Matt Cashore – USA TODAY Sports

It seems old school is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be putting the names on the back of players’ jerseys for the National Championship Gameagainst the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Irish will be doing this for their fourth straight bowl game; however, this will be only the fourth time in the school’s history that names will appear on the back of Notre Dame uniforms. The move comes at an interesting time for the Irish as it will no doubt anger some traditionalist’s and the team’s older fans.

Not to mention that Notre Dame is a perfect 12-0 so far this season and those that believe in superstitions will wonder why the Irish are making any changes at all. Well, the obvious answer would be money. Imagine how many young kids are going to want an official Manti Te’o jersey with a BCS Championship crest on it. Of course you could always just get a regular uniform and slap your favourite player’s name on the back, but that wouldn’t be official now would it?

Teams that still don’t use names on the back of their shirts are few and far between. The New York Yankees come to mind because of their long and storied tradition. And it’s not like they need the merchandise revenue with the amount of money that the organization has to spend.

One thing is for sure, if Notre Dame wins a national title then whether or not the team should be sporting names on the back of their jerseys will become very insignificant.

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