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Tressel’s resignation is a T-shirt bonanza
Photo
- Tressel's Resignation
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- Photo gallery: Jim Tressel at YSU
- Scandal may hurt OSU’s recruiting
- Maurice Clarett speaks
- Valley VIPs come to Tressel’s defense
- Pryor ends his silence with 97-second apology
- Luke Fickell takes over as Ohio State interim head coach
- Tressel skips rules meeting
- Pryor hires agent, prepares for draft
- Expert: Ohio State scandal in ‘leaky faucet phase’
By Karl Henkel
Since Jim Tressel’s Monday resignation, sales of Ohio State memorabilia have shot through the roof.
Not the typical scarlet- and-gray fan gear; instead, shirts that take playful jabs at Tressel and the OSU football program.
Tampa, Fla.-based Smack Apparel, an online shirt company in business since 1998, has seen sales double since Tressel’s resignation.
Wayne Curtiss, owner and president, said his company sells between 500 and 1,000 shirts a week but that Smack Apparel sold 500 of its latest creation — which reads “Woody Punched ’Em... Tressel Lied To ’Em... Terrelle Sold ’Em!” — in one day.
The references are to former coach Woody Hayes’ having punched Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman in the 1978 Gator Bowl and current quarterback Terrelle Pryor’s being found to have sold memorabilia in exchange for tattoos and cash.
“It looks like it’s going to be pretty strong,” Curtiss said of the shirt. “This is usually our slow time of the year, but this whole situation at OSU has given us ideas to make great shirts.”
The newest shirt quickly has become a hot seller, but Curtiss doesn’t know if it’ll match the “Tre$$el’s Tattoo & Pawn: Turning a Blind Eye Since 2001” design from two months ago. Smack has sold nearly 4,000 to date, and Curtiss predicts it eventually will become the website’s most popular shirt of all-time.
Atlanta-based Sports Crack, an online apparel company, introduced shirts Tuesday that include the phrase “Vest in Peace.”
In three days, Sports Crack has sold about 1,200 shirts.
“It’s actually been quite incredible,” said Matt Fair-child, CEO of Sports Crack. “I would have thought most of the sales would be to Michigan, but right now our numbers indicate that over 40 percent of shipments are going to Ohio.”
Not all shirts poke fun at the Buckeyes.
On Friday, Smack launched a new shirt that reads, “Coach Tressel, Only One Thing: Thank You.”
Curtiss said there are many who want shirts ridiculing the former OSU and Youngstown State University coach, but there also is a segment that wishes to honor Tressel.
“This situation with Coach Tressel, to me, it was just a minor error in judgment,” he said.