Today's blog is about something close to my heart. I can still kind of remember being 6 years old and going to my first Rough Rider game and the beginning of my love of being a sports fanatic. I am super excited that the CFL is finally coming back to Ottawa in 2014, as Ottawa football has a long history dating back to 1876 under the team name of the Ottawa Football Club, the name Rough Riders came in 1898. Having no team in the Capital of Canada for the Canadian Football League just never made any sense considering Ottawa is Canadas 4th largest market. Now Ottawa has lived through a lot of hardships and disappointing seasons, players, ownership groups, and management groups. The last time an Ottawa CFL franchise enjoyed winning a Grey cup was two years before I was born in 1976 when Gabriel made the catch to clinch the win. After that Ottawa made the headlines for all the wrong reasons and only had two seasons with a. 500 record. If you know of the Glieberman era's then you know of the two most painful times and years that the city of Ottawa went through with their
relationship with the Rough Riders / Renegades. Below I have included logos of the famed Rough Riders "R", the double flaming "R's", the early Ottawa Football Club and the "Renegades" logos.
Ottawa is known as a walk up town and season ticket numbers for any Ottawa sports franchise tell that story. The Ottawa Senators NHL, all Ottawa CFL games, Ottawa 67's OHL, Ottawa Lynx AAA ball, regardless of the sport we are a show us and we will come kind of town. That doesn't mean we are a bad sports city, Sens have seasons ticket base of 10,000 but we sell out SBP, the "Renegades" had a season ticket base of 9,000 but had crowds of 18,000 to 21,000 by game time. That says there was a solid fan base, because that is 21,000 people watching a sub par team playing sub par football. We love the game and invest ourselves in the team and cheer them on at no cost. In the end we were let down twice by the CFL and the Glieberman as they and CFL folded the team twice. The Waters group had started something good but left after the 2004 Grey Cup was played in Ottawa and the only people to step up to buy the franchise were said Glieberman's. Unfortunately Glieberman junior treated the team like one of his ski lodges and had events like the Mardi Gras fiasco with even football players looking to the stands for a peak at boobs for beads. Quite a fall from grace for a once proud franchise. As much as I think that the CFL should have carried the team as they did for Toronto Argo's and the Hamilton Tiger Cats. I also think it was at a dead stop and fans were dwindling by the day. It was just tough to see the Saskatchewan Rough Riders win the Grey Cup the next year with more than a handful of Ottawa Renegade players. For the first time in decades we now have a management group in OSEG that is local, loves CFL football and has deep pockets. Everything we wanted in a ownership group, and the fact that the CFL has changed the expansion draft process so only one player at every position can be protected instead of two. So hopefully we avoid another Dan Crowley experiment, and start thinking that this time it will work. I love the fact that the field and all other facilities are being redone and the area developed as the Bank St area is a shadow of its former self. All of this would have come sooner if it wasn't for the cough cough "friends" of Lansdowne. Moving forward the team is likely but not 100 percent confirmed going to be called the Red-Blacks, Rough Riders was not an option as Saskatchewan Rough Riders will not allow it and we needed a fresh start. So even though I am not a fan of the name in my opinion as we are not a rugby or soccer team, I am a fan of some of the logo's being leaked through the media. Below are some of the leaked logos with my favorite at the bottom. A small portion of Ottawa history is that Ottawa was a log posting. It was directly in the middle of Toronto and Quebec. Colonel By was the one that received permission to start turning it into a town. The town was built on the back of logs and lumber jacks as the "Rough Riders" would ride and guide the logs down the Rideau Canal and now Ottawa River. So looking at the logo's below if one of these will be picked, I am more of a fan of the "Ottawa" theme logo, taking roots into account.
There looks to be some promising forward momentum for the franchise and at least they are taking their time and trying to get it right. As OSEG members know there is one more shot to have a successful franchise for years to come. I am fond of the logo just above because it takes all of the logo's and combines them, the colors, saw blade and the Rough Riders. I think I can live with Red Blacks as the name as long as the logo that represents Ottawa, actually represents Ottawa. After all Red, Black and White have been Ottawa colors since 1896 so I will give the name a chance.
I can't wait to be sitting in the stands watching the game I have watched for years, but with a team to cheer for and to invest in, instead of cheering for other cities and teams that are not ours. I am so pumped for the team coming back I may even high five and South Sider, maybe. Patiently waiting for the time CFL finally returns for good to Ottawa, our city, our capital, our team.
Signed
Rob
Harshcdn
A Fan
"South Side Sucks"
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