SEATTLE -- The most familiar line in the Washington Huskies fight song is "Mighty are the men who wear the purple and the gold.''
The women who wear the purple and the gold have been just as mighty, though. If not mightier.
While football and men's basketball are the dominant sports at Washington, the school's only official NCAA national championships have been won by women. The women have won three NCAA titles in rowing (1997, 1998, 2001), along with softball (2009), volleyball (2005) and cross country (2008). The men have zero NCAA titles.
Granted, that is partly because there was no official NCAA title in football back in 1991 when the undefeated Huskies were co-champions. And also because men's rowing, despite being the oldest collegiate sport, has never been an NCAA championship event -- though the Husky men have won 19 national rowing titles over the past century, including the past five Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships.
Regardless, the Husky women have won in more sports than the men in recent years, with three national championships in the past 11 years and a possible fourth this coming week. In another sign of anything you can do, we can do better, the UW women's basketball team just earned its first trip to the Final Four while the Husky men haven't been to a Final Four since 1953, a drought of 63 years.
In other words, perhaps the lyrics should be changed to "Mighty are the women who wear the purple and the gold.''
"I think that would cause a lot of problems, but I'm all for it. I'll start singing it that way if that will help,'' senior forward Talia Walton said. "I feel like 'men' is such a generalization, and if you change it to 'women' then you'll have the football players and the men's basketball team saying, 'What?'''
Well, then, how about "Mighty are the athletes who wear the purple and the gold''?
"I would sign a petition for that, for sure,'' Walton said. "That's more realistic for us. I am down for it to being changed to 'athletes.'''
There has been much focus on the UConn Huskies, who are looking for a fourth consecutive national championship, but these purple and gold Huskies deserve attention as well. After all, they have the fourth leading scorer in the country in guard Kelsey Plum. They have Lexington Regional most outstanding player Chantel Osahor and her entertaining (and high-scoring) flat-footed shooting style. They have junior forward Katie Collier, who has overcome cancer and a torn ACL.
Heck, head coach Mike Neighbors once suffered a heart attack.
"I think a lot of people are starting to fall in love with this team because they relate to somebody on the team,'' Plum said. "Whether someone in their family had cancer, or somebody walked on and didn't really get a shot at first and kept fighting, or battled through injuries. The people on this team have taken hearts across the country, and people are starting to see that you don't have to be a 6-5, 200-pound athletic player who can dunk in order to succeed.
"And I think people are starting to realize that, and that's why we're fun to watch.''
"I think a lot of people are starting to fall in love with this team ... we're fun to watch." Junior Kelsey Plum
As a No. 7 seed, Washington upset second-seeded Maryland and No. 3 seed Kentucky despite playing on their opponents' home courts, plus No. 4 Stanford in the regional final. The Huskies have traveled approximately 10,4000 miles already this tournament (the UConn Huskies have traveled just 158), with another 3,700 to go to and from Indianapolis. They chose to fly home from Maryland after the first week and were in Seattle less than 24 hours before jetting on to Lexington.
Plus, after a shootaround before the Penn game, the team bus driver got lost, then stuck in traffic and was late returning the Huskies to their hotel. "It was kind of stressful,'' Plum said.
None of the travel travails mattered. The Huskies won all their games, and won in commanding fashion. And then when they came home Sunday night, they were greeted by a large and boisterous throng of supporters. The same was true the next day when they headed to class for the first day of spring quarter.
"Going through campus, I got like 50 high-fives, and 'Good job' and 'Congrats,''' Walton said. "I went to the bookstore to get my books and there were banners in there saying 'Final Four,' 'Congratulations!' One of the cashiers was like bowing to me. It was awesome and cool to get that kind of support.''
OK, you aren't seeing UW women's jerseys in this city the way you do No. 12 Seahawks shirts -- there was only one small rack of Final Four-related shirts at the UW bookstore campus branch. But hey, give it some time. Enthusiasm is definitely growing. In a Seattle Times poll, 77 percent of fans responding said they were more interested in the Women's Final Four than the men's.
"When I was in high school, they weren't winning here and you could hear a pin drop at times [at the games],'' said Walton, who is from the area. "It wasn't how it is now. It's awesome to see the growth.''
And the growth isn't just limited to Washington in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon State likewise is making its first Final Four appearance, another sign of the growth of women's basketball on the West Coast.
"It validates these players staying home,'' Neighbors said. "These kids could have gone to the East Coast or the Midwest and all those programs. Their decision to stay on the West Coast and close to home sends a clear message to all the players out here that you can stay close to home. You can get a great education. You can play in the same time zone. You don't have to leave to get to this stage.''
You just might have to fly along way sometimes. But that's all right. Because these are mighty athletes who are soaring high in their purple and gold uniforms.