The shirt you see above is currently available for purchase in the Louisville basketball team store for the price of $24.99. "Rise to the Occasion" is a slogan that has appeared on Louisville gear before, but this version is infused with Kevin Ware's jersey number, a move that is specifically designed to tug at the heart and purse strings of every Louisville fan. You should not buy it.


Louisville and Adidas don't deserve to wring one more cent out of Kevin Ware's name, and they are greedy vampires for trying to do so now. Giving his teammates commemorative warmups is one thing (those are not available for purchase, as far as we know), but this is different. Kevin Ware has already helped line the pockets of Louisville, Adidas, and the NCAA by laboring freely in the pursuit of a dream which may very well have been permanently derailed by his injury. Kevin Ware will never see a dollar of the revenue that was produced by his performance on the Louisville men's basketball team, and he will never see a dollar of the revenue that is produced by the sale of this shirt. Welcome to big-time college sports, where even the athletes who have been gruesomely hobbled can still be exploited for a buck.


h/t Brad