Oprah, Joe Biden, Matt Lauer go mad for mittens during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Oprah, Joe Biden, Matt Lauer, Cindy Crawford, Shaun White. They all have them and they all wear them: Fuzzy red-and-white mittens.

OK, that's their prerogative, with quite the demographic crossover in the mix. But who would've guessed that the iconic Canadian maple leaf knitted into a pair of hand warmers would become the "it" accessory of this immediate season?

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Some of this makes sense, if not so much fashion sense then patriotic sense since pride takes over when the Olympics come to town (in this case, Vancouver).

With that in mind, at least one soothsayer was on the mark. The manufacturer in the know -- The Hudson Bay Company -- created this look with just one snag: They simply didn't make enough mittens.

Nearly sold out all over Canada, and particularly in Vancouver, these souvenir accessories are hard to find with the Olympics only half over. For those who just have to have them in time for the closing ceremonies on Sunday, looking into making a quick eBay purchase may be the only answer.

After checking the site just now, I noticed more than 2,000 pairs listed though I can't promise some aren't knock-offs. However, I can promise that unless you get lucky by finding a listing nobody else has noticed, you'll pay about twice the retail price of $9.99 on the auction site for these must-have finger cozies.

The good news: The original sales of the Hudson Bay Company maple leaf mittens is expected to raise about $12 million to give to Canadian athletes in training.

And so, at the end of the day, these rather ordinary mittens mean good luck for a lot of people who get to keep their hands warm while helping to make many Olympic dreams come true.

PS: In Salt Lake City during the 1988 Winter Olympics, berets became all the rage. This fashion fad, courtesy Canadian retailer Roots, is much more to my liking than is wearing a maple leaf logo on my mittened palms. Sure, the hand covers may be warm, but so are fur coats and I won't wear those.

Maybe that statement's a stretch (like apple versus kumquats), but for me style gets the gold, comfort the silver.