Waiting for a new Blue hero

On Wednesday night, Jeffrey Bannon, the guy who literally takes stock of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, was leaving Canad Inns Stadium when he bumped into legendary broadcaster Bob Irving, who had just finishing calling the Bombers' 32-22 exhibition victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

"I asked Bob Irving, 'How did he do?' "

Replied Irving: "He should sell a lot of jerseys."

Of course, the subject was Stefan LeFors, who had just made his Blue Bombers debut, putting up 19 points in one quarter of work.

That night, Bannon, retail manager of the Bombers Store outlets, promptly ordered 100 LeFors No. 17 jerseys, 50 for each store.

By Friday morning, about a dozen of them had been sold for about $180 a pop.

Is that a lot?

"That's a dozen more than I thought," Bannon said. "Wednesday turned a lot of heads."

Funny how that works. One day you're just some dude from Baton Rouge, the next day a guy in Winnipeg is wearing a jersey with your name on it.

Indeed, if you want to get the temperature of a sports franchise, at least in relation to the pulse of the fans, look no further than merchandising. Especially in Bomberville, where this time last year the top-selling jerseys were Tom Canada, Milt Stegall, Charles Roberts and Doug Brown.

No more.

"I lost Tom Canada, who was a favourite of the ladies. So was Ryan Dinwiddie," Bannon reported. "So our female population is looking for a new gentleman, or gentlemen.

"Kevin Glenn, Charles Roberts... all gone. Troy Westwood was very popular as well."

You want symbolism? Fans are buying the same amount of jerseys they always have, except for one difference: They're blank. No names, no numbers.

"People are in a holding pattern," Bannon noted.

"They're still buying jerseys, they're just not putting anyone (name and number) on yet."

"I haven't noticed a difference in sales. But I've noticed that cresting is down. You can't buy names and just hope. Confidence is key."

After all, this is Winnipeg. We have a reputation of being, um, pretty thrifty. So that extra $100 for tricking out a jersey is more than just an emotional investment in a player.

In fact, these days, a lot of Bombers fans are getting personal. With so much flux, many are just putting their own names on their backs. "You can't trade yourself," reasoned Bannon.

But you can trade Roberts and Kelly Malveaux. You can dump Glenn. You can cut Canada and Dinwiddie.

Hence another recent trend is the unprecedented number of fans coming in to have the names taken off their jerseys. Said Bannon: "I've sold more name-bar replacements this year than I've sold in the five years I've been with the club."

Hey, stuff happens. Like when Roberts was dealt to the B.C. Lions last year and Bannon had about 400 No. 1 jerseys in stock. There were about 200 Kevin Glenn No. 5 jerseys hanging around, too, before the quarterback fell out of favour.

Good thing Milt Stegall never goes out of style.

"Milt Stegall will be our No. 1 jersey every year, I think, for as long as I'm alive," Bannon said. "He's our Wayne Gretzky. Our Michael Jordan."

And that's the looming question, isn't it? Who is going to be the Bombers' next big name? If anything, it just goes to prove there's always Bombers fans out there. They just want to identify with something. Somebody. A name, a number.

"Because of the drastic overhaul of the team, people are wanting and willing to wait," Bannon added. "They just need a hero. They want to latch onto a name after (the players) prove themselves.

"That's completely fair. I'm the same way. I'm a Toronto Maple Leafs fan and I haven't put anyone on my jersey since (Mats) Sundin. And I won't until somebody steps up."

So Bannon doesn't mind the material indecision swirling around the Bombers.

"At the end of the day, winning takes care of everything," he said. "I'd rather deal with re-doing jerseys and have a Grey Cup."

Right now, however, the future of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is a blank slate on a fan's back. Nobody's buying No. 1 jerseys anymore. And only time will tell if more (Fred) Reids or (Terrence) Edwardses or (Romby) Bryants will populate the stands in the coming year.

Already, there's a few LeForses out there. And that's after one quarter of one exhibition game.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your sewing machines. Ready or not, a new era is about to unfold.

One jersey at a time.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 20, 2009 D1