What number would you wear?

[Sport]

In high school hockey I joined the varsity halfway through my sophomore season. I was "called up". We had tackle twill numbers and sewn on nameplates. I wanted the most fabric I could possibly have so I chose a two digit number and went with the only two digit number they had in the bag of jerseys, which was #29.

in high school baseball I was issued #4. I was a scrawny kid and the smaller numbers indicated smaller sizes. I have no real connection to that number, but I wore it for two years.

[Ryoma]

#27 in hockey because of Jeremy Roenick. I'd probably go with #41 in baseball if I were a pitcher, and #19 if I were a position player. #41 is a good looking number, and I was born on April 19 (#19).

[dmhtfld]

For my first two years of playing rec football i wore 30 and i was a reciever which was pretty odd, but when i got on a new team i chose 9 because i would be playing quarterback and i guess #9 has stuck with me because the 3 years i wore it were my best years of playing football.

[CreamSoda]

17

Mainly because it looks good on a jersey and for Ilya Kovalchuk!

[knnhrvy16]

Well, I've never really chosen a number, rather been assigned them.

In football I was assigned 48 in city league, and 46 in high school. I played alot of positions but was mostly a cornerback, so I couldve chosen any number I wanted really, but I walked into the warehouse where the jerseys were and coach just sort of tossed me a jersey and said "here you go". Lol. At least it was close to my city league number.

In baseball I was assigned 11 in city league, in high school I wore 16, 24, and 15 (i was assigned 16 my sophomore year but they didn't have a 16 home jersey, so I got 24 home jersey instead, which is what I wanted all along because my favorite player is Ken Griffey, Jr. Then my junior and senior year they got new uniforms that only went up to 20, so I couldn't choose 24, and 16 was taken before my turn, so I took 15), and in fall leagues I wore 41.

I never played high school basketball but I did play in the Junior Jazz leagues they have here in Utah, and wore 14, 47, 5, and 11.

If I was ever lucky enough to play pro sports, I'd want to play baseball, and I'd wear either 24 for junior, or 32 for Josh Hamilton.

[burgundy]

I've always liked #11, but I'm not sure why. I always tried to get it when I played baseball, and succeeded about half the time. I'd probably pick #11 for most other sports as well. For football I'd go with #28 for Darrell Green, or #44 just because.

[Jer15]

15.

I wear it in hockey, soccer and, softball.

The story started when I was 8 years old on my first hockey team (as opposed to just hockey school) It was around this time that the big Mats Sundin trade went down with the Leafs (possibly the season before, I don't exactly remember, I was a kid)and for some reason I thought he wore #16. Problem was some kid stole 16 before I got it, so I wanted #2 (Bobby Orr, I play defense)but that was also gone, so I just took 15 and it's stuck ever since, all through high school sports and then in college too.

[DelayedPenalty]

For my first 2 seasons of minor hockey I wore #5, then moved up to #6. I've worn #6 in every sport I've played since then, at all levels. It's not really a lucky number, just a favorite. I think it came from Mark Martin driving the #6 Valvoline car, and my last name is Martin.

I'm a huge auto racing fan, so #27 is the number I'd use if I ever start racing. Gilles Villeneuve ran it, his son Jacques ran it in IndyCar, and most recently, my Dad used it when he was racing in the SCCA.

[loogodude90]

69, baby. (Hey, you asked! )

[Dexter Morgan]

[DustDevil61]

Well, here's one number I haven't seen while glancing over this article: #0. If I had a choice, and if it fit into the position (football would be #00, as I was/would be a lineman), then I'd try to wear that. You don't see too many people wear #0 (not #00) in the sports that allow wearing of the number, and that amount of players isn't going up, with the most (in)famous current player (Gilbert Arenas) giving up #0 for #6 or #9. If 3-digit numbers were available, I'd be tempted to wear #111, and I'll get to that in a minute.

In 7-8th grade football, I was #87 in the first year, #50 in my second. Either way, I was a lineman, though, wearing #87, was fullback for one play. I wasn't clobbered, but I didn't gain any yardage. I got a sack wearing #50 my second year, being a primarily defensive player.

In high school football, I made the decision to stick with whatever number I was initially given (my H.S. was small enough to generally get away with that, despite my not being a star player), and I ended up with #59. I stuck with that number even when the current home uniform got caught in my family's old dryer and got black marks over the numerals on the red home jersey.

I also played H.S. baseball, and wasn't able to stick with the same number. My freshman year I wore #27, sophomore #11 (one game I was listed as "#111"), and my junior year I wore #15. The "#111" came about because there were 2 players wearing #11, and to differentiate, my JV coach got some tape and made a line down between the two ones on the back and on the front. The numbers were red, the tape was that off-white, so it didn't look too good.

In basketball, with the onset of the Junior Jazz program in my small, southern Utah town, I remember my first number being #10. I was a short, stocky guy, yet I was a center.

Nowadays, I wouldn't mind too much what number I'd be given, but looking at all those numbers, one thing stands out about them: all but my Junior Jazz and 8th grade city league numbers are odd. In fact, all of them, except #10, #87, #50, and #27, have both (or all) odd digits. I would try to wear a number with one odd digit and one even digit, though that's not always the case.

