Quick College Football/State History Note

Much has been made about the new uniforms that the Maryland Terrapins were sporting in their first game, a victory over the Miami Hurricanes. The victory over the 'Canes is actually a bigger story, but still...Maybe "much has been made" only makes sense if you, one of my few fine readers, are a fan of college football, or pay attention to sports in a following capacity. The attention has been of the "the uniforms are such atrocities" kind. Here's a look:

I personally wouldn't call them atrocities. I think they're neat homages to the flag of Maryland. Most Maryland teams, like the Orioles and the Ravens have quite busy logos. My dad and I used to recognize that and chalk it up to their busy state flag.

The Maryland flag is the only American state flag that's entirely based on English heraldry. It's the heraldic banner of George Calvert, first Baron of Baltimore, and founder of the Maryland land grant. The gold bars were a paternal style in Calvert's ancestry, given by a king for storming a rampart in a battle. The red and white cross is called a cross bottony and comes from Calvert's mother, who, being an heiress, compelled Baron of Baltimore to use it in his banner as well. So while the college football team known as the Terps have a busy helmet, there's at least a little history there,