Welcome to Day Two of the U.S. States and Territories Flag Tournament!!!
The Bracket
The Rules: Anyone can play. For each of the pairs of flags pitted against each other, simply indicate your favorite. Explication, derision, and/or analysis will not affect the scoring, but is nevertheless encouraged. Each winner will of course advance to the second round.
In the first round only, you may select one of your six preferred flags as especially favored; for that flag only, your vote counts double.
South Regional Voting Deadline: 11:59 p.m., Saturday, March 5. East Regional Voting Deadline: 11:59 p.m., Friday, March 4.
Hoo, boy. Not having closely studied many state flags, I'm kinda appalled to see how many in-your-face Confederate battle flag designs have been cleverly inserted into some of the banners. Oh, well. Georgia is not one of them; I seem to remember vaguely that the state flag was redesigned purposely...
Oh, my votes. AL TN (sorry, Georgia) LA (special fondness for pelicans) TX MS AR (because Oklahoma's looks like it has a road-kill armadillo on it)
umm.. that's not the real North Carolina flag - here's the real one: http://ncpedia.org/symbols/flag
It looks like what you posted is a modern neo-confederate collectible banner. (In fact the picture seems to be from a website selling "The proudest and finest Confederate merchandise on the web! - Defending your rights and proud heritage!")
1. Alabama screams "no" so I'll vote for Florida. I'm sure the seal on that flag contains some lovely picture of a swamp.
2. Tennessee, definitely. Generic yet unique. I like it.
3. I'm still mad at the Louisiana flag because it was part of a quiz question I missed last year, so I'll throw my support behind the flag of Kentucky and same-sex marriage.
4. I hate to say this, given my grievances with the politicians in and from the state, but I will pick the flag of Texas over the sad and jaundiced eagle of the Virgin Islands.
5. I don't like the confederate element in either, but Mississippi is slightly less offensive to me. Though if the-other-Michael is correct on the flag issue above, I'll switch my vote for the confederate-symbol-free version of the North Carolina flag.
6. Wow, Arkansas, that's a butt-ugly flag design you have there. Ooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain for the win.
1. AL should win by all rules of good flag design, but ya know what? Screw good flag design. I think it looks blah. At least the FL flag has a focal point. So FL wins.
Tennessee - even though it looks sort of like it should be the logo for a chain of gas stations
Louisiana - because I like pelicans. Heck - I like pelicans enough that I'll give this one my double vote! PELICANS!
Texas - because it's actually a good flag.
North Carolina (the real one) because it doesn't have a Confederate battle flag on it.
Oklahoma - this one was a tough call - Neither of them is that great and I don't like the fact that they have the state names on them, but I'm voting for celebrating Native American heritage over celebrating Confederate heritage.
Crikey! Apologies to early voters and to the good people of North Carolina for the vandalized version of that state's flag that found its way into my image banks.
Lamentably, I must call back the Mississippi vs. North Carolina votes for Elaine, the Owl, & gs49 (though he suspected something was up). A revote is welcome of course.
Elizabeth's vote is tallied for NC, as is The Little Gringa's, and lamanyana's.
Michael, thanks for defending North Carolina's rights and proud heritage!
Seal versus no seal on an otherwise identical flag: a very simple choice that hits at the fundamental nature of this contest. Day one seemes to have established that fiddly seals are normal for state flags, so do I vote for the seal, or against it. This is sort of a reverse tragedy of the commons. For each individual flag, no seal makes a better flag, yet if all the states were to pay attention to my whims, I would lose the gallery of amusingly overdetailed people in anachronistic costumes, scrollwork, latin mottos, ships, ungulates and implements of pioneering trades, and have only a sea of banners so simple they looked like maritime signalling flags.
Tennessee - with delight
Yes! That is simple, memorable, non-traditional yet stately, has no seal and is brilliant. There is hope for flag staehood beyond pastoral seals! Georgia is not bad. It is at least a flag and not a doodle. In another bracket it could have gone far, but it had no chance here.
Louisiana - after much agonizing
This division is much stronger than yesterday's. I think either of these flags could have taken any of the Eastern division, and they are both strong condendors for this bracket. I mean baby animals? When do they not lose? Especially baby funny animals. I'm so intrigued by the ambiguous relationship between the two figures on the Kentucky flag. Is that two guys or a man and a woman? The one on the left appears to be wearing a buckskin skirt and bare feet, so would suggest a native person, but s/he looks blonde. I want to see the next panel, where the two exchange a passionate kiss. I want to see the two flags combined, with the two soaring off over the green and yellow leaved plants mounted atop magnificent pelicans. I don't want to choose between them. In the end I have to remember that this is a flag contest and not a comic strip, and that the pelican is a little more recognizable from afar.
