New ABA Team in Quebec - Team Name

[canuckrefguy]

Thought this would be good for a chuckle......

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MONTREAL — The owner of a new American Basketball Association team has stirred up a storm in Quebec but is sticking to his decision to use a cartoon frog in the team's logo.

Depending on the outcome of an on-line vote, the team, which starts play in November, will be named either Kebekwa or the Quebec Jumping Frogs.

In his 49 years, Quebec City economic adviser and entrepreneur Réal Bourassa has been called “frog” plenty of times, he said.

“I've heard sometimes, ‘Hi, frog,' or ‘Hi, froggie,' but it has never been an insult to me,” he said from his home in Quebec. “I feel good with the fact that maybe someone will say, ‘You are not shy to be a frog.' My answer will be ... ‘I may be a frog, but I am proud to be a frog.' '' Mr. Bourassa purchased the team on March 31, 2004. Immediately, he went to public-relations companies in search of a proper name and logo.

The answer he got, he said, was go with the Frogs — although he was warned that the name might provoke or shock “nationalist” Quebeckers.

And so it has. Mr. Bourassa has been criticized by a sports columnist who said “frogs” is considered a racist insult everywhere in North America. In Montreal's La Presse Wednesday, Réjean Tremblay told Mr. Bourassa that “Quebec City is the capital of the only French state in the Americas.”

“The word ‘frog' is the ultimate insult in Canada,” Mr. Tremblay wrote. “When an anglophone wants to show contempt or meanness, he uses the word ‘frog.' ” A number of French blogs also slammed the choice of Jumping Frogs.

One blogger described it a real insult to the French language and Quebeckers. Another said the marketing people who came up with the two names “were probably brain-dead or they smoked some good stuff.”

Mr. Bourassa, who also has a 15-year-old son, says he's also received about a dozen e-mails that rail against the name. Some are aggressive. One was a death threat, but he said he's not concerned.

“I can't understand that in 2006, you are not able to make a difference between an insult and a joke. I think that you, I, everyone in Canada and in Quebec, are intelligent, mature adults and we are able to see the difference.”

But Mr. Bourassa said about 80 of the roughly 100 e-mails he has received have praised his courage.

He said other names suggested for the team were the Quebec Dunkers and the Quebec Cannon.

Mr. Bourassa said he expected the winning team name to be announced at the end of the month.

There are more than 60 basketball teams in the ABA, including teams from Montreal and Vancouver.

It is a men's professional league founded in 1999, in order to revive a defunct basketball league of the same name that had been absorbed into the NBA in 1976.

[ChuckElias]

"Mr. Bourassa has been criticized by a sports columnist who said “frogs” is considered a racist insult everywhere in North America."

Really? I've never heard that before in my life. Why is "frog" considered racist? Obviously, it doesn't have anything to do with skin color. Is it b/c the French eat frogs' legs? That seems like a pretty weak insult to me.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

"Mr. Bourassa has been criticized by a sports columnist who said “frogs” is considered a racist insult everywhere in North America."

Really? I've never heard that before in my life. Why is "frog" considered racist? Obviously, it doesn't have anything to do with skin color. Is it b/c the French eat frogs' legs? That seems like a pretty weak insult to me.

As an Anglophile, I can attest that 'frog' is widely used as a derogatory term for the French. The conotation is entirely insulting when used that way.

The real irony is that the real French, from everything I've heard, look down on the Quebecers as being second-class, wannabe French folk. So there are probably some French folk up in arms that Quebecers are being called frogs, thus elevating them to the same lowly status as the native French.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

"Mr. Bourassa has been criticized by a sports columnist who said “frogs” is considered a racist insult everywhere in North America."

Really? I've never heard that before in my life. Why is "frog" considered racist? Obviously, it doesn't have anything to do with skin color. Is it b/c the French eat frogs' legs? That seems like a pretty weak insult to me.

Since I don't think "French" is a race, I don't think "frog" can be considered racist. But Frog is definitely a derogatory term in reference to the French.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by ChuckElias

"Mr. Bourassa has been criticized by a sports columnist who said “frogs” is considered a racist insult everywhere in North America."

Really? I've never heard that before in my life. Why is "frog" considered racist? Obviously, it doesn't have anything to do with skin color. Is it b/c the French eat frogs' legs? That seems like a pretty weak insult to me.

Yes, the term historically refers back to the French eating frogs. It's not considered as bad as "beret-wearing, moustache-growing, fight-with-the-feet surrender monkies" though.

Btw, I used to know a guy that played with the Montreal Canadiens. He said that the English-speaking guys on the club used to call the French-Canadians Pepsis, and that was quite a common term in Quebec at that time.

[JP5]

Hey Wassup Guys, I'm new to this site and I'm a French-Canadian. Some people in Quebec think it's an insult but the problem is that the owner of the team printed all his promotionnal stuff with the name Jumping Frog on everything. So what is probably going to happen is that he's gonna sell all of his stuff and then change the team name before the regular season starts.

[canuckrefguy]

Hmmmm....

Is Padgett on vacation or something?

[26 Year Gap]

Crossing over to hockey for a moment. A few seasons ago, the Bruin bench was chirping about a frog as Brian Skrudland skated by. He pointed up to the scoreboard which read Canadiens 5, Bruins 2. He then said, "That's MISTER Frog to you." He then skated away.

I have not used the term much, but there are a lot of seperatists wearing jackboots in Quebec. {I have lived on the border for about 45 years} I am sure OLF punks are the ones who have threatened the guy.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Yes, the term historically refers back to the French eating frogs. It's not considered as bad as "beret-wearing, moustache-growing, fight-with-the-feet surrender monkies" though.

And they give as good as they get:

"You're mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberry wine!"

[Bad Zebra]

Originally Posted by Back In The Saddle

So there are probably some French folk up in arms that Quebecers are being called frogs, thus elevating them to the same lowly status as the native French.

LOL....this is probably the funniest sentence on this thread.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by canuckrefguy

Hmmmm....

Is Padgett on vacation or something?

Frankly, this was just too easy.


But - since you asked - I think "Surrendering Frogs" is a better name. Of course, this team will become famous for always having their arms up on defense - and on offense - and on the bench.

Actually - I