By Brendan Lynch

The insane proliferation of the throwback jersey has had a weird effect on me lately. Everywhere you look, outside, on TV, wherever, someone is wearing a cool-because-it's-ugly Alex English jersey or a totally nonsensical Kobe "MPLS" deal. I've even seen a Nets Yinka Dare jersey in Downtown Boston, and I had to restrain myself from asking the kid what the hell kind of weird statement he thought he was making. That's like wearing a jersey that said, "I'm an idiot," on it. I actually watched a whole Ja Rule video in spite of myself the other day just because Bobby Brown wears a Celtics Len Bias #30 jersey in the first 10 seconds. That has to be the most fascinating/disturbing old school jersey choice I've seen to date. As a Celtics fan, that caught me off guard and got me thinking, there has some kind of jersey etiquette, rules for what's cool, reverential, idiotic, and questionable. A few things in particular serve as good examples:

Exhibit A: After last night's Sixers-Nuggets game, 76er guard Allen Iverson addressed the press wearing a Celtics Bill Russell #6 shirt. He wore the uniform of his team's biggest historical rival, the team that bounced him out of the playoffs last year and the team the Sixers trail by a half a game for first place in the Atlantic. Iverson told the press, "They're killing me about that. They said Wilt would be turning over in his grave right now. I just respect the player, that's all, the history. I wouldn't wear just any number. It would have to be 33, 6 or 17, something like that...Reggie Lewis."

As a Bostonian, I'm still not sure exactly how I feel about this, but if I was the owner of the 76ers, or a Philly fan, I'd be sooooooooooooo angry. The shirt was a nice little tribute to a great player, but as a millionaire employee of the Sixers, wearing a Celtics jersey somehow seems a touch inappropriate for Iverson. The weirdest part is the Answer rattling off the numbers of Bird and Havlicek, and dropping the name of the late, great Reggie Lewis. Is Iverson exposing himself as a closet C's fan? The thought of Iverson in the Bird jersey is pretty damned funny, almost as funny as Bird in a Philly #3, but I can rest easy knowing that'll never happen.

Exhibit B: B's a little similar to A. During last years surprising and enjoyable Celts playoff run, Joseph Forte showed up to a game wearing a Magic Johnson jersey. This guy played maybe a minute all year, had a terrible attitude if you believe the papers, and had the audacity to show up for a playoff game wearing the uniform of the team most hated by Bostonians. What had to be going on in his head for him to think this made any kind of sense? He was sent to the locker room, and not surprisingly, traded in the offseason.

Exhibit C: Remember Kobe Bryant's "Everybody look at me" throwback jersey parade during the finals last year? It culminated with a Bulls #23, a continuaton of Bryant's creepy on-court impersonation of Jordan. This isn't as bad, the Bulls and Lakers don't have as much history, and he said he was doing it as a tribute to "the greatest." Again, very nice, but what you have is a guy playing for the Lakers in the NBA Finals, and he shows up in a Bulls jersey? And lest we forget, Jordan's Bulls did beat the Lakers in the '91 Finals. It's not like he plays for the Grizzlies, either. He had a rich history of players to choose from--Mikan, Baylor, West, Jabbar, Magic, Worthy--and he went with a active guy from another team? It obviously didn't hurt the Lakers too much, but Kobe went out of his way to take the focus off of his team and put it squarely on himself.

I realize these guys don't grow up in the cities they play for and the old, institutional rivalries don't mean as much to them as they do to the fans. And it's nice to see the guys like Iverson pay respect to Bill Russell when a lot of the young players today may never have heard of him. At the end of the day, it's obviously not hugely important, but I guess it boils down to conflict of interest. What's next, Iverson or Kobe wearing an MJ jersey the night they play the Wizards? It's bad team loyalty, it's bad marketing, and it really just doesn't make that much sense. The old school shirts are cool, but the players should avoid their rivals' jerseys like the plague, or at least don't wear them to the post-game press conference. Still, Russell was a good choice.

Brendan Lynch is a frequent contributor to InsideHoops.com.