Predicting the newest Milwaukee Bucks' jersey numbers

Anybody who follows me on Twitter may have noticed the frequency with which I have made a fool of myself over Tobias Harris and Jon Leuer's jersey numbers. In my enthusiasm to glean this precious-if-insignificant nugget of information, I have twice made the mistake of jumping all over pictures of the newest Bucks sporting jerseys with their draft pick numbers and declaring them final. Don't blame me, blame the 24-hour news cycle. Okay, I guess you can blame me a little too.

In any case, the Bucks's official Twitter account responded to my frantic pleas for information with a simple, "no rush," which only fueled the fire that is my unquenchable desire for closure on the matter. Therefore, as we (I) await the next update, check out some of the possible number choices and the rationale behind each. This information was gathered with a great deal of digging, a few bribes, and some assorted misdemeanors (I had to clean a 4-mile stretch of Interstate-75 north of Knoxville as punishment), but it was totally worth it.

Got any inside information of your own? What about a supernatural ability to see faces or words as numbers, see the future, and stuff like that? Share your ideas in the comments.

Tobias Harris

13 - Harris' first true love, at the wee age of 9, was little Jennie Pickett, whose house was a mere 13-minute big-wheel ride from the house where he grew up, though it felt like ages as he pedaled under the hot afternoon sun. Previous Bucks to wear #13: Glenn Robinson, Luke Ridnour, Mike James, Glenn McDonald.

72 - Tobias always struggled with calculations involving logarithms (don't we all?), so the rule of 72 became an invaluable financial planning tool. Wearing this number would not only pay homage to the convenient mathematical shortcut, but also educate other players on the ease of future value estimation. Previous Bucks to wear #72: none. In fact, no Buck has ever worn a number above 55, much to the appreciation of five-fingered NBA referees everywhere.

19 - Tobias might be thinking of choosing 19 in honor of the pick number where he was selected, but Beno Udrih probably has other ideas [Update: as K.L. notes in the comments, Beno seems to have already made his claim to it]. If this happens, I will never be totally convinced that the Bucks' PR department isn't still just messing with me. Previous Bucks to wear #19: Ersan Ilyasova (as a rook), Damon Jones, Dick Cunningham.

20 - Harris's favorite human chromosome, which contains the gene that encodes his favorite enzyme: S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase. Previous Bucks to wear #20: Gary Payton (ugh), Sam Cassell (before switching to #10), Jamaal Magloire, Ernie Grunfeld, Bob Boozer, Roko Ukic, Awvee Storey, and a bunch of others.

121 - Tobias has always been determined to smash the glass ceiling of three-digit numbers.

44 - Harris' favorite food, a 20-inch deep-dish pepperoni pizza known as "The Big Poppa-roni," available at The Singin' Sicilian Pizzeria in downtown Maryville Tennessee, is topped with exactly 44 slices of pepperoni, or your money back. Previous Bucks to wear #44: Jiri Welsch, Keith Van Horn, Brad Lohaus, Paul Mokeski, and a slew of other non-notables.

65 - In honor of the 65-hour marathon Perfect Dark gaming session he once finished with two of his friends. They chose Perfect Dark over GoldenEye 007 because it is the obviously superior game, featuring unique and visible reload animations and a gun that allows one to shoot other dudes through the freaking walls.

Jon Leuer

37 - The number of possessions in a typical Wisconsin basketball game, wearing this number would ensure that Leuer never forgets where he came from, which is roughly 75 miles west of where he is now. Previous Bucks to wear #37: none.

17 - The number of shots in a "fishbowl" from Wando's, a bar in Madison, where Leuer was once accosted by a friend of mine. He'll have to wrest this number from Chris Douglas-Roberts' hands, but something tells me Chris won't put up much of a fight. Previous Bucks to wear #17: Jon Barry, Anthony Mason.

83 - Jon thinks this number is funny, 'cus it's like 88 only somebody forgot to finish the second digit.

43 - Jon's pretty convinced that a minor programming hiccup caused the gigantic supercomputer to slightly underestimate the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, which was in fact 43. Previous Bucks to wear #43: Jack Sikma, Jake Voskuhl, Mark Pope, Mike Gminski. 

62 - When on vacation in Brazil, Leuer befriended a young boy after he scared off a pack of small dogs that had chased the lad into a tree. They taught each other a great many things, including the value of a dollar and how to make a headband out of tree bark. When Jon left, the boy gifted him a decorative bracelet with 62 small beads woven into the fabric.

33 - Jon is pretty sure that Lew Alcindor wore this number for the Bucks, and he challenges you to point out where the banner bearing his name is hung in the Bradley Center. 

30 - Was his college number, probably has some meaningless sentimental value. Previous Bucks to wear #30: Blue Edwards, Marty Conlon (!), Dell Curry, Malik Allen, Earl Barron.