Black, Red, and White All Over

On Saturday night, I had the privilege of attending the Davidson vs. College of Charleston basketball tilt. The outcome was not very good for the home team as the Wildcats not only lost on national television, but had their Southern Conference winning streak of 43 snapped, as well as their 27-game home winning streak.

The buzz around the campus was palpable throughout the week. After all, Davidson would be welcoming Dick Vitale to this tiny college and there was no reason to believe the team would stumble, even to a formidable conference foe. Throughout February or so, Davidson was promoting a "Black-Out Belk" event - people could purchase a "Black-Out Belk" t-shirt for the game, creating a unified and fairly intimidating scene for the visiting Cougars (it should be noted that the proceeds for purchasing the t-shirts went to charity.)

After the defeat I went home and, like most rip-roaring Saturday nights, looked for the best basketball game on TV around 10PM. What do you know - New Mexico State at Nevada. And hey, looky there - everyone in Nevada's arena is wearing white in hopes of creating a White-Out. I would say that 75% of the lower bowl was wearing white with less that half of the home faithful wearing their white garb - it didn't look that impressive.

Same night - Duquesne upsets Xavier and the home crowd is wearing RED t-shirts for a Red OUT!!!

Same night - Gonzaga distribute free navy t-shirts to everyone in the crowd for their contest against Memphis. THEY WEREN'T EVEN PLAYING IN THEIR HOME ARENA; they played at the downtown site to hold more paying customers. I would say a hair more than half of these folks proudly displayed their ZAGS shirt for the big NAVY OUT.

In this small sample of color overload, the home team won once and lost three. This really bothered me when I woke up the next morning. How could a fan be given one option of shirt to wear to a game? It looked more like a marketing ploy to get the attention of a cable audience. Charleston, New Mexico State and Memphis didn't care much about how many of the same t-shirt their hosts wear wearing; they took it to their hosts and probably used it more as fuel to their fire than as an extinguisher.

I can remember the first OUT I saw as a youth. Back in high school, I was a pretty large sports nerd (shock) and would watch late-night, west coast playoff hockey. While at a friend's house for a raucous Friday night high school party - that included pizza and Super Nintendo - we watched the Phoenix Coyotes have their entire crowd dressed in white. That was the coolest thing I had seen at a sporting event - it literally looked like a white shield along the glass. I'm 99% sure the Coyote fans did not receive a free t-shirt for attending the game; it was just a tradition the local paper started that worked really well.

And since copying is the best form of flattery, I remember during my senior year of high school, putting signs all along the halls of Fox Chapel, requesting for my friends and acquaintances to wear white for Senior Night of the basketball season. I know it wasn't like having 18,000 hockey fans, but it was to show a sign of unity and I know that Joe and Andy and Tsai would think it was super cool. Well, I think 40-45 kids read the memo and instead of looking like a mob squad, it looked like we called each other the night before to pick matching outfits.

The day after the Davidson game, I watched Illinois destroy the visiting Purdue Boilermakers and the whole crowd was wearing orange. That was loyalty at its finest. Fans need to want to wear their team's colors and logo, not be told it would be the cool thing to do or catch the eyes of people watching television. When you go to a Nebraska Cornhusker football game, try getting through the gates wearing anything except red. Do you think anyone in Green Bay has a Packer jersey? What about at Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park - do you think those fans organize a NAVY OUT so their team knows they support them?

Having an OUT is as much of a representation of loyalty as vegetarian wearing a fur coat. Let's do what we can to keep OUTS out of our sports culture. And if you are going to stamp a requirement on the color you are going to wear to a contest, here are three rules that must be applied:

Rule #1 - If you don't wear the color that you are asked to drape yourself in, you are ejected from the game. You either are not a fan or you're too shallow.

Rule #2 - The home team is allowed one OUT per season. Failure to create a complete OUT results in a three-year probation from "forced attire regulations."

Rule #3 - No distribution of shirts for free as a gimmick. You must all wear the same color of cloak that you own or a t-shirt whose purchases all go to charity. Note: if you are not going to wear the shirt after the specified OUT, you will be asked to return the item to the distributor once the game is over and be banned from admittance for the remainder of the season.

Colors, mascots, and logos are what fans live for in what they choose to wear. Here's to fan loyalty and never once feeling like you were left OUT.