Mr. Instant Impact

• Laurence Maroney, running back, Minnesota: First off, our apologies to USC's Reggie Bush, whose impact potential is so obvious it seems redundant to even point it out at this late date. But after Bush goes No. 1 overall to Houston, which first-round running back has the best chance to pay early dividends? Folks I talked to like Maroney, who is thought of as either the third- or fourth-highest-rated ballcarrier in this year's draft.

"I think he's going to be a shocker to a lot of people,'' Merriman said. "I think he'll come out and perform right away. He reminds me a whole lot of Edgerrin James. He's a complete back who can do a little bit of everything and get it done for you.''

One personnel man said he has Maroney ranked only behind Bush in terms of NFL readiness and adds that there are doubters out there when it comes to DeAngelo Williams' and LenDale White's ability to quickly adjust to the mental demands of the pro game.

Purple People Hater

Uni Watch's in-box nearly overflowed on March 15. The reason? This report out of Minnesota, which says the Vikings are planning new unis, with an increased purple presence, for next season.

Based on what Uni Watch has heard, it's a good bet that the Vikes will be reviving their long-lost purple pants (which most fans have only seen in the highlight video of Jim Marshall's famous 1964 wrong-way run). That would be bad enough, but there's also talk that the team may go purple-on-purple.

Fortunately, Uni Watch has been preparing for this catastrophic possibility for years, and the impregnable concrete bunker -- fully able to withstand the effects of WMDs (that's wardrobes of monumental disgustingness) -- should be completed and fully stocked with water, canned goods and striped socks by the time the NFL season opens.

But mark Uni Watch's words: If the Ravens also add purple knickers, and if they then play the Vikings in a purple-pants smackdown, it'll take a lot more than a subterranean bunker to save us.

New Ohio State Uniforms

If your official school colors are scarlet and gray, shouldn't those colors be on your uniform?

The folks at Ohio State apparently didn't get that memo, at least judging by their new jersey. Like, if they want to change the width or spacing of the sleeve stripes, that's fine, but why get rid of the gray? Yes, the jerseys were gray-less for a while back in the 1950s, but so what? Those jerseys were also made out of cotton, didn't have the players' names on the back, and didn't have the OSU logo on the collar, and you don't hear anyone talking about going back to those design features.

The rest of the changes, though, aren't so bad. Moving the auxiliary uni numbers from the shoulders to the sleeves is a welcome move, if only because it reinforces the fact that the jersey actually has sleeves -- a near-revolutionary concept in an era when most football players just wear a gaping armhole and a scrap of fabric strrrretched over their shoulder pads.

Besides, the real story here is that OSU dodged a bullet: The school is outfitted by Nike, which is slowly imposing its wraparound bib design on more and more teams -- including OSU's archrival, Michigan. So relax, Buckeye fans -- it could've been a lot worse.

-- Paul Lukas | Uni Watch Archive
(Photo courtesy: Ohio State University)

Buckeyes fans uniformly disdain jersey changes