Nextag.com rounded up some figures and shared them with members of the media throughout the web. Here are some of the facts and figures I found interesting:

• In terms of Patriots’ gear, “Tom Brady continues to be the most sought-after jersey with 8 of the top 10 selling items, followed by Wes Welker.”

• Women’s merchandise account for seven of the top ten most popular Patriots’ items sold online. The most popular item is the “Reebok New England Patriots Tom Brady Premier Team Color Jersey,” with a women’s pink jersey, the “Reebok New England Patriots Tom Brady Women’s Pink Fem Fan Jersey” coming in a close second.

• Despite the usual outcry towards pink and sparkly sports wear for women, two of the top ten Patriots items on Nextag.com are pink female jerseys. Another two have rhinestone embellishment and are in fabric and prints exclusive to women’s styles.

Big thanks to Nextag.com for sharing this data with sportswear geek me. What will I be wearing to the Super Bowl Party I’m working Sunday? Not anything Brady, but not anything Manning either. I’ll be wearing a very special outfit that will represent the two teams that would have made the Big Game…if the AFC and NFC determined their representatives based solely on the first four weeks of the season. I promise to post a photo sometime Sunday on my Twitter feed.

“Bruins Beach Wear.”

I’m not going to complain about the fact that there is a Bruins bikini. I don’t really have a problem with that – if it sells (and after this Stanley Cup season, I bet you it does), then go ahead and sell it.

But…it’s September 23rd. If I’m visiting the Boston Bruins website, odds are it’s not beach weather. In fact, if it’s NHL preseason time in Boston, the odds are that you will not be wearing any beach gear for a good six months (unless you’re going on a warm weather vacation, but in this economy, how many people are? I know I’m not.) The NHL Shop is advertising beach wear at the same time Starbucks has broken out the Pumpkin Spice Latte and I’ve already bought a bag of candy corn.

And yes, I do realize that that ad is most likely placed by analytics and is part of a rotation, and they probably haven’t switched out their summer rotation for their fall rotation of square sidebar ads. I forgive them, I really do. But the irony had to be pointed out.

Truth be told, I don’t mind the delayed start. I was able to approach the draft and subsequent roster moves with the feeling of being over-prepared for a test. On the plus side, I could see who had potential beyond their draft ranking. I could see what teams’ defense are weak and will allow for offensive players to rack up the points on them.

But, much like being over-prepared for a test, I went into drafts and lineups over-confident on picking upon Week 1 performances that may not end up indicating a darn thing. I picked up Buffalo Bills’ tight end Scott Chandler as my backup TE after his stellar performance against the Kansas City Chiefs, but he’s somewhat of an unknown quantity. Will that pick turn out to be a good one, or was I too motivated upon a performance that may be an anomaly?

The other plus to a late starting fantasy football league? A second chance. I started 0-1 in my other league, which is not quite the end of the world. But when you’re playing only 12 of those 16 weeks of the regular season, it can seem like it. Starting off another team in another league renews your enthusiasm.

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I hope the Buffalo Bills defeat the Oakland Raiders this afternoon for a very selfish reason. My high school’s colors were black and silver, and our uniforms always looked especially Raider like. The Raiders were the second biggest NFL team among the kids in my neighborhood on Rochester’s East side, where I grew up, so my classmates and neighbors coveted Raiders memorabilia. 

One fall, my parents’ dryer was broken and they couldn’t afford to replace it right away. All of our clothes were hung on the clothes line in the side yard – including my sister’s modified soccer jersey, a black and silver long sleeve with a giant silver number on the back. The jersey had been on the line all of four minutes when we saw a flash of a boy run through the side yard, grab the jersey and run. He thought he had snagged a Raiders jersey, but he would soon find out he had grabbed a girls modified soccer jersey.

So in a bit of revenge for all of the School of the Arts jerseys mistaken for Raiders jerseys and stolen over the years, I hope the Bills beat the Raiders.

Every time I visit my hometown, I am on the hunt for Buffalo Bills merchandise that I wouldn’t be able to find online or even in the most overarching of Massachusetts sports stores. I found the perfect item on the last day of my vacation at In The Zone, a sports collectable store in the Mall at Greece Ridge in Rochester, NY.

Yes, that is a Buffalo Bills purse.

