Winnipeg White Out

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The Winnipeg White Out is a hockey tradition that dates back to 1985 when hockey fans in Winnipeg were asked to wear white clothing to home playoff games in Winnipeg, creating a very intimidating effect and atmosphere.^[1] It was created as a response to the "C of Red" created by fans of the Calgary Flames, whom the home town Winnipeg Jets were facing in the first round of the 1985 playoffs. The Jets would eliminate the Flames in four games, and fans wore white for every home playoff game thereafter. Fans coined it the "White Out". When the Jets moved to Phoenix as the Coyotes, fans quickly adopted the "Whiteout" tradition for playoff games.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 College football 2 Other NHL teams 3 Miami Heat 4 References

[edit] College football

The tradition is also prevalent in other sports, as at Penn State's Beaver Stadium, which held a White Out during the nationally televised football game between Penn State and Ohio State in October 2005. The first White Out was Oct. 9, 2004 against Purdue.^[2] The idea was inspired by Oklahoma State's "wear orange" in 2003. It was a success as almost the entire student section participated, and another White Out took place the next week against Iowa.^[3] A Code Blue, where everybody wore blue, was used for the final two home games against Northwestern and Michigan State, but hasn't been used since.^[4] While initially intended for the PSU student section, many fans in the rest of the stadium began to follow suit. In 2007, the first stadium-wide White Out was promoted and all fans were encouraged to participate during the home match-up against the Notre Dame on September 8. Due to trademark issues, the events have been officially called the "White House" since that game. A White Out game usually occurs when there is a night game, or a game that will be nationally televised.

Other college teams have modified the tradition to match their own school colors. For instance, Georgia held its first "blackout" in 2007, when head coach Mark Richt surprised the more than 90,000 at Sanford Stadium by having the Bulldogs wear black jerseys for the first time in over 70 years, and Missouri normally has two color games: a "Gold Rush" (normally marked by the Tigers wearing their formerly-traditional gold pants) and a "Blackout" (which until the change in uniform supplier to Nike was special because Mizzou would wear their road black pants at home).

[edit] Other NHL teams

Several other teams have since tried to replicate the success of this tradition. In 2002 the New York Islanders successfully attempted the white out by having their fans wear white for all their home playoff games against the Toronto Maple Leafs in their eastern conference quarterfinal match up. In 2004, the Philadelphia Flyers gave away orange t-shirts to create an "orange crush" against their semi-final opponent. It was also used occasionally during the 2008 Playoffs, mostly for Game 3 and Game 6. The Tampa Bay Lightning, who countered with a white out of their own.

Among other teams, The Anaheim Ducks (formerly the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim) fans have also attempted the Whiteout, along with fans of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Los Angeles Kings attempted to produce a "black out" — requesting all their fans wear black to playoff games — but this backfired, as it had the opposite effect of making the arena appear more empty than full.

At the request of Sidney Crosby,^{[citation needed]} the Pittsburgh Penguins gave away white T-shirts before Game 1 of their series vs. the New York Rangers in the 2008 playoffs. A second white out event was held for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers on May 9, 2008.^[5]

As part of their Rock the Red theme, Washington Capitals fans wore red starting with the 2008 playoffs.

[edit] Miami Heat

The Miami Heat of the NBA held Whiteouts throughout the playoffs during their championship run in 2006 known as "White Hot Heat", while the Utah Jazz had their fans create a "blue wave" during 2007 home playoff games, wearing light blue shirts in the team's dominant color.

[edit] References

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