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J. Rice to Seahawks


TBGKon

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I think it's a class move by both players.

Let's be honest, Seattle isn't going to retire Rice with 80, and the number will always be Largent's in Seattle.

It was two legends coming to a classy compromise, and i'm glad to see it.

It's a class move by ONE of the players. It's pure, unadulterated selfishness on the part of the other.

In telling Jerry Rice that he could use the number 80 if he wanted to, Steve Largent displayed the type of class and dignity that inspired the Seahawks organization to retire the number in his honor in the first place.

The proper response on Rice's part would have been to thank Largent for the offer, then politely decline to don the number out of respect for the greatest Seahawk player of all time.

Bottom line? Rice should never have put Largent in the position of offering up the number in the first place. Out of deference to both Largent's career in Seattle and Seahawk tradition and history, Rice should have informed Seahawks' management that he was going to adopt another number in Seattle... even before the deal was consumated.

As an aside... on radio yesterday, Largent revealed that he had initially told Rice that he thought the former 49er and Raider should wear #1 with the Seahawks, symbolic of Rice's standing as the #1 wide receiver in NFL history. Apparently, that wasn't good enough for Rice. He needed to have "his" number.

The only problem is that in Seattle, #80 will NEVER truly be Rice's number. He should have the dignity and good judgement to realize that.

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What Rice should have said was:

"While I've always worn #80 in my professional career, that number has been retired by the Seattle Seahawks as a tribute to their long-time receiver Steve Largent. Steve kindly offered to let me bring it out of retirement. However, while I'd be flattered to have shared the number with a player of Steve's calibre, jersey #80 was, is and always will be Steve's here in Seattle. Therefore, I'll be wearing #1 for the Seahawks. I can only hope that in my time with this franchise, I manage to bring as much class, dignity, ability and effort to jersey #1 as Steve brought to jersey #80."

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