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Articles
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Bring back the purple jerseys That old-time religion By: Malamute, 20 January 2004
How can you be a member of the "purple gang" when you’re not wearing a jersey that reflects the purple of the past?
Remember the "all I saw was purple" game in 1990 when the Huskies hounded USC's Todd Marinovich all day, the game that saw the birth of the "Purple Reign" defense? In heraldry, purple signifies high rank and royalty, and in religion, sorrow and suffering. The purple colors of heraldry and religion are symbolic of the last decade of Husky football, that is, of the high rank and royalty of the national championship in 1991 and of the sorrow and suffering of the sanctions in 1993. Now, the gold helmets are fine. But those make-believe purple jerseys, dawg-gone it, they are a horse of a different color. Let's bring back the purple jersey that Willie wore and junk the tailored one that Kelley wore. Tailored uniforms are for motorcycle cops, not real football players. You can get fired at the Dub for garbing Dawgs in unfitting attire. Symbolically speaking, wasn’t Lambo jettisoned for outfitting players in purple helmets and white shoes? Fittingly, November’s color is purple, the month of the year when the Dawgs win the Apple Cup. November’s birthstone is Topaz (a golden color), which signifies fidelity. After Rick Neuheisel’s win over Arizona in November 1999, Barbara Hedges, true to golden Topaz, literally jumped on Neuheisel’s back, so loyal to her hire and the color gold. As it turned out, she was a monkey on his back in latter years, as he to her. Alas, a firing or golden handshake awaits those unfaithful to the purple and the gold. Now that both are gone, bringing back the real purple means high rank and royalty for the team, while the steadfastness of the gold means loyalty among fans, coaches and administrators. As to the religious significance of purple--sorrow and suffering--save that for the purple-loathing fans of the Pac-9, because, dawg-almighty, according to the God’s of football, they are to be rabidly bitten by and made believers of that old-time purple religion. Give me that old-time religion...and it's good enough for me. Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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