Central Florida fan turns to White House in pursuit of uniform blackout
When it comes to college football decisions, the word of the head coach is usually final. That’s why some fans at Central Florida are attempting to appeal to a slightly higher power to overturn a decree of head coach George O’Leary.
At an event revealing new helmets earlier this month, O’Leary told a crowd of fans that he wouldn’t allow his team to wear their new black alternate helmets with their all-black uniforms.
"I don't tell them what to wear except black-on-black, they're not wearing black-on-black," he said, getting laughs and boos from the crowd.
"Too bad," O'Leary said with a smile. "I'm not listening to you."
Unhappy with O’Leary’s decision, one Knights fan has gone all the way to the White House.
Fans filed a petition to allow the team to wear black helmets with all-black uniforms when they face off against in-state foe South Florida on a nationally televised game the day after Thanksgiving. That is, after all, Black Friday. The petition reads:
We the student body and alumni of UCF want to see our football team in all BLACK. Our biggest conference rival is coming into our stadium the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. The game is slated to possible be a features game on ABC, making it a first for UCF. There is no better time to finally lift the, self imposed head coach, all BLACK uniform ban.
We the fans will also wear all BLACK and will look forward to a renewed conference rivalry in the new American conference.
Please George. Do it for the fans.
Central Florida isn’t the only team with an all-black alternate. North Carolina players were ecstatic about their new uniforms, which they will be wearing in a game against Miami on what they are brilliantly calling “Zero Dark Thursday.” Missouri released a black-on-black option before their move to the SEC last season, while Oklahoma State has been using a similar look for a couple seasons now.
And who can forget Doc Sat's favorite clip of all time ...
This petition is not the first time that college sports fans have turned to the White House to resolve a sartorial issue. Earlier this year, enraged Kansas fans begged for a ban against their Jayhawks wearing the adidas Zubaz alternates. However, both of these uniform requests fault short of the goals of the noblest petition: to change the national anthem of the United States to R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix).”
We wish the Knight fans the best in their Black Friday goal, but it looks like they have a tough battle ahead of them: At the time of publication, they are still over 99,900 virtual signatures shy of the 100,000 necessary to earn a response from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Even if they don’t get to wear the all-blacks, things are still looking up for Central Florida, who join the American Athletic Conference this season and are rumored to be playing Penn State in Ireland in 2014.
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