N.C.A.A. Lifts Ludicrous Rule on Road Jerseys; Football Fashions Now Bursting with Color Combinations
by T Kyle King on Jun 6, 2009 9:56 AM EDT
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PrintNo sooner had I ripped the N.C.A.A. a new one than Dr. Saturday called my attention to the college football rules committee’s sensible and long overdue decision to dispense with the outdated rule requiring the visiting team to wear white jerseys.
There was a time when this rule made a certain degree of sense. When millions of Americans still watched television on monochromatic sets, the contrast between, say, Georgia’s red jerseys and Auburn’s navy blue jerseys was insufficient to allow viewers to differentiate between the two in black and white. Obviously, though, this rule has been a quaint anachronism for many years, since color television long has been the norm in American households.
This is good news for anyone who thought it was silly for Louisiana State to have to ask special permission to wear white jerseys at home, or for Southern California and U.C.L.A. to have to agree to exchange charged time outs as the penalty for wearing cardinal and blue uniform shirts on the same field at the same time. When this rule ceased to serve any practical end, it became merely a useless impediment to the restoration of time-honored traditions.
This is a good move, and it raises some interesting possibilities. Now that both teams can wear their home jerseys, we might, for instance, see Clemson don the orange pants and purple jerseys on the blue field against Boise State . . . or, Heaven forbid, Oregon and Oregon State breaking out their sartorial best for the battle of the webbed feet.
On which foreign fields would you most like to see the Bulldogs emerge from the tunnel wearing their home red jerseys? at Oklahoma State on September 5? at Tennessee on October 10? at Georgia Tech on November 28?
Which visiting teams would you most like to see in their preferred jerseys between the hedges? Arizona State on September 26? L.S.U. on October 3? Auburn on November 14?
Go ‘Dawgs!
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Historic Grant Field seems like the logical choice...
… especially since most of the fans in the stands are Georgia fans, anyway.
A thought occurs
As soon as I typed that, a far more urgent issue occurred to me. The worst possible outcome I can think of from this decision would be the Dawgs choosing to wear the black jerseys on the road.
I already think that 3 blackouts in 2 seasons is at least 1 too many. Trying to blackout a team on the road changes the blackout from an event, our version of the “nuclear option,” to simply a uniform option. Both times the blackout has happened at home, the Sanford Stadium crowd was palpably different… more electric, more excited. The 2008 Alabama game is the perfect example. A typical Georgia crowd would have been shocked into silence right around the time the score was 21-0, and would have been out of it the rest of the game (that is, the ones that stayed past the midway part of the 3rd quarter would have been out of it).
Instead, the crowd was still rocking, even when we were down 31-0. When Georgia came out for the second half, the crowd was loud and supportive, which truly blew me away. All the way up to the final minutes, when Bama iced the game with their final score, the crowd was far more “into it” than they would have normally been. I attribute this to the blackout phenomenon, since the 2007 Auburn crowd was the same way, even when Auburn scored to take the lead in the 2nd half of that game.
If Georgia tries to black out Oklahoma State in front of 55,000 Cowboy fans and 5,000 Georgia fans, however, the “phenomenon” effect is lost. The black jerseys mean something special now, and we shouldn’t pull them out any more than once a year, at most, and never in an opponent’s home stadium.
With all that said, I think it is appropriate for that one game to potentially be the Florida game, where the crowd is evenly split 50/50. The bottom line is that the blackout is, and should remain, a phenomenon… a “happening”… not just a uniform option.
Grant Field? Really?
Didn’t Tech used to pull an LSU and wear white at home anyway? Not that the symbolism of us wearing red and them wearing white in front of a mostly red crowd wouldn’t be kinda cool…
I definitely agree with the blackout comments, though. I think we should only wear black to the Florida game if UF agrees to wear orange — since the game is on Halloween this year, it would be festive!
I want us to wear the red jerseys . . .
. . . On January 7 at the Rose Bowl.
Leaving insightful football commentary and analysis to other people since 2006.
Wait just a second...
Kyle, I thought you were the superstitious one? Let’s not forget that Mark Richt is the best road coach in the country, and those wins all came with white jerseys (except at LSU). This makes me just a little nervous. Check with your son the mojo savant.
I mean, I love the red jerseys, but it seems like the white ones give us a little edge.
But good rule overall.
I was thinking similarly..
This rule is great! It now means that we can wear our white jerseys all the time. I now feel MUCH better about our prospects going forward.
100 cocktails, wesgiglio
I hadn’t thought about that, but you’re absolutely right. Forget I said anything.
Go 'Dawgs!
White jerseys.
I hope this by means means the end of the white jersey and silver britches. I think the Dawgs look damn good in white, and it also makes their home games after a road trip seem great because they break out the red again. Hopefully the team doesn’t get carried away with this and they instead stick to the red for home and white on the road.
As for the blackout, I think I’m paraphrasing Doug here when I say the jerseys should be burned and shot into the depths of outer space after what happened against Bama.
How bout in a couple years...
Our red jerseys against the black jerseys of Colorado out in the Midwest?
by Dawgomatic,forthePeople on Jun 8, 2009 10:57 PM EDT reply actions
What a strange rule
What a strange rule. Is white jerseys reall football jerseys? Without color, how to show our passion and favorite way of express ourselves.
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