Jerseys

I was a late arrival to the football jersey-wearing party. I always saw wearing a jersey as a game day thing. As a Minnesota Vikings fan living in California I didn't go to many games. As a Vikings fan with a subscription to Directv's Sunday Ticket I didn't go out to watch Vikings games. Basically I never really thought about wearing a jersey. Besides I was always more of a cap and sweatshirt sort of fan. I also wasn't sold on singling out one player in my support of a team. Eventually I decided that wearing a football jersey looked like fun and my reasons for not having one, or more, were nonsense. I received my first Minnesota Vikings jersey during the 2004 NFL season. It was a home Jim Kleinsasser jersey. A purple #40. I figured that if I was going to single out a player in my Vikings support I wanted to single out a player that didn't get enough attention or credit for what he did on the field. Kleinsasser was that football player. He did so much for so long to make the Vikings offense go. He was an easy choice for my first jersey. That opened the door for others over the past decade:

Throwback/Hall of Fame Away Cris Carter
Away Antoine Winfield
Away Chad Greenway
Away Kevin Williams
Home Kenechi Udeze
Home Percy Harvin
Current Home Harrison Smith

The Carter jersey is probably my most significant as I wore that to Canton for Carter's long awaited Hall of Fame induction in 2013. The Smith jersey is the only one that's representative of the team's current jersey. That means that I'm probably in the market for another, or more. That choice will come from these:

Alan Page throwback
Teddy Bridgewater
Charles Johnson
Anthony Barr
Eric Kendricks
Xavier Rhodes

I won't get all of the above. The Page jersey and one of the others is most likely. A Page throwback is really a must have for me. The choice of only one from among the others will be a very difficult one.

There are two reasons for these thoughts on jerseys in general. The first is a "rule" out there initially proposed, as far as I know, a few years ago by Kara Henderson-Snead on Rich Eisen's podcast. The "rule" goes a little something like this, fans should only wear jerseys of players older than themselves. Henderson-Snead was an NFL Network personality and frequent guest on Eisen's podcast. As the wife of St. Louis Rams general manager Les Snead she's not in front of a microphone or camera much these days. Her "rule" continues and has even spread from Eisen's podcast days to his current talk show. Basically, she doesn't like seeing adults wear jerseys. It was once the publicly-expressed opinion of one woman and now it's kind of a "thing." First of all, why would anyone else care what another person wears? Second of all, and more importantly, being a fan of a team is such a personal thing. There's really no right or wrong way in how a fan supports their team. The manner in which a fan supports their team is a choice. Their choice. And only their choice. Your fashion sense is a reflection of how you support your team. I don't understand why anyone would even care what another person wears in general. Let alone what they wear in support of their favorite athletic team. Being a fan is fun. Jerseys are fun. That's it. There's no right or wrong.

The second reason for my jersey thoughts is more current. And less fun. I learned last week that the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning have enforced a dress code for home games. No away team colors. Even if it's only in certain areas of the arena this strikes me as more fascist than sporting.