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Dennis Schroder's campaign to let fans choose his new number backfired on him

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated 9/13/21

Dennis Schroder is learning the hard way that fans will never miss out on an opportunity to troll you.

The new Boston Celtics guard decided to let the fans choose his new jersey number for the Boston Celtics next season. Schroder’s customary No. 17 jersey is retired in Boston in honor of the late John Havlicek.

What Schroder did not anticipate however was that he would get clowned by fans of Hannover 96. The German soccer club is archrivals with Eintracht Braunschweig, the soccer club from Schroder’s hometown of Braunschweig, Germany. Hannover 96 fans immediately flooded Schroder with votes for the No. 96.

Schroder acknowledged the gag by writing, “As you can probably imagine, coming from Braunschweig, number 96 is not necessarily my favorite number.” The 27-year-old guard left in No. 96 for the final round of voting though along with other top choices Nos. 8, 71, 80, and 84. The fans had actually selected No. 38 as their first choice, but that number already belongs to Schroder’s Celtics teammate Sam Hauser.

Looks like Dennis Schroder is letting fans vote for his Celtics jersey number.

71 is kind of great with his preferred 17 retired. Every digit but 8 would be a first for a Celtics player. pic.twitter.com/87g2ZiSBSI

— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) September 13, 2021

Voting closes on Sept. 17, at which point we shall know if Schroder will be forced to sport the number of his soccer nemeses next year. Professional athletes have gone this route with fan engagement before. But Schroder’s may be the only one that has backfired this spectacularly.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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