I guess hey are branching out into puffy coats now…

The NBA wants the officials to be able to signal player numbers to the Scorer’s Table more easily so the uniforms tend to stop at 55 since you can hold up your hands and show the scorer the number (”five-five”). Numbers higher than that require math on the part of the referee’s (What do you hold up for 8? two fours? a five and a three?) You can see where it might get complicated for a referee . . .

i’ve talked to a couple refs who said something similar. more specifically, no part of a jersey number is supposed to be higher than five making it easier to signal jersey numbers to the scorer’s table one-handed after a foul. the ref usually only has one hand available since the ball is in his other hand. signaling “five-five” one-handed is much easier than signaling “two-eight.”

the rule isn’t enforced as strictly as it used to be.

Burrill said:

Metsfan, thanks for noting the TMQ thing. I wondered if he’d use it, but I hadn’t thought to check this week yet.

Minna, I think you’re being a bit optimistic about five people liking the new death-friendly Admiral logo. In fact, you’ve been disturbingly optimistic the last few days. As the cynical intern, I have to ask: are you okay?

Oh, and Paul, I love today’s post title. Very creative.

dchis said:

Nolan said:

James said:

sope said:

Something always bothered me about Walter McCarty wearing #0 in Boston. Parrish’s #00 is retired. Shouldn’t that prohibit anyone from wearing any form of zero? After all Benny Santiago wouldn’t have been able to wear #09 if the Pads had #9 retired.

Following that logic, if a team retired #22, then no player could ever wear #2 either. Also, no NHL player could ever wear #9.

Well aside from the fact that 00 and 0 are the same number as are 09 and 9. 99 ≠ 9.

But zero in a mathematical sense represents a value. It’s in the middle. It is neither a positive or a negative but, it still is a number. If that means to you that because the Celtics retired “00″ they couldn’t give out “0″ then it would hold true that any number with the number “0″ in it could not be given out either. “0″ and “00″ are two seperate numbers just like “10″ or “20.” So how exactly is “09″ wrong if a team had retired “9″????

I’m not sure that I agree that #0 and #00 are different numbers. 0-00=0. All I’m saying is if Walter McCarty #0 and Tony Delk #00 were on the same team the roster would look wierd.

As far as #09 being wrong if a team retired #9, could you imagine someone on the Yankees wearing #03? Not a chance.

Yeah, the roster would look weird. It also wouldn’t exist.

When I was much younger, I attended a basketball camp run by then-NBA player Dan Schayes. During a question-and-answer session, Mr. Schayes was asked about uniform numbers. I don’t remember how exactly the subject of 0 vs 00 came up, but Mr. Schayes told us that NBA teams are prohibited from having players with 0 and 00 on the same roster.

That always puzzled me because I was under the impression that 00 was the uniform equivalent of 100. Whatever.

Paul Lukas said:

DrBear said:

A late addition to striped socks fotos:

University of Wisconsin hockey, circa 1930.

Oh. My. God.

Not sure if there is any further info available on this pic, but the team is standing on a beach. No snow to be seen. Very interesting place for a team photo. Also the “keeper” has a different sweater than the rest of the team. Good stuff

That would, in all likelihood, be Lake Mendota. the UW campus is situated along its southern shore. Various buildings that used to be athletic facilities are, in fact, right along the lakeshore.

I find it interesting that they got the team all gussied up (skates and all) and laid down towels to protect the skate blades from the sand. doesn’t really even appear to be a cold day (no snow in sight, lake not frozen).

In Japan, amateur baseball has strict rules for player numbers. Only 0-30 (and 00) are to be worn, and the manager must wear 30 and the captain has to be number 10. Numbers over 30 can be assigned if the team has more than 30 players (the J-League in soccer has a similar rule).

So on my company team, I requested 37, and they decided to wait until a 36th person joins our club (there are now 34) before ordering my jersey!

I know Eric Montross wore #00 at Carolina, but I can’t think of any other 0s or 00s in college hoops (did Arenas wear 0 at Arizona?). I’m sure as soon as I post this, I’ll think up about twelve of ‘em.

How about a guy that wore both. Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks wore 00 as a freshman but now wares 0