CALGARY – One of the first things Blue Bombers fan Chris Matthew will need to do after he finishes celebrating Winnipeg’s Grey Cup win is shop for trousers.

Matthew promised his friends in November 2001 that he would keep wearing shorts until the Bombers won a Canadian Football League championship.

It didn’t happen that year — they lost to Calgary — so he’s been braving Manitoba’s chill winters with half his legs uncovered for the last 18 years.

That all changed on Sunday when Winnipeg beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12.

Matthew was in Calgary to cheer on his team and pulled on an old pair of grey camo sweat pants over his shorts after the win.

Fashion critics didn’t take long to comment about his less-than-stylish wardrobe after a video popped up on social media, but Matthew says the sweats were the only pants he had that still fit.

“I’ll probably have to buy a new pair of jeans or two,” Matthew told CTV News on Monday.

He said his wife is happy he’s going to be wearing long pants again.

“Now if we need to go somewhere that pants are required, we can actually go there,” he said. (CTV Winnipeg, The Canadian Press)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2019.