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I know I've whined about this with RJ before, so forgive me. I felt compelled with this article. This is the approach I would expect a team leader to take. I realize it's not a huge deal, but it just bothers me.

Anquan Boldin has worn #81 his entire career. All 13 seasons. And it's available to him here, as well. Yet, due to his class and conscientiousness, Boldin has chosen not to wear #81 in Detroit out of respect for Calvin Johnson & his accomplishments, and with the understanding that, though 81 is not yet retired here, it will be in due time.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2016/07/in_obvious_nod_of_respect_to_c.html

RJ, meanwhile, never wore #1 in his life. Chose it when he got to Detroit just a year.5 ago, and is still going to wear it even though it's now in the rafters for someone else.

It's a number, who cares.

Arp590 wrote:It's a number, who cares.

Reggie does. Pistons do as they chose to retire them. Players do as they go to their number retirements. #1 will be taken out of circulation once Jackson is off the Pistons now. He's wearing Chauncey's number now.

Eh... I would have preferred for Reggie to give up the number, but it's not bothering or offending me either.
On a side note, Boldin is a b itch and one of my most disliked NFL players lol

DetPistons04 wrote:Eh... I would have preferred for Reggie to give up the number, but it's not bothering or offending me either.
On a side note, Boldin is a b itch and one of my most disliked NFL players lol

Boldin a bitch and you hate him? For sure not a bitch. One of the best pros in the NFL. Why would you hate him?

I may be in the minority here but I think making a number unusable after retiring a player is stupid. Inevitably, every number will need to be made available again eventually (yes I know hundreds of years) and I don't believe a player wearing a retired number is disrespectful nor does it taint the process/symbolism.

Let's for argument sake say Stanley Johnson becomes a player that averages 29ppg, 8rpg and 5apg, and wins us 3 titles. It's not going to happen but I wanted to use an extreme example to highlight the point I'm making. In said circumstance Stanley would be a much better player than Ben Wallace and contributed more but couldn't do it wearing the number 3 even though he has always worn the number (hypothetically, not sure if true) and Ben Wallace was his favourite piston wearing it out of respect/infatuation.

As I said, all numbers will have to be made available again in time so why do it to begin with?



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Better to retire a banner with the player's name but whatever. It is what it is

Reggie keeping 1 isn't ideal, but it isn't something I'll lose sleep over.
It's just going to be weird in 10 years when we honour our 2017 championship team, what should we put up in the rafters for reggie??

I'm torn on the issue. On one hand I think its reasonable to believe you can honor a player's legacy and contributions to a team without making their number unavailable, but on the other hand it would be be really, really weird to see anybody other than MJ wear 23 on the Bulls, Bird 33 for the Celtics, Zeke 11 for us ect...

As far as #1 is concerned I fault the team for allowing him to choose it in the first place. I'm not mad at Reggie for wearing a number that wasn't retired and he was allowed to wear. Not a huge fan of it and believe he should pick a different one, but I'm not mad about it

How do we know Chauncey didn't give him his blessing? Why are we assuming we know the full story.

I will quote the last words of Marvin in "Pulp Fiction" right before he got shot in the face...

Man, I don't even have an opinion.

flow wrote:I know I've whined about this with RJ before, so forgive me. I felt compelled with this article. This is the approach I would expect a team leader to take. I realize it's not a huge deal, but it just bothers me.

Anquan Boldin has worn #81 his entire career. All 13 seasons. And it's available to him here, as well. Yet, due to his class and conscientiousness, Boldin has chosen not to wear #81 in Detroit out of respect for Calvin Johnson & his accomplishments, and with the understanding that, though 81 is not yet retired here, it will be in due time.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2016/07/in_obvious_nod_of_respect_to_c.html

RJ, meanwhile, never wore #1 in his life. Chose it when he got to Detroit just a year.5 ago, and is still going to wear it even though it's now in the rafters for someone else.

Did you expect Barry Sanders to not wear #20 when he joined the Lions? He never wore 20 in his life and wore it after Hall of Famer Lem Barney wore it. Billy Sims was a pro bowler and wore #20 for Detroit before Barry went there.

Did Barry have no respect?

Boldin is joining the team the immediate year after Calvin left as well. There's no way any active player would wear 81 immediately after mega retired.

RipCity32 wrote:How do we know Chauncey didn't give him his blessing? Why are we assuming we know the full story.

Very doubtful considering Chauncey was in favor of Dre changing his number from #1 when Chauncey signed here a few years ago.

MrBigShot wrote:

RipCity32 wrote:How do we know Chauncey didn't give him his blessing? Why are we assuming we know the full story.

Very doubtful considering Chauncey was in favor of Dre changing his number from #1 when Chauncey signed here a few years ago.

Chauncey did imply dre would have his number up there one day tho. He will

If only there was some other way to identify a player on the team other than their number. How can we refer to #1 from before when there is a #1 now? How can we honor #1 from before when there is a #1 now? I can think of no physically plausible way to refer to a player other than their number. My god, we've hit on an important subject.

ElectricMayhem wrote:If only there was some other way to identify a player on the team other than their number. How can we refer to #1 from before when there is a #1 now? How can we honor #1 from before when there is a #1 now? I can think of no physically plausible way to refer to a player other than their number. My god, we've hit on an important subject.

I was lost for a second. This is hilarious tho.

You have any other sweet articles like the one you wrote on sj?

joedumars1 wrote:
You have any other sweet articles like the one you wrote on sj?

Thank you for your kind words. I have been on a writing hiatus for a while now as I am pursuing academic and professional goals.

A_dub06 wrote:I may be in the minority here but I think making a number unusable after retiring a player is stupid. Inevitably, every number will need to be made available again eventually (yes I know hundreds of years) and I don't believe a player wearing a retired number is disrespectful nor does it taint the process/symbolism.

Let's for argument sake say Stanley Johnson becomes a player that averages 29ppg, 8rpg and 5apg, and wins us 3 titles. It's not going to happen but I wanted to use an extreme example to highlight the point I'm making. In said circumstance Stanley would be a much better player than Ben Wallace and contributed more but couldn't do it wearing the number 3 even though he has always worn the number (hypothetically, not sure if true) and Ben Wallace was his favourite piston wearing it out of respect/infatuation.

As I said, all numbers will have to be made available again in time so why do it to begin with?



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This is a good point and I've often wondered what the NBA will be like in a couple hundred years. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if it dissolved for some unforeseen reason be it level of interest, greed, war, whatever.

I always find it funny how some people can be so bothered by who wears what number. Reggie had it before it was retired. Moose kept wearing 10 after it was retired.

The Pistons retiring Chauncey's number was as much a marketing ploy to bring old fans back as anything.

Odds are, Reggie probably won't even be here when in contract hits the last season or two.

joedumars1 wrote:

DetPistons04 wrote:Eh... I would have preferred for Reggie to give up the number, but it's not bothering or offending me either.
On a side note, Boldin is a b itch and one of my most disliked NFL players lol

Boldin a bitch and you hate him? For sure not a bitch. One of the best pros in the NFL. Why would you hate him?

I hate him because he always ran his mouth non stop when he played for Baltimore. His attitude always rubbed me the wrong way because he was a Raven. Pittsburgh Baltimore is probably the most heated "rivalry" in the NFL so I really dislike a lot of Ravens and former Ravens. He was a really good player, but I still think he's a b itch lol