Study finds influence of smaller jersey numbers on perception

[andtheboat]

...in american football.

Context and history matter as this is the complete opposite for soccer:

- Smaller numbers go to the defenders and big guys

- Larger numbers are given to younger & academy player

- Numbers like 7, 9, 10, 8 & 6 all have a specific meaning on the pitch

So yeah, numbers matter, but so does everything else.

[solids]

Having grown up in Argentina, it always annoyed me seeing players in any sport with numbers that don’t resemble certain position or role.

[dylan604]

of course there's been exceptions as well. Jamie Carragher's #23 for example.

"Number 1 is Carragher. Number 2 is Carragher. Number 3 is Carragher.

We all dream of a team of Carraghers!"

couldn't resist

[nostromo]

Same with rugby. 1 and 3 are the largest / heaviest players on the field.

[lukas099]

I think it would be interesting to study the effect in sports that have no restrictions on who gets what number. Like (I think) basketball.

[zimpenfish]

Don't forget that 1 is normally the goalkeeper.

[RandallBrown]

https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/rules-changes/nfl-jerse...

Linemen are required to wear higher numbers so it's no surprise that people automatically associate higher numbers with bigger people.

[singleshot_]

When I showed up for double sessions freshman year, I found that the sizes of the shirts corresponded to the numbers. Even without rules about what number an interior lineman must wear, the big body positions just aren’t going to physically fit in jersey number three.

[the_snooze]

I've always associated single-digit numbers to "skill positions," especially speedsters like WRs, RBs, and CBs. If you're in the 50s and above, I'll assume you're one of the "big uglies" duking it out in the trenches.

[kleinsch]

Read the article

> When we looked at the relationship between the ratings of size and slenderness and the numbers, [and] we did a very small range, like from 17 to 19, we see a very robust correlation."

[AndrewKemendo]

I love this so much

It’s such a great proof at how absolutely fundamentally tragically terrible humans are at evaluating things consistently based on purely sense perception.

[goatlover]

It's not a proof. It's one study. Which does back up your point in a way, given how often we tend to treat a single study as truth when it makes news.

[schneems]

It reinforces my priors that human knowledge is Bayesian (we don’t just take in knowledge, we are constantly comparing it to a prior and updating that prior, but we aren’t aware of our own biases which can take a huge precedence over new information).

[mud_dauber]

I wore "11" as a sophomore HS running back, then moved to "40" for my junior & senior years. I gained almost zero weight (or muscle), but I swear I looked GOOD with those skinny ones on my front & back.

[Nicholas_C]

I remember my teammates being extremely picky about which numbers they’d wear and I always caught grief for wearing #8 as a running back since it’s thought of as a QB number (Troy Aikman, Steve Young). In hindsight maybe they were on to something.

[TheRealPomax]

Self-fulfilling prophecies usually are, for all the wrong reasons.

[cbsmith]

Gretzky seemed to do just fine with 99...

[zoomablemind]

I think of it as a "bold" 9. Gretzky agreed it to be kinda synonymous with his favorite Howe's number 9. Yet it's 16 that Gretzky wanted at the time, instead of assigned 19...

https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/gretzky-tells-the-real-s...

[SoftTalker]

Just don't let your young peewee hockey player pick #99, he or she will be harassed constantly by the opposing team.

[OJFord]

I think all else being equal, numbers like xx, x0, and x (<10) are more desirable for perceived significance. If a player desires anything else it's presumably out of some personal significance to them (even if just 'the number I was randomly assigned on my first team').

[lukas099]

An example of countersignaling?

[webel0]

This seems similar to observing that vertical and horizontal stripes on clothes (and the width of the stripes) can affect how one perceives a silhouette.

[canjobear]

No way this replicates. Classic junk psychology result.

[m3kw9]

To level the play field all players must wear 3 digit numbers and the numbers 1, 0 and 7 will not be allowed

[mertd]

and they have to change it every 3 months. The new number cannot be similar to the last 10 numbers used.

[dang]

Maybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News. We're trying for something else here.