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Donovan McNabb rips ‘Cuse for unretiring No. 44 jersey

By CM Towle

Nov 2, 2013; Syracuse, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange former quarterback Donovan McNabb with family and friends after having his jersey retired during halftime of a game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 2, 2013; Syracuse, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange former quarterback Donovan McNabb with family and friends after having his jersey retired during halftime of a game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at the Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb isn’t pleased with the school choosing to unretire number 44.

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On Tuesday, Syracuse announced that they were going to take the number 44 jersey out of retirement and is now eligible to be worn by any current players, according to a story by For The Win. The jersey was retired in 2005 and has been worn by a number of legendary players, including Ernie Davis, James Brown and Floyd Little. Syracuse offered the reasoning that allowing the number to be worn again would restore tradition and further honor the players that previously wore it. According to the interim athletic director, a committee will decide what player gets to wear the number.

Committee or not, former Syracuse quarterback, now retired from the NFL, Donovan McNabb doesn’t like the decision at all. His own number five jersey was retired in 2013 in a game between Syracuse and Wake Forest. McNabb took to Twitter on Tuesday to have some words about the decision by his former school.

McNabb definitely has some room to speak, since he saw his own number retired and it can’t sit well with him that legends bigger than himself are having their numbers un-retired. He’s also correct that it’s a pretty unusual move. Not only do NCAA teams rarely do it, but neither do NFL teams. One recent exception is Michigan returning a bunch of retired numbers to the field and calling it the “Legends Program.” Of course, the program has been halted due to the school’s continuing attempts to walk back several things from the Dave Brandon era.

However, in spite of that, Michigan fans were largely fine with the idea and even enthusiastic about it. The problem with McNabb’s opinion though, even if it’s somewhat warranted, is that the number 44 jersey wasn’t just worn by one legendary player and further, the players involved apparently approve of the reinstatement. Not only that, but some fans are comparing the number to other “living” traditions at other schools, such as the 12th Man at Texas A&M.

As with everything though, there’s another side of fans who don’t like it, some of whom McNabb decided to retweet on his account.

So it really depends on how you look at it. Is it disrespectful to the legendary players who wore it? Or is it a sort of living legend tradition at the school that deserves to live on?

The last player to wear number 44 was Rob Konrad in 1998. A total of 25 players at Syracuse have worn the number 44.

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