Originally Posted by
JasonEvans
Dissent. A retired jersey is retired for a reason. it is to honor the guy who wore it and to say that no one deserves to wear it again. We don't open up a debate every time a kid wants a number as to whether or not that kid is good enough or honorable enough to unretire the number.
Suppose a lesser recruit, a top 50 kid as opposed to a top 5 one, wanted a certain number. Would we say, "sorry, we only give out retired numbers to better prospects than you"?
What if Heyman felt strongly about his number belonging to him but Dawkins didn't really care -- are we supposed to say, "Sorry, but 25 is not available. We can give you 24, which is also retired but Johnny Dawkins will let you use it."
What happens when the owner of the retired number dies? Do we ask his heirs about unretiring the number or just consider the answer to permanently be, "no." Heck, maybe once they die we consider the answer to be, "yes!!"
This is a bad precedent and one I am certain Duke will not undertake. Austin wanted to wear a number that is retired. That is it. End of story. I am sure Austin understands that. His father coaches the freaking Celtics, who are the kings of retired numbers.
--Jason "I just don't think numbers are as big a deal as some make them out to be" Evans