Ever wonder where a college football team's jerseys go when the season is over and done with? It's not like the uniforms are saved for another year, especially when that team is the Oregon Ducks, know for their wide variety of uniform combinations. When the Ducks' season ended with a loss to the Auburn Tigers in the BCS Championship Game, the question of what to do with the jerseys came up.
The answer, it turns out, was simple. The jerseys go to four places, according to The Oregonian's Rachel Bachman. Players can keep them, donate them to the local children's hospital or Oregon can sell them at either an auction or surplus sale (pardon the pun in the quote, please).
Senior players will get to keep another one, again with the $50 deducted (or is it deDUCKted?) from their gift allowance.
After the players are taken care of, the jerseys fall under the discretion of head coach Chip Kelly, who often steers them to children in hospitals.
Though I live here in Seattle and all of our local teams have some kind of rivalry -- or in the Washington Huskies case, hatred -- with Oregon, I like Kelly's style. Giving game-worn jerseys to the local hospitals is an excellent gesture and one that should be commended. It may seem small, but a simple jersey can make the day, week or month of an ailing child.
As for the sale part, at times the jersey head to an online auction to raise money for the Ducks' Athletic Fund. If there's still leftover items, they head to the surplus sale, though that's a long-shot. Other equipment, however, including shoulder pads and other game-used items, do make it to the surplus sale and often times are bought by local high schools. It saves money for the high schools, and the team recoups some of the cost of the equipment.
Seniors also get to keep their helmets, something that's likely true all places, but that I never realized. It's a neat souvenir to have and keep around the house to show their kids in the future. The helmets are not, however, available for sale. The last thing you want is a guy in a helmet running down the street and trying to tackle cars.