The Trojans vs the Bruins
?Sorry everyone. No gang war, but there is a storied rivalry in college football to be played. The sheer proximity of these two is enough to invoke a bloody contest and one or two brawls on the field. I mean they’re only 10 miles apart!
But here’s the real news.
Pete Carroll, the head coach at USC, came out earlier today and said his team will wear their home jerseys to the “away” game at the Rose Bowl Saturday. Traditionally, in college football (heck it’s even stated in the rule book), colleges that travel to another team’s home field have to wear white. Carroll wants to bring back the traditional cardinal red of the Trojans vs the powder blue and gold jerseys of the Bruins that were present back in 1982 when they shared the Coliseum. Oh, and he’ll have to give up two timeouts. A small slap on the hand.
Is it just me, or does it seem like we’ve heard more about what teams will be wearing this year rather than how they expect to perform on the field?
Let’s sit back and take a look at all of the different teams who decide to wear certain jerseys for games and how it affected the game.
Case #1: Georgia football
For only the third time in program history, UGA decided to wear black jersey’s for their battle with Alabama earlier in the year. 60 minutes and 41 points allowed later they found themselves with their first loss of the season.
"I don't think you do it too much, but our fans really enjoyed it [and] our players certainly enjoyed it [last year]," Richt said. "I thought of the outstanding success as far as the fans buying into the request of the seniors [to wear black] and the fans just having a ball with it. I would think they would get excited about the blackout again." http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3602063
When did coaches and players take in to account what fans bought for the game plan? I guess they forgot to add that play designed to show their appreciation for money well spent…
Case #2: LSU football
Here’s an idea. How about you take the rules, turn them around, and wear white for home games and colored jerseys whenever it feels good? The good ole’ purple and gold are no where to be found unless you’re looking at the pants or helmets of players. But if that’s not enough, whenever LSU does wear purple or gold at home their record is worse than on the road…
Case #3: Oregon football
Can it get any worse than the Ducks? There are so many combinations between the colored jerseys, helmets, pants and shoes that announcers have trouble keeping track of players on the field. Oh, and did I mention the silver lining of numbers and names on the white jerseys they have? How about the god-awful yellow helmets and jerseys with the green O? No, no, no here’s another one. How about the green helmets and jerseys, black pants and yellow shoes? Wait, wait, wait. One more. How about the white helmets, jersey, pants and shoes? There we go. Now we look like a real duck.
As we take a look at these three schools that have stood out this year, let’s not forget about the other universities that attempted to change their luck by changing their uni’s.
Florida State’s all blacks.
Clemson’s purple top.
Maryland’s all black.
Wisconsin’s all red.
Texas Tech’s red top.
Oregon State’s all black.
And those are just to name a few!
There is a trend in college football, and more recently in professional sports, to change the style up a bit. Should we wear a different color? Should we wear throwbacks? A growing fad has entered the world of sports and teams are shying away from traditional uniforms many people have become accustomed to. There are still teams out there that reject the marketing trend like Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Alabama in college football. Color for home. White for away. Those are the rules.
It seems like a technique universities are using to boost sales and marketing, which is possibly leading to a lack of respect for the overall game. Carroll says he’ll risk giving up his two timeouts to pull of his fashion show, one for each half, but will he be saying the same thing if it’s 4th and 10 from the 30-yard-line and USC is down by 4 with 2 seconds to go? Why in the world is a head coach even bothering with how his players will look? In the future, will this mean that when a team wants to deviate from the rules harsher punishments will have to be put down to keep the integrity of the game?
A home game is a different situation because then a team is actually allowed to wear what they want, but if you’re on the road, abide by the rules. I’m all for switching up the style once a year, but when teams begin to fall into the trap of wearing something different every game, it takes away from the spectacle. Besides, universities probably have departments devoted to selection what wardrobe players will come out in on Saturdays. When it’s a distraction for the other team, use every advantage you can get within the rules, but when it distracts the team you’re on, switch tactics. In fact, I think I might put together a few wardrobe ideas for my intramural football team.
2 comments:
i like the notre dame green! i want texas to sport some black jersey sometime! i want shirts vs. skins, too!
So here I am leaving my comment for you Lane, haha.
Uniform colors...
I have a hard time believe changing a uniform from red to black (in Georgia's case) made all that much difference in their loss to Alabama or their win against Auburn the previous season. You listed several teams that do not have alternate jerseys, lets think about why.
Texas (burnt orange and white), Oklahoma (crimson and white/cream), Texas A&M (maroon and white), and Alabama (crimson and white). There really isn't room for an alternate jersey in a two color scheme that doesn't include more than two colors. With the exception of Wisconsin on your list, all the other schools have multiple schemes, and use them as gimmicks for the crowd. Yea, it might excite the players at the beginning of the game, but I doubt Darius Hayward-Bey is concerned about whether he is wearing a black, red, white, or gold jersey in the third quarter when he burns a corner to the end zone.
These are all fan attractions for ticket sales, and they set the "atmosphere" of a big game. I say that as long as it doesn't affect the performance of the players or coaches, then let everyone have their fun.
If USC wants to wear their home jerseys, as part of tradition, why not? I doubt the players are very concerned about if they're jersey will match their socks.
You talked about a lack of respect for the game. It seems like that particularly in USC's case they have an extreme reverence for the game, by honoring tradition and wearing a certain color on the shirts. We can still respect the game and wear our black jerseys once a year. If anything it gives the fan base a game to look forward to as, "the blackout game".
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