Purple and Gold Trivia Quiz

Answer: Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers began their history in Minnesota as the Minneapolis Lakers; Minnesota is after all the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" (or 11,842 lakes depending on one's parameters for what constitutes a lake). Their uniforms back then were powder blue with gold trim. They switched to purple and gold in 1967 when Jack Kent Cooke bought the team and moved them to The Forum in Los Angeles.

Answer: Western Technology Center, Oklahoma

The Western New Mexico University Mustangs in Silver City, New Mexico, the Western Carolina University Catamounts in Cullowhee, North Carolina, and the Western Illinois University Leathernecks in Macomb, Illinois all wear the Purple and Gold. Western Technology Center in Burns Flat, Oklahoma (with branches elsewhere in Oklahoma) doesn't wear the Purple and Gold, because they don't seem to have any sports teams to wear any uniforms at all.

Answer: Tigers

On top of the aforementioned sports, LSU also has NCAA National Championships in men's golf, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field, and boxing. The storied football team plays in Tiger Stadium, nicknamed "Death Valley." None other than Shaquille O'Neal played for the LSU basketball team, and was named Men's Basketball All-American twice and also SEC Player Of The Year before becoming an NBA Champion with the Lakers. And perhaps the best college basketball player of all-time, Pistol Pete Maravich, is an LSU alum; he was three-time consensus first team All-American and National 'Player of the Year' in 1970.

Answer: University of Alabama

The Alcorn State Braves in Lorman, Mississippi, the San Francisco State University Gators in San Francisco, California, and the College of Idaho Coyotes ("Yotes") in Caldwell, Idaho all wear the Purple and Gold. Now, even if you're not a big sports nut, you have to know that Alabama is famously known as the Crimson Tide. Heck, they even made a fun action film starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington called 'The Crimson Tide'.

Answer: The Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota State University Mavericks

The NFL's Minnesota Vikings (nicknamed "The Purple Gang", or as a Sports Illustrated article called them after a Super Bowl loss to the Steelers..."Black and Blue") and the Minnesota State University Mavericks of Mankato, Minnesota both wear the Purple and Gold.

The NBA's Golden State Warriors (who play in Oakland, California) wear royal blue and California golden yellow uniforms, and the University of Southern California Trojans team colors are cardinal red and gold. The MLB's Texas Rangers wear the good ol' red, white and blue while the Aggies of Texas A&M sport maroon and white uniforms.

The NHL's Colorado Avalanche uniforms of burgundy, blue, silver, black (and no, the burgundy is not from a bloody nosed hockey brawl) while the University of Colorado Buffaloes wear the Silver, Black, and Gold.

Answer: St. John's University Red Storm

Yeah, as you hopefully suspected, St. John's Red Storm (formerly the "Redmen") wear red and white uniforms. These other teams all wear the Purple and Gold: James Madison University Dukes, whose men's basketball team made March Madness NCAA Tournament appearances in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1994, and 2013; the Tennessee Tech University Golden Eagles won seven National Championships in both team and individual rifle shooting in the early 1980s; and the University at Albany Great Danes has had notable successes in various sports in its history, including a 2002 football victory in the ECAC Bowl, invitations to the men's basketball March Madness Tournament in 2005-06, 2006-07, 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15.

Answer: Los Angeles Kings

Hopefully the nicknames of the other three names led you to the realization they were probably not of the Purple and Gold persuasion. The Detroit Red Wings indeed wear red and white. The Columbus Blue Jackets wear blue, red and silver. The Chicago Blackhawks wear red, white, and black.

Answer: Eastern Michigan University Eagles

The Eastern Michigan University Eagles of Ypsilanti, Michigan wear green and white uniforms, very much like the Michigan State University Spartans, a national powerhouse in both football and basketball. Yes, the West Chester University Golden Rams of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and the East Carolina University Pirates of Greenville, North Carolina, and the University of Northern Iowa Panthers in Cedar Falls, Iowa all wear the Purple & Gold.

Answer: Huskies

The Washington Huskies play football in Husky Stadium, and have won numerous NCAA Championships throughout their history, including 1910, 1960, 1984, 1990, and 1991. (In some of those cases, different organizations voted for a different team as national champion). The other team nicknames listed belonged to those other three teams mentioned in the question: the Knox College Prairie Fire of Galesburg, Illinois; the the Hardin Simmons University Cowboys of Abilene, Texas; and the Elmira College Soaring Eagles of Elmira, New York. Those three wear purple and gold.

Answer: Sydney Kings

The Sydney Kings were formed in 1987 when the West Sydney Westars merged with the Sydney Supersonics. They chose the Purple and Gold colors because at the time The Los Angeles Lakers were enjoying a famously successful decade with the likes of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, etc. And as we know, they of course wore the Purple and Gold.

The Windsor Lightning is a mash-up name I made up combining Canada's Windsor Express and London Lightning in the National Basketball League of Canada. Similarly, the Manchester Leopards is a combination of the Manchester Magic and BA London Leopards from the National Basketball League (England), and the Beijing Golden Bulls are a made up hybrid of the Chinese Basketball Association's Beijing Shougang Ducks and the Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls.