Spring Break
Blackout? What's the point?
Addison Harvey
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Sports
Whenever it comes to a big game, college football programs across America reach into their bag of tricks to find a way to motivate their players and fans.
In most cases, athletic administrators or fans try and organize some form of a color "out." This act of organizing all of their fans to wear one color has been successful at some schools including Penn State's white outs and blackouts by Georgia, Purdue, Colorado, Utah and Vanderbilt.
One thing all of these black or white outs have in common is the players emerge from the tunnel and run onto the field in black or white uniforms.
ECU head coach Skip Holtz has stated that when the Pirate ship's doors are lowered and the team runs through the purple and white smoke onto Bagwell Field while "Purple Haze" blares over the loud speaker Thursday night, they will not be in black uniforms.
ECU has tried twice in the past two years to go the original way and do a purple out. How many times have you ever heard of a college football game being deemed a purple out?
Many teams in college football wear purple but none have had any substantial success when it comes to having a purple out.
ECU's attempts at "outs" have been weak thus far. With failed past attempts at games versus UCF this year and Memphis last year, it is clear that "outs" have not been advertised appropriately. I fear that one day when ECU will be broadcasted on ESPN from California to Florida for the whole world to see, their attempt at a blackout will be another unsuccessful attempt.
While I am a huge supporter of fans wearing whatever they want to games, as long as it has something to do with ECU and does not support any other universities in North Carolina, a successful purple out would look very nice on national television. ESPN has given ECU the privilege of being the first non-BCS team to play in the primetime Thursday night this year and we are obviously going to gain exposure on a national level.
In most cases, athletic administrators or fans try and organize some form of a color "out." This act of organizing all of their fans to wear one color has been successful at some schools including Penn State's white outs and blackouts by Georgia, Purdue, Colorado, Utah and Vanderbilt.
One thing all of these black or white outs have in common is the players emerge from the tunnel and run onto the field in black or white uniforms.
ECU head coach Skip Holtz has stated that when the Pirate ship's doors are lowered and the team runs through the purple and white smoke onto Bagwell Field while "Purple Haze" blares over the loud speaker Thursday night, they will not be in black uniforms.
ECU has tried twice in the past two years to go the original way and do a purple out. How many times have you ever heard of a college football game being deemed a purple out?
Many teams in college football wear purple but none have had any substantial success when it comes to having a purple out.
ECU's attempts at "outs" have been weak thus far. With failed past attempts at games versus UCF this year and Memphis last year, it is clear that "outs" have not been advertised appropriately. I fear that one day when ECU will be broadcasted on ESPN from California to Florida for the whole world to see, their attempt at a blackout will be another unsuccessful attempt.
While I am a huge supporter of fans wearing whatever they want to games, as long as it has something to do with ECU and does not support any other universities in North Carolina, a successful purple out would look very nice on national television. ESPN has given ECU the privilege of being the first non-BCS team to play in the primetime Thursday night this year and we are obviously going to gain exposure on a national level.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Will
posted 11/05/09 @ 12:34 PM EST
This article is lame. Why would you want to discourage something such as a "blackout" at your school? do you not think that ECU can come together to make something like this happen? Obviously, you haven't been a Pirate fan that long because if you had seen the amount of pirate support present at the West Virginia game last year you would know that a complete and total "blackout" is possible with our fans. (Continued…)
Pirate Fan
posted 11/05/09 @ 12:40 PM EST
I agree with this fan. In the words of Mark Twain, "a man must not hold himself aloof from the things which his friends and his community have at heart if he would be liked. (Continued…)
Blackbeard96
posted 11/05/09 @ 4:13 PM EST
You mention getting national exposure, ECU already has national exposure. Ask any true Pirate fan and they can recite the number of times we have played and beat teams in the top twenty on or off of TV. (Continued…)
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