James Jones explains why he wore a hoodie underneath his uniform
You can’t wear pink to honor your late mother who died of breast cancer, nor can you pay tribute to your late father by writing his nickname on your eye black.
But wearing a hoodie underneath your jersey like a fourth-grader on his way to play in the neighborhood Turkey Bowl?
Well, that’s apparently OK, because this is the NFL, where nothing ever makes a lick of sense.
Not that we disliked James Jones’ choice to wear a green hoodie underneath his Green Bay Packers jersey on Sunday. On the contrary, Jones’ unintentional display of individualism had him trending on Twitter as he caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown in Green Bay’s big 30-13 road win over Minnesota.
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Jones’ hoodie grew so big that it sparked a couple of mock Twitter accounts and probably displaces Aaron Rodgers’ turtleneck as the most popular uniform choice for Midwestern winters.
Jones usually practices in a hoodie and said his decision to wear it during the game was a last-minute thing based on how cold it was in Minneapolis for Week 11. He had some reservations that a Vikings defender might grab it during a tackling attempt, but they went unfounded.
“I was warm,” Jones told reporters after the game. “I practice in it every day … I was like, practice how you play. It was team-issued colors, so I felt kind of swagged up out there with it. So I’m like, let me go out there and play with it. I was just hoping nobody would grab me from the back because they might treat it like dreads. It kept me warm.”
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Jones’ hoodie caused such a buzz during the game that Mike Pereira of Fox Sports taped a short video explaining the rules of wearing one. The short explanation of it being legal is that it was issued by the team and it matched the Packers’ color scheme. It would have been a different story had the hoodie’s color been, say, Dolphins’ aqua,
Hey, if it’s good enough for Bill Belichick, it should be good enough for anyone else in the NFL.
Though he didn’t make any promises, we’ll have to see if Jones brings back the hoodie for Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field.
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Kevin Kaduk is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KevinKaduk