What's the worst you've ever been burned on a jersey purchase?

[BallWonk]

Stories such as all of yours are the reason that I have not pulled the trigger on a jersey yet. I was toying with a Roethlisberger jersey (he went to my college), but I held off.

Stories such as all of these are one reason I never put a player's name on the back of a jersey. Numbers, sure. But the number of a departed player might just be your own lucky number. The only danger then is if a known team-wrecker joins your team and takes your departed player's number. But even then, you still have a measure of deniability. "No, no, this is my, um, Ron Coomer jersey."

Plus, keeping the name off makes a person look less like a fanboy poseur. Of course, wearing a jersey at all when you don't play on the team is actually pretty high on the fanboy poseur scale -- it's the sports equivalent of wearing Superman's shirt and cape to a comic book convention, or dressing as a Klingon for a Star Trek convention -- so the benefits of my no-name approach are admittedly marginal.

[Starchild]

Got an Antonio McDyess home white Knicks jersey as a gift in the summer of 2003... after he was injured a full season... come December, he's traded to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury deal. Not too big a deal, considering I picked up a Marbury jersey soon after and if I can find a method of changing the name on a swingman, I can change "McDyess" to "Curry" or even "Oakley."

Right now I'm afraid of having wasted money on a Channing Frye jersey. It went against my better judgment to buy it, but I saw it, he was tearing it up early in his rookie season and I caved and bought it. Not looking too good right about now.

[whalersjets]

Ray Bourque Bruins jersey from 2000. Yeah, I know it's a classic now, and I could still wear it even after he got traded and not get laughed at like others in this thread. But I got it the week before he got traded to the Avs. It's not really getting burned, but every other jersey I own with a name on the back of it the player is still on the current team. But now that he's retired and he's a living legend in Boston sports, it's alright.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I bought my brother an EQT McGahee jersey this past Christmas. I took a gamble on whether or not he would stay in Buffalo. Turns out, I was wrong.

My brother, however, has terrible luck. He now owns Moulds, McGahee, and Bledsoe Bills jerseys, and received all of them in the last year of the players' tenure with the team.

[Sodboy13]

When the Wolves were an Isles affiliate, the Islanders drafted Rick DiPietro and sent him right to Chicago.

DiPietro wore number 37 with the Wolves, and was wearing an Islanders mask with a number 37 prominently featured on it. Made sense, then, that when he got the call-up, that would be his number. Seeking something a little different (and affordable,) I laid out $95 for a customized navy fishsticks jersey on clearance from RCS.

A few weeks later, while I was still waiting for my sweater to come back from Winnipeg, DiPietro got the call-up. I'm sitting at the bar watching Sportscenter with my friends, and there he is - wearing number 1. Damn near choked on my beverage. And later on he'd switch to 39 - but never put on 37. Ah well, I still love that jersey.

[hjwii]

Let's see.. I bought myself a 94 Germany away World Cup jersey (you know the one - green w/ the harlequin red/yellow/black around the shoulders) and I wanted some numbers on it. THe place I bought it had "authentic" numbers, which was great. So, I went with the same number I have on any jersey I have bought, "00" (hey, I like it, and always used it when playing ball....); but I specified NO NAME. Neverthless, the place put my name on the jersey. Now, I suppose that wouldnt have been so bad, but he used this bubble, cartoony, font which I am pretty sure is not spec. It looks stupid... and I love that jersey... and havent been able to find one since...

Anyways, I never liked the idea of putting a players name on a jersey (altho I do have a Saints' Brees jersey, but that was one of those "authentic but not really because I bought it on ebay for $30 and it came from the Far East" jerseys) because free agency means you will never know how long they might be there...

[mania]

2 big ones for me.

I got the red-heavy home Texas Rangers jersey the offseason they switched to blue(and I wasn't net savvy enough to find out that they had made the switch, I figured it was just an off-season sale). I think my mom has it now.

And then the year he left, I got a Ty Law jersey for my birthday.

[HatManTC]

I know people give others guff for personalizing jerseys with their favorite numbers and their last name. I for one don't see a problem with it. with pro sports being a business, players moving around every two weeks it seems, its hard to have a favorite player now a days. so why not play it safe with put someone you know will remain loyal to the team.

got to love the ncaa, you'll know they'll use that # again.

