49ers safety Donte Whitner says he’s now Donte Hitner. Via CSNBayArea.com, Hitner said that his lawyer has taken the steps necessary to legally change the name.
Hitner also is willing to do whatever it takes to placate the NFL. Within reason.
Whenever a player changes his number or his name, it can result in a stock of unsold jerseys becoming worthless. Sensitive to this wrinkle, Hitner says he’ll pay for the jerseys, “depending on how many there are.”
“I haven’t seen a whole lot around Candlestick, so I wouldn’t think there should be [many jerseys in stock], unless somebody’s hiding them,” Hitner said.
“If you ask fans around San Francisco and the Bay Area, they call me Donte Hitner anyway,” Hitner added. “I think it’s pretty cool. Everything we do is for the fans, right? We all understand that. It’s entertainment, but at the same time it’s what I do. It’s my game, along with some things that happened recently, that’s why I went with it.”
He’s the first player to change his name for marketing reasons since Chad Johnson became Chad Ochocinco. Eventually, and inevitably, someone will legally change his name to Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Doritos, Pepsi, Taco Bell, Legal Zoom, or some other product or brand.
Hey, for the right price and a lifetime supply of cookies, I’ll drop the “FL” and change the “I” to an “E”.