Memphis Redbirds will wear Egyptian uniforms, complete with hieroglyphs
When John Overton, James Winchester and future president Andrew Jackson founded a small village on Tennessee's southwestern border in 1819, they envisioned it growing into a great metropolis on the banks of the mighty Mississippi. So, they named it after another grand river-centered city from way back in the day: Memphis, Egypt.
The Memphis-Memphis connection has manifested in numerous ways. The Memphis Tigers and Grizzlies played in a pyramid-shaped arena until 2004, you'll find a statue of Ramesses II on the University of Memphis campus and the Memphis Zoo has a spectacular Egyptian-themed entrance gate.
Enter the Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A affiliate of the Cardinals), who plan to wear the uniforms you see above on June 7. The navy and gold stripes recall the motif on famous sarcophogi like that of Tutankhamen, and the "redbird" appears in the style of Egyptian animal-headed gods like Horus.
As for the hieroglyphic team wordmark, it reads "Memphis," but not in an English transliteration kind of way -- it actually represents one of Memphis' Egyptian-language names, "Men-Nefer," meaning "enduring and beautiful."