Mr. “Maroon and Black and Yellow”

Is it fair for one tossed-off comment to define a man’s head coaching career? Perhaps not, but if Jim Zorn doesn’t quickly prove his mettle as Redskins head coach, you can be guaranteed that he will forever be dogged as Mr. “Maroon and Black and Yellow.”

At least by me.

God knows I’m not the first person to say this. Andy Pollin said it right after the presser yesterday on WTEM-AM, and Dan Steinberg followed up today with a roundup of all the chromatic criticism Zorn’s taken so far.

But, sorry, he deserves every last bit of it. If you’re a football fan, you know burgundy and gold. That’s one of the canonical color schemes in all of sports. I grew up a Bears fan, but I still knew that the Redskins wear burgundy and gold. I didn’t go to Michigan, but I know that the Wolverines wear maize and blue. North Carolina? That’s Carolina blue—not light blue, sky blue, or powder blue. Texas Longhorns? That’s burnt orange, pardner—not rust.

I just queried boss and NFC East aficionado Erik Wemple for his thoughts on the matter. He contends he may not have known “burgundy and gold” upon arriving in Washington in 1987. Fair enough—I suspect my obsession over sporting palettes may have something to do with the fact that I’ve been a lifelong fan of a team—the Chicago White Sox—that seems not to have one.

But Wemple makes this point about the Skins colors: Excusable, he says, for a 23-year-old riding into town not to know ’em. Not excusable for a guy who’s been in the league for decades and had been in the team’s employ for weeks already.

Other than that, my thoughts can be best encapsulated in this Deadspin comment:

Nothing screams Redskins like a washed-up QB.
/SchroShuler-Hostetler-George-Banks-Spurrier-Matthews-Ramsey-Weurffel-Brunell-Zorn

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Sports, Washington Redskins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.