Boo! Black Jerseys Still Spook Kiffin
Raiders celebrate 50 years this season
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Lane Kiffin is not eager to see any more black jerseys.
In recent years, we've seen plenty of sports teams make pointless, temporary switches to black jerseys. The Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions have all experimented with a black "alternate jersey" in attempts to co-opt the merchandise sales successes of teams that, you know, actually do have black in their team colors.
But this won't be happening on ex-Raider coach Lane Kiffin's watch at Tennessee. A rumor that had been the talk of iHop restaurants all across Tennessee indicated that Kiffin's Volunteers would be wearing alternate black jerseys for select games this season. The rumor had become so prominent that Tennessee Athletic Director had to shoot it down in an interview with the Associated Press.
When asked about it in a press conference this week, Kiffin told Inside Tennessee, "I did hear a report that I was changing the jerseys to black, and that black was my favorite color. If you watched the last two years of my life, you probably realized that I don't like black."
Kiffin also added, "don't think a uniform has anything to do with whether you win or lose. We need to get really good players here and get our players that are here right now headed in the right direction, on and off the field, so I've not given any thought to that at all."
It appears the rumor just grew out the fact that Tennessee was marketing new black jerseys to fans. But those Southeastern Conference types are every bit as jonesing for off season news as we are, and it kept rolling until it had to be specifically denied.
But it's interesting that Kiffin volunteered how much his former employer is still in his head.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who thinks the Tennessee Volunteers should play in jerseys that say "Natinals".
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Posted Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 1:15 PM PST
