The other day, FedEx dropped off a package at my apartment. As you probably guessed from the photo on the left, it was my official, Nike-made, NFL jersey. I finally settled on a plan for getting the jersey I wanted to celebrate the player I enjoy most: Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe. This past Monday, after the disastrous final play of the Seahawks-Packers game, Kluwe once again demonstrated why he’s worthy of praise, both as a player, and as a media personality, weighing in on the replacement referee controversy that’s plagued the NFL for the past three weeks.
Take a look at my new duds:
Please excuse the bed-head. Probably should’ve combed my hair before the big photo shoot…
Now, getting a jersey to celebrate a relatively obscure player like the punter wasn’t cheap. I finally settled on a source, having decided that the budget options I’d first found were more sketchy than I’d have liked. So I directed my web-browser to the official NFL shop, and went ahead and bought a custom-made jersey. The cost? A pretty hefty price tag of $139.99. That’s a bunch of money. But I found ways to reduce the cost, which may be a pain for you, but might be worth considering.
First of all, I took advantage of the site’s Mobile Alerts sign-up, which supplied me with a one-time 10 percent discount code. So now I’ve got some spam texts coming to my phone, but it shaved a few bucks off a pretty expensive collectible. Then, I took a pretty drastic step: I signed up for an NFL-themed credit card. Doing so netted me a 20 percent rebate on purchases made at the NFL Shop. While I’m loathe to increase my debt any more than it already is, I can justify it by knowing that I will probably not be using it very much. A few days after my order was placed, I got an e-mail telling me about a credit to my order, bringing the total cost of the jersey from about $140 to $111 after all was said and done.
Not cheap…but not a bank-breaker, either.
I’ll be wearing this to my first NFL game next weekend—see you on the gridiron.
