Names on jerseys you buy....

[Smitty69]

Interesting topic. IMHO, in today's sports environment, there isn't much point to spending the $$$ on an authentic jersey with an athlete's name on it. They get traded, they get hurt, they retire, they get arrested.

With my name on the back it's permanent. I'll always be a fan of the team, I get to pick the number. I pay part of their salaries with my tickets, merchandise, TV viewership. Why not put my name on the jersey?

[picklepuss]

I agree with spyboy1 that a jersey looks so much better customised than left blank. I like all of the bells & whistles so I'd look for a chance to get the captain's "C" or "A" or a 25th anniversary patch. I also support the49fan15's notion that if the team's official jersey doesn't have a name on the back then don't add one.

I like the jersey #32 but there has never been a Columbus Crew player with that number so I got that jersey with my nickname on the back. I put the name ROBOTA on the back which has been a name I've used for some time and I liked that it's definition relates to the team's motto "America's hardest working team." I think it is fine to put your own name on a jersey because it belongs to you and it might be what you would pick if given the choice as a member of the team. Sometimes I feel like I'm not supporting the players on the field if I wear a jersey of the guy they replaced (unless the guy on the jersey is a legend.)

I believe that you have to use the official lettering or your shirt looks annoying.

[illwauk]

I only like the name on NFL or NBA jerseys unless it's a throwback from an era where the team didn't wear names. Besides, they'd look stupid without the numbers and once you have them, it makes no sense not to have a name.

It's illegal to put names on NCAA jerseys (unless the player has used up his eligibility), but I prefer 'em like that anyway. College sports have too much turnover that having names would make no sense at all. Besides, the price of NCAA jerseys sink like a rock when the player who they manufactured the jersey for leaves the squad. So even though my #2 Wisconsin football jersey was made because of Brian Calhoun, there's always gonna be SOMEONE wearing #2 on the Badgers and it was only $20.

[Discrim]

soccer-admittedly, I've never owned a soccer shirt (mainly cus you don't see too many futbolistas who bear any resemblance to linemen). if I did, I wouldn't much care whether it had numbers or not.

football-some of yall remember that Patriots blank I turned into a Ben Coates a while back (and I'ma have to strip it and go thru most of the song and dance again, cus I aint notice I had the shadow wrong til after I'd gotten the whole thing done). I still have a blank Oilers 98 jersey. both look funny with no numbers or names. far as a number and name, I probably would.

basketball-I have a blank Pacers home, with just the pinstripes. I have a blank Jazz home with just the mountains. and then a blank Magic throwback road with just the pinstripes. Though basketball jerseys with no lettering don't seem as weird as the same thing in football, they're still somewhat of a headscratcher...numbers and names, I'm never gonna wear a Melo jersey. Everybody got a line, mine is my first name stays off my back. Unfortunately, my given name also happens to be Melo's surname.

baseball-I don't own any replicas. I'd go with nothing on the back if I did, cus I've made my opinion on MLB replicas known in the past. an authentic, I'd go with numbers. As for name, I'd rather go with a player's, though if I ever got my hands on an old Marlins jersey I'd have it turned into a Chuck Carr

hockey-like with soccer, I don't much care whether it does or not.

Aussie rules-depends on the team. An Essendon jumper looks good regardless. Same with Freo. the striped and hooped jumpers, however, tend to look incomplete without numbers (e.g. Geelong, Adelaide). The AFL has experimented with names on the back during the preseason cup, but has (to a bit of relief) so far resisted adding them for the real season. Regardless of what the AFL does, I don't plan on having a named jumper in my possession anytime soon.

[darkshadow1031]

Here's my story -

In a roundabout way I won a contest at the beginning of the year to meet Joe Jurevicius and tour Cleveland Browns Stadium. When I was there I was under the impression that I was getting a Jurevicius jersey, but when they passed them out it was instead Jurevicius's 84 jersey with my name on it. Something about it just didn't look right, not to mention that my name was cheaply and shoddily screen printed on an authentic NFL Equipment jersey. So to make a long story short I was able to actually peel the letters off the jersey and now I have it with just a blank nameplate. Eventually I may or may not get "Jurevicius" put on it, but at this time that would involve time and money, which I have neither of.

