Excellent news for the Ottawa Rapids today. The club has been purchased by Zip.ca, an Ottawa based online video service. In their first move as new owners, Rick Anderson and Rob Hall have changed the look of the club. They’ll go with a new more traditional looking logo. They’ll also incorporate their company name, adding a Z to the nickname, now the Rapidz.For the next 24 hours, I expect the bulk of Ottawa’s media and fans to take a brief break from ignoring the franchise in order to mock the timing of a name and logo change. They’ll snicker about it giving the franchise a fly by night appearance. All things considered, I would argue the sale does just the opposite. It means the club will not have to start the season with a weird ownership arrangement, equivalent to Gary Bettman owning and running the Ottawa Senators. That ownership is local is just a bonus.
“But how can they change the name and logo this close to the start of the year? What a joke!”
It would be so awesome if they could just keep on ignoring it. Ha ha ha! The horse is still dead! Whack! Ha ha ha! Whack! Yeah. We get it. It’s so boring to hear people take jabs at something that's already been so horribly pummelled. We all know that minor pro baseball, in every sense, is starting at ground zero in Ottawa.
Let’s see if we can’t get this tiny seed to bud this spring without stomping it.
Besides, I like the new logo better than the old one. How can any right thinking Ottawa fan complain about the removal of blue from an Ottawa franchise colour scheme. It’s unnatural.
As for the tiny nickname alteration, who carez?
The inaugural Ottawa Rapidz season opens at Ottawa Stadium on Thursday, May 22. They'll play a pre-season opener against the Quebec Capitales on May 18. Prior to that, the Rapidz will hold an Open Tryout day on May 8, and Spring Training from May 10 – 20. The Open Tryout and Spring Training are open to baseball fans, with free admission.
