Jerseys and pH levels

To check if a substance is an acid or base, you simply apply some of the substance to a piece of litmus paper and then check your color scale. If you start with blue litmus paper and it turns red, you are dealing with an acid. If you started with red litmus paper and it turns blue, then what you have is a base. If it is neutral, it will probably turn a shade of purple. These colors correspond to a color chart, where each one is given a numeric value (0-14). A strong acid, such as battery acid has a numeric value of 0. Furthermore, a strong base, such as bleach has a pH level of about 13, and then your neutral solution (pH 7) would be distilled water. When looking at a solution, it can be difficult to know if it is acidic or alkaline, so science has provided us with a way to test the pH level in a completely safe manner.

Similar to this, we look at situations sometimes and cannot figure out how to judge them. We contemplate whether the situation is good, bad, crazy, or simply customary. After week 1 of the NFL season, it is easy to immediately think that this year is going to be crazy because of how wild the first week was. However, when you look at the numbers at the end of the day, the Patriots are still 1-0, the Bills are 0-1, and the Lions still are searching for a win. Forget that Brandon Stokley’s game winning touchdown was one of the craziest plays ever - the Bengals are 0-1, which is what everyone expected, unless you reside in zip code 45202. From the perspective of looking at results after only one week of football, it appears the league is in good shape and who knows if chaos will follow?

Fortunately, for those that must know the internal state of the league, the NFL has subtly been releasing its own version of litmus paper so that fans can predict if the season will be crazy and then plan accordingly. This litmus paper that I speak of is the top selling jerseys list. Before the 2008 season, there were a couple of surprises on that list. How Tom Brady and Randy Moss were not 1 and 2 boggles my mind and how players such as Chris Cooley and the retired Michael Strahan made it on there are equally puzzling. The Strahan jersey just tells you how many fans disregarded him until he finally won a Super Bowl, and then they would wear their Strahan jersey all around town and act like they have been his biggest fan ever. The number one jersey sale before the 2008 season was Brett Favre’s New York Jets jersey. The second jersey was Tony Romo and then third was the Super Bowl MVP - Eli Manning. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Cowboys, but I think it is pretty funny that a guy who left his team to go to Cabo beat out (in jersey sales) the quarterback who beat him in a playoff game. The Favre jersey going on top of the list should have been a major indicator that we were in for something special last season. However, for the most part, the rest of the top 25 sales seems to be pretty rational. The Steelers winning the Super Bowl was not out of left field, but that Favre jersey should have been a sign to be on the lookout for the CARDINALS making it to the big game.

Time to look at the litmus test for the 2009 season. If last years wrinkles in the top jerseys list caused the Cardinals to go to the Super Bowl, then there is a chance that the Lions could win it all this year. This piece of litmus paper is reading anything but purple. For the record, I am throwing out the notion that people buy jerseys for fashion reasons, such as matching colors with their hat and shoes. I will provide the list below and put my analysis of each selection.

20. Michael Crabtree - Ironically, he does collect some royalties off of jersey sales. So, if he decides to sit out the entire season, and garners enough attention, he may get enough guaranteed money to look like he made the right choice. On a real note, how is this any different than me being a top jersey sale for the Cowboys? I don’t play for them, and he doesn’t play for the 49ers, so I don’t know why I am not in the top 20.

19. Aaron Rodgers - I have no problem with this selection. I just wish he would change his number to 4 to show the same respect to Favre that Favre has shown to the Packers organization.

18. Matt Ryan - Again, no problem here. He went into a touch situation last season and performed very well.

17. Joe Flacco - I like Flacco but it is a little strange to see the Ravens represented by a quarterback and not a defensive player or at least someone who went to the U.

16. Larry Fitzgerald - He should definitely be a top jersey, but wait till you see some of the receivers ahead of him.

15. Jason Witten - He is a great player and should be on the list.

14. LaDanian Tomlinson - For the self proclaimed best running back in the game, you would think he would be a little higher on the list. I wonder where Peterson is on here?????

