All college athletic departments should be on alert – the fashion police have veered off the runway and onto the field. Nobody wants to be subject to brutal criticism of their outer faÂade, but lately it seems one writer has had it in for the men who strut their stuff on the gridiron.As most students at TCU are probably aware of by now, at the beginning of the football season, Associated Press writer Nancy Armour deemed TCU’s purple and white the second ugliest color combo in the nation, only behind the green and yellow of the Oregon Ducks.
It seems that this sports writer, someone you’d normally guess would have nothing to say about color coordination or geometric shapes, has assumed the role and authority of a fashion major, without the degree to back it up.
Armour praises the fashion-sensible teams. The University of Texas at Austin came in at No. 4 as “the only way to wear orange” and at No. 7 Lousianna State University’s purple and yellow is apparently a better pairing than our own. I find LSU’s purple not quite royal enough and UT-Austin’s burnt orange less than appetizing.
But in light of the recent liberties writers have been wanting to take, I’d like to make a few criticisms of my own. In browsing Google Images for a glimpse of these so-called “good” uniforms, I found myself comparing each university’s lettering-font.
Take for instance my example of LSU. Since when does sans serif font equal collegiate lettering? Everyone knows you have to have the tails on the end of each letter to present that fierce and dominating face to your opponent.
And the University of California at Los Angeles Bruins: Their letters look like tired baseball memorabilia. At Penn State, they skip the print and go straight to the graphic with a lion logo. They must be going for “The Lion King” look, although the mascot is more reminiscent of the gentle face of Nala than the intimidating rashness of Scar.
I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but I’ll warn you now: Before writing this article I had no idea what UCLA’s mascot was and could not have cared less whether Penn State’s Nittany Lion appears more feminine than masculine. So do you trust my rather exaggerated, facetious opinion?
I didn’t think so – and I didn’t expect you to. And hopefully Armour doesn’t expect us to take her opinion too seriously either, but here’s a point I’d like to make. On game day, it’s not about what colors you wear, it’s about whose colors you wear – and that you do so proudly.
Just as you would support your favorite team even during its worst losing streak, no true fan would desert a team because its colors are no longer in vogue. And any person who chooses their team based on that criteria has no basis to call themselves a true fan anyway.
Note to Nancy Armour: Even though your comical article was a breath of fresh air and a compliment to the teams that made the “good” list, you should know that you can’t bring an army of Frogs down. We’re proud to be the home of the most recognizable mascot – the only Horned Frogs in the world.
Birds of a feather may flock together, but Frogs of an army bleed purple forever.
Anahita Kalianivala is a freshman English and psychology major from Fort Worth. Her column appears every Wednesday.
