Get 'Mirror Pride' for Your Favorite College Team

You can often tell a passionate college sports fan by his car--adorned with signature team license plates, bumper stickers, window decals, and the ever-present flags dangling above the car doors on game day. Now you can step it up a level with Mirror Pride, a rear view mirror cover that's in your favorite college team's color and prominently features its logo on the backside.

I have to get one of these as a proud South Carolina Gamecock alum and fan.

Mirror Pride covers are made of a stretch polyester material that slide over your side rear view mirrors and fasten in place with a draw string. So you can easily put them on during the week of a big game or keep them on all season long. For fans traveling to college football bowl games over the next couple of weeks, this can be a great way to show your team spirit. And you'll probably be among the growing crowd who's learning of this new fan fare.

Mirror Pride has only been around a few months after officially launching Labor Day weekend at a Clemson University home football game. The product was created by J&M Imports, Inc., whose partners, J.P. Michaud and Mike Smoak, are Clemson alumni. Both men also live here in Charlotte.

The creators of Mirror Pride live in Charlotte and are Clemson graduates. I won't hold the latter against them.

J.P. and Mike say they came up with the idea over the summer while visiting South Africa for the World Cup. They saw several products representing numerous countries' national flags and decided they needed to do something to showcase their beloved Clemson Tiger Paw. Soon after, Mirror Pride was born. With official collegiate licensing for their product, they first created the covers for South Carolina teams: Clemson, South Carolina, and the Citadel. With growing popularity, they quickly added North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, and a few other major college teams.

The company has recently partnered with Logo Products, Inc. to sell all universities and has plans to soon launch MLB and NBA teams.

Mirror Pride is sold for $14.99 per pair and can be ordered online at www.mirrorpride.com (plus $5 for shipping and handling). It's also begun being carried at select retail locations.