The Week In Misspelled Sports Jerseys

Thanks to gaffes from the Syracuse University men’s basketball team and the Chicago Bears, we were able to marry our love for sports with our penchants for proofreading and performance apparel. This week, the two teams misspelled jerseys of a couple roster members, with the former squad’s mistake being especially amusing.

Last night, Syracuse took to the court against Connecticut, hoping to score a road win to go 3-0 on the young season. However, not only did they fall, 83-76, they also botched the last name of walk-on guard Jackson “Buddy” Boeheim, the son of the school’s Hall of Fame coach, Jim Boeheim. We have long followed college hoops, so the Orange have often been on our radar, especially owing to the now-42-year tenure that the elder Boeheim has enjoyed there. Because of that, we admit that his surname can be tricky from a pronunciation point of view, but his longevity should make any miscue impossible.

Not so last night. The freshman, who is averaging 19.3 minutes per contest and 2.3 points a game, headed out to the hardwood wearing a jersey that said “Boheim,” drawing ample media coverage because, well, his dad is a legend at the school. We enjoy a brilliant example of irony, so we want to thank the Orange for having made us tickled pink.

https://twitter.com/DanWeiner/status/1063229459568963585

Four days prior to that incident, we again had reinforced that proofing player names on jerseys might be a tad harder than it seems. There have been numerous mishaps regarding such tops, even one that involved hoops immortal Dirk Nowitzki on the night he made NBA history, so we have to remind ourselves, as poet Alexander Pope put it, that to err is human. Regardless of that, we can still smile and shake our heads over the Chicago Bears’ misspelling of Prince Amukamara’s jersey.

Prince Amukmara's misspelled #Bears jersey today, and his misspelled jersey in 2016 when the #Jaguars played at the #Bears. pic.twitter.com/5mNfyv8M4z

— Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) November 11, 2018

The Monsters of the Midway lead the NFC North with a 6-3 mark, so perhaps someone should suggest that they combine efficient play with proficient proofreading. With respect to Amukamara, the franchise made his “a”-heavy name one letter short, spelling it “Amukmara.” Like with the Boeheim matter, this one gave us a chuckle and led us to find that this is the second time that jerseys have altered the cornerback’s family name. What’s neat is the first time came when he suited up for the Jacksonville Jaguars in a game against, you guessed it, the Bears. That occasion saw his now-former employer spell his name “Amuakmara,” but each time, reason (and proper spelling) prevailed, as the equipment team found him appropriate jerseys.

We never want to see spelling mistakes, but, hey, it happens to everyone. They do give us interesting material, though, so we are wondering which athletes’ jerseys might end up making headlines due to a mistake. There are definitely some doozies out there, as this 2015 list proves. We would never think that easy names are above a blunder. What if NBA superstar LeBron James ended up with jerseys that read “Jams,” for example? Since he frequently pulls off rim-rattling dunks, would that not be the perfect blooper?

An exciting weekend of sports awaits us, so we will definitely be scoping shirts to make sure that equipment managers follow our “Always Proofread” credo.