Do W.Va. University and Nike honor coal miners killed at Upper Big Branch?

UPDATE 9/3: Nike issue this statement, reported by Ward on Coal Tattoo: "The new WVU football uniform was designed to celebrate the football team and honor the heritage of coal mining in the state. We are modifying the graphic of the player on our website to address concerns."

West Virgina University announced Wednesday its football team will forgo its usual blue and white uniforms for its Nov. 26 game against border-rival University of Pittsburgh in favor of uniforms honoring the 29 West Virginia coal miners killed in an April explosion. The new uniforms will be white, but darkened slightly to appear as if a fine layer of coal dust lined the surface, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports on his Coal Tattoo blog. The uniforms, dubbed Pro Combat, will be supplied by Nike and will carry a graphic with the number 29 in honor of the Upper Big Branch miners.

Nike image

A Nike advertisement for the uniform can be found here. The voice-over which runs over a picture of a football player in front of what appears to be a strip mine says, "Every day, the coal miners of West Virginia put it on the line for their families. That’s why every Saturday in the fall, the Mountaineer football team is willing to put it all on the line for them, with a never-say-die attitude and toughness you have to live to understand." (Read more)

Huffington Post columnist Jeff Biggers is among those with a problem with the ad. "NIKE is now running an ad with a background of a massive strip-mine or mountaintop removal operation in one of the most bizarre panders to Big Coal--and one of the most disrespectful slights of coal miners," Biggers writes. "Instead of featuring underground miners, such as those who died at the Upper Big Branch disaster, Nike features an open strip mine with a dramatic voice over: 'It's just the way things are done in West Virginia.'" Biggers also took issue with the ad's claim that football players "put it on the line" like coal miners. (Read more)