Continued from pg. 1

What Will Happen This Week

It has been announced that 9,000 white t-shirts will given out to students in order to rally the Whiteout and mitigate those students who were unaware of or forgot about the Whiteout. There are those, however, that are so adamantly against this promotion, that they and alumni, plan to dress in something other than white. The hashtag #GoldOutTheWhiteout emerged early in the week and picked up some steam.

What will be the result of this backlash? Expect to see a majority of white, but many patches of maroon, gold, and black scattered throughout the crowd, diminishing the desired effect that Sun Devil Athletics was aiming to achieve.

The Adidas Sun Devil White Out Uniform

Future Whiteouts?

The backlash has been loud and widespread. Having an athletic department that listens is important, and we’ve seen the Sun Devil faithful rise up and affect changes in the past. ASU fans remember the dreaded Bumble Bee Sparky that sparked outrage and quickly led to an athletic department about face and fan vote on their favorite revamped Sparky costume. The fan vote and new Sparky were a huge success.

The fan presence was also felt when it became know that June Jones was in line to become the football coach following the 2011 season. Complete backlash caused that hiring to fall through and led to the eventual hiring of Todd Graham, which has worked out quite well thus far.

It remains to be seen if a Whiteout will become an annual marketing endeavor. But combined with the overall backlash, if the crowd is as out of sync as one might expect, it may discourage the return of such a promotion.

This Friday

Finally, I’ve seen the term “real fan” thrown out far too liberally. I encourage everyone to refrain from doing so. We are all real fans, we just connect to the university and the team in different ways.

Those that wish to stick to gold feel they are real fans because they are deeply rooted in the history of the school. Those excited for white are real fans in wanting to support whatever direction Sun Devil Athletics decides to go.

As I’ve made clear, I don’t like the Whiteout. The reader may not like my reasons, but I hope I made my point eloquently and that my side of the argument can be respected, despite disagreement. I am a “real fan” and have been my whole life. In fact, while I am not a proponent of this Whiteout, I actually went out and found the whitest ASU shirt I could find to wear for this game (VERY light heather gray, but I really tried). I will still give it a shot. If it’s awesome, you will see me eating crow in next week’s UNIFORMITY. However, I will go and support my team, respect the wishes of Sun Devil Athletics, and participate. Certainly, I hope it is the only time we see a Whiteout, but I will grin and bear it this week and cheer as loud as possible.

At any rate, I know the greater concern for Sun Devil Nation is the play on the field, as there has been great cause for concern thus far. I greatly hope to be addressing you all in the Sun Devil Brotherhood happily talking about the Whiteout and looking forward to the next week after a big blowout of New Mexico this week. Despite our differences, we want wins. Go Devils!!

Cole Streeper is a lifelong Sun Devil and an Arizona State graduate of 2010. He has always been passionate about ASU Football and that passion has only grown with time. You can follow Cole on Twitter at @sundevilcole7.

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