It’s actually one of the most practical purses I’ve ever bought. It is made from heavy duty fabric, has several pockets, and is roomy enough for me to use on the commute to and from work. It also has studs on the bottom corners to prevent the bag from getting ruined.

Not a Bills fan, or not in Rochester? Don’t worry. The purse is created by Charm 14 New York, and they have an entire line of classy and practical sports handbags available online. Look at this one for the Boston Red Sox fans among us:

And this one, which immediately made me think of my friend Sara:

Charm 14′s sport handbags are between $17.95 for a wrislet and $35.95 for the tote (though I did get my tote for less at In The Zone – pricing in stores seem to vary.) They also have wholesale packs for sale, perfect for if I ever open the SportsGirlKat gift shoppe. (And if you want to give me some kind of funding or location towards the SportsGirlKat gift shoppe, you know how to contact me.)

The Gladiators' Margaritaville Jersey (via the team's Facebook page)

This yellow, teal and brown/burgundy on pink ice is going to be a tad on the color blind side. It’s for a good cause, so we will put this unfortunate color match-up aside. Also, is this the first ever pro hockey jersey to include a parrot?

From the Gwinnett Gladiators website:

“Wasting away again in Margaritaville or do you just wish that you were? Don’t miss this Gladiators special weekend as the team helps raise money and awareness for cancer research and local children’s charities. This year’s theme is Parrot Head inspired as we plan to dip our toes in the sands of good hockey and good fun during the 4th Annual Pink in the Rink Weekend at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.”

It floored me the first time I heard about it. Only in Boston would churches decide not to have Sunday service in deference to…well, a religious celebration that has turned very un-religious.

That tale told, it should not be surprising that the Boston Bruins have a large collection of St. Patrick’s Day related wear.  Both the NHL Shop (with 28 items) and Faceoff Fanatics (with 13 items) have been advertising their St. Patrick’s Day Bruins wares in a hope that some of their gear will make it down to South Broadway for the parade – and it’s more than just shirts.

Faceoff Fanatics' Boston Bruins PJ pants for St. Patrick's Day

Faceoff Fanatics are now featuring pajama pants with Irish style and Bruins love. Perfect for that parade morning brunch on your overpriced Southie apartment’s porch – if the weather allows for it.

Old Time Hockey's Colleen St. Patrick's Day Bruins shirt (shop.nhl.com)

In one of my favorite St. Patrick’s Day offerings so far, NHL Shop offers the Old Time Hockey V-Neck women’s “Colleen” shirt. Trying to marry a traditional Irish design with a more identifiable shamrock and a nice, not corny, script font, this shirt seems more flattering than most women’s offerings of late. (It is also available for other teams.)

Given that this series is devoted to my mom, one of the most devoted Buffalo Bills fans I know, I figured I would begin with a look at the Bills’ St. Patrick’s Day offerings, first advertised Thursday via email.

The men's "Celtic Buffalo" shirt for 2011. Available for $25.

Perfect for spending March 17th sipping a Labatt Blue or Genny Cream Ale and enjoying a beef on weck, this hunter green shirt hits you over the head with shamrocks. It’s pretty clear cut – you’re a Bills fan and you’re Irish, or at least want to be. This shirt is just eh. I think it could sell, especially among die-hards, and it’s not horrible looking. But unlike most Bills wear, it’s not tugging at my heart strings, making me want to buy it before the team no longer exists.

The Bills' "Clover Frenzy" Women's St. Patrick's Day shirt. Available for $25.

While the men’s St. Patrick’s Day edition Bills shirt was mildly okay, the women’s edition is just plain horrendous. Entited ‘Clover Frenzy,” it took me way too long to realize the Bills type was to outline a clover.  Instead, I initially thought the following things:

1) The Ls looked to mimic two breasts.

2) The Ls looked like Buffalo drumstick wings gone bad, hense their green tinge.

3) The Ls looked like a heart, making this a Valentine’s Day shirt design they just repurposed.

If a woman has any semblance of a chest, then the Bills type is just going to look misshapen, and you will not be able to discern anything about the clover it is to outline. And if anyone attempts to figure out what it is supposed to resemble, the wearer is going to think they are staring at their chest. And depending on your thoughts on that matter, that may not be a desirable thing.

