We called nearly every major sporting goods store in Boston asking for Tebow gear. This is what we got
By Ross Jones and Sid Saraf, FOXSports.com OK, jersey honks: We know what you want. Once the news broke, you couldn’t WAIT to get your hands on a brand new Tim Tebow Patriots jersey, right? What should you get? The home blue? The road white? Maybe the throwback red or white? Maybe you’ll splurge and get all four. Hoo boy, wouldn’t that be a treat! Well, guess what? You’re gonna have to wait longer. Because Laces Out has done an exhaustive and extensive search of all the major sporting goods store in the greater Boston area. The closest thing you’ll find to an actual Tebow jersey is in Brockton, Mass. at the local Olympia Sports where an associate said they’ll be getting a ‘good-sized shipment’ in the near future. For the other stores in the immediate Boston area? NOTHING. Not a single Tebow jersey to be had or a Tebow promo plan. By the way, we went the extra step and called a few corporate offices and are still waiting for a response. Don’t believe us? Don’t worry, we’ll show our work. Observe:Store: Sports Authority Location: Danvers, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate comments: “I’ve only been here for a couple days. I don’t even know if we do [promotions] like that.” Store: Sports Authority Location: Somerville, Mass. Hold time: 2:45 Associate comments: “We don’t have any Tim Tebow merchandise. It’s too early. Let me direct you to corporate” Store: Sports Authority Location: Braintree, Mass. Hold time: 1:22 Associate comments: “Our district manager says we’re getting nothing.” Store: Sports Authority Location: Milford, Mass. Hold time: 2:02 Associate comments: “We don’t have any Tim Tebow gear. I don’t know if we’ll be getting any, either.” Store: Champs Sports Location: Boston, Mass. Hold time: 3:02 Associate comments: “What do you want to know about it? Are you a fan? We don’t have anything right now. I’m sure we’ll be getting something in the future.” Store: Champs Sports Location: Cambridge, Mass. Hold time: :53 Associate comments: “We’re not getting anything anytime soon. Everybody’s actually pretty disappointed he’s even on the team because they don’t think he’ll do well. Maybe we’ll get 12-24 t-shirts, at best.” Store: Champs Sports Location: Saugus, Mass. Hold time: :44 Associate comments: “I don’t think we will get anything. I really don’t know. Actually, I’m kinda busy right now. I don’t have time to answer these questions.” Store: Champs Sports Location: Braintree, Mass. Hold time: 1:22 Associate comments: “We’re not allowed to answer any questions. You need to contact Foot Locker Inc.” Store: Champs Sports Location: Burlington, Mass. Hold time: :22 Associate comments: “It’s hard to say. We had a conference call about it today. We talked about doing a survey and then we would get back to our district manager if we need ‘em, we’ll get ‘em. No customer has come in today and asked about it, honestly.” Store: Champs Sports Location: Natick, Mass. Hold time: :07 Associate comments: “No we don’t have anything. I think my [district manager] said we would take a vote next week. I had a couple of people call about the [Tebow jerseys], though.” Store: Olympia Sports Location: Foxborough, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate Comments: “We don’t have any right now, we might get some in July.” Store: Olympia Sports Location: East Walpole, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate Comments: “I doubt we have anything. We mainly carry stuff for local teams, not Jets players.” (The associate didn’t know about the Tebow signing yet. We didn’t tell them, either.) Store: Olympia Sports Location: Canton, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate Comments: “We don’t have anything. Call corporate. It doesn’t matter what I think. Nobody has asked about it” Store: Olympia Sports Location: Brockton, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate Comments: “I’m sure we’ll be getting a good-sized shipment. Two or three people have already asked about it.” Store: Olympia Sports Location: North Attleboro, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate Comments: “We don’t have any yet. It’s a little soon, wouldn’t you say? Corporate is probably looking into it. Store: Olympia Sports Location: Bridgewater, Mass. Hold time: :45 Associate Comments: “Ya know, honestly, I don’t know if we’re gonna get anything. It comes down to the corporate office making the decision. Then, they talk to the Patriots’ distributor and then we’ll have them shipped.” Store: Olympia Sports Location: Milford, Mass. Hold time: :03Associate Comments: “Nope. We’ll probably wait until he makes the team. He only has a two-year contract and his money isn’t guaranteed. Nobody has asked for anything yet.” Store: Olympia Sports Location: Braintree, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate comments: “No, we don’t have anything. Honestly, you have to ask corporate. We have received a couple of calls, but nothing serious. It just happened.” Store: Dick’s Sporting Goods Location: Natick, Mass. Hold time: 1:05 Associate Comments: “I haven’t heard a single thing, although I think it would do pretty well here.” Store: City Sports Location: Boston, Mass. Commonwealth Ave. Hold time: :38 Associate comments: “I’m sorry? Um, I don’t know. You should ask some of our buyers. Here’s their number.” Store: City Sports Location: Boston, Mass. Boylston St. Hold time: 0:00 Associate comments: “We don’t have anything. As of now, I haven’t heard anything and we don’t have anything planned.” Store: City Sports Location: Cambridge, Mass. Brattle St. Hold time: 1:02 Associate comments: “That is a very good question. That’s usually up to our corporate buyers. If I had to guess I’d say they’d be in stores in the Fall. They would probably blast them on Facebook.” Store: City Sports Location: Cambridge, Mass. Massachusetts Ave. Hold time: 0:00 Associate comments: “That’s a good question. I was actually out the whole weekend while he was getting signed by the Patriots, it’s my first day back, so I wouldn’t know if any customers have been asking about Tebow merchandise. Sorry about that. Have a good night.” Store: City Sports Location: Chestnut Hill, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate comments: "Actually I can't talk right now. We just had a power surge and I'm dealing with that. I can't talk. OK?" Store: City Sports Location: Dedham, Mass. Hold time: 0:00 Associate comments: “We don’t have any and we probably won’t have any. I don’t know who makes those decisions. We don’t have any product with his name involved.” Observations: We did run into some roadblocks during our quest. When it came to the Sports Authority, the store managers at the Woburn and Watertown locations weren’t available to talk. The Framingham manager just gave us the number to the corporate office and the Marlborough store never even picked up the phone. (Attention Sports Authority CEO: Please don’t fire anyone, I’m sure they were just busy.) Olympia Sports was a joy to deal with, but they just didn’t have anything to sell. And the Franklin store must have been swamped because we were greeted with several busy signals. The Dick’s Sports Goods corporate training program must be saluted, because every store manager (Saugus, Dedham, Danvers, Brockton and Hanover) except for one refused comment and referred us to their corporate office. City Sports in Wellesley and on Bromfield St. never answered their phones. By the way, you can also order a Tebow jersey directly from the NFL. But where's the fun in waiting a couple days for something to arrive in the mail? Questions? Comments? Send them to lacesoutmail@gmail.com and we might respond in our weekly mailbag!