On a side note -

I have a few NFL jerseys and they all have names on them. But when I player leaves that team I usually "retire" the jersey, like in the case of Randy Moss (Minnesota & Oakland), Warren Sapp (Tampa Bay), Drew Brees (San Diego), Michael Vick (Atlanta), and Charlie Frye (Cleveland ).

[ctk]

i have all three avalanche jerseys and all three are customized with my name and number on them. if i decide to get another jersey, it's going to be customized as well. i am a person that doesn't like seeing blank jerseys if they aren't blank to begin with. it looks awfully plain to me, which is why i have something back there.

i do understand the feeling that because i'm not part of the team, i shouldn't have my name on there because it makes me look like a groupie. i can get away with that here with my avs jerseys- no one in kentucky really knows what hockey is

[chakfu]

I personally wouldn't want to put my own name on a jersey, it would seem kind of silly, but I certainly have no problem with anyone who wants to...

But what bugs me is when people say it's dumb to wear a jersey with a real player's name on it, people say "it's gay to wear a jersey with another man's name on it." If that's the case, I guess it's kind of gay to be a sports fan and admire male athletes. Maybe those guys should wear WNBA jerseys if they think that's more manly then?

[FirearmofMutiny]

Depends on the league... NFL, obviously you have to. NHL and MLB, no, I always go name/numberless. There's too much player movement, and I'm solid on my loyalties to those two teams. I think NBA jerseys w/o numbers are kinda goofy, but I look so horrible in NBA jerseys that I steer clear of them anyways.

But when it comes to NPB, I have gotten names/numbers, because there's far less player movement and the guy I bought a jersey of (Kosuke Fukudome) has probably played his last NPB game (season-ending injury; probably MLB-bound from there)

[Alphabet Man]

Aussie rules-depends on the team. An Essendon jumper looks good regardless. Same with Freo. the striped and hooped jumpers, however, tend to look incomplete without numbers (e.g. Geelong, Adelaide). The AFL has experimented with names on the back during the preseason cup, but has (to a bit of relief) so far resisted adding them for the real season. Regardless of what the AFL does, I don't plan on having a named jumper in my possession anytime soon.

Some clubs sell the option to have a name and number put on the back. I don't know why because we don't wear names on jumpers. The names experiment has mainly been the warm up shirt players wear.

In my country, our major sports don't put names on the back of their jersey, just the number (AFL, NRL, Rugby). But Cricket does in ODI's. I don't think that names will become more common. I don't really like the idea of names on jerseys, not sure why, maybe its a tad too Americanised for me.

[Gazzzaf]

Some clubs sell the option to have a name and number put on the back. I don't know why because we don't wear names on jumpers. The names experiment has mainly been the warm up shirt players wear.

In my country, our major sports don't put names on the back of their jersey, just the number (AFL, NRL, Rugby). But Cricket does in ODI's. I don't think that names will become more common. I don't really like the idea of names on jerseys, not sure why, maybe its a tad too Americanised for me.

Many sports played here have position specific numbers. If you had a player switch from one position to another they would require another jersey with their name/number.

[AndrewPF]

What about names of fictional characters? I'd like a NJ Devils jersey with "Hicks" #37

Clerks took place in NJ, and well the Hicks 37 thing is all part of the magic that is Clerks

But in the movie dante wears a penguins jersey, yet on the commentary he said his favorite team is really the rangers and you see him wear a rangers jersey in the music video for clerks (Soul Asylum - Cant Even Tell)

I personally think putting CLERKS 37 would be cooler.

oh yeah, wasn't thinking there... as for the name, his saying "I'm 37?!!" makes me think it should say Hicks

[VitaminD]

Most of my jerseys are customized, and the ones that are blank will not be forever.

