Buying a Michigan Wolverines Football Jersey: Which Number's Right?

The emotions that go along with being a Michigan Wolverine ranges from utter bliss to utter dispair.  You see your team make it to the Rose Bowl twice, but each time fail.  But, even with their defeats, a Michigan Wolverine is a Wolverine for life and come every September, they fill the bars, the sports clubs, and the Big House to cheer their favorite team on to another possible National Championship.

Go to any Michigan sports club or bar, you'll see fans all wearing Michigan jerseys.  Go to any home game at the Big House, half the students will wear jerseys and the other half will either wear blue or maize, depending on what color day it is.  So, naturally, if you go to UMich, you're going to want to buy a jersey yourself, but which jersey do you buy?  They only have a few numbers that are printed so the choices are pretty limited.

Take this case for example.  Two years ago, Chris Perry was the top running back probably in the nation.  He set school records that year and pretty much led the Wolverines to a Rose Bowl appearance.  His number was 23.  At the beginning of the year, his number was pretty hard to find and when someone did find it and buy it, he was the envy of all his friends.  But, look at Chris Perry now: he's in the NFL as a first round pick but he hasn't really done much.  Sure, they project him to break out this season, but no on really knows right?  So, if you were to wear the 23 now, would people relate you to Chris Perry or Max Martin, the current second string running back that wears that same number?  Most people won't care, but you want to be proud of the number you wear.  Sure, Max Martin isn't a bad back, he's supposed to get a lot of play time this year because he's that good.  Still though, he's not the number one running back.