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The Pain of Picking a Jersey
by CJ Sanchez
13/2/2008
Have you ever bought a nice shiny new NFL jersey only to find that it becomes obsolete and un-wearable only a matter of weeks later? I have. In fact, I’ve spent the GNP of a small, Oceanic country on bad jersey choices.
 There was the time I purchased a Ricky Williams #34 jersey, only to hear him announce his retirement a matter of days later. Then there was the brilliant decision I made pre 2006, to invest in a #8 Daunte Culpepper replica. I got to wear it for a total of four weeks before it became unwearable. Which, of course, was not as bad as the ludicrous Got Daunte? T-shirt, that I had spent the majority of the off-season proudly wearing.
But by far the worst point in my jersey-wearing career came when I received my #83 Wes Welker jersey, my favourite player of the 2006 season, on the very day he was traded to bitter rivals, the Patriots. That was a painful enough moment as it was. Unfortunately the jersey had been a gift from my partner and as such, I was forced out of politeness (and for my own safety), to wear it whenever he was on the screen. Oh the humiliation
It would be fair to say that several charities have begun targeting my house with their second hand clothing collections. Such is my propensity for making bad sports apparel decisions.
This week the NFL released the list of the top 20 selling jerseys over the 2007 season. And I was glad to see that I am not alone in my failure to pick a decent shirt. Although the list is filled with understandable choices, there is the occasional chuckle to be had at the expense of others. But before we get to that, here is the top ten:
1. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
2. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
3. Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
4. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
5. LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
6. Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
7. Eli Manning, New York Giants
8. Randy Moss, New England Patriots
9. Brian Urlacher, Chicago Bears
10. Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh Steelers
 Now, after the last two playoff performances, you would think that Romo’s number would drop considerably next year. The Cowboy fans still love him though, of that there is no doubt.
It is astonishing that Brett Favre (or any Green Bay player’s) jersey would appear so high on this list, when you consider that Green Bay’s jersey hasn’t changed since well, ever. This is perhaps, a tribute to the great season the big man had in ’07.
I personally would have liked to see ‘Purple Jesus’ up there at number six instead of Adrian Peterson. I’m considering getting a #28 Vikings jersey with that very same moniker printed across the back. If only Vikings fans had as much imagination as I
The rest of the top 20 looks like this:
11. Devin Hester, Chicago Bears
12. Marion Barber, Dallas Cowboys
13. Reggie Bush, New Orleans Saints
14. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
15. Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys
16. Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys
17. Brady Quinn, Cleveland Browns
18. Sean Taylor, Washington Redskins
19. Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia Eagles
20. Bob Sanders, Indianapolis Colts
And herein we find the crazy. The number that jumps straight out at you is number 17 Brady Quinn. Without a doubt, the majority of these jerseys were bought before the season began. And crikey, the Browns must have sold a lot of them for Quinn’s name to have still made this list. I imagine this is the reason that cries for a change of quarterback were still being made whilst Derek Anderson was tearing teams apart. After all, these jerseys don’t come cheap.
There are a few notable names missing, but there’s always a tendency with us NFL fans to make too much of a list like this. It’s that ‘everything matters’ approach that we all love to take. However, in this case I think we can relax the rule and have a bit of fun with it.
Or am I just saying that because there’s no Dolphins jersey up there?
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