I'm of the school of thought that Goth and spyboy espoused: customizing a jersey can forever tie your garment to a certain player, a certain season, a certain memory. Whether the guy gets traded/flips off the fans/has a transgender operation and now answers to "Becky" later on is irrelevant, and doesn't tarnish what happened that particular year. I don't feel weird about having someone else's name/number on the back, either; for the jersey I am wearing, Player X wore Number Y; that is what looks "correct" IMO. My only stipulation is that I rarely go for the biggest star on the team. I'll take a dependable "glue guy" over some high priced star most of the time. Especially if they have a great last name. So my Caps sweater will have KONOWALCHUK, not BONDRA, on it. At Eagles games, every numbskull wears #5, #20, or #36, and while I like all those guys, I'm almost always the only one rockin' an authentic #28 Correll Buckhalter gamer.

Conversely, the only jerseys in my closet that bear my name are ones that I earned by making a team. My logic is this: if I get a Phillies' jersey with DRISCOLL #20 on it, it makes me look like an ass. #20 is forever associated with Mike Schmidt, and any other name would be "incorrect". Fans form associations with certain numbers, and to usurp an actual player's number just feels wrong to me. Again, my two cents, and there are those who disagree with me. Quite articulately, at that. Their disagreement won't change my mind, and we'll agree to disagree. But the guys who've earned the right to wear those numbers should have their names alongside the number. That said, what few professional athletes who share my last name may find their jerseys in my collection soon. Anyone who has a blank 1980 Edmonton Oilers sweater, I'm on the hunt.

And 'Wonk: I was deliberating on whether or not to wear my Phillies' roadie to RFK this Thursday. I saw your post on Page 1. It's already in the car. Draw up whatever capital charges you want - you'll know how to find me.

[santoleri3]

I like to have a player's jersey, with their correct name and # on it. I know more than a couple guys who have a Jeff Blake's Bengals Jersey collecting dust at the bottom of a box in the garage somewhere. So I guess if you pay for it, be prepared to be embarrased by it later...

My son asked me for one of those Jersey's customized with his own name, but the price was more than I was willing to pay. For a kid, I don't have a problem with it. But grown ups look kinda dorky. I saw a guy this year who had an obviously custome jersey that had double 0s for the number and the word "Cincinnati" where the player's name would go. And I think that's the first time I ever saw a custom Jersey that looked ok.

[eSabre]

First, I would never, under any circumstances, get my name on a jersey unless it was shared by a roster player. It is the dumbest thing ever, IMO. You might as well get IDIOT tatooed on your forehead as far as I'm concerned.

Second, I am more partial to getting esoteric names on jerseys. I have a late 90's Kings #9 TSYPLAKOV. I have an early 90's Bills jersey with #14 REICH. I have a white vintage Sabres #15 WARD. You get the idea. I like getting names that few people have.

I'm not afraid of getting current roster players, either, because if you go to the right places, you can always have the jerseys changed if you need to, as far as hockey jerseys go. I have a new Sabres navy #12 KOTALIK, and if he gets traded, I'll either get it changed or put it away for a few years until it becomes vintage (I have the timeline set as 7 years after a jersey loses current status to become wearable).

You just have to be smart when it comes to player choice.

[LSThrasher04]

I have to go with no name on the jersey. I have all 3 Thrashers jerseys and all are blank. Everyone thought Dany Heatley would be a lifelong Thrasher, so they got his jersey. Now, everyone is buying Hossa's.

[powersurge]

First, I would never, under any circumstances, get my name on a jersey unless it was shared by a roster player. It is the dumbest thing ever, IMO. You might as well get IDIOT tatooed on your forehead as far as I'm concerned.

Second, I am more partial to getting esoteric names on jerseys. I have a late 90's Kings #9 TSYPLAKOV. I have an early 90's Bills jersey with #14 REICH. I have a white vintage Sabres #15 WARD. You get the idea. I like getting names that few people have.

I'm not afraid of getting current roster players, either, because if you go to the right places, you can always have the jerseys changed if you need to, as far as hockey jerseys go. I have a new Sabres navy #12 KOTALIK, and if he gets traded, I'll either get it changed or put it away for a few years until it becomes vintage (I have the timeline set as 7 years after a jersey loses current status to become wearable).

You just have to be smart when it comes to player choice.

A bit harsh don't you think?

I'm sure there are plenty of things that you or I do on a daily basis that others might define as incompetent...one of which is posting on this board. So I wouldn't be so quick to disparage others merely because you don't do it...know what I mean?