Texas - without hesitation
Texas has a better flag that the nation it joined. Texas is probably the runner up to France for the archtype of flags. It doesn't mean that it can't be beaten, just that its competitor has to do better than a roadkilled beige eagle on a white background and an abbreviation for a name.
Mississippi - with an oddly conditioned "no" reflex
Absent all emotional value, the same symbol is better displayed in on the classic tricolour than next to a bunch of words and dates, the latter of which I suspect include some bitter historical reciminations. The confederate cross means nothing especially to me beyond Dukes of Hazzard reruns, but when I see it I'm conditioned to get a little knot in my stomach on behalf of the people who will protest its presence, and of others who will proclaim their right to their history. The rights of the conquered are always a delicate thing, whether they were conquered as individuals and dragged to a foreign land as slaves, or conquered at war in bloody battle. Afterwards, no one wants to hold up their head and admit that some conquering went on here, so it festers.
Oklahoma - with sadness
Arkansas should not have chosen to write their name on the flag, and they could probably get by with a few fewer stars. A star-bordered diamond on a red field would have won this contest for them, but they made it messy and forced me to consider the competitor. I should abhor Oklahoma's flag as an act of cultural appropriation, like stripping a man naked, telling him it's because he wears stupid clothes, then taking his clothes for yourself. I choose to read it as an apology: cultural symbols of a genocided people crossed with a symbol of the natural world that was taken from them, displayed on a field of tears.
I'm confused. Why is the wrong NC flag still up, and why is the real one as linked by the other Michael so much less professional looking than the fake one? My vote does not change based on the new information. Mississippi is still better.
Florida - It's very difficult to see the seal for Florida but it looks intricate and complicated and I like that. I'm not planning on sewing one of those anytime soon.
Tennessee - Love that flag!
Kentucky - lesser of two uglies
Virgin Islands - somebody has to vote for them.
NC - I kinda like the flag anyway but stars & bars have no place in a civilized world.
Arkansas - OK it's a little starsy-barsy but I just kind of like the look.
Florida: They're the same flag, except Florida did it better. Tennessee: The little blue bit on the end makes it win. Otherwise a tie. Louisiana: Pelicans are cool USVI: I've never really liked the Texan flag. Also, the V and I are cool. North Carolina: Makes me happier. Arkansas: Cluttered, but in an aesthetically pleasing way.
1. Florida... for not looking like Alabama. 2. Tennessee 3. Kentucky because I think this would be a good "pro same-sex-marriage flag." 4. Texas 5. North Carolina for being less ugly than Mississippi. 6. Oklahoma - Native pride FTW!
1. Alabama over Florida. Almost the same flag--was that planned or accidental? The busy seal lost it for Florida. And who can resist voting for a big red X?
2. Tennessee over Georgia. I actually like both of these flags, but Tennessee's is more unique.
3. Louisiana over Kentucky. Pelicans!
4. Texas (double vote) over U.S. Virgin Islands. I don't think I would want to live there, but I sure like Texas' flag!
5. Mississippi over North Carolina. Although the text makes NC's flag more easily identifiable, I feel it detracts from it graphically.
6. Arkansas over Oklahoma. Although all the stars on Arkansas' flag make it look like a corporate logo (Converse?), it would stand out nicely on a clear day. Oklahoma's flag, not so much.
Ah, yes, I noticed the difference from the version at wikipedia, and figured you'd used the state rather than civil flag or something...either way, the Calendar Girls are going down.
I still vote for Mississippi's flag. NC's is just a mess.
@Cartophiliac Yeah, I didn't check anyplace re the newer GA flag, but 'the stars and bars' might also commemorate the fact that the seceding states actually did have a constitutional right to leave the Union. Obviously, the North made THEIR opinion stick by winning the war, and so we never got the chance to see slavery end of its own weight as improving technology made it obsolete. My objection to the Confederate battle flag has less to do with our (entire country's) slave-holding past and much more to do with the later associations (KKK, etc.) that are so appalling--and 'alive and well' all over the US (not just the South.)
