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Why doesn't Roy wear #3 on the Blazers? No one else on the team right now is wearing it, and it's not a retired number.
Was it because someone was wearing #3 when he was drafted?
Every wonder why Brandon Roy had his No. 3 jersey at the University of Washington retired, but wears No. 7 in Portland? Well, Brandon explained the story behind the different numbers prior to the retirement ceremony on Thursday.
When he was a standout at Seattle's Garfield High School, following on the heels of the successful career of his brother, Ed Roy, Brandon wore jersey No. 4 for the Bulldogs while Ed wore No. 3. Ed was an exceptional athlete who Brandon has often said had the potential to play at higher levels. In fact, many people who knew both boys in high school swear that Ed was the better athlete between the two. But troubles meeting the academic requirements to enter college -- partly due to a learning disability that Brandon also battled to get into college -- prevented Ed from advancing his career.
So when Brandon earned his qualifying score -- after several attempts that caused him to start his freshman season late -- and was about to start his career at Washington, he chose Ed's jersey number for symbolic reasons.
"I said, 'When I get there, I'm gonna wear your number," Roy said. "That's when I was going through my struggles. I was like, 'I'm gonna try to do this for both of us.' So when I got to Washington I was like, 'I've got to wear three, because it doesn't represent me.' I think people now say, 'Oh, Brandon made three popular.' But it was his number. And I don't know where he got it from, but I thought it was cool. I was like, 'This is my big brother, he's wearing three, and I want to wear it.' So when I got to Washington, that was the big reason. And now it's going to be retired, so it's like me and him both are getting our numbers retired."
Brandon said he tried to take his No. 3 to the Blazers, but Juan Dixon was wearing the number at the time.
"A rookie can't — at least, I couldn't bully him out of it," Roy said. "Or I was going to have to pay him a lot of money that I didn't have."
Roy's solution: Combine the No. 4 jersey he wore in high school with the No. 3 he wore in college, and wear No. 7 for the Blazers.
And the story behind Jersey No. 7
http://columbian.com/article/20090122/BLOGS05/901229982/-1/BLAZERBANTER
