Players like J.J. Watt un-retiring legendary numbers shouldn’t be a big deal

Let’s be more flexible here.

It’s a little weird that J.J. Watt will end up wearing No. 99 with the Arizona Cardinals, despite the fact that it was retired by the franchise to honor Marshall Goldberg.

Beyond that? No big deal.

And that’s really the thing about retired numbers. It’s one of those sports traditions that’s a little strange and a nice symbolic gesture at the same time.

There’s treating digits with respect, as Watt did, and then there’s treating them with downright reverence, which feels unnecessary.

In Watt’s case, 99 was a number he’d worn in Wisconsin and with the Houston Texans, and look at how he handled it: he asked Goldberg’s family for permission to un-retire it and was gracious in the way he accepted their blessings.

Is it a little strange that Watt couldn’t settle for another number? Maybe exchange a gift with Corey Peters for No. 98 (that’s another weird practice to save for another column)? Sure. But that’s athletes for you, whether it’s due to superstition or deep meaningfulness to the wearer.

It’s not the first time this has happened in the NFL. As Mike Florio wrote on Pro Football Talk, Peyton Manning got Frank Tripucka’s No. 18 after Manning got the ex-Broncos QB’s blessings. Jerry Rice got Steve Largent’s No. 80 in Seattle (although Largent didn’t sound happy about it).

It’s also in Florio’s column that he rails against teams unretiring retired numbers.

“What’s the point of retiring numbers if they’re retired with a vague asterisk that maybe, someday, some great player who has worn that number for his entire career with another team will arrive via free agency or trade?” he writes. “Retirement of a number is (or at least should be) permanent.”

To me, that’s a step too far. Should a Laker ever wear No. 24 or 8 ever again? No, that would be in bad taste. Would a Bulls player get a heaping pile of grief for asking for No. 23, no matter how big the star said player was? Absolutely. It was perfect to see No. 42 to never be worn again in Major League Baseball (although you’ll recall MLB grandfathered in Mariano Rivera and others wearing it at the time of the decision).

But we shouldn’t treat ALL these numbers as sacrosanct. They are, after all, numbers, and if this keeps up, the New York Yankees will have to go into triple digits on uniforms someday.

On the other end of this, you’ve got Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta telling the Houston Chronicle this week that the franchise will retire James Harden’s No. 13 at some point.

Related: the Golden State Warriors announced in 2019 that they were trading Andre Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies, and CEO Joe Lacob said in a statement, “We thank Andre for all of his contributions and look forward to seeing his number in the rafters at Chase Center.”

What are these gestures? Does it hurt Iggy less when he got shipped out to create cap room to hear he’ll see his jersey forever hanging in the Bay Area? Does Harden or fans of the franchise suddenly feel better than he never won a title in Houston, having said the Rockets are “just not good enough?”

I’m not sure, but if I were them, it would feel like an empty gesture. And that’s why retired numbers shouldn’t be seen as an ascension to the franchise Pantheon.

Let’s be a little more flexible here, especially when Watt took the steps to respect Goldberg.

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