Here’s what happens when you tell someone to LEAVE OFF a name from a Michigan jersey

A Michigan fan’s mother was nice enough to order him a Wolverines jersey for Christmas. The mother requested to the jersey-maker that the manufacturer “leave off” a last name on the back. Here’s how that turned out.

Officially, teams can’t sell jerseys with players’ last names on them. That’s because players are “amateurs,” and it would look weird to profit off the name of those players without allowing those players to profit, too. So we just pretend the numbers on the jerseys fans buy are wholly unrelated to the players who actually wear them. We could argue all day about how this system works and whether it’s equitable.

But that’s not even what’s going on here. We’ve just got an extraordinarily literal receptionist on the other end of the phone. It’s hard not to chuckle.

Credit to Speight, who took this indignity in stride:

The fan wanted a No. 3 jersey. Instead, he got a rare collector’s item.