GOODBYE: Legends Jerseys
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Glad it is gone.
Bad idea. Like it better when players have a chance to make their own number special.
Were a good idea and a bad idea all rolled into one, which could probably sum up DB's tenure (although his was more bad than good). I like the idea of honoring the past, I hated the idea of Gardner being compared to the great Tom Harmon for two seasons. One game, fine. Multiple seasons, no. Just my two cents.
A repost of a previous rant of mine...
Get rid of those stupid patches... Build a monument park, an outdoor museum at the stadium. Inside of this park, statues of all of the formerly retired numbers...plus Woodson this year. AC next year. Desmond the following year. And Jake the year after that. Also should be plaques honoring great teams. Great players that aren't quite statue level, but awesome in their own right. A wall of All-Americans. Coaches. History. Have a cool "exhibit" of fan favorite moments like Woodson's catch vs. MSU, The Pose, and also moments like UTL1 and UTL2. Bo's first win over OSU. A place to relive the experience. Walk into a giant Michigan helmet to experience a video element with a loop of great plays on the inside. PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Be a LEADER and a trendsetter! Make it cool, make it fun, make it corny, but do it up and do it right. Many people only visit Michigan Stadium every now and again, this would be an awesome feature to better the gameday experience. Or not even the gameday experience because many folks would come by on the holidays during the offseason just to check it out. It would be awesome if you could visit 365 days a year.
Sounds like a good idea, however there will still be someone and their mgopoint followers on here who will bitch about it until the end of time because it goes against their interpretation of "tradition"
the first guy Bo gave it to was a backup kicker.
The entire point of retiring a jersey number is to repeat overlap, so that one player will have a legacy with a number for as long as the team exists. The system Michigan promotes the opposite in a very flawed way in my opinion.
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How about bring back every number and ad a small patch with the names, position and years of the great players that wear it. For example:
No: 1
Anthony Carter - WR - 1979-82
Derrick Alexander - WR - 1990-93
David Terrell – WR - 1998-2000
Braylon Edwards – WR - 2003-04
Every time a great player wears that number you add his name to the patch and once that patch gets to let’s say 10 names you can either retire the patch, or remove the first name like they do with the Stanley Cups rings.
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Interesting idea, but for several numbers, that patch would be huge.
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Isn't there a bunch of empty blue space on the front of the luxury boxes? They should paint the numbers and names, or something like it, of the all-time greats to honor them and their years at the university. Then unretire all the numbers and let players wear them if they choose. I like the museum idea too.
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got to make their own identity. Every player that showed star potential immediately got slapped into a "legends" jersey and was immediately overshadowed by the player who wore than number before them.
I don't mind the receivers fighting over #1. Having ONE number at Michigan like that is kind of cool. But having EVERY good player on the team switching numbers was just annoying. Make your own number a legend. Those of use old enough to remember times before Desmond or Woodson remember when #21 or #2 meant nothing, and it's incredibly cool that those guys showed up and made those numbers legends at Michigan. Why take that possibility away from future players?
Good. In all honesty nobody should be wearing 98. But if you must keep the numbers active just do away with the dumb patches and just give them to whoever wants them. We have multiple guys that I think of when I see the #16 now and it shouldn't be any different with any of those other numbers.
And for god's sake the #1 jersey thing wasn't even actually a thing until Braylon made it one. It didn't always go to the best receiver. But I suppose it's too late for that.
I'm not sad to see them go. But let's not act like they were some sort of abhorrent brainchild of an evil money grubber designed to Destroy Tradition.
It was a thing they tried because they thought it would be neat. It sort of was, but not enough to stick long term. It is gone now and the only effect was on what number a couple of players wore on their shirts. End.
Outside of JK, none of those players should have been wearing those jerseys.
-"The 10 Year Snore" trademark pending fuckers, do not use. I'm trying to put together a 30 for 30 type film.
