Ron Artest: Numerology 101
While many players show an unnerving commitment to a single jersey number throughout their career, Count favourite and Tru Warrior Ron Artest has demonstrated an unparallelled propensity to change his number mid-career. Officially joining the Rockets roster yesterday, Artest has selected number 96 as his jersey number, the fifth shirt number of his storied career.
We all know that some guys change due to numbers being retired, or jersey numbers being occupied at teams they’re traded to. However, like everything that Ron does, every single number change has a weird and wonderful sense of logic to it, which in his mind is extremely significant and important.
Ron kicked off with number 15 (which was apparently the number that his father wore… until Ron realised, upon consulting his father, that it was actually 51). He then moved to 23, as a tribute to Michael Jordan; I’m sure Jordan appreciated the tip of the hat, especially from a guy who, as a rookie with the Bulls, broke Jordan’s ribs in a friendly pick-up game.
Artest then selected the number 91, a tribute to fellow NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman. Ron moved from 91 after being traded to the Kings, choosing 93, which was a tribute to his roots in Queensbridge, with the 9 apparently looking like a Q and the 3 looking like a B. Go figure.
So, why 96? Surely Ron has an explanation which will come soon. Until then, we can speculate:
- U-96, a German U-boat during World War II, and subject of the film Das Boot?
- The atomic number of curium?
- He was a fan of Class Of ‘96, a short-lived FOX drama series which aired in 1993?
- A tribute to Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996?
- A homage to racy 1970s Australian soap opera Number 96?
- A tribute to the standard resolution on the monitor of an IBM-compatible computer running Microsoft Windows?
Getting inside Artest’s brain is always an exciting challenge, so we’d like to hear your thoughts on what possessed Ron this time.
Posted by: James
15 responses so far ↓
Anton Trees // August 19, 2008 at 7:52 pm
The Tupac thing isn’t even slightly unlikely.
charles // August 20, 2008 at 3:59 am
i don’t think he wants to be seen with the number 69 that’s why it’s 96
Hayesfan // August 20, 2008 at 4:22 am
Ron already said why he chose 96. It’s for the 96 buildings in Queensbridge.
Derek // August 20, 2008 at 5:18 am
In math, ninety-six is an octagonal number, a refactorable number and an untouchable number. Since it is a multiple of 6, it is a semiperfect number.
I’m 96% sure it’s one of these 4 reasons.
Cornholio // August 20, 2008 at 6:25 am
96 is the number of buildings in the Queensbridge Projects.
George // August 20, 2008 at 7:18 am
93 was actually for the Souls of Mischief Album, ‘93 Til Infinity
cp3 // August 20, 2008 at 10:41 am
he got 96 problems but reggie theus aint one
James Wright // August 20, 2008 at 10:51 am
haha, lol CP3.
QB having 96 appartments makes alot of sense - choosing your jersey number based on the amount of appartments in your block is plain logic.
When I next suit up, I’ll be wearing #4.
Anton Trees // August 20, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Hahaha, cp3. Amazing.
chino // September 7, 2008 at 10:26 pm
i thought because no matter how you look at it its 96 and no matter how you look at ron artest, he’s ron artest–and unchangeable?
Anton Trees // September 7, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I hope that really is the reason. That’s fantastic.
Your Biggest Fan // September 8, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Somewhere a while back he said he was gonna do Steve Kerrs 25 next cause he loved the 96 Bulls. My Guess is that it why cause that year Bulls Team. Plus that number 93 he had, your story is wrong. It was a song by a group called Souls of Mischief called “93 till Infinity”. Thats what he said in an interview. Get your facts straight before you speculate. Your sites a joke.
Alexander Vitlin // September 8, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Speculation:
“1. the contemplation or consideration of some subject
4. conjectural consideration of a matter; conjecture or surmise: eg ‘a report based on speculation rather than facts.’” - http://www.dictionary.com.
Let me re-emphasise: “based on speculation rather than fact.”
So, the number of facts required in order to speculate:
Zero.
Thanks for your comment!
James Wright // September 9, 2008 at 6:57 am
Hey biggest fan - you’re actually wrong. The number has a double meaning. I don’t know if you have a bat phone to Ron, but there’s a little known site that might help you out.
http://www.google.com
Young C // October 11, 2008 at 7:13 am
To all of y’all saying he had 93 for the Souls of Misschief song, that’s not true either. He had the number because he signed a deal with the German shoe brand K1X, founded in ‘93.
And he has 96 now because with the Rockets’ jersey font it resembles the mentioned QB of Queensbridge.
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