Throwback jersey more of a setback

Published 7:38 am Wednesday, September 14, 2016

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">This is a setback.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Just when it appeared LSU was poised to join the 21st century offensively, the Tigers are reduced to using the latest in carbon-dating technology to find suitable attire for their SEC opener against Mississippi State Saturday night.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The jerseys for the affair apparently can be traced all the way back to the Y.A. Tittle (Palaeolithic) Era of Tigers football, which was well before the discovery of “bright yellow,” which is generally credited with revolutionizing LSU football as we know it today.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So this experiment could be playing with fire, which was harnessed and popularized shortly after the jerseys the Tigers will wear Saturday were in vogue.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">At any rate, against Mississippi State the Tigers will be donning “throwback” jerseys along with a mishmash of other uniform accessories.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Never mind why.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Probably because when Nike tells them what to do, they just ask how high they should jump. Or, how far off the bridge.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Now, normally I’d give a team a certain license when attempting a one-time throwback uniform.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It can be written off as harmless fun. But calling this thing a “throwback” or even a “retro” is stretching it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">We could tell the Tigers not to go there, that they’re bigger than that, but it would do no good.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">They’re going to do what they’re going to do — and, if form holds, probably auction off the jerseys afterward for a tidy profit.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Never mind that, in several of those internet rankings over the summer, LSU football placed first or second for classiest looking uniforms in all of college football.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Remember, too, that LSU has the luxury for the most part of being able to wear those dress whites home and away, even after Labor Day.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Shouldn’t that be the football gods way of telling you to leave it well enough alone?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But nooooo.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The promotions department gets bored and it has to yank the trendy “alternative” uniform gimmick out of the hopper.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Admittedly, the Tigers had made great strides in recent years. It was encouraging.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It culminated last year when South Carolina, which was forced to relocate its home game with LSU to Tiger Stadium due to flooding back home, choose to wear white jerseys in Tiger Stadium.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In response, the Tigers appeared to have solved that age-old problem of what to do with those god-awful purple jerseys.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">They tweaked the jerseys, paired them with white helmets and white trousers and danged if it didn’t look pretty darned good.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It didn’t really look like LSU, but it looked clean and snappy.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Those of us of a fashion bent held out great hope that if they insisted on dragging out purple once or twice a year, this had real promise.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">You could bring those uniforms home to meet momma.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Gone, forever, were the eyesores of the 1990s propagated by head coach Gerry DiNardo, who was living proof that football coaches should let their wives dress them.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">DiNardo’s biggest gaffe was going to Kentucky one year in purple pants, white jerseys and the standard gold helmets (which appeared to be glowing in the dark). It looked like a strand of Christmas tree ornaments and lights running around the field.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">DiNardo was also the last human to dare experiment with gold jerseys for the Tigers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Until this week.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But it will be different.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The jerseys reportedly favored by the legendary Tittle (ask your great-great-great grandparents) were actually gold.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Gold-gold, as in gold, myrrh and frankincense.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was in the late 1950s that LSU officially switched to yellow, later upgrading bright canary yellow, apparently without bothering to file any paper work. For it still says purple and GOLD in plain English on most official descriptions of LSU.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">What LSU has in mind for this week looks like a compromise between LSU gold (yellow) and Saints gold.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Considering that Nike was involved, about the best you can say is that it could have been worse.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Tittle jersey will be accompanied by white pants (no stripes) and white helmets with a gold (not yellow) stripe.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The one knickknack worth preserving is virtually invisible, an ancient tiger head camouflaged into the jersey’s V-neck.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It dates to the Mesolithic Era, with the Tiger wearing a beanie hat of some sort. I was not aware that in its day he was apparently known as “Sailor Mike” and he was once a staple on schedule posters and the like. But, if the LSU gift shop is paying attention, it definitely is worth reviving. Maybe on the pants hip or something.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Saturday’s fun and games doesn’t stop with silly uniforms, however.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There will be a dress code for fans as well.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s worth noting that in Tittle’s day — Sailor Mike’s, too, for that matter — it was customary for gentlemen to wear coats and ties and the womenfolk to put on their finest dresses for college football.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Also, most of the stadium selfies were taken in black-and-white.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So … no, no, just kidding. It’s the gold game. So they want you to wear yellow.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AZaphdingbatdot7pt">l</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Scooter Hobbs</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">covers LSU</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">athletics. Email him at</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">shobbs@americanpress.com</span>

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<p class="p1">Follow Scooter Hobbs on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/ScooterAmPress"><span class="s1">twitter.com/ScooterAmPress</span></a>

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