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Chris Rainey is a playmaker on the field, one of those electrifying players capable of making big plays each time he touches the football.

Off the field, he has proven to be quite the deal maker in the fine art of securing a preferred jersey number.

In more lucrative sporting endeavours such as the NBA, MLB, NFL, it’s not uncommon for players to offer some big bucks in the hopes of retrieving their beloved number.

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For Rainey, No. 2 strikes a chord, a number quarterback James Franklin wears.

The negotiating then began.

At the end, Rainey was given his familiar number, while Franklin decided to embrace jersey No. 8.

“We had a long talk,’’ said Rainey. “We made some deals.”

The way Rainey describes it, when he first came up to Canada to play a new game that allows players of his ilk to produce explosive plays, he was given No. 26 in Montreal.

When he landed in B.C., he wore 28.

Then he changed to No. 2.

“That’s when I started to make a name for myself,’’ said Rainey, 31.

Rainey, known as the Rain Man, who is very familiar with the return exploits of Henry (Gizmo) Williams, the greatest returner football has ever seen.