[CDsoftball]

In High School I was all about wearing different jersey's and hats from teams not in the area (Seattle) so I chose to wear anything that was a team from the minors and was on the east coast. This was the early to mid 90's so jersey's were in and it was right when New Era put minor league hats on every store shelf. So I went above and beyond I. I played roller hockey and I was a Goalie, so I picked up an official Atlanta Knights Manon Rheaume Jersey. People at my high school were like "WTF" who is that? I loved that jersey then about a year after I had it I went to see some family in North Carolina, and we went to a card show in Charlotte. This was right before the internet was huge so I had no clue Rheaume had moved onto the Charlotte Checkers. I saw this mid 40 year old guy who was extremely out of shape and wearing probably a XXXXL Checkers jersey and had a [Mod edit: were those words really necessary?] pony tail. He says to me "hey i like your jersey" and proceeds to turn around and on his back is "RHEAUME" and "33" and I was like WTF was I thinking. Never wore that or any other hockey jersey off the ice/sport court again. And we won't even get into my 1999 Mariners "Seattle" alternate uni with my name and number on it. As if I didn't even learn from my Rheaume mistake......

[BlueSky]

I'll start by saying that at least I never bought a Ricky Williams Saints jersey.

When I bought my replica home jersey, I couldn't decide between Sammy Knight's #29 or Deuce McAllister's #26. I thought, hey, the D never gets as much credit, I'll go with Sammy. He promptly went to the Dolphins in free agency.

When I decided to get a new jersey, playing it safe made the most sense, so I bought this one. I know this guy isn't going anywhere:

[kenosha]

Bought my son an Ahman Green jersey for Christmas. He promptly signs with the Texans. Ugh.

[Camden Crazy]

I have Amare Stoudemire and Kobe Bryant jerseys. A year after I buy them, they decide to change numbers.

[harperdc]

I have an authentic Blazers road jersey that I'm going to get customized, still deciding between Roy and Aldridge though, but I'm sure neither is going anywhere anytime soon, so I should be safe.

on the flip side, you can get the jerseys for players who have left for dirt cheap - I should have bought a Theo Ratliff replica for $15 when I was at the Blazer game in February, and my roommate (a Lions fan) could pick up any number of wide receiver jerseys for $10 from the Lions' team shop.

the bonus with college unis: no matter whether the player pans out or not, they're still remembered on campus as legends for their time there. So my Luke Jackson jersey is still safe, regardless of him being through six teams this year (including the D-league), and my Haloti Ngata football jersey is fine too (except it's cursed, but that's another matter entirely).

[albanian]

I bought an Evgeni Malkin authentic penguins jersey before he officially signed with the team (he was playing over in Russian due to the lockout) and I assumed he was going to wear #17 because that was his olympic number and the number he signed all his autographs with. I was bummed when he chose #71 as his number but at least the numbers are the same so I dont have to buy a new number kit, but I havent gotten around to changing it yet

[buckeyes]

white detroit pistons ben wallace jersey (i got 3 good years out of it though)

white detroit lions joey harrington jersey (got it once he was drafted, after a while the numbers started to peel off, i was happy that they were)

my worst experience..

when i was a wee little buckeye fan i wanted a jersey that looked just like the ones that the players wore. i was very observant about the uniforms and i knew they were nike. i asked for a jersey for my birthday and sure enough i got it. a nice red mike doss #2 jersey. one problem, it was adidas. i was so upset, i got a white nike one with the money i got from my other relatives

[AndrewPF]

Johhny Damon. For a while after he went to the Yanks, i wore it with the word "SUCKS!!!!!!!" written in sharpie under "Damon". When i get around to it, I'm going to patch "Dice-K" over "Damon SUCKS!!!!!!!"

[HarperK]

Johhny Damon. For a while after he went to the Yanks, i wore it with the word "SUCKS!!!!!!!" written in sharpie under "Damon". When i get around to it, I'm going to patch "Dice-K" over "Damon SUCKS!!!!!!!"

"Dice-K"? i believe that is against the rules of jersey etiquette my Bostonian freind:) (Some article i read linked from here, I'm sure someone would still know of it)

But hey, if someone would be clueless about etiquette, its gonna be a red sox fan

[speedo]

Joey. Harrington.

Ditto. At least it was a cheap Lions replica that I bought in New Orleans. I use it now whenever I'm painting around the house.

[speedo]

Delete. Double post.

[ColeJ]

You can't get burned if you make your jersey of someone who's already retired!

yeah you can... as i said, when i bought my beezer jersey, he was long-since retired, and coaching junior hockey... that's when he decided to sling the racial slurs about his players, and lost me as a fan.