When a jersey goes up in the rafters, it’s supposed to be an iconic moment. The player’s family is out there, the crowd is clapping for a legendary player and the moment lasts forever.
However, former Illinois’ guard Terrence Shannon Jr.’s iconic moment back in Champaign went…well, awkwardly. Someone in production and execution of the jersey being raised might’ve had a bit too much before the ceremony, leading to this awkward moment.
I mean, just LOL. I’m not even sure how someone goes about doing this. Do they practice raising jerseys beforehand? Did they flip the jersey right before it went up? I desperately need to figure out how something like this happens. The fact that they had it already rolled up tells me that someone wasn’t paying attention in the production meeting and decided to go a bit off-script, because there’s no other way something like this happens!
The video of it happening is even cringier. You can hear the crowd instantly realize what happen and almost start to laugh as they see the jersey hang upside down. Shannon’s moment is always going to live, but as a meme.
I truly, truly believe this is the first time I’ve seen something like this happen. You can’t, CAN’T mess up the jersey raising ceremony! That’s a beautiful moment turned into a hilarious one because someone on staff flipped the jersey. On the other hand, this lasting image after the game restarted should be the way the jersey is hung forever.
Either way, someone got fired.
