Silly Girl

So variations of the photo above are circulating all over Red Raider Land. Hey, its where I work and where I play.

This post, along with the fact that save second base weekend was a couple of weekends ago and teams were rolling out special things for breast cancer awareness, it made this girl stop and think.

Has college football become a fashion show?

I uttered these words around a bunch of male colleagues and you would have thought that I would have drop kicked an infant across the room the way they were arguing and whining about it.

This is my point with the whole thing. I think somewhere along the lines the view got skewed, for the fans in particular. I've heard every weird argument in the book. From its used for recruiting, to well... I won't go there.

So let's look at this whole, we must have new pretty uniforms every week to recruit players thing. Call me old school, but I thought a coach with a name and the ability to produce a winning program was all you really needed to pull in players. I mean look at the house that Bear Bryant built in Alabama. I have then had the argument that the only reason they have top recruits is because they are the only school in the state. I have family in the deep south that argue otherwise. There are other schools, just schools that don't have programs like the machine at Alabama, and think about this, what if the machine got built somewhere else?... uh-oh I just got existential on ya. Be careful now.

I do have to say that I have a lot of respect for Alabama's program, because it produces, without fluff. It has in essence produced a winning program without a new costume change every time they take the field... yes I went there. At this point new uniforms including helmets every week is starting to wear thin on this junkie, and I consider it a costume change... Alabama has built a program on two jerseys and one helmet. It must be awful to have so much success that you can't have new uniforms every week.

I guess I'm getting fed up with the whole what do you think of this weeks new look question... I along with every female, which makes up over half of your viewing demo have some opinions on the Red Raiders new looks.

Let's start with the gray... I as Tech Alum, didn't receive the memo that our new colors were black and gray with touches of scarlet. In fact I believe it is the scarlet and black, I could be mistaken in the chants, songs and everything else where school color is mentioned. While I admit that the gray looks sharp, there is one thing that every woman in the world will agree on and it is the sweat factor. I do not need to visibly see from my seats in the stands that the 250+ lineman has a butt crack sweat issue. While I am as turned on as the next girl by a sweaty man that works hard I don't need to see it from a long distance, without visual assistance. Stop and think about that. I will tell you this there is a reason that you rarely have the option to purchase women's workout wear in gray, and you almost never see a woman actually wearing gray to the gym. There is a reason behind it, and smart men don't wear it in the gym either.

I'm not a superstitious sports fan so when I bring up the fact that I like seeing scarlet jerseys on our team, and your argument is that we never won in them, it is totally lost on me. Its not about the color of the jersey on your back, its about the team. Did they train, did they prepare, and is their mental game in order? Those things determine a game... not a "lucky jock strap".

Here's my thing...

I know that college football is a huge industry. The alumni donations alone after a big win is reason enough to win, its a money maker. But I as a fan don't care what the team is wearing, because a loss is a loss, no matter what your wearing.

I would rather focus on the game and the strategy of what's going on and not how "fierce" a new uniform looks for game day.

Side note: I think the uniform above would be more "fierce" if the uniform was solid black with that helmet. But I'm female what do I know about color coordination, or the perception of color. For example, black is actually a menacing color, i.e. nothing good happens in the dark of night. Red's are very impassioned colors, that is also used as a symbol strong for warriors. There is a reason that gray business suits are a dime a dozen. I'm just saying...

I have then had the back handed argument that we need to recruit players so that we can have a winning program... I'm not sure I want a player playing for my team who cares more about the way he's gonna look on the gridiron over all, than how he's gonna look when he fumbles the ball.

I guess my argument is this simple, produce the program, then play dress up if you want.

I did have one loving and generous (tongue and cheek) friend point out that we were in a worse position last season under Tuberville and the team just gave up. He wants to know what I think happened. What this has to do with the fact that I think this new uniform every week thing is beyond ridiculous, I don't know.

I will first point out that we are ending our season taking on murders row. Season isn't over yet. Tech can still ... I'll say Tech up the season. I hope they don't for no other reason than Kingsbury's sake. I like the guy and I would like to see him build a program at Tech that makes every fan go Mike who?

As for last season I blame the fans for that give up. Having played organized sports, I know that when the fans are disgruntled with anything you do, at a point you wonder why do it. The fact that fans hated Tubberville and wanted his job win or lose, I would have given up too. And you can't tell me that these kids don't read it, see it, and hear it. I went to college on that campus I know how it is and how many people think that it is okay to air their opinion about everything. I'll never forget Potts having to go to classes in disguise after a loss. You thought grade school was tough, be an athlete in a football king state, in college.

Unfortunately there is an infant loop on the uniform argument, but none the less I think its ridiculous and I think that vision has gone a little wonky.

I just found it funny how many men started defending the gray when I said I didn't like it. I never knew I had so many divas in my presence.

But that's all this just junkies opinion.