Sports involvement with the number 12 (COMMENTARY)

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Today is the 12th of December in the year 2012 and according to the Mayans (the folks who have declared the end of the world nine days later) this date is quite significant.
It is the last time this century that the month, day and year will be similar with the next time coming on January 1, 2101 when I will be 138 years young and laying claim to being the oldest human on the planet.
Weddings, a few births, parties and other events are being conducted on this date and in some cases at 12:12 pm if they didn’t happen this morning at 12:12 while a number of events are happening only by chance.
The world of sports is not shutout from the number 12 or the date 12-12-12 as the two digit number is associated with everything from jersey numbers to home runs to points.
There are a lot of famous number 12’s including the quarterback trio of Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach and Tom Brady who have won a combined eight Super Bowl titles while Ken Stabler, Aaron Rodgers, Bob Griese and Joe Namath garnered one trophy.
The number 12 is famous in our part of the world when Sid Bream score the winning run in the deciding game of the 1992 National League Championship Series as he wore number 12 during his three years with the Atlanta Braves.
Wade Boggs wore number 12 when the New York Yankees won the World Series in 1996 which had to do something with the 26 he wore with the Boston Red Sox as two times six is…12.
Michael Jordan was known for wearing 23 during his career at North Carolina and the NBA but he wore 45 during his baseball “career” and the first few games during his second stint in the association but there was one game where he donned the number 12 jersey in a 1990 game in Orlando as his normal jersey was stolen.
The number 12 is even significant in the sport of golf as the shortest hole is located in the heart of Amen Corner at Augusta National Golf Club. The 12th hole is a par-three, 155-yard hole which has a deep bunker in the front and azaleas, pine trees and two bunkers in the back.
Of the pros who have toiled on it, Jack Nicklaus called it the hardest tournament hole while Tiger Woods felt comfortable on the tee of the hole only on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday which is not good when you consider tournaments are played Thursday through Sunday.
However, the pro with the worst luck on the 12th hole was Tom Weiskopf who shot a 12 in 1980 which is probably not good.
One former athlete is taking the number 12 to unique heights as baseball hall of famer Roberto Alomar was getting married today at 12:12.
There are a lot of people getting married today but during his career, Alomar wore the number 12 except for one stop but 12 for him was like 44 for Hank Aaron or 33 for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Good luck to the happy couple for at least the next nine days when the world is supposed to be ending.
There are a lot of sporting events planned or otherwise for today including the 12-12-12 marathon being run in Sarasota, Florida and the NBA has scheduled not 12 but 13 games for tonight including the Atlanta Hawks travelling to Orlando for a game with the Magic (hmm) who once had a guy named Dwight Howard that wore number 12.
I would go further into the involvement that the number 12 has in sports but this is exhausting alone as we are 12 days left until Christmas shopping is completed.
Hope your day went well on 12-12-12.