Alas, this shirt is just awful, and I bet even my St. Patrick’s Day and Buffalo Bills loving mother will not be persuaded to wear this one.

Both shirts are available at The Bills Store online. I wasn’t paid or sponsored for this post in anyway. If you have a St. Patrick’s Day sports shirt you want me to promote, send me an email and we’ll chat.

twoeightnine's "Franchise Quarterbacks - Buffalo Bills" shirt. (Photo: TwoEIghtNine)

Featured several times on Yahoo Sports’ Puck Daddy (the pantheon of hockey blogs, if you will), twoeightnine Design’s t-shirts have become a hot commodity for hockey fans all over. With shirts featuring those always present allegations of diving towards Sidney Crosby, and an Shepard Fairey-esque salute to the single man who turned around Washington (hockey, that is), the online shirt shop struck a chord with fans that wanted witty and intelligent fan t-shirts.

Of course, once I found out Matt Johnson, the founder of twoeightnine, was running his business out of Western New York, and that he features the following “Franchise Quarterbacks – Buffalo Bills” shirt in his store, I had to feature him on the blog. Besides talking t-shirts, I of course had to ask Matt’s thoughts on the always depressing state of the Buffalo Bills.

Kat: How long have you been designing shirts? How did you get start up twoeightnine?

Matt: I think I’m at 2.5 years now? Maybe three? The last few years have been a strange trip for me and I really have no sense of time anymore. I got my start designing a t-shirt for Deadspin. It was back when the site was still “underground” but starting to make a name for itself. There was a small loyal group of commenters who joked about the start of a revolution. I took a sketch I did of Will Leitch as Che Guevera down to my neighbor in Philly who was a screen printer and twoeightnine was born.

Kat: Your designs run the gamut of sports, teams, and regions. Do you come up with all of the design ideas, or are some ideas submitted by fans of that particular sports or team?

Matt: They’re all mine. I tend to gravitate towards the Sabres and Bills because those are my teams and I prefer to work on ideas that I’ll enjoy working on. I’m in the process of expanding from that while killing some older designs at the same time. Right now I know I have limited periods where I do most of my sales. Mainly NFL training camp and Christmas. Plus most of my sales come from the Upstate NY region. It’s something that I want to break away from.

I’m always open to anyone’s ideas but the fact of the matter is that 99% of the time they suck. It’s a very inside joke or something that has no staying power past a week or two. As much as I love designing shirts at the end of the day I have to sell them too in order to make it worth my time. Something that only sells a handful of shirts isn’t going to do that.

Kat: What has been your best selling design?

Matt: The Beast Mode shirt for Marshawn Lynch, hands down. It’s not even close. Even with the suspension and the down year people were still buying it. Unfortunately I still haven’t sold enough to make a dent in those “lovely” I ♥ Buffalo sports shirt. If you’re a guy and you wear one of those please check your balls at the door.

Kat: As a Bills fan, I thought the Bills Franchise Quarterbacks design was depressing…until I saw the new Browns Franchise Quarterbacks one. Then I felt just a twinge better. Personally, which franchise do you think has a better chance of escaping their QB woes sooner?

Matt: Can I vote for neither? I guess if I had to choose I’d pick the Browns. I trust Holmgren and Co. more than I trust Ralphy and his crew. I’m not sure what happened this season in particular as opposed to the last ten but the switch finally flipped for me. My diet is now koolaid free. I need results before I get any sense of hope up. Unfortunately those results this year look like they’ll be even more losses.

twoeightnine's "Beast Mode" homage to Marshawn Lynch

Kat: Marshawn Lynch (subject of your Beast Mode shirt): lost cause or a risk to continue taking by the Bills organization?

Matt: The second one, by far. I don’t understand the “cut or trade him now before he screws up again people” at all. Nothing he’d bring back in a trade is worth it; he’s still a talent on a team seriously lacking it. And frankly anyone who says cut him is an idiot. I’m not sure what the real risk is. If you cut him now you don’t have him, if he gets suspended you don’t have him. But if he doesn’t get suspended you have a pretty good one two punch with Jackson and Lynch. It’s not like if he gets his third strike the Bills are going to have to forfeit the rest of the season or people are going to think that they’re a poorly run franchise that only has a future in Toronto and is one of the laughingstocks of the league.

twoeightnine’s shirts are available for sale on their website, and Matt is also active on Twitter.

