and logo, and it's also an improvement (though their originals weren't too bad). Very solid and traditional color scheme that works well with a great nickname.

1. Houston Gamblers. They refreshed the word art (an improvement) and it doesn't look like they changed much else. Which is good, as most everything else about their nickname, logo, and colors is great. I still find five official colors too much, but when everything else works that's a minor quibble.