Alabama over Florida - that's just a mess in the middle there, it looks like.
Georgia over Tennessee - Tennessee just looks too corporate, and the random navy bar on the right bugs me.
Louisiana over Kentucky - I like the pelican wounding herself to feed her children; nice reference. And "United we stand, divided we fall" - what a wussy motto. If you're going to go with something that trite, at least put it in another language so that it sounds cool as it rolls off the tongue.
Virgin Islands over Texas - Like them both, like the eagle a little more. Could be swayed, though.
North Carolina over Mississippi - Simply can't support something with the Confederate Flag in it - I'm from the South originally, and while I'm perfectly aware of what those who fly it claim it stands for, it's also pretty clear what it really stands for.
Oklahoma over Arkansas - Don't love either, but I prefer the symbolism of Oklahoma to that of Arkansas - a diamond shape because it's the only state with a diamond mine (and that's not even true anymore!) - pathetic.
Voting in the Infinite Art Tournament? Awesome. And, please be aware that purely anonymous votes are not counted. You don't need to log in or use your real name, but you must identify yourself in some fashion for your vote to count.
Hoo, boy. Not having closely studied many state flags, I'm kinda appalled to see how many in-your-face Confederate battle flag designs have been cleverly inserted into some of the banners. Oh, well. Georgia is not one of them; I seem to remember vaguely that the state flag was redesigned purposely...
ReplyDeleteOh, my votes.
AL
TN (sorry, Georgia)
LA (special fondness for pelicans)
TX
MS
AR (because Oklahoma's looks like it has a road-kill armadillo on it)
Southern Conference, Rd 1.
ReplyDeleteAlabama Fighting Irish def. Florida Crested Irish
Tennessee Constellation def. Georgia Crusaders
Louisiana Pelicans def. Kentucky Peacemakers
Texis Sherrifs def. US Virgin Islands Eagles
Mississippi Rebels def. North Carolina Calendar Girls
Arkansas Diamondbacks def. Oklahoma Fourty-Sixers
1. Alabama
ReplyDeleteThe simple graphic wins easily
2. Tennessee
Same reason
3. Louisiana
The pelican is more unique, and more visible, than KY's gay couple.
4. Texas
Not great, but stronger than VI's
5. Mississippi
Is NC's banner really a flag? Miss's is much better; besides, I'm from there.
6. Oklahoma
While the graphic quality of AR's flag is better, OK's Indian design references the place in an interesting manner.
umm.. that's not the real North Carolina flag - here's the real one:
ReplyDeletehttp://ncpedia.org/symbols/flag
It looks like what you posted is a modern neo-confederate collectible banner. (In fact the picture seems to be from a website selling "The proudest and finest Confederate merchandise on the web! - Defending your rights and proud heritage!")
1. Alabama screams "no" so I'll vote for Florida. I'm sure the seal on that flag contains some lovely picture of a swamp.
ReplyDelete2. Tennessee, definitely. Generic yet unique. I like it.
3. I'm still mad at the Louisiana flag because it was part of a quiz question I missed last year, so I'll throw my support behind the flag of Kentucky and same-sex marriage.
4. I hate to say this, given my grievances with the politicians in and from the state, but I will pick the flag of Texas over the sad and jaundiced eagle of the Virgin Islands.
5. I don't like the confederate element in either, but Mississippi is slightly less offensive to me. Though if the-other-Michael is correct on the flag issue above, I'll switch my vote for the confederate-symbol-free version of the North Carolina flag.
6. Wow, Arkansas, that's a butt-ugly flag design you have there. Ooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain for the win.
1. AL should win by all rules of good flag design, but ya know what? Screw good flag design. I think it looks blah. At least the FL flag has a focal point. So FL wins.
ReplyDelete2. TN. No contest.
3. LA. Love the pelican.
4. TX. Hook 'em, Horns.
5. NC, but for the real NC flag.
6. OK is, well, OK
Oh - I should vote...
ReplyDeleteAlabama - nice and simple
Tennessee - even though it looks sort of like it should be the logo for a chain of gas stations
Louisiana - because I like pelicans. Heck - I like pelicans enough that I'll give this one my double vote! PELICANS!
Texas - because it's actually a good flag.
North Carolina (the real one) because it doesn't have a Confederate battle flag on it.
