New season, new duds
White numbers trimmed in red will make Redblack players easier to ID
Scott Macdonell says he has buddies who swear they believed — briefly — that Macdonell was the receiver who caught a long pass from Henry Burris and turned it into the 93-yard touchdown play that helped the Ottawa Redblacks beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League’s East Division final.
It wasn’t Macdonell, of course, but actually Greg Ellingson.
The confusion was understandable to anyone who had tried from any kind of distance to identify individual Redblacks players by the numbers on their home jerseys. Red numerals with white trim against a black background and the quirky cut of the digits made it easy to mix up Macdonell’s 83 with Ellingson’s 82, or Ernest Jackson’s 9 and Jake Harty’s 8. Thus, the release of new jerseys for all nine CFL clubs on Thursday should be particularly welcomed by anyone who struggled to pick out Redblacks from the stands at TD Place stadium. White numerals trimmed with red should make that task much simpler.
That wasn’t the only difference, of course, in the Redblacks gear introduced as part of the adidas-designed-and-produced CFL jerseys that replaced earlier versions from Reebok. The away jersey, in white, now reads “Ottawa” rather than “Redblacks” above the numbers, and the Twitter hashtag #RNation appears on the inside of the collar of both jerseys and the pant legs.
Although Macdonell had heard the complaints about the visibility of Redblacks’ player numbers, his priority was on the fit of the lower portions of the uniforms. The 25-year-old receiver said he found both the white and black pants used in the franchise’s first two seasons to be restrictive, although he gave a figurative thumbs-up to the plaid-striped pants in the club’s alternate or third uniform.
The alternate (jersey) might have been a little looser. But I never really had an issue with the fit of the jerseys.
“The alternate (jersey) might have been a little looser,” Macdonell said after presenting Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson with a new home jersey during a photo op at City Hall. “But I never really had an issue with the fit of the jerseys.
“A jersey can be tight. You want it to be tight, especially as a receiver, because those (defensive backs), they like to grab. You want to have as little as possible for them to grab onto.”
The first opportunity for Redblacks fans to see their heroes in the new duds will come in a preseason game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at TD Place stadium on June 13.
The first regular-season home game will be July 8 against the Calgary Stampeders.
GRAVES IN, PETERSON OUT
In other off-field news Thursday, the Redblacks announced the signing of defensive end Emmanuel Graves and the release of offensive lineman Jesse Peterson. Both are from the United States.
Graves, a 23-year-old standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 235 pounds, recorded 5.5 sacks in his final season with NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines.
Peterson, 25, had been signed as a free agent in early April and attended the Redblacks spring minicamp later that month.
STILL WAITING FOR WORD ON 2017 GREY CUP
Asked for an update on Ottawa’s bid to play host to the 2017 Grey Cup game, Watson selected another sports metaphor and said the ball was in the CFL’s court.
The bid has been submitted and could be on the agenda for an upcoming CFL board of directors meeting in Calgary.
The league usually announces Grey Cup host cities before the start of the previous season, although the selection as host for 2016 was only finalized last September.