Grand Arrival: Expansion RGV Vipers unveil logo

McALLEN — The Rio Grande Valley Vipers sure know how to put some spice, or in this case venom, into an announcement.

Friday afternoon on the parking lot at the RGV Development League team’s offices, its logo was unveiled on the side of a truck amidst billowing smoke and the blaring horn of a fire truck in front of approximately 200 onlookers.

What those in attendance witnessed was a logo featuring a long gray snake with some black accents and a red forked tongue pointing east with its body wrapped around a red basketball. The name Rio Grande Valley VIPERS was splashed across the ball, and the catchphrase “Feel The Venom!” was just below.

“It’s awesome,” said Lupe Medina of Edinburg. “It’s intimidating. Feel The Venom. There’s going to be some scared NBA D-League teams out there across the country. They’re not going to want to come to the Valley.”

The Vipers’ logo was the final version of an image modified at various points during the last few months before meeting team and NBA approval.

Co-owner and president Ryan Murphy said the team’s uniforms, which were not available for display Friday, will be white for home games and black when the Vipers play on the road. Merchandise with the new logo should arrive in the area later next month.

An earlier version of the logo was deemed “too aggressive” with the snake’s mouth open and fangs baring. The logo unveiled Friday was something that Murphy, the team’s other owners, coach Bob Hoffman and head of basketball operations George Gervin contributed to and eventually agreed upon.

“We went through more than a few variations of logos,” Murphy said. “Among the last two there were still a number of color variations to it and minor modifications. I think that everybody really agreed that this was the best logo.

“We want people to think about an aggressive posture and a quick strike (when viewing the logo). I’ve seen little kids taking their two fingers and sticking them up in the air. We really tried to approach it from multiple directions and see what would be the best.”

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Todd Mavreles covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451.