Oklahoma - this one was a tough call - Neither of them is that great and I don't like the fact that they have the state names on them, but I'm voting for celebrating Native American heritage over celebrating Confederate heritage.
Sorry Elaine. Georgia's flag is also based on its slave-holding past:
ReplyDelete"The flag's design is based on the first National Flag of the Confederate States of America, which is nicknamed the "Stars and Bars"."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Georgia_(U.S._state)
Crikey! Apologies to early voters and to the good people of North Carolina for the vandalized version of that state's flag that found its way into my image banks.
ReplyDeleteLamentably, I must call back the Mississippi vs. North Carolina votes for Elaine, the Owl, & gs49 (though he suspected something was up). A revote is welcome of course.
Elizabeth's vote is tallied for NC, as is The Little Gringa's, and lamanyana's.
Michael, thanks for defending North Carolina's rights and proud heritage!
Alabama - but with regret.
ReplyDeleteSeal versus no seal on an otherwise identical flag: a very simple choice that hits at the fundamental nature of this contest. Day one seemes to have established that fiddly seals are normal for state flags, so do I vote for the seal, or against it. This is sort of a reverse tragedy of the commons. For each individual flag, no seal makes a better flag, yet if all the states were to pay attention to my whims, I would lose the gallery of amusingly overdetailed people in anachronistic costumes, scrollwork, latin mottos, ships, ungulates and implements of pioneering trades, and have only a sea of banners so simple they looked like maritime signalling flags.
Tennessee - with delight
Yes! That is simple, memorable, non-traditional yet stately, has no seal and is brilliant. There is hope for flag staehood beyond pastoral seals! Georgia is not bad. It is at least a flag and not a doodle. In another bracket it could have gone far, but it had no chance here.
Louisiana - after much agonizing
This division is much stronger than yesterday's. I think either of these flags could have taken any of the Eastern division, and they are both strong condendors for this bracket. I mean baby animals? When do they not lose? Especially baby funny animals. I'm so intrigued by the ambiguous relationship between the two figures on the Kentucky flag. Is that two guys or a man and a woman? The one on the left appears to be wearing a buckskin skirt and bare feet, so would suggest a native person, but s/he looks blonde. I want to see the next panel, where the two exchange a passionate kiss. I want to see the two flags combined, with the two soaring off over the green and yellow leaved plants mounted atop magnificent pelicans. I don't want to choose between them. In the end I have to remember that this is a flag contest and not a comic strip, and that the pelican is a little more recognizable from afar.
Texas - without hesitation
Texas has a better flag that the nation it joined. Texas is probably the runner up to France for the archtype of flags. It doesn't mean that it can't be beaten, just that its competitor has to do better than a roadkilled beige eagle on a white background and an abbreviation for a name.
Mississippi - with an oddly conditioned "no" reflex
Absent all emotional value, the same symbol is better displayed in on the classic tricolour than next to a bunch of words and dates, the latter of which I suspect include some bitter historical reciminations. The confederate cross means nothing especially to me beyond Dukes of Hazzard reruns, but when I see it I'm conditioned to get a little knot in my stomach on behalf of the people who will protest its presence, and of others who will proclaim their right to their history. The rights of the conquered are always a delicate thing, whether they were conquered as individuals and dragged to a foreign land as slaves, or conquered at war in bloody battle. Afterwards, no one wants to hold up their head and admit that some conquering went on here, so it festers.
Oklahoma - with sadness
Arkansas should not have chosen to write their name on the flag, and they could probably get by with a few fewer stars. A star-bordered diamond on a red field would have won this contest for them, but they made it messy and forced me to consider the competitor. I should abhor Oklahoma's flag as an act of cultural appropriation, like stripping a man naked, telling him it's because he wears stupid clothes, then taking his clothes for yourself. I choose to read it as an apology: cultural symbols of a genocided people crossed with a symbol of the natural world that was taken from them, displayed on a field of tears.
Extra vote for most favoured: Tennessee
I'm confused. Why is the wrong NC flag still up, and why is the real one as linked by the other Michael so much less professional looking than the fake one? My vote does not change based on the new information. Mississippi is still better.
ReplyDeleteRefreshed page again, Now I see the real one. It's ugly.
ReplyDeleteAviatrix: The right NC flag is up. Red bar over white bar, hold the Confederate cross. Refresh your cache?
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad we can put this all behind us.
