Basketball Uniforms: You Know My Name...

...Look up my number!

As I anticipate another snoozer of a MLB All Star game it struck me that I--perhaps unlike others-- let me know, have no idea what my favorite baseball players numbers are. Do you know yours?

The flip side of that is how almost emblematic--a part and parcel, if you will-- I associated basketball players with their numbers. Being from Philly and of a certain age, if you will, there is no other #6 than Julius Erving. (Dr. J) And never will be.

I'm sure others out there feel the same way about Michael Jordan (#23), Magic Johnson(#32), Larry Bird(#33) and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (#33). Ooooops!

Numbering basketball uniforms. It's a slippery slope, wrapped in a riddle, with a whole boat load of merchandising money attached to it all. Not to mention a much trickier thing to deal with than it really should be.

And WTF up with #00?!?!?


First off, my all time "#00" (double loser, is one Benoit Benjamin, who somehow, someway miraculously hung in and around the NBA for 14 freaking years. That's 98 in dog years. A I'll be damned if I can think about a bigger dog ass player than Benoit. (FYI: Here's a cool link to a site to search for players by number)

Any who.

In AAU ball, it seems like every 5-6 years they rethink the regulations concerning numbering. (Here's a link to the 2009 Rule book (I haven't personally been able to allot the time required to get thru it yet (Folks at my company are religious readers!). But for cripes sake James Naismith invented basketball in 1891. You'd think we'd have the freaking numbering figured out by now. (And don't get me started on the differences that rules that run the hoop leagues in Europe! (Those wacky Croats, Serbs, Spaniards, et al.)

Any who.

as some of you know, I worked for the LA Lakers way back in the day. And Shaq was #34and Kobe #8. 'Member? Life was simple.) But even that fond, numeric memory has been set asunder. (i.e., Both players now wear different numbers and, well, you prolly heard they haven't been BFFs for a little while)

Basketball numbering will never be easy. As Barbie used to say "Math is hard"!

Sports Uniform Guy
TeamSportsPlanet.com