I May Be Alone on this One, but if not

[PonySnob]

[quote="PKYeah just like ND, Penn State and USC...I prefer that company over some of the other D-1A programs running around these days.
Thank God our colors don't include purple.[/quote]

Haven't USC, Penn State and ND gone without names for a very long time - at those schools it is tradition. Nobody was sitting in the stands last Saturday thinking we look like any of those programs because the names were not on the jerseys. I have a hard time believing that by removing the names off of the jerseys, it inspires the players to play more like a team. I think for fans/alumni in the stands, it certainly makes it easier to recognize who the players are who are out on the field making plays instead of always having to look at that roster in the program,

If Bennett wants to establish some traditions at SMU, he should probably start with winning seasons. So far, all he has done is tie the longest losing streak in school history and judging by the oddsmakers, it looks like he will be the coach that owns the record after this Saturday.

[OldPony]

I'm too old to read the jersey names anyway!!! Real fans know the numbers of their players and/or spend a few bucks to buy a program. This is really a non issue but I tend to like the nameless jerseys best because of the team nature of football.

[jtstang]

I'm too old to read the jersey names anyway!!! Real fans know the numbers of their players and/or spend a few bucks to buy a program. This is really a non issue but I tend to like the nameless jerseys best because of the team nature of football.

I appreciate your age-related infirmities, but relying solely on "real fans"--of which we have about 1500--will not help us out in meeting the new attendance requirements. We need to be friendly to people who are not yet in the fold, and names of players on jerseys is one way to do that.

[Diehard Pony]

Real fans know the numbers of their players and/or spend a few bucks to buy a program.

OP, I agree that "real fans" do know who most of the players are, but the diehards are few in number at SMU. Even I struggled figuring out who was who, and jumbled back between watching the game and staring at a program to identify who made the play.

Bottom line is that kids like them (one of the big recruiting tools used by coaches untill recently abolished by the NCAA was preparing a jersey with the prospect's name on the back), and fans like them so that even casual fans can easily discuss players by their name instead of "#4 looked good on that play".

As I said in my opening remark, I'm OK with it if it is a short term thing to get the players to focus as a team, but I think putting them back on at some point in time is a no brainer in this day and age.

[DiamondM]

Far be it for me to be cynical, but I think the nameless jerseys were just a clever ploy to sell more 3$ programs. The poor Chi Os couldn't sell one to save their life until it became necessary to know who the heck made that last play.

Anyway, I really don't care one way or another. I don't think we are going to lose a recruit because their name isn't on a jersey, and I don't think the DFW area is going to be more interested in SMu because there are names on jerseys either. If the press wants to highlight a player during a tv or radio spot they will, regardless of whether there's a name on the jersey, and that is the only way the public is going to notice anyway.

[KnuckleStang]

The poor Chi Os couldn't sell one to save their life until it became necessary to know who the heck made that last play.

The Chi Os I encountered at the Rice game last year didn't have any problem getting a sale out of me.

[Diehard Pony]

I'll close posting on this subject with these final points.

1. I see no advantages whatsoever in not having names. Yes, maybe in the short term for "focus on team", but long term you shouldn't have to take names off to achieve team play. The greatest teams of the modern era almost exclusively play with names.

2. Players like them. Give a high school kid a choice and he will say yes to his name on his jersey 99 times out of 100. I am not saying they will not come to SMU because we don't have names, I am just saying they like names so why not let them have them.

3. Fans like them. As I said above, I spent more time than I would care to Saturday night fumbling around with the program trying to figure out what defensive players were engaged in a particular play. Also you don't want new or casual fans walking away from the game and into their office talking about the great play of #14 or #6, instead of Allan Adami and Rico Harris. Name identification is good for the program.

[mrydel]

I heard they could not agree on how to spell Nnabuife so just blew the names off, or maybe they just ran out of Ns.