Ohio does have professional sports teams, right? The Cavs, Bengals, Reds and Indians have all been around for quite some time. Oh yeah, the Browns too. Easy to forget them now, but back in the day they were actually good. Which is why this map of the best-selling throwback jerseys by state put together by Mitchell & Ness is so baffling.
I mean, Jim Brown anyone? Hell, the Indians have had some pretty damn good players over the years too. So why Kobe Bryant, Ohioans? Dude didn’t even go to high school in your state, he’s from Pennsylvania. I don’t get it. Hell, even Kentucky chose former Reds shortstop Barry Larkin.
Then again, Alabama’s favorite throwback is Allen Iverson which is only slightly more bizarre than their top choice the previous year of Ryne Sandberg.
And why is Ronnie Lott so popular in Alaska? In 2014 their top pick was Wayne Gretzky so moving from The Great One to Lott makes no sense either.
Also, as was pointed out last year, where in the hell is Michael Jordan? Nowhere? Really? Wow.
As for the top-selling superstar by number of states Larry Bird unseated Kobe Bryant, 2014’s leader, with five states to four, but Kobe was still #1 overall in total sales. Way to really throw it back, folks.
New to this year’s map after not appearing at all in 2014 are Reggie White, Iverson, Rickey Henderson, Cris Carter and Nolan Ryan.
Dropping off the list are luminaries such as Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Roger Staubach, Randall Cunningham, Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig.
Check out the full-size map and the entire list by state including both the 2014 as well as the 2015 top-sellers over at Mitchell & Ness.
Related: The MLB’s 35 Most Badass Throwback Jerseys Of All Time