This is in response to Dale Hitchcock's letter "Uniforms without names need to go". The removal of the names goes along with coaching genius Joe Paterno's belief that football is a team sport and should not single out certain athletes.

Coach John L. Smith removed the names so that no player is above any other.

Furthermore, he removed the No. 1 jersey number. Just one year ago, Charles Rogers wore the No. 1 jersey and was the hype of the MSU football team. A year before graduation, he chose to leave his education for the elitist NFL.

I believe that Smith made a reasonable decision to bring teamwork back into the MSU football program instead of continuing a program of cocky players. The attitude of the players under Smith's guidance seems much better than it has over the past three years.

Players are still able to stand out and show their talent, but the efforts to remove the names will continue to keep arrogance and lack of teamwork off the field. Who cares if there are no names on the jerseys for you to read?

If you're such a huge fan, you should already know the players' numbers.

Carl Seidman
finance and economics senior