SCOTT JACOBS

Green, blue, and.. red?  Why not? says Eastern Washington.  You probably don’t know who they are now, but little Eastern Washington– located in.. you’d never guess– Eastern Washingon– is prepared to role out the, ahem, red carpet, for their ahem again, new red field.  Okay, so the red carpet is just a guess on my part, but the red field part, that’s real.

And so we prepare to add a new chapter to colored field jokes, and well, colored fields in general.  Before Boise State, which has to my shock, had a blue field for over two decades, there was no color field (O no!  What kind of world!)  But thanks to Eastern Washington, soon we will have two.  Because “two, is better than one.”  It is, right?

Eastern Washington is no dummy.  Outside, well, Eastern Washington, they’re not exactlya household name.  So what better way to get your school on the map than by coloring your field… red!  When EWU says we’re going to battle, well, their field will look like it.  When they say, we’re going to leave it all out on the field, you’ll probably think they did.  When they say, birds of prey, well… yeah, you get the point.

By unveling a pristine red carpet to play football on, the Eagles will lay their claim to a fun fact!  What school sold their soul to get some notoriety?  Boise State?  Nah, they’re in Idaho (Just kidding my fellow Boise Statians, o wait, Boise’s not a state).  Um, uh, o I got this one, Eastern Washington!  Woot woot.  Hello Trivial Pursuit.

In all seriousness, EWU sees the opportunity to get some attention, and when you’re uh, Eastern Washington, it never hurts to do something different.  Red, that’s different.  If you thought Boise’s blue field was bad, just wait till you see a red one.  Supposedly EWU doesn’t really have a monochrome red on red look, but their athletic director has openly stated that if the team and the coaches want to do, red on red on red, that they’re game, to paint your TV, well, red.

“There is no doubt that one of Boise State’s claim to fame has been their blue turf and like it or dislike it, it has certainly brought them a tremendous amount of notoriety,” said Bill Chaves, EWU’s Athletic Director.

The difference is this: no longer a gimmick, Boise State is really, really good.  And has been, for some time.  So for EWU to turn this from a cheap attention ploy (well, actually it’s not cheap at all, but you know what I mean), to a respected thing (if that’s possible) they’re going to eventually need to become something more than just the team with the red field.

So let’s see what happens, before we knock it.  I’m anxious to see what in the heck this thing looks like.  A red field?  What’s next?  A purple baseball field?  A black college basketball court?  A blue tennis court? (O wait, that one actually does exist).

The possibilities truly are endless.  Though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.  Red on red on red?  Sounds like a slasher movie.  But it’s not.  It’s the future of Eastern Washington football.