British bias in the OED :-)

[Victor Steinbok]

The Wolverines are not the only ones and color selection need not be
monochromatic. References to "Silver-and-black" and "Black-and-gold" are
fairly unambiguous (depending on sport--two NFL teams and at least one
NHL team; plus Gold-and-black for Purdue teams). But these are not
"university colors" (except for Purdue). Blue-and-gold (Notre Dame--was
Green-and-gold at one point, not so long ago), Maroon-and-gold (Boston
College) are two more university ones. If you follow the teams, you'll
recognize the references. Still, the mascots (Fighting Irish and Eagles)
are more common as references, of course. The Green Bay are often
identified as "Green-and-gold", but, of course, it's also the national
color scheme of Australia and Monash U.

On the other hand, the Raiders have been pushing the color scheme as
team/fan ID for decades. The Saints and the Boston Bruins use the
Black-and-Gold in promotional statements, TV and radio broadcasts, fan
clubs, etc. (as in, "Follow the Black-and-Gold on the road on ...")

     VS-)

On 12/17/2012 2:05 PM, Paul Johnston wrote:
> Of course, we Wolverines routinely say, "Go Blue" and in Michigan, anyway (can't vouch for other blue schools like say, Kentucky or Kansas), that's automatically associated with U of M.  We'd never refer to a U of M player or student or alumnus/a as a "Blue" though.
>
> Paul Johnston

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