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You knew, of course, that the capital has a professional football team again. And you’ve heard that the Ottawa Redblacks, in just their second year, will meet the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Final on Sunday and could then go on to the Canadian Football League championship to compete for the Grey Cup.
But until lately, you admit, you haven’t been following the Redblacks that closely. Hey, they’re still pretty new. Plus life today offers plenty of distractions, unlike in the Rough Riders era when the only competition for a Sunday game was a late-running church service and the occasional open gas station.
But the beauty of spectating is that it’s never too late to get behind a momentum-building sports team. And to help you reach Redblacks speed, we’ve fired up a vehicle that last saw service during the Ottawa Senators’ dreamlike late-season run last spring (sadly dashed by the Montreal Canadiens).
So hop on to the Bandwagon, where there’s always room for one more.
Cool, and maybe snowy
Sunday’s forecast is for 20 C and clear conditions — so you’re sure to have a comfortable view of the 1 p.m. final on your television. Oh, you’re going to the game? That will be a bit chillier — Environment Canada’s predicts a high of just 0 C under a mix of sun and cloud. The average high for Nov. 22 is 3 degrees.
And that’s the best scenario. Meteorologist Peter Kimball says weather systems developing over the U.S. are likely to bring a revised forecast that might include snow. “It’s too early to be definitive,” he adds, “but we could actually see some of the white stuff” on Sunday.
Of course, being Canada in November, it could always be worse. In 2007, more than 14 centimetres of snow fell on Nov. 22, and in 1990 it was 13.4 millimetres of rain. Back in 1964, meantime, the temperature that day never climbed above -6.7 C.
Kimball suggests we’ve gotten off lucky so far in a month that on average in Ottawa sees 20 centimetres of snow. “We’ve been spoiled for sure,” says the meteorologist, whose advice for fans Sunday is to — you guessed it — “bundle up.”
Standing room only
All 24,000 or so TD Place seats (reduced from 30,900 in its Frank Clair Stadium days) were snapped up by last week, but there could still be a way to see Sunday’s game in person. On Tuesday, the Redblacks announced that 500 standing-room tickets ($31, all in) will become available at 10 a.m. Wednesday for fans who have put their names on a waiting list at www.ottawaredblacks.com.
Another option, of course, is scalper tickets. One Internet resale site on Tuesday was showing dozens of available seats, ranging from $38.74 singles in an upper corner to as many as eight adjoining seats just a few rows up from the field for $510 each.
Bring kids, bring skates, don’t bring cameras
With an eye to building long-term loyalty, OSEG Sports, parent of both the Redblacks and the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team, has already reached out to young people with measures such as free tickets to 67’s games for minor hockey players. Now it’s opening Redblacks practice to the public on Friday, a professional activities day for many Ottawa teachers and thus a day off for their students.
The practice runs from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by some pep rally-style cheers and an address by a Redblacks player to be named at a later date. Also Friday, the next-door TD Place Arena will be open for a free public skate from 10 a.m. to noon.
The events, notes OSEG Sports president Jeff Hunt, are “well timed for families looking for something to do with their kids.”
Two stipulations. Helmets are mandatory for skaters 17 and younger (and “strongly encouraged” for all), and filming of any portion of the practice is forbidden by the Canadian Football League.
Bluffer’s guide, Part 1
New fans, repeat after us. Redblacks. Redblacks. Redblacks.
DON’T say Rough Riders, even if it’s an easy slip to made. That was, after all, the name of Ottawa’s previous team for most of its 120-year existence (and is still the moniker, in single-word form, for those Saskatchewan pretenders to the RR title). But the real Rough Riders — two words — died when the team folded in 1996.
And then there were the Renegades — remember them? — 2002 to 2006? No, we don’t remember them much, either.
The Redblacks, though, have already made an impression.
We welcome your Bandwagon comments and suggestions. Write to bandwagon@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
But until lately, you admit, you haven’t been following the Redblacks that closely. Hey, they’re still pretty new. Plus life today offers plenty of distractions, unlike in the Rough Riders era when the only competition for a Sunday game was a late-running church service and the occasional open gas station.
But the beauty of spectating is that it’s never too late to get behind a momentum-building sports team. And to help you reach Redblacks speed, we’ve fired up a vehicle that last saw service during the Ottawa Senators’ dreamlike late-season run last spring (sadly dashed by the Montreal Canadiens).
So hop on to the Bandwagon, where there’s always room for one more.
Cool, and maybe snowy
Sunday’s forecast is for 20 C and clear conditions — so you’re sure to have a comfortable view of the 1 p.m. final on your television. Oh, you’re going to the game? That will be a bit chillier — Environment Canada’s predicts a high of just 0 C under a mix of sun and cloud. The average high for Nov. 22 is 3 degrees.
And that’s the best scenario. Meteorologist Peter Kimball says weather systems developing over the U.S. are likely to bring a revised forecast that might include snow. “It’s too early to be definitive,” he adds, “but we could actually see some of the white stuff” on Sunday.
Of course, being Canada in November, it could always be worse. In 2007, more than 14 centimetres of snow fell on Nov. 22, and in 1990 it was 13.4 millimetres of rain. Back in 1964, meantime, the temperature that day never climbed above -6.7 C.
Kimball suggests we’ve gotten off lucky so far in a month that on average in Ottawa sees 20 centimetres of snow. “We’ve been spoiled for sure,” says the meteorologist, whose advice for fans Sunday is to — you guessed it — “bundle up.”
Standing room only
All 24,000 or so TD Place seats (reduced from 30,900 in its Frank Clair Stadium days) were snapped up by last week, but there could still be a way to see Sunday’s game in person. On Tuesday, the Redblacks announced that 500 standing-room tickets ($31, all in) will become available at 10 a.m. Wednesday for fans who have put their names on a waiting list at www.ottawaredblacks.com.
Another option, of course, is scalper tickets. One Internet resale site on Tuesday was showing dozens of available seats, ranging from $38.74 singles in an upper corner to as many as eight adjoining seats just a few rows up from the field for $510 each.
Bring kids, bring skates, don’t bring cameras
With an eye to building long-term loyalty, OSEG Sports, parent of both the Redblacks and the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team, has already reached out to young people with measures such as free tickets to 67’s games for minor hockey players. Now it’s opening Redblacks practice to the public on Friday, a professional activities day for many Ottawa teachers and thus a day off for their students.
The practice runs from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., followed by some pep rally-style cheers and an address by a Redblacks player to be named at a later date. Also Friday, the next-door TD Place Arena will be open for a free public skate from 10 a.m. to noon.
The events, notes OSEG Sports president Jeff Hunt, are “well timed for families looking for something to do with their kids.”
Two stipulations. Helmets are mandatory for skaters 17 and younger (and “strongly encouraged” for all), and filming of any portion of the practice is forbidden by the Canadian Football League.
Bluffer’s guide, Part 1
New fans, repeat after us. Redblacks. Redblacks. Redblacks.
DON’T say Rough Riders, even if it’s an easy slip to made. That was, after all, the name of Ottawa’s previous team for most of its 120-year existence (and is still the moniker, in single-word form, for those Saskatchewan pretenders to the RR title). But the real Rough Riders — two words — died when the team folded in 1996.
And then there were the Renegades — remember them? — 2002 to 2006? No, we don’t remember them much, either.
The Redblacks, though, have already made an impression.
We welcome your Bandwagon comments and suggestions. Write to bandwagon@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
