Pointless Question of the Day

by JohnCockToastin on Jul 29, 2009 10:03 AM EDT

Can anyone possibly explain to me why it is that when players have their media picture taken that the team uniforms they wear do not have any numbers on them? You can clearly see this for all the players if you click on their link at Bengals.Com. ...and it's not just the Bengals...this occurs with all teams. Why wouldn't they just wear their own uniform?

I suppose you could make the point that this is in case the player changes his number...especially for the rookies...but you really don't see the number anyways...so what gives?

I understand this is a very minor, meaningless question...I am just curious.

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??????

I was gonna suggest that Mike Brown has a single jersey that the players share for their pic…..but then you pointed out that all the teams do this, and then i was stumped….

3 yards and a pile of dust

by Hudepohl Dey on Jul 29, 2009 12:49 PM EDT reply actions

guess is

numbers can change by the end of preseason.

Some players can leave, then their # is up for grabs. Others sell their number from last year to the new guy, etc.

by UpStateMike on Jul 29, 2009 1:19 PM EDT reply actions

They sell their #'s?

How much could that possibly be worth? Let’s just hope that Smith doesn’t get a number with a “0” in it. That would just make him look rounder.

This is our year!

by Paul Cannon on Jul 29, 2009 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

You bet!

Here’s a classic example of how silly this can get:

When Clinton Portis joined the Washington Redskins, he wanted to wear #26. But Ifeanyi Ohalete already had the number. Easy enough: the bit player Ohalete sold his rights to the number to superstar Portis for $40,000. Things got interesting when Portis paid only half and Ohalete was cut from the team. Is Portis still required to pay? This almost ended up in court, but the players settled and Portis will pay $18,000 of the $20,000 he still owed. Apparently, trading numbers not uncommon, but why do teams give players rights in their numbers? Why not just assign #26 to Portis and give Ohalete a less popular number?

from: http://entrepreneur.typepad.com/sideblog/2005/06/selling_jersey_.html

by UpStateMike on Jul 29, 2009 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Well at least part of the reason of “ownership” has got to be because of Reebok and the NFL jerseys they sell to fans. So you can’t just change numbers on a whim (that hit a Bengal draft pick back a year or so ago, think it was Rivers actually), same as you can’t just change the name on a whim either (yeah I’m looking at you, ocho).

And why not let the players sell their number? Especially the players that aren’t superstars can really use the opportunity to make a bit of extra money.

by FriarBob on Jul 29, 2009 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions