{"id":595417,"date":"2026-04-10T19:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/595417\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:32:10","slug":"ottawa-redblacks-add-longtime-beat-reporter-tim-baines-as-in-house-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/595417\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Redblacks add longtime beat reporter Tim Baines as in-house writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto courtesy: Postmedia<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Redblacks have added veteran sportswriter Tim Baines to their content team for the 2026 season. He will contribute articles to the team\u2019s website throughout the year, beginning on Friday.<\/p>\n

Baines worked the Redblacks beat for the Ottawa Sun beginning with the franchise\u2019s inception in 2014, covering everything from their humble beginnings to their Grey Cup title run and the struggles afterwards. While he was officially moved to covering the NHL\u2019s Senators in 2023, his passion always lay with the CFL, and he continued to contribute occasional stories on the topic until his retirement in September 2025.<\/p>\n

The 66-year-old graduated with a degree in journalism from Sheridan College, where he also played on the football team. He spent time with the Whitby Free Press, Orangeville Banner, Timmins Daily Press, Barrie Examiner, and Toronto Sun before moving to Ottawa in 1988.<\/p>\n

Baines has been an active member of the Football Reporters of Canada, while also coaching the sport at an amateur level. Two of his four sons have also been involved in the CFL. Mitchell Baines had stints with Saskatchewan, Hamilton, and Winnipeg as a receiver, catching four passes for 33 yards in three career games. Jarryd Baines began coaching in the league in 2015 and currently serves as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Redblacks were the CFL\u2019s most active team in free agency, adding players like quarterback Jake Maier, running back Greg Bell, offensive lineman Martez Ivey, defensive lineman Habakkuk Baldonado, linebacker A.J. Allen, strong-side linebacker C.J. Reavis, and defensive back Demerio Houston. The team also had a few key departures, including quarterback Dustin Crum (Montreal Alouettes), strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett (Toronto Argonauts), and return specialist DeVonte Dedmon (Montreal Alouettes).<\/p>\n

The Redblacks hold the first overall pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m. EDT. All CFL training camps are scheduled to open on May 10. The team will play its first preseason game against the Montreal Alouettes on Friday, May 22, and its first regular-season game against the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, June 6.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Ottawa finished fourth in the East Division standings with a 4-14 record, missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Ryan Dinwiddie was hired as the team\u2019s head coach and general manager after the firing of Bob Dyce.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Postmedia The Ottawa Redblacks have added veteran sportswriter Tim Baines to their content team for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[173755,166835,166836,226033,49,48,7028,521,522,520,1329,527,2002,20739,70504,82,226034,34809],"class_list":{"0":"post-595417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-rnation","9":"tag-3down","10":"tag-3downnation","11":"tag-beat-reporter","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-canadian","15":"tag-canadian-football-league","16":"tag-canadianfootballleague","17":"tag-cfl","18":"tag-content","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-league","21":"tag-ottawa","22":"tag-redblacks","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-tim-baines","25":"tag-writer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}