Ezekiel Elliott Shirt is the Last Straw: Stop Using Numbers as Letters on Sports Gear

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott appears to be on his way to winning the NFL’s Rookie of the Year award and possibly the MVP as well. Zeke Fever is sweeping America. And the craze must be turned into American dollars. As a result, this shirt was made.

Get it? A 2 looks like a backward S and a 1 can be placed within a T. Sort of.

We live in a very divided country so I realize that what I am about to say will spark outrage, but we need to stop using numbers as letters on sports merchandise. Cold turkey. Hell, we need to stop doing it everywhere. The practice is out of control.

Sure, it was a novel idea when Derek Jeter was retiring. Who could forget the first time they realized a 2 was standing in for an S in the Nike campaign? It was like seeing a Magic Eye poster in 3-D. Extremely gratifying.

But then, as typically happens, a somewhat good thing was driven into the ground with mighty force.

Within a year things like this were happening.

That’s from the Chicago White Sox’s Paul Konerko jersey retirement ceremony. Konerko wore jersey No. 14. #Legendary streeeeeeeeeeeeetch.

It’s been nearly 18 months since the above happened and things have gotten worse, not better. What really bothers me about the Elliot shirt is that 1 is already a replacement for the letter I and the letter L. It can’t also be the replacement for the letter T, can it?

Do any rules exist? Is anything sacred? If a 1 is an I and a T and an L, all is lost.

Now is as good a time as any to stand up and say something. This is the United States of America, not the Un113d 21432 of 4m3r1c4 and some things are worth fighting for, regardless of the price.