3 days ago
Purdue Boilermakers snuck an awesome Drew Brees Easter egg into sports logo redesign
Now this is cool. Drew Brees always looked his best in black and gold -- not just in his New Orleans Saints career, but at the college level with his Purdue Boilermakers, too. And his alma mater snuck in a fantastic Easter egg as a nod to the legendary quarterback in a recent refresh for their athletics logos.
Purdue's hardhat-wearing mascot, aptly named Purdue Pete, hasn't changed much through the years. But back in April the school introduced a new set of logos for the Boilermakers' golf, basketball, and football teams, each featuring Purdue Pete competing in those sports. And they picked a great pose for the windup to throw a football, perfectly emulating Brees' own signature throwing motion.
Every quarterback has their own technique. Some lift the ball high above their head, others prefer more of a sidearm, or a counterbalance with their off-hand. Brees has talked about changing his throwing motion after turning pro, widening his feet to produce a quicker release. With his left hand splayed and lining up with his forward planted leg, Brees drove off his back foot to push the ball downfield. It's a technique that won him the all-time NFL passing yards record, among dozens of others, before he called it a career. Now he's up for enshrinement at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
And it's a really nice gesture from Purdue's athletics department. Brees led the Boilermakers to hard-fought wins over Michigan, Northwestern, and Ohio State in 2000, which earned Purdue's first Rose Bowl invitation since 1967. Brees left college with Big Ten conference records in everything from passing yards to touchdown passes, and he was inducted to the school's Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame back in 2009. Not bad for someone a lot of people said was too short to play QB.