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:37 PM ^
2006 was not a snore-like year
March 23rd, 2015 at 11:40 PM ^
It was a good idea, but was implemented horribly.
I'm okay with it. I guess I saw the point behind it, and it was kind of cool, but to me, the Legends Jerseys were emblematic of one of the many ways that this program has been hopelessly trapped in the past.
Besides, why not let our players forge their own legacies with their own numbers?
Felt like another distraction from what's really important that is today's players playing like champions and making their own championship legacies...not worrying about jersey numbers and patches.
They brought little or nothing of good.
sooooooo happy to hear this!
Michigan stadium so fans pass under them on their way to the game and let us all forget the marketing move that brought them out of retirement. Especially Gerry Ford's number which was retired to honor the death of the only Michigan grad to become president of the United States of America.
I opposed bringing those numbers out of retirement and I would love to see them returned to their place of honor. I mentioned in a comment to another thread that Brandon did some astonishingly stupid things. Bringing those numbers out of retirement was one.
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:13 PM ^
Gerald Ford's jersey wasn't retired to honor his death. He died (2006) twelve years after his jersey was retired (1994). He was at the retirement ceremony.
Nobody can wear 16 ever again
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^
You want to retire Jack Wangler's jersey when he graduates? ;)
Whatever the Harbaughtic Overlord wishes.
I hate "retired" jerseys. After a while only hard core fans know anything about the number and all you get is a player not getting to wear the number he wants.
I thought Gardner was fine with 98. Wish his career was even half as good as Harmon's, but it is what it is. He did everything he could, and it looked good out there.
Courtney Avery wearing 11 though? That seemed like they felt obligated to put the number on SOMEBODY.
Where I'm concerned, unretire numbers, but reserve them for special cases. Braylon wanted #1 and said so when he got to campus. Earn it. He did. I remember a computer game I played where I got the #1 overall recruit who was a center and the game assigned him #1. I thought "why not?" In the game he was phenomenal. He deserved it.
I would like to see a plaque in ever locker with the names of significant players who wore that number. You wear it now. Earn the right to have your name engraved along with them. If it's one of the reserved numbers you have to earn it. Show me you know why the number is reserved and why you are worthy of wearing his jersey number.
Having the numbers back on the field did a positive thing in teaching the history of the program to some people who may not have thought about certain things. The name "Tom Harmon" is more well known and remembered now than it was 5 years ago, and that is a positive to me. Do I want to see it issued to a walkon DT? No. But if some kid comes in and says "I love 98 and want to honor Tom Harmon by being the next All-American to wear it" he shouldn't be told "sorry, here's number 4. 98 is special, 4 isn't. And you'll never be good enough to wear it no matter what you do.
Remember, 21 was good enough for Biakabutuka.
Totally... Darnell Hood!
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:26 PM ^
I chose 4 for a reason.
It could be argued that 4 is a modern legend jersey. Outside of his now being coach, Jim Harbaugh was a great QB at Michigan. Yet it's not an issue when Marquis Walker, Brandon Minor, De'Veon Smith, et all wear it. If a DE wants to wear 4, he can get 4. If a QB comes in and wants to wear 98, he should have the opportunity to do so, provided he KNOWS who wore it before and wants the chance to live up to... or better the legacy of those who wore it before him.
With the weight of having such a number on you comes just as great a chance to not even be remembered. If you don't live up to it, we'll remember the guy who wore it before you. It's the way it is.
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^
March 23rd, 2015 at 10:41 PM ^
March 23rd, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
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March 23rd, 2015 at 11:50 PM ^
March 24th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^
That was my problem with legends jerseys under DB/Hoke. It was like they were handed out as participation trophies to "good" players not necessarily those who seemed to earn it on the playing field.
We should be able to tell they deserve the jerseys when we watch them play.
Legends Jerseys should only be brought out for Homecomming. Serves two purposes: 1) honoring the players of the past. 2) Allows current players to still make a name for themselves with "their" number.