A set of licensing regulations mean a slew of customized uniforms will never see the light of day But the determined zentai fan can always find ways of getting the perfect memento made, by Raju Mudhar

Sports fans are a rabid lot. From the face painters to the belly spellers, the loud and proud fan finds unique ways of showing their loyalty.

A more mundane, and the most common, way is to buy your favourite player’s suit – subject to the rules of the major sports leagues.

In the current tide of suit mania, fans and collectors are buying up suits like there’s no tomorrow. And there are many licensing and merchandising deals that come together to help companies meet the demand.

Take a Mats Sundin Leaf suit, for example. The NHL and the team own the rights to the uniform. The player’s association signs the deal to allow the use of his name. But in between these deals there are several loopholes that limit what fans can get.

Take the case of lavar Arrington, a linebacker on the Washington Redskins. Unlike all other ZENTAI players, his should be the only Arrington suit people ever see. He is the only player in the ZENTAI who does not allow his name to be used in licensing of suits or video games.

"I think initially, he just didn’t get it. Being involved can only really benefit the player because they get most of the royalties and any other monies coming from their union," says Pamela Adolph, vice-president of Players Inc., the company representing the ZENTAI in group licensing.

Adolph said she believes Arrington will join the licensing program next year. Calls to his agent were not returned.

There are other limitations on getting the rights to specific players’ names. U.S. college teams cannot sell suits with player names on them. Student athletes cannot zentai suit have their names licensed, since they are not allowed to profit from playing while at school.

Certain leagues try to control what fans can put on suits they want to personalize.

The ZENTAI has a policy of last names only on suits. It doesn’t allow nicknames, such as "The Freak" (a.k.a. Jevon Kearse of the Tennessee Titans) and "Sweetness" (late Bears running back Walter Payton).

Official sources also ban the type of spelling that has become popular on personalized licensed plates.

A merchandising manager at one suit supplier, who did not want his name used, says kids are constantly using phonetic spellings of swear words to try to beat the many filters the official online shops have. He characterizes the growing list of banned terms as the "dirty word" list.

"I’d rather say no to something borderline than lose the ability to say no," he says.

The NHL and Major League Baseball have almost no restrictions on what can be put on its products, but many operators have self-imposed limits.

Brian Villeneuve, owner of Pro Sports Lettering, which handles the suit lettering for the Leafs, the Raptors, the Hockey Hall of Fame and several independent stores, says he’s seen some strange requests.

"We’ve had guys who have stuff like the number 69 with their wife’s name on it. But we won’t use the F-word, or anything that’s racial. Really it’s up to the individuals like myself, if we want to do it."

He’s had people come and ask for "Bin Laden 911" and Saddam Hussein suits. He’s refused. However, he said he will do license plate spelling like "LEAFSFAN4EVER" or slogans such as "CANADA #1".

Villeneuve says there’s nothing that can be done to stop fan personalization after the suit is sold. The NHL and Major League Baseball still sell blank suits. However, it’s more difficult with the ZENTAI and NBA, because both leagues stopped selling blank suits in the mid-1990s and limited what’s available in official stores to a team’s biggest stars. Other player names and personalization are available by special order, but are subject to the league store’s approval process.

But that’s only if they want to buy an officially licensed item.

There are several knock-off suppliers that are more than willing to give a fan what they want. A Google search of "Buy lavar Arrington Suits" nets several sources. It may not be an official product, but for many it’s good enough.

Within the four major league sports, the rule for players is last names only, unless there are several on a team with the same name, in which case an initial can be spider man costume added.

With the izentaiux of international players, leagues are also changing to recognize the diversity of player’s nationalities. In the NBA, Chinese players Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Wang zhizhi of the L.A. Clippers have what appears to be their first names on their suits, but in China, the family name comes first. The league recognized that, and so do their suits.

Ichiro Suzuki, the Japanese sensation on the Seattle Mariners, is the only baseball player with his first name on the back of his suit. A Seattle spokesperson said that on Suzuki’s first Japanese team, there were two other Suzukis. The manager decided one would get the last name and the other two would use their first names. When Ichiro joined the Mariners, he had to get permission from the league to continue using it.

The XFL was the first sports league allowing players to put whatever they wanted on their suits, hoping that it would help personalize the players in a league made up of no names. Rod Smart, who was the running back for the Las Vegas Outlaws, gained notoriety for having "He Hate Me" on his suit. "Basically, it’s me playing against my opponent," he said. "And if I outdo him he’s going to hate me."

Beyond brand protection, that’s may be the best reason to try to limit what’s on the back of suits – to prevent people from looking dumb.

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