13. Hines Ward - He’s a good all around receiver, and two time Super Bowl Champ. However, I think it is a little odd to see him above Larry Fitzgerald.

12. Peyton Manning - Definitely should be on the list, but wait till you see some of the quarterbacks ahead of him.

11. Terrell Owens - My goodness! Here is a quick tutorial on short term vs. Long term investment. Long term investment - buying a Larry Fitzgerald jersey, short term investment - buying a TO jersey. This will be good for at most two seasons before he completely causes chaos on your team and then joins another. Trust me, I know from experience.

10. Eli Manning - Ahead of the big brother??? Knowing how competitive Peyton is (based on those DSRL commercials), I can’t imagine this going over well with him. I can just imagine Peyton has this list and his brother’s name highlighted on it posted on the wall inside the weight room or film room. Bottomline - Eli should be on here, but I am skeptical of it being ahead of Peyton.

9. Adrian Peterson - This is interesting. Not a bad spot for a running back who can’t play on third downs, or catch the ball, according to LT. People must really believe that Peterson is the better back. You may be thinking, this is just jersey sales it doesn’t mean anything. I disagree. I know that I said I wasn’t going to bring fashion into this argument, but if you think about it - the only way you will get someone to pick purple over ‘the best uniforms in football’ (Chargers powder blue) is if that player is great, which Adrian Peterson is.

8. Tom Brady - No question he should be top 10, but even after missing all of last season, you will be surprised at who is ahead of him. Get ready.

7. Mark Sanchez - AHEAD OF TOM BRADY?????? That GQ cover must have really boosted street cred for Mark. Now you can see that the litmus paper is starting to change its color.

6. Tony Romo - AHEAD OF TOM BRADY PART II?????? Don’t get me wrong, I love the Cowboys, but work with me here. I have two quarterbacks, one of them has a 14-3 playoff record with 3 Super Bowl Wins. The other is 0-2 in the playoffs with a bobbled hold during a last minute field goal attempt and a costly interception. Which quarterback do I think is better???

5. Ben Roethlisberger - It is hard to argue after that game winning drive in the Super Bowl last season. I still would put Brady ahead though.

4. Michael Vick - pH level is no longer neutral. This is actually a little bit disturbing. I wish I could look up the jersey sales of OJ after his 1994 trial. How about the drop in Kobe Bryant jerseys after his incident in Colorado. The fact that a man who killed dogs, lied about it, went to prison for two years, and has just been reinstated to the league is now a top 4 jersey being purchased in the US is borderline crazy. Not to mention he is the backup quarterback on the Eagles (I wonder what McNabb thinks of this). That would be like John Kitna being ahead of Tony Romo on this list.

3. Troy Polamalu - Agree 100% He is an outstanding player.

2. Jay Cutler - AHEAD OF TOM BRADY PART III????????? This is going to be a new category of insanity. It will be called ATB (Ahead of Tom Brady). How is a guy that cries and complains his way off of a team number two on his list. I wonder how many of these were purchased by Broncos fans and have been used to replace handkerchiefs. Not a bad spot for a guy who hasn’t had a winning record since high school.

1. Brett Favre - If you weren’t convinced that this is going to be a crazy season, rest assured, here is your number one indicator. Once again, Brett Favre leads the league in jersey sales - this time in a very fashionable purple. I bet a great way to sell even more Favre jerseys is to offer some sort of deal where the purchaser gets a free pair of Wranglers if they buy a jersey. Who knows, this could already be happening. I just cannot believe that there are that many people who would spend $80 on a Favre jersey. Similar to the Cutler situation, I wonder how many of those have been purchased by Green Bay fans in order to create a fire big enough to roast marshmallow and keep warm the day of the Green Bay - Minnesota game.

So, if Brett Favre being number one last year, along with a few other wrinkles could cause something so bizarre, such as the Cardinals making it to the Super Bowl, then this year should be fun to watch. You never know, maybe the Cowboys will win that playoff game. Maybe the Lions will win a single game? Whatever the case, according to our litmus paper, it should be anything but a normal season.