I'm all for paying homage to legends.

Whenever I want to pay tribute to Joe Namath, I get drunk and hit on sideline reporters.

Whenever I want to tip my hat to Barry Bonds, I lie to a grand jury.

And when I want to show how much I adore Pete Rose, I place a bet on the Reds.

But, sometimes, paying tribute to an athlete or a group of people goes a little too far.

That has been very apparent recently.

How many players does it take to wear No. 42 to honor Jackie Robinson? Apparently it takes about 213.

How many baseball teams have to wear a Virginia Tech cap to remember the tragedy in Blacksburg? Apparently everyone from the Washington Nationals to the Slate Lick Indians Peewee team.

OK. I know what you are thinking. How can he be so callous?

Actually, it's pretty easy. I'm a Buffalo Bills fan, after all. You Pirates fans know what I'm talking about.

But somewhere along the line, paying homage became the hip thing to do and lost its luster.

It's like Stuart Scott saying, "Boo-yah!" The first 1,000 times it was pretty cool. The next zillion? Not so cool anymore.

There's no denying the impact Jackie Robinson had on the game of baseball and society in general.

When Major League Baseball retired his No. 42, I was the first to applaud. If there ever was a man who deserved such a high honor, it was Robinson.

But when 213 players — and even one umpire — don the digits to honor him, it is as watered down as the stadium brews.

Six entire teams slipped on the number. Talk about overkill. Joe Torre wore the digits. So did Bob Melvin. What in the name of Bud Selig were they doing wearing that number?

One player per team max should have been allowed to wear it. It would have made it special. It would have brought more attention to Robinson and honored the current player wearing the prestigious number.

As it was, any Tom, Dick or Coco Crisp could wear it if he wanted.

EvenJohnRocker could have worn it, if he were still playing.

But perhaps the most glaring abuse of a tribute goes to the bandwagon jumpers wearing VT hats to "honor" the victims of last week's shooting in Blacksburg.

There are much better ways to honor these poor people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Instead of shelling out 20 bucks per VT cap, perhaps these teams could send that money to the victims' families .

That would be much better use of the money.

When a plane crashes, as horrible as that is, and 200 people die, I don't see baseball teams wearing TWA hats.

Just wear your hat. Just wear your number. Honor these people with your play and your prayers.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.