University of Minnesota-Duluth features sophomore forward Jack Connolly, the little brother (despite being the same class year) of Boston University sophomore forward Chris Connolly. Chris is a sturdy little forward for the Terriers, currently second in the team in scoring with 10 goals and 21 assists, despite being thrown in seventy-five different line combinations this season. Jack is a powerhouse for the Bulldogs, leading the team in scoring with 18 goals and 31 assists. Jack is 7th in the nation in scoring, and his impact on the Bulldogs has been immense.

The Connolly’s have caused many BU fans to become slight UMD fans (although still many more pledge their WCHA allegiance to North Dakota), and many UMD fans to become slight BU fans (although many WCHA fans find East Coast college hockey grossly inferior). But what sealed the deal on my slight UMD fandom was the following shirt:

The one. The only. UMD Hjelle T-shirt.

The Bulldogs have a sophomore goaltender named Brady Hjelle, who played lights out last year, and found himself in a goalie rotation with junior Kenny Reiter this season. Reiter started last weekend’s quarterfinals against Colorado College, and will most likely start tonight’s game against North Dakota. Hjelle’s play last season – leading them from a seventh seed in the WCHA playoffs to the NCAA Regionals – spurred on this fan shirt, sold on the UMD fan blog Running With the Dogs.

For those of you not familiar with the reference, the shirt is based off the popular 2008 YouTube sensation, “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time.”

What can I say – I’m a sucker for a funny and punny fan shirt, and the Peanut Butter Hjelle shirt is one of my faves this year. Between this and Jack Connolly’s dominance, I have to root for UMD tonight over North Dakota.

NHL: St. Louis Blues

Last night, the St. Louis Blues mixed their St. Patrick’s Day commemoration with environmental awareness, and gave away a “Green Game” t-shirt to all fans in attendance (quite a risky claim to advertise – from personal experience, you should always give an exact number of giveaways, a la “first 5,000 fans”). The shirt giveaway was sponsored by Monsanto, a Cambridge, MA based agricultural innovation company with an emphasis on sustainable practices. This was the second year for the Blues promotion.

Shirt Grade: B I like the muted, antiquey kelly green shirt and faded style of the print. It also helps that the Blues’ team colors happen not to horribly clash with green. Kudos for using that to their advantage and not changing the logo’s colors for the holiday’s sake. Environmental awareness initiatives during games are the new “it” thing to do in sports marketing – trust me, I participate in one – but the giveaway needs to be backed up with sustained, but subtle, green initiatives, otherwise it is just a t-shirt giveaway.

AHL: Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins

The Baby Pens (speaking of, we are long overdue for an edition of The Everyone’s Favorite Goalie Watch, but that’ll be another post) are selling two St. Patrick’s Day long sleeve shirts in their online store. The 2009 edition ($20) features their mascot, Tux, skating with a four leaf clover in the background on the front. The back reads “Happy St. Patrick’s Day.” The 2010 version ($22) features the logo in what appears to be a very dark green (nearly black), with a four leaf clover on the sleeve. Long sleeve shirts are always key in that part of Pennsylvania, where the damp gray chilly days seem to out number any other weather.

Grade: C The effort is there, but the execution is not. The 2009 version is too campy, and the 2010 version shows promise, but the green seems too dark. Kudos, however, for the 2010 edition’s four leaf clover on the sleeve.

ECHL: Gwinnett Gladiators

The ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators teamed with Old Time Hockey, the same Salisbury, MA based company who partnered to create some of the NHL’s 2010 St. Patrick’s Day gear, to create a green t-shirt to sell this March. The shirt ($20 with free shipping through today) features a rather disturbed and surly looking leprechaun brandishing a hockey stick, with a small Gladiators logo by his right foot. The all-caps font is rather 1950s style, and arches above Surly Leprechaun’s head.

Grade: A This is the first ever St. Patrick’s Day shirt I would ever consider purchasing, and not just because I’m in the market for a shirt from the team where two of my most favorite former BU hockey alums play. What sold me was the 1950s fonts – I’m a sucker for fonts. Plus, I feel like Surly Leprechaun is going to hurt me with that hockey stick if I don’t like the shirt.

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