By Bob Hertzel for the Times West Virginian
”If you look good, you play good.” — Deion Sanders, from his playing days in the NFL.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Uniforms matter.
They matter to the men who wear them, to the fans who watch them, to people who make them and the stores that sell them.
That is why Saturday night’s West Virginia football game against Iowa State at Milan Puskar Stadium has been designated a “Coal Rush” game where fans are urged to wear black.
Now West Virginia’s colors are old gold and blue, as you know. But around these parts, black has meaning. Coal is black. West Virginia mines coal. It employs coal miners.
The state flower is the rhododendron, according to the state legislature, even though probably fewer people know that than can spell it. The state tree is the sugar maple. The state animal is the black bear and, whether they ever went so far as to pronounce it, coal is the state mineral.
That is one of the reasons every so often on the sporting fields, the team will wear black. This Saturday is no different as they honor the coal industry.