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Tua Tagovailoa, the No. 5 pick in the NFL draft a few weeks ago, has an official new number with the Miami Dolphins as it was announced on Tuesday that he’ll be wearing the number 1 whenever football starts back up again.
The former Alabama star won’t be wearing his usual No. 13 jersey because that, of course, is retired in Miami for the legendary Dan Marino who was the face of the franchise for so many years and put up historic numbers for the Dolphins.
But here’s the thing that annoys me a bit – why are we still retiring numbers and eliminating numbers for players to wear? It seems kind of silly to me that you can be a star player, make tons of money for yourself, your franchise, and your city but you can’t wear your favorite number because some other really good player used to?
I’m all for honoring players who had legendary careers, they deserve it. Put their names and numbers on your team’s Ring of Honor or hang the numbers from the rafters until the end of time… but also free that number up for somebody else to wear. Let that number live on and create more great memories for your team.
Don’t just eliminate it!
I was raised in Boston where the Celtics have retired just about every cool number that can be worn. They have an astounding 23 numbers hanging in the rafters. 23! All of those players are absolutely deserving of having their legacies remembered forever at the Garden. But the fact that nobody on the Celtics can ever wear the likes of 3, 21, 23, 32, 33, or 34 is kind of silly to me. Those are the power numbers, the popular numbers that great plays want to wear.
Believe me, if some player wore No. 33 for the Celtics and did great things it’s not like we would never forget out how great and important Larry Bird was.
The New York Yankees have 21 retired numbers, meaning a lot of really good numbers can never be worn in the Bronx.
And don’t get me started with the Seattle Seahawks, who have retired the number 12 for their fans. It’s just unbelievable that a QB can never wear that number in Seattle because it belongs to team’s loud fans. I mean, that is just laughable.
Tua said all the right things about not wanting to wear No. 13 but I think the best way to honor a historic number is to bring it back and let it try to shine again. If it was Dan Marino I’d be like, “Here’s my old number, kid. Do great things with it. Make me proud.”
But I’m not Dan Marino. I’m just a sportswriter starting to lose my mind a little bit because no sports are going on right now.
Tuesday’s biggest winner: Kurt Loder.
The former MTV News legend was trending on Twitter on Tuesday and I got freaked out for a second. Then I clicked on his name and got even more freaked out – he turned 75 on Tuesday! Kurt Loder! For old people like me this news was hard to take and people on Twitter rightly freaked out about it. Happy Birthday, Kurt Loder!
Quick hits: Baseballs return is a tricky one… The time Koepka taunted MJ… Tyson’s trainer on that viral clip… And more!
– Hemal Jhaveri takes a good look at why baseball coming back won’t fix anything, despite the hopes of some politicians.
Brooks Koepka once taunted Michael Jordan on the golf course and it didn’t go well for him.
– Mike Tyson’s trainer broke down Tyson’s stunning workout clip that went viral and had boxing fans buzzing.
– Kyle Larson has a job again after being fired by his former NASCAR team.
– Here are the 26 best free video games to play while you’re stuck at home.
– You need to see this mesmerizing video of how Japanese honeybees can kill a ‘Murder Hornet‘.