I admit, I'm proud of the amount of research I do for my stories. In writing Team Manager SWISH!, I learned an incredible amount about Iowa and about girls' basketball. I've tried to be faithful to details, going so far as to model my high school after an actual town and school in Iowa, translate the images and uniform numbers of a basketball team, and even look up some actual game and tournament results for the games I chose.
Still, I've had a number of Iowa residents challenge bits and pieces of the story, offering advice on how to make it more real. In most cases, I've managed to make corrections in my manuscripts and follow the advice of my readers.
However, today I discovered something that was never spelled out in the rules I read or the games I saw. I might have figured it out if I'd even had an inkling of an idea that there was a problem. I had none until a reader sent me mail this morning with an interesting tidbit.
"I know that there are variations in some of the rules basketball is played by, but I'm pretty sure that nowhere would a player be permitted to have a number on his or her jersey higher that five. Acceptable basketball jersey numbers would include 0,00,1,2,3,4,5,10,11,12,13,14,15,20,21, and so on with the highest number on a players jersey being 55. A player having the number 17 on her jersey would probably be cause for a technical foul being called every game she played in."
I stopped to think. All the Angelines have jersey numbers that have no digit greater than 5. All the college teams I'm currently researching have no jersey number with a digit above 5.
But Wait! Kobe Bryant wears jersey #8! Shaquille O'Neal wears #36. Dennis Rodman wore #70 for the Mavericks, #73 for the Lakers, and #91 for the Bulls.
Yep. Sure enough, there is no limit to the numbers for players in the NBA. For high school and college, though, the rule book clearly states no digit on a jersey higher than 5. Apparently, this was established to make it easier on the refs and scorers. When calling a foul, the ref displays the tens digit on his right hand and the ones digit on his left hand. Only five fingers on each. So, indeed, jersey #17, worn by the tall captain of the Temple Divas in chapter 32 is illegal.
I've submitted corrections to the chapter online, but it will be a while before a new version of the eBook or print book is released. I'll correct it there eventually.
I love readers who read carefully and care enough to let me know when I've screwed something up. I'm not that proud!