So fresh and so clean

November 01, 2009 | USC Ripsit Blog

So fresh and so clean

By Jordan Moore on November 18, 2009 3:14 PM | 1 Comment

The USC pants and jerseys from Saturday's game are now clean and on their way to storage in anticipation of next week's UCLA game.

But the washing process wasn't a quick 40-minute spin cycle.

In fact, try two days.

To get the paint stains out of the game-worn pants and jerseys, equipment managers soaked the gear for a whopping 48 hours following the matchup. The wait was worth it, as the equipment is now good as new and being set aside for the next home game in 10 days.

But why the lengthy cleaning process? The Coliseum field features heavily painted areas in the end zones and midfield, so the players' gold pants were stained with cardinal paint. Also, as many don't know, many parts of the field are painted green to give the turf a picturesque look, but that aesthetic shortcut wreaks havoc for the equipment staffers, who have to get green paint stains out of the gear after every home game.