“It was a game where crowd noise and participation turned Sun Devil Stadium into a championship game atmosphere in the second week of the season”, said junior journalism major Greg Freitas.
“Playing Missouri at home made it a huge game, but with the first 'Blackout' game and the new jerseys being introduced, the fans were just a little bit crazier than the usual crazy,” Freitas says, who is a season ticket holder.
When the athletic department announced that Nike would be designing our new jersey’s and logo, fans anxiously awaited the product of Sun Devil tradition and Nike’s designers.
The day finally came to display the new uniforms for basketball and football, and the one color scheme that everyone was talking about the next day was the ‘Blackout’ jerseys.
Fans become connected with new jerseys-- especially when they can wear them too. Photo by Evan Triantafilidis.Uniform changes have been taking over athletic departments other than ASU recently.
In the 2010-11 football season, the University of Oregon revealed five jersey alternatives they would use during the season. Along with their elite-level of playing, their custom made jerseys got the attention of the college football nation and eventually other schools wanted to expand their athletic apparel.
Stanford, Maryland, and Oklahoma St. have all hopped on the bandwagon and are sporting new jerseys and color schemes.
Last season’s game vs. Missouri was dubbed the “Blackout” game by the University. For the week leading up to the game, countless blackout shirts were sold, the players were hyped up, and the fans were just as excited.
The jersey makeovers meant two things for ASU:
1) It was time for new traditions. Sparky was removed from the helmet and the added black as an alternative color scheme had some fans in disappointment, but also had some fans in excitement for new traditions and a new edge to their athletic teams.
2) New jersey designs means more recruits coming in. High school athletes that are being recruited by schools look into small factors that they find important to them when deciding where to play. Uniform color and design are one of the first things that stick out to a potential player.
So, what does this mean for the fans?
It is a prime time to be a fan (or become a fan) of ASU athletics.
A new Athletic Director in Steve Patterson, a new football head coach in Todd Graham, and the relatively new Nike designed jerseys are all reasons to head on out to a night game in Tempe, or travel down to Tucson to help win the Territorial Cup.
As for a blackout game this year? Who better to play than the ones who started it all, the Oregon Ducks. On October 18, fans are encouraged to attend the game in all black while rooting for their Sun Devils.
Whether it be new uniforms for your team, incentives to get your homework done, or starting a healthy habit, starting new traditions are made for us to succeed. Without a positive change, we can’t strive to our full potential.
We all have it inside of us, but sometimes it takes 60,000 students wearing all black in Sun Devil Stadium to bring it out of us.
So, with that I say good luck to the ASU football team, and any other group or person that promotes change in a positive direction.
If you haven’t already got your life-time supply of ASU apparel, check out some of the pregame events for every home game.
You can reach me at etrianta@asu.edu
