Michael Irvin Has a Great Point on the Dallas Cowboys Not Retiring Numbers
The Dallas Cowboys have many traditions and one I always stand behind is not retiring numbers. Michael Irvin had an amazing point on a recent podcast about why he is happy they don't.
One of my biggest pet peeves in sports is when they 'unretire' a number. Why? The whole point of retiring a number is to honor that person that was a legendary part of your franchise. Teams do this all the time, usually when a superstar player comes in and wants the number they played with previously.
One of my favorite jokes in 'Futurama' is that in the future all whole numbers had been retired at that point. So players have to wear fractions like 7/8 as their number. The Dallas Cowboys do not retire numbers...well sort of.
The Dallas Cowboys have never had an official retirement ceremony for any of their numbers. However, people have noticed no one has worn 12...8...or 22 since Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, and Emmitt Smith. One number though that the Cowboys share with pride is 88.
It's an honor to wear that number with the organization. Many people think it started with Drew Pearson back in the 70's. Nope, a freaking punter was the original 88 for Dallas. Back in 1965 Colin Ridgeway wore it for the Dallas Cowboys. He was actually the first Australian NFL player. Who was actually tragically murdered back in the early 90's.
Wide receiver Ron Sellers actually wore it the year before Drew Pearson as well. During the early to mid 2000's is when you have the 88's that some forget. How about tight end Jackie Harris or Antonio Bryant? Yeah, you could have bought an Antonio Bryant jersey back in the day and pulled it out of the closet when Dez Bryant joined the team.
Nowadays CeeDee Lamb is rocking the 88 and Michael Irvin is happy to see the number still being used. He is glad it is not hanging in the rafters with his name.
He says people will only see your name when it's retired, unfortunately when you pass away. He says he loves seeing the 88 every Sunday because when you do good, "They say he looks like Michael." When you do bad they say, "Michael wouldn't have dropped that ball." I love it! Keep the numbers forever sports teams. If you want to hear Michael's full interview, you can check it out below.