State-themed North Carolina FC shoots for MLS status

After a decade in existence, the Carolina RailHawks soccer club in Cary, N.C., is no more -- well, sorta. On December 6, 2016, it was announced that the club is now known as North Carolina FC. And in addition to the rebranding, owner Steve Malik stated that he is "aggressively" pursuing a new downtown Raleigh stadium that will hold more than 20,000 people, and that he plans for the team to be part of Major League Soccer in the next 12-18 months.

The look and branding of "NCFC" has a distinct North Carolina feel, from the colors down to the symbolism, which we have touched on before here. From the team's website:

NC Star:
The white five-point star sits at the peak of NCFC’s crest and is a stark symbol of the star on the North Carolina state flag. ...

The Triangle Area:
The lower right point of the NCFC star, in the shape of the geographical Triangle area, stands alone to place emphasis on the club’s location. ...

Wordmark:
“North Carolina” sits in the center of the badge in white letters. The proprietary font titled Sir Walter honors the state capital’s namesake, Sir Walter Raleigh.

Football Club Wings:
The “FC” acronym lies between two airplane wings as an ode to North Carolina’s motto: “First in Flight.” Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright invented and flew the first successful airplane, the Flyer, from atop of Kill Devil Hill in Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903. ...

Atlantic Blue:
Representing loyalty and stability, the crest’s predominant color, Atlantic Blue, lays the framework of the NCFC logo. Known for its iconic lighthouses, the North Carolina coast meets with the Atlantic Ocean for over 300 miles. Blue is one of the two official state colors and is the vertical field on the left of the state flag.

Cardinal Red:
Named for the North Carolina state bird, Cardinal Red incorporates the energy and passion of the club’s identity and fan base into the NCFC crest. Red is the second official state color and is found in the horizontal bar of the North Carolina state flag.

Southern Gold:
Southern Gold encircles the NCFC crest and is concentrated within the lower right point of the star and airplane wings. The color honors the state’s history of abundant gold resources and athletic excellence. The discovery of a 17-pound gold nugget in Cabarrus County, NC sparked the North Carolina gold rush in 1799, boosting the state’s enterprise into the 19^th century. ...

Oak City Acorn:
The crest’s shield resembles the shape of an acorn, representing the club’s allegiance to the state’s capital affectionately known as the City of Oaks because of the oak-lined streets in the heart of Raleigh. As the seed of the deep-rooted oak tree, the acorn symbolizes the growth and ambition that NCFC possesses.

From Peak to Point:
The top point of the five-point star creates a peak that epitomizes the state’s vast mountainous region. With the highest mountain peaks east of the Rockies in the Appalachian Mountains, to the state’s seven world-renowned coastal lighthouses, North Carolina is a state that is diverse, unique and unparalleled.

Seems like the state is pretty well covered. About the only thing missing is a way to incorporate the likeness of Andy Griffith.

In all seriousness, kudos to NCFC for really embracing the state -- whether you are jazzed about the team name or not.

Huntersville, Apex, Cary dubbed 'Relovilles'

Forbes has dubbed Huntersville, Apex and Cary as "Relovilles," meaning they are good places to which to move.

The folks who move to these places, dubbed "Reloss," look for places that "cater largely to them--young, mid- and upscale suburbs near their companies' plants and office parks outside Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Raleigh, Charlotte, Chicago, Washington, Indianapolis or Minneapolis. Today, Alpharetta, Ga., Huntersville, N.C., Apex, N.C., Parker, Col., and Castle Rock, Col. are among the country's top 'relovilles.'"

Also on the list is Cary.

Ridin' the N.C. rails

I had the absolute pleasure -- and I don't use that term lightly -- to take Amtrak's Piedmont train from Raleigh to Charlotte a little over a week ago. It had been a decade since my last Amtrak experience -- a horrid, 18-hour (each way) affair from Raleigh to Fort Lauderdale.

Needless to say, I was cautiously optimistic about what lay before me. My previous experience coupled with the fluid and flawless rail trips in Europe -- and the horror stories of American train trips that I've heard/read about -- made me suspect that not only would the Piedmont not get to the Queen City in the estimated three hours, but that it may be a dirty, smelly and generally unpleasant trip.

How wrong I was, thankfully.

The Piedmont was scheduled to leave Raleigh at 7 a.m. (Truth be told, if there is a building in Raleigh that could use some aesthetic help, it is the downtown Amtrak depot. It doesn't exhude pleasantness.) It left at -- wha-lah! -- 7 a.m. It got to Cary at the scheduled 7:11; Durham at 7:30; and so on and so on. Yes, it lost a minute or two along the way, but I was in Charlotte at roughly 10:15 -- some six minutes after it was supposed to arrive.

The fact that I had ample leg room (made me not ever want to set foot on a plane again), complimentary snacks and drinks, and plenty of time to sit back and read (or nap), made the experience one that I will gladly recreate in the near future. True, the Piedmont and thus the Carolinian don't exactly wind their way through the Alps or France's wine valleys, but you do get to see parts of North Carolina that most folks never do: N.C. State from the windows of the train; Durham's burgeoning downtown; and towns that look like they were built up around the train, like Kannapolis and Cary.

If there is a downside to traveling the train it is that Charlotte's train station is in a "worse" part of town than Raleigh's.

Is train travel conducive all the time? No; one is still better off probably driving to places such as Orlando or, ahem, Fort Lauderdale. But trips to D.C., Philly, Boston, NYC, Charlotte and Atlanta (and, for that matter, Charleston and Savannah) SHOULD be open to efficient train trips.

This trip did nothing but reinforce my belief that trains should be highly invested in as a critical mass transit option --whether for intra- or intercity travel.

Charlotte named best place in America to live

Relocate-America.com has named Charlotte the No. 1 place in America to live. Last year's winner, Asheville, dropped to No. 7. Other N.C. places on the list included Cary, Holly Springs, Indian Trail, Raleigh and Wilmington.

"Apparently, there's just something about North Carolina," writes Yahoo Finance. "For the second year in a row, America's best city in which to live lies within its borders, according to Relocate-America.com's annual list.

" 'North Carolina is very active on our radar,' said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO of HomeRoute. 'It continues to get a flood of interest from all over.'

"HomeRoute is the real estate firm that operates Relocate-America.com, a source of community information and real-estate resources for those who are relocating. Each year, the site ranks the top 100 places to live in the country.

"Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said. Special efforts are made to prevent spamming campaigns from influencing the results, he added. ..."

Here are the top 10 in Relocate-America's 2008 list:
1. Charlotte
2. San Antonio, Texas
3. Chattanooga, Tenn.
4. Greenville, S.C.
5. Tulsa, Okla.
6. Stevens Point, Wis.
7. Asheville
8. Albuquerque, N.M.
9. Huntsville, Ala.
10. Seattle, Wash.