So, in football, I'd try to shoot for #50, #58, #61, or #90, while basketball would likely lead me to wear an even number in the 30s, as my dad, in his one year of JV basketball, wore #32, while his much taller brother wore #34, so I would go likely go with #36 or #30.

Any other sport where numbering isn't by position (and anything not mentioned before), I'd try:

#0, Not widely used

#1, Ozzie Smith

#6, I've always liked this number and the way 6 stands out on its own

#9, Same reason as #6

#12, John Stockton

#16, When 6 is unavailable

#22, Looks like a good number; would go great with a nickname like "the Rifle"

#32, Karl Malone, another number my dad claims to have worn in H.S. baseball, with #10 being the other

#80, It looks like a "solid" number

#85, born in '85

#89, The main road through my hometown is U.S. Highway 89

[eRay]

My dad always wore #5 throughout his childhood up through high school, so when I started playing youth sports I always picked up #5. I had it every single year in every sport until I made the 8th grade basketball team, where our coach let the best players pick uniforms 1st. I came off the bench(so, not good), and the closest I could get was #4. In H.S. I only played golf, so no numbers there. Then a summer in college I played adult slow pitch softball and got #0. I was the newest player on the team, therefore had last pick of jersey, so it was either that or #21. As much as I loved KG, I thought #0 looked cooler. Of course my favorite player, KG, joined my favorite team after that and took my number, 5...so there's that. Short answer- first choice would be #5, second would be #55, third choice would be #4. Good question, since we've probably all played out the "if I was a famous athlete" situation in our heads.

[jimbojohnny56]

14 for Bob Cousy.

[kbaker19]

In the 10 years of football I played growing up, I had 10 different numbers, mainly because in youth football my dad, who was the coach, wanted to give people different numbers every year.

Youth: 82, 11, 21, 84, 23, 7

High School: 88, 18, 81, 19

I wanted 19 in high school because I thought it was a number no one else would want and I thought it was a pretty cool number, but my freshman year I was forced to pick in the 80s because I was a tight end. I moved to WR my sophomore year and could pick any number I wanted, but 19 wasn't available so I picked the closest to it, 18. My junior year, 19 again wasn't available and 18 was taken, so I flipped it around. Finally, my senior year I got the number I wanted.

I would wear 19 if I was a pro. I now tell people it's for Robin Yount, who I never saw play, but is the greatest Brewer of all-time. But, in reality, it's just because it's a random, yet low number that not many people wear.

[Swampee]

69, baby. (Hey, you asked! )

Our 1st "That guy..." post.

[Canadian_Idiot]

I wore #13 for the 4 seasons i played high school hockey- a number I chose because I was born on 4-13.

Now that I'm about to become a Goaltender- I've decided that I'm going to wear #29.

Not because I like Ken Dryden (and I do)- but for Steve Ott.

I don't plan on fighting a lot of guys while I play goal, but I'm sure as heck gonna defend my crease.

[maz]

17

I like odd numbers, and I like the number seven. I just get a "positive vibe" from it, one could say. It looks good on a shirt or jersey and it looks good with my last name.

And because of this guy:

He was one of my favorites, so that's also a partial reason. I'm not a huge fan of wearing numbers of your favorite players, though.

I currently wear 17 for dek hockey.

If I was on a team where that was taken, my other choices are 77 and 81. However, if I was a goalie, I would wear 35.

[eriqjaffe]

8

In my first year of little league, I was #8 on the Expos. I thought it was pretty awesome that I had that in common with Gary Carter (that dates me, I know), and always wanted to have that number.

Alas, it was not to be. The next year, I was #9 on the Dodgers, and Greg Brock just didn't do it for me.

[Swampee]

In HS football, as a freshman, I was issued #53. On Varsity, I was issued #83. In college I was issued #18.

In hockey, I wore #4, #7, #10, #11 & #12 before settling on #2.

I like #2 because it looks cool and you get listed first on the roster page.

In baseball, I played in Senior League baseball and wore #40.

But if I was playing MLB, I would wear #35.

In the movie "The Natural", when Roy wanted #11, the trainer said something to the effect of "Number 11, that is a bad luck number. Don't go into that..." I always wanted to know what he meant by that #11 was a bad luck number. Any clues?

My Dad wore #11 in basketball in HS. Bad luck or not, that would be the number I'd wear if I was playing hoops.

[Bmac]

Baseball: 9 I was given number 9 my first year of baseball as a youngster. It was the first sport I ever played (and my favorite), so it has always been kinda special. I wore 9 pretty much all of baseball career.

Hockey: 9, basically because of baseball

Football: I would loved to have been number 9, but I didn't play the right position to do so. My grade school number was 30, which I picked after a few former Nebraska Cornhuskers. I played flag football in elementary school, and I wore number 7 after then Huskers QB Eric Crouch. In high school, I wore number 60. Number 9 was for the QBs only. I can't play anymore (I'm a senior this fall), so I now own my old home and road number 60 jerseys .

Basketball: I always wore number 25. My original username here was bmac25, named after my basketball number. I was given 25 because the numbers went up with jersey size, and I was always the biggest guy on the team.