Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Sports

There are seven minutes to go in the first half. Your team is in the middle of a nice little comeback. They've been down since the opening tip off, but thanks to a few forced turnovers they've trimmed the fat and the lead is down to four. A scramble for a loose ball results in yet another bucket, yet you really don't have any idea who put it through the hoop. In the midst of any sport's poetry things tend to get a bit on the hectic side. When you put so many six and a half footers on the court and the lane is crowded you really don't know who is who. You'd be surprised at how alike some of the players look when their backs are toward the fans. Thank God for numbers. It's not a thought you would commonly think of. No, we don't wait around after the game and talk about how great a guy's number is. But believe it or not the number an athlete wears on his or her jersey can be something they are fighting-proud about. Think back to the first time jerseys were handed out when you played. I can remember most going for 23. Everyone wanted to be like Michael Jordan. The closest anyone would actually get was to wear the same number as him. Say you don't like basketball? Well throw on a Brett Favre number four and you'll be fixed right up. Who can forget the ones who always fell for the double numbers? I always failed to see why 55 and 22 were so popular. I didn't see the jazz in putting a palindrome on my back. There was always the brave soul who went for 13. I was scared to even have that guy on my team, let alone wear the jersey. Who would want to toy with the unluckiness that comes with such a number? Give me seven or 11 instead and we can go to Vegas while we're at it, but never would I roll the dice with such a historically hated number. For me it was all about family though. The big bro had worn number 70 when he played, and I'll be damned if anyone not named Cook was going to wear it while I was playing, never mind the fact that by the time I got the shoulder pads underneath it I was more than filling it. When we were talking jersey numbers I would leave my normally self-conscious attitude behind. You see it's all about protecting something. No high school I know of, and very few colleges, put names on the back of jerseys. The number you get is all you get to protect. It's what you have to be proud about. By the time many of these athletes reach this level they've been wearing that number for quite a few years. I'm certain many want to keep that number that they have established. Coca-Cola isn't going to let their name get changed because someone else applied for the patent. That would be like taking a dozen or so steps back. It's the same situation with a number. Athletes prefer to keep the number attached to their body of work. The more you think of it the sillier it is, but it's just one of those things about sports that make them so unique. When you go to work you don't have a certain color tie that no one at the office can wear but you. That's ridiculous. You aren't going to be categorized by such a thing, but sometimes a number means just as much as anything else. It makes you different from the dozen or so others who are wearing the same uniform. So laugh and shrug it off if you must, but you might want to remember the last time you participated in sports. You were probably stubborn enough to fight your grandma over it. A number is alot more than just deocoration on your uniform.

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