Once again I am at an airport; today in Charleston, West Virginia's Yeager Airport (CRW). And similar to my departure last week from FAT (Fresno), once again a Louisiana college sports team of about 20 individuals is waiting along with me. Today, I sit with the Tulane baseball team, who apparently have just finished a tripleheader with Marshall University (and are also, it appears on the flight before mine at my gate). Last week at the airport I waited with the Louisiana Tech softball team, who were apparently in Fresno for the WAC Conference Tournament. (And I'll just point out, that during my stay in Fresno, the Sierra College baseball team was at my hotel for a few nights.)
Now, the interesting thing I noted about these two teams: the women (softball) were dressed in sweats and t-shirts, the men (baseball) in coat & ties. All members of the Louisiana Tech team had some element/logo on them, tying them together and identifying their school; and while the Tulane team's suits greatly decreased their logos, a few still have bags or a tie with the school's name present--still enough to discern they are together (besides, a group of twenty 18-21 year-old males all wearing suits is somewhat of an anomaly). To both team's credit, neither party had/has baseball caps on, which given the indoor nature of the gate-waiting environment would be somewhat out of place (though about half the baseball players do have sunglasses propped on their head, even though the sky is fully overcast and the sun not bright--we are also indoors).
Actually, when I first ran into the softball team (they were blocking the check-in desk), I was somewhat surprised that they were dressed "down", so to speak; and not even wearing something uniform (not an actual uniform, mind you, just a similar guidelined outfit: like khakis and a school/team shirt). In my own personal experience, my college coach required that the team wear coat & tie when we traveled; which I presume was to aid/assist in an elevated view of the group as we traveled. (The requirements, by the way, did not extend to recommendation/restrictions on the ties, and led to some very cool, non-conservative variants--my personal favorite was a Cat-in-the-Hat tie, which I now bemoan not really having a place/opportunity to wear.)
So, I was surprised these young ladies were not dressed better. When I saw them, I was not quite sure whether this was because:
- softball tends to be more relaxed than swimming (I'm not even sure that's possible);
- women's athletes dress codes when traveling vary from men's (perhaps to present to society that "here are women's athlete's and it's ok for them to be here"); and/or
- maybe society has decayed so much in the decade since I was a college, that to get current young adult athletes to dress up for travel is just beyond the scope of things.
Now, some of these reasons were partially abated when I saw portions/most of the 60+ member
Washington University in St Louis track & field team, scurrying through the Charlotte airport to make their flight. As I kept passing 2-3 members of the team, scattered in their race to the gate like a marathon field, I kept seeing school t-shirts and sweat pants. To their credit, the shirts they did have on were fairly uniform, enough so that each was wearing a school shirt; but all-in-all it did look somewhat like they'd come fairly straight from the track to the airport.
But back to Fresno: I'm still somewhat perplexed as to the reason for the women's dress in leaving California. But as in both instances, I myself was dressed down as well, I will not judge too harshly. Then again: I wasn't traveling in a group, representing my institution of higher learning....
However, I would like to send my kudos to the Tulane coaches and team for their appearance: I think better of your institution and team because of it. As for the LA Tech team, might I recommend having at least a light dress code? Say jeans/khakis with a team shirt? Or if the team wears sweats, that they all wear the same sweats?
Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger
You may see a stranger across a crowded room
And somehow you know, you'll know even then
That somewhere you'll see her, again and again
The rains, they come early this year....
