Univ. of North Carolina fans have "flooded" campus shops to "purchase championship T-shirts and celebratory merchandise," according to Raleigh-based WRAL-NBC. One Chapel Hill shop owner yesterday said that their store was "expecting" to sell 10,000 T-shirts. Students and fans "lined up to get a commemorative Daily Tar Heel championship paper at various locations on campus beginning" at 7:00am ET. The "normally free student newspaper is being rationed out, limiting students to one free copy per person" (WRALSPORTSFAN.com, 4/3). In North Carolina, Tamara Scott noted an Academy Sports store in Greenville "opened their doors right at midnight" for UNC fans who "couldn’t wait to get their hands on the first officially championship gear." Many fans said that after last year's "tough loss to Villanova this meant more than just [a] game" (WNCT.com, 4/4).
ZIG ZAG: In Washington, Pia Hallenberg reported a local Dick's Sporting Goods, "anticipating a rush of happy fans" following a Gonzaga win, decorated the store with "balloons." However, boxes of championship T-shirts "never left the storage-area." The Zag Shop on the Gonzaga campus also "had to keep its stash of championship T-shirts packed away." In the Spokane Valley Industrial Park, Zome Design "had a crew ready to turn out a mountain of black championship T-shirts overnight." Zome Design Sales Manager Zane Troester said that the licensed apparel producer "planned" to have 5,000 to 7,000 shirts done by 6:00am PT yesterday. If Gonzaga had won, Troester "anticipated producing close to 30,000 pieces of apparel." Troester: "Now we are changing plans. We will come up with a very cool T-shirt to commemorate the entire season instead." Hallenberg notes merchandise "produced in advance won’t necessarily go to waste." Dick’s, for example, "has plans to ship all of the shirts to an organization that donates them for relief efforts overseas" (Spokane SPOKESMAN-REVIEW, 4/5).
HEISMAN TAKEDOWN: CBSSPORTS.com's Kyle Boone noted Johnny Manziel "didn’t let the opportunity to take a shot at the NCAA fall by the wayside." After UNC won the title, ESPN’s Jay Bilas "shared a screenshot of an email by the NCAA that not only congratulated the Tar Heels, but also offered up official merchandise at the NCAA championship store." Manziel "responded to it on Twitter by retweeting it and calling it 'the worst'" (CBSSPORTS.com, 4/4).
