In the grand scheme of things this is as small potatoes as it gets, but this has bugged me for years and my wife is tired of hearing about it.
I don’t think your generational suffix (Sr., Jr., III) belongs on the back of your sports jersey. If you are Jim Smith, Jr., your last name is “Smith,” not “Smith Jr.” Therefore, all that should go on the back of your jersey is SMITH.
I get that guys like to honor their fathers and grandfathers, but why should they have that right just because they happen to have the same first name? If Jim Smith’s father is named Phil, he doesn’t get to have SMITH, PHIL’S SON on his jersey.
That’s it. Now I’ll head back to the impeachment thread, but I am curious if this bugs anyone else.
Brothers (and for all I know sisters) at British public schools used to be distinguished by “Major” (the older brother) and “Minor” (the younger). How would you feel about that - Smith Major and Smith Minor? I mean, they could actually play on the same school sports team, especially if they were twins.
(OK, so I don’t think public schools have taken up names on the back of jerseys yet - but it’s a hypothetical question, right? And, dammit, you got me thinking. Does anyone know what happens with Icelandic sportspersons? I mean, the surname of, let’s say, Jon Gunnarsson doesn’t tell you any more than his first name - it just tells you that his dad was called Gunnar. So do they have their first name on their shirt? - that’s how the phone directory used to work. We need to know!) [/Hijack]
I’m pretty absolutist about this. The Buffalo Bills (that’s an American pro football team) once had like seven guys named Williams, and all their jerseys said WILLIAMS. No first initials, no suffixes. Beautiful.
Hey, you all have different numbers, and the fans know who you are. Want to feel special? Change your name to Ochocinco.
And then we have the situation faced by the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli. Both NFL quarterbacks, and the sons of another NFL quarterback, Archie Manning.
Obviously, MANNING JR wouldn’t work. Which junior is which? So, should they be “MANNING, P” and “MANNING, E”? Or should we just accept that Eli plays for the New York Giants, and Peyton played for the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos, and that’s how we can tell them apart?
There’s absolutely no need for initials or suffixes when they play for completely different teams, or in different eras.
Good point – that’s the only instance I can think of where a father and son played on the same team and shared the same first name. (Gordie Howe played with one or more of his sons in the WHL in the 70s, but I don’t think any of them were Gordie, Jr.) But even then, did anyone have trouble telling one from the other?
Griffey, Jr. just had his last name on his uniforms, no "Jr, " even when he and his father were teammates on the Mariners. As for telling them apart, their uniform numbers would suffice. Same with the Mannings, last names only, no suffix.
The Manning argument doesn’t make any sense, because neither was named Archie?
Regarding the use of Sr. or more especially Jr., or II or III, it seems to me that (in the US, at least) the Jr. etc. is a very prominent part of the person’s name identity. So rather than a casual suffix, it holds importance equal to the first name and last name. And, if that is how someone wants to be identified, why would I give any emotional space to thinking otherwise?
Does it bug me? Well, it’s not like I spend a lot of time being irritated by the practice (or even spending much time thinking about it). But when I see “Bradley Jr.” or something like that on the back of a jersey I do think it’s kind of silly and a little strange. That’s especially true when the Sr. didn’t actually play in the majors (like “Bradley Jr.”).
Can’t forget Jackie Robinson Day; let’s change everyone’s number to 42 & not put names on the back of the jersey. That sure makes it easy for the fans to know who’s who. :smack: Fucking asshole, Selig!
I tend to agree; the NFL got away for decades without names on the jerseys AT ALL- just the player’s number. Other levels still don’t necessarily have names- For example, Penn State, Notre Dame and USC don’t have names on their jerseys at all. Same with several baseball teams, including the storied LA Dodgers and NY Yankees as well as the Boston Red Sox at home.
So if you choose to put only “Williams” on the back of all six Williamses on a team, it doesn’t really matter, as we also have players numbered 16, 22, 52, 77, 81 and 92 who are all named Williams.
And FWIW, the numbers are allocated by position, so in my example, there’s no confusing Williams the quarterback (#16), Williams the tackle (#77) and Williams the linebacker (#52) with each other.
I would possibly make an exception for the situation where you have two players with the same name in the same position- like two quarterbacks named Williams, and let them put a first initial on there. Even then it’s not necessary, because you might have Williams #11 and Williams #14.
It just seems like a certain amount of peacocking on the part of the players; nobody gives a f**k if you’re “Jones III” or “G. Jones Jr.” or any of that. You could still be #42 and you’d be just as recognizable and play just as well.
And unlike Ken Griffey Junior, most players aren’t referred to by the Junior or The Third. I’ve mostly heard Golden Tate called… Golden Tate. But his jersey reads TATE III (c’mon, dude, you’ve already got a colorful first name…).
So one game I annoyed my friends by yelling “Tate Eye-eye-eye’s got the ball! Look at Tate Eye-eye-eye run!”
There’s been a tension, for years (if not decades), between NFL players wanting to be able to express themselves by personalizing their uniforms in some way, and the NFL instituting increasingly strict rules which boil down to “uniforms (the noun) must be uniform (the adjective)!” The league wants every player on a team to be wearing pretty much the exact same thing, and players want the opposite.
My suspicion is that, a few years ago, players discovered that, while the NFL wouldn’t let them put made-up names on their uniforms (see Ochocinco), the league would let them add generational notations. And, thus, over the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of players starting to use them.
I call Houston wide receiver Will Fuller V “Fullerv.”
The Sr. thing especially irks me – seems like just a way to brag “I had a kid and gave him my own name.”
You’re right about that tension – that’s why I was happy to see them allow end zone celebrations again. But the suffix thing will always bug me. And not just in football – When Davis Love III was on the PGA tour, I hated seeing LOVE III on the leaderboard. That’s not his last name.