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What’s in a name: football players who share names with members of the Yankees

On July 27, 2011, the Cincinnati Bengals signed a running back out of the University of Massachusetts as an undrafted free agent. He did not make the team out of camp, spent the 2011 season and most of 2012 with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League, and then finished the 2012 season at the back of the New York Jets roster, playing nine special teams snaps. His name? John Griffin.

As I’m sure you can tell, I have a rather generic name — after all, when I took one of the many New York City high school admissions tests more than a decade ago, they lined us up alphabetically, and there were three other students named “John Griffin” taking the exam at the exact same time.