ReplyDeleteVotes to:
ReplyDeleteAlabama
Tennessee
Mama Bird Louisiana
Texas
Mississippi
hmmmm...Arkansas
Alabama
ReplyDeleteTennessee
Lousisana
Texas
Noth Carolina
Oklahoma
I found those all to be really easy choices. A clear preference in every pairing.
Florida - It's very difficult to see the seal for Florida but it looks intricate and complicated and I like that. I'm not planning on sewing one of those anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteTennessee - Love that flag!
Kentucky - lesser of two uglies
Virgin Islands - somebody has to vote for them.
NC - I kinda like the flag anyway but stars & bars have no place in a civilized world.
Arkansas - OK it's a little starsy-barsy but I just kind of like the look.
Florida: They're the same flag, except Florida did it better.
ReplyDeleteTennessee: The little blue bit on the end makes it win. Otherwise a tie.
Louisiana: Pelicans are cool
USVI: I've never really liked the Texan flag. Also, the V and I are cool.
North Carolina: Makes me happier.
Arkansas: Cluttered, but in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Thank you for providing this desperately needed break from editing particularly tortuous prose.
ReplyDeleteAlabama
Tennessee
Louisiana, two votes for baby pelicans, even if it is dumb on a flag
Texas, yep
they're both pretty hideous - NC
Arkansas!
1. Florida... for not looking like Alabama.
ReplyDelete2. Tennessee
3. Kentucky because I think this would be a good "pro same-sex-marriage flag."
4. Texas
5. North Carolina for being less ugly than Mississippi.
6. Oklahoma - Native pride FTW!
1. Alabama over Florida. Almost the same flag--was that planned or accidental? The busy seal lost it for Florida. And who can resist voting for a big red X?
ReplyDelete2. Tennessee over Georgia. I actually like both of these flags, but Tennessee's is more unique.
3. Louisiana over Kentucky. Pelicans!
4. Texas (double vote) over U.S. Virgin Islands. I don't think I would want to live there, but I sure like Texas' flag!
5. Mississippi over North Carolina. Although the text makes NC's flag more easily identifiable, I feel it detracts from it graphically.
6. Arkansas over Oklahoma. Although all the stars on Arkansas' flag make it look like a corporate logo (Converse?), it would stand out nicely on a clear day. Oklahoma's flag, not so much.
Ah, yes, I noticed the difference from the version at wikipedia, and figured you'd used the state rather than civil flag or something...either way, the Calendar Girls are going down.
ReplyDeleteI still vote for Mississippi's flag. NC's is just a mess.
ReplyDelete@Cartophiliac
Yeah, I didn't check anyplace re the newer GA flag, but 'the stars and bars' might also commemorate the fact that the seceding states actually did have a constitutional right to leave the Union. Obviously, the North made THEIR opinion stick by winning the war, and so we never got the chance to see slavery end of its own weight as improving technology made it obsolete. My objection to the Confederate battle flag has less to do with our (entire country's) slave-holding past and much more to do with the later associations (KKK, etc.) that are so appalling--and 'alive and well' all over the US (not just the South.)
I forgot my extra-special vote in this round, but it goes to Oklahoma, just for the hell of it.
ReplyDeleteFlorida
ReplyDeleteTennessee
Louisiana
Texas
Mississippi
Oklahoma
My extra vote to the Pelican State, LA.
ReplyDelete1) Alabama
ReplyDelete2) Tennessee
3) Louisiana
4) Texas
5) Mississippi
6) Arkansas
Extra Vote: Mississippi, because it needs the help.
Alabama over Florida - that's just a mess in the middle there, it looks like.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia over Tennessee - Tennessee just looks too corporate, and the random navy bar on the right bugs me.
Louisiana over Kentucky - I like the pelican wounding herself to feed her children; nice reference. And "United we stand, divided we fall" - what a wussy motto. If you're going to go with something that trite, at least put it in another language so that it sounds cool as it rolls off the tongue.
Virgin Islands over Texas - Like them both, like the eagle a little more. Could be swayed, though.
North Carolina over Mississippi - Simply can't support something with the Confederate Flag in it - I'm from the South originally, and while I'm perfectly aware of what those who fly it claim it stands for, it's also pretty clear what it really stands for.
Oklahoma over Arkansas - Don't love either, but I prefer the symbolism of Oklahoma to that of Arkansas - a diamond shape because it's the only state with a diamond mine (and that's not even true anymore!) - pathetic.