Jersey Day

When you are a kid there are 3 days that are probably your favorite.  Christmas, Halloween, Jersey Day.  Actually, it's still the same when you're an adult if you are part of the jersey club.  For those however that only know about the first two, I will explain Jersey Day.

Jersey Day is the day that your little league team gets their uniforms for the year.  Your meshback adjustable hat, itchy polyspandex pants, socks with annoying stirrups and of course your jersey. 

When you first start playing tee ball the excitement is all about the colours.  You are just hoping that you get that blue and white and you can pretend you're the Toronto Blue Jays, and even more you are hoping that you don't get the colours of your most hated teams like the Oakland Athletics, because hall of famer Dennis Eckersley sucks. Then when you get your number you quickly think about what player on that team shares your number. 

Once the tee ball days are done and you make the big step to baseball and a small step to becoming a real man, Jersey Day becomes all about the number on your back.  You have to get the number of your favorite player and you will do anything to get that jersey, even if it means ignoring the cries of your coaches to leave the bigger jerseys for the bigger kids.

Now not everyone on the team can be Joe Carter or Kelly Gruber so sometimes you have to freestyle.  If you're playing baseball, pull a Justin Morneau and wear a number from another sport like 33 in honour of Patrick Roy.  Or pull a Gretzky and instead of wearing Gordie's 9 you just double that up and wear two Gordies.  Finally, if you get a number of a player you don't really like, like #2 before the Schenn days, you just make it your own, it's the beauty of Jersey Day.

None of this really changes when you're an adult playing in a beer league.  The only difference is that you get to design your own jersey, but you still fight to get your number, and of course you still compare your jerseys to the other teams because you have to be the best.  That way if you lose to a bunch of jerks, you walk off the field with way cooler jerseys, what's more important?

The ultimate level of Jersey Day is what some call draft day.  If you are getting drafted and waiting to hear your name, you can't wait to find out what team you're going to go too.  When they do call your name, what do they hand you? Your very own jersey and a hat to match.

What jersey would you rather have? A personalized national team or a personalized home team?