The Color Purple

Glad I had several days to determine what purple-themed Uni Watch membership card to order. I had already been trying to decide on what uniform I wanted on my card. I recently scrolled through the entire library of over 2700 Uni Watch cards to get an idea. When I won last week’s raffle of a purple-themed membership card, several options came to mind. It was fun to consider my options but in the end I knew what I had to get. I also knew I’d want to bore Paul and the readers with a thousand words of my decision-making process.

With Clemson you know what they’re going to wear: orange over white at home, white over white on the road, and the orange championship pants when a title is on the line. Clemson does purple right – they wear it once a year, in mid-November, against a smaller non-conference opponent. Never for a rivalry game. The players love wearing an alternate uniform. You’d think all that purple would be too gaudy, but the shade looks good. All the purple is broken up by the numbers and pants stripes, and patches.

 

At the end of the day I’m picking Clemson because it’s my wife’s alma mater. Her family has always been rabid Clemson fans, so we’ve attended plenty of games over the years. Being inside Death Valley when the Tigers come down the hill is a unique experience. I already have small trove of rarely worn Clemson swag – mostly orange (jacket, quarter-zip, caps), some navy (golf shirt), as well as a purple cap. Years ago when Clemson first brought back purple my son got a purple #6 Charlie Whitehurst jersey, but after he out-grew it I sold it on eBay.  

So I’m picking Clemson even though the jerseys are relatively plain. LSU and the Vikings jerseys both have stripes, which gives them the edge in the looks department. Also yellow trim contrasts better with purple than orange.

The back of an orange Clemson helmet (or the back of and LSU helmet) would look good with the stripes. Or a white jersey with purple numbers and stripes. But if I’m going purple I’m going all the way – a purple jersey.

The Minnesota Vikings were my second choice. As a kid the Purple People Eaters were good, and the uniforms were clean. Simple purple jerseys with big fat white Northwestern stripes trimmed in yellow. Alan Page. Carl Eller. Jim Marshall. Maconite Bobby Bryant. Paul Krause. Fran Tarkenton. Joe Kapp. Kicker Fred Cox. Bob Lee.

 

The original Vikings uniforms also looked good, with yellow-trimmed numbers. White jerseys with Northwestern stripes. Shiny purple pants with white socks – no unitard look for sure. A huge Viking horn. And grey facemasks. But the original purple Vikings purple jersey with all the yellow trim was before they put names on the jerseys, so that rules them out. Plenty of reasons to pick the Vikings, but no one over-riding reason that I should.

LSU has great uniforms, with just the right amount of purple trim. Love the UCLA stripes, and how they match the helmet and pants. A great look. Like Clemson, LSU only brings out the purple no more than once a year. With the stripes and almost block numbers, and white pants, the purple looks good. But as good as LSU looks, they’re a rival SEC school to my kid’s alma mater (UGA). I couldn’t in good conscience pick LSU.   

Toronto Raptors: their original dino unis are classics. Plus the backs of the jerseys had a unique nameplate. Put them in the running.

 

Furman is a small school in Greenville SC, where the Falcons used to train. Lovely campus in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. My daughter-in-law’s parents went there. Friend of my wife’s family played there. Unique mascot: the Paladins. Back in the day they wore simple uniforms, just white with two purple UCLA stripes, with matching stripes on the helmets and pants. A clean look. I couldn’t find a photo so I’m going from memory. Just not much of a connection.

The Lakers don’t over-do the purple. My favorite Laker uniform was back in the Kareem era, when they had plenty of yellow and white trim to break up the purple: waistband, stripes on the pants and jersey collar, numbers, name on back, etc. Kinda liked how the jersey purple sometimes didn’t match up with the pants. Hard to dislike Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Norm Nixon, Rambis, or even Shaq and Kobe. I’ve just always liked the Celtics more, so that means I can’t be a Laker fan.

When I think of the Baltimore Ravens, I really don’t think purple. Not a fan of their number font. Their logos are okay but don’t stand out on their dark helmet. I do like their colors: the purple with black looks good, usually with clean white pants. Never a fan of anyone wearing black pants with white or dark jerseys, but I do like the mustard pants (similar to GT). Good that the Ravens only wear them once in a blue moon.

 

The Ravens make my “good purple“ list. Now for my “bad purple” teams.

 

Always thought the Colorado Rockies unis were too plain, especially the home white pinstripes. At least they’ve stuck with it and not changed every few years. The Rockies wear too much black. They don’t own their purple. Not a fan.

The Charlotte Hornets burst forth in the 80’s as a teal team with traces of purple trim. Super trendy, but I thought they pulled if off okay, even with the odd number font. The purple alternate uni was rarely worn, just enough to make it unique. But as a rival to the Hawks, I could never be a Hornets fan.

 

The Arizona Diamondbacks also debuted in purple and teal. They really didn’t over do either color. Some of the logos and caps weren’t bad, but I was never a fan of any of their uniforms.

 

The Washington Huskies wear solid purple pants with their white road jerseys. I hate that look. The purple jersey is okay, but I’m not a fan of the gold helmet / purple jersey / gold pants look. Not clean.

 

When hockey entered my world with the debut of the Atlanta Flames, I marveled at a whole new slate of uniforms. So many to like: Black Hawks. Rangers. Canadians. Red Wings. Maple Leafs. Edmonton Oilers. Of course the Flames. The worst in my opinion was the LA Kings – just too much purple. Wasn’t a fan of their gown logo. There are too many sports teams wearing silver and black, but I’m glad the Kings made the change.  

 

Like Paul, I think I’ve written enough about purple. Tomorrow: back to real life. But I’m looking forward to receiving my purple membership card in the mail.