Wear your red-and-black plaid with pride
Red-and-black checks, in our book, are high style at any time — but especially now, with the Ottawa Redblacks heading to the Eastern Final of the Canadian Football League and then — fingers crossed — on to the Grey Cup.
So break out your flannel lumberjack shirts or fuzzy checkered slippers to celebrate the team’s surprising second-season 12-6 record and urge them on to further victories. Providing, of course, that said items are the appropriate rouge-et-noir.
Or, should you wish to be more formal, you can opt for official Redblacks gear, which comes in numerous hues and patterns and has the added benefit of bearing the sawtoothed Big R logo.
(The logo shows more teeth than Smilin’ Hank Burris!).
According to Sarah Howse, an assistant manager with Sports Experts, many are going this route.
“Last year a lot of people were very skeptical, with our history of football teams in Ottawa,” Howse reports. “This year we’re definitely selling a lot more stuff. It’s got a lot more interest in the city with how well they’ve been playing. They’ve made heads turn.”
Adrian Sciarra of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, owner of the Redblacks, admits the team might have sacrificed some revenue when it chose its colours and even introduced a third uniform in the quintessential twocolour Canadian motif (originally topped off with a plaid helmet that had to be abandoned due to a problem getting the decals to adhere).
He’s not, however, overly concerned.
“We’d always prefer and love it if our fans wore official Redblacks merchandise and gear,” says the OSEG vice-president. “But I’m just as happy if everyone comes into the stadium in either our gear or something else that’s red and black. It still shows support for the team. It’s still our colours.”
Plus, “it looks fantastic on the stadium and on TV.”
What’s hot in Redblacks apparel? Right now, anything warm. “T-shirts are always a good go, but with the colder weather, the sweatshirts, the tuques, that’s what’s selling,” Howse says.
OSEG offers Redblacks gear (plus Ottawa Fury and Ottawa 67’s items) at a temporary store at TD Place, and plans to open a permanent outlet. Football merchandise ranges from a $2.99 sticker set to a $189, custom-fitted “jersey dress.” Game-style jerseys are the biggest sellers.
“Our home jersey, the black jersey, is the most popular of our three jerseys,” says Adrian Sciarra. “And Henry Burris, the Burris jersey is the most popular even of those.”
You might not want to wait until Grey Cup week to find a Redblacks jersey, though. The CFL’s upcoming switch to Adidas as uniform provider — after a long contract with Reebok — is affecting supplies.
“We’re getting low in stock,” says Howse, of Sports Experts’ St. Laurent location, “and with the jersey change next year, we won’t be getting more right now.”
BURRIS ON FORECAST: ‘SNOW WHAT?’
As promised, Environment Canada has revised its Sunday forecast, and as threatened, it’s now predicting a 60-per-cent chance of snow or maybe rain. Quarterback Burris, however, isn’t worried. He’s excited.
“What are the Canadian playoffs — playoffs in general — without some snow?” he asked reporters after Wednesday’s practice on a chilly, though still snowless, TD Place field.
BLUFFER’S GUIDE, PART 2
To prove you’re no pigskin poseur, mention these significant dates:
1976, the last year Ottawa (as the
■ Rough Riders) won the Grey Cup;
1983, the last year Ottawa was
■ host to a CFL playoff game (also the year Fraggle Rock debuted);
1994, the last year Ottawa qualified
■ for the playoffs. We met the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and lost.
Or just say, “It’s been a lonnnnng time.”
This year we’re definitely selling a lot more stuff. It’s got a lot more interest in the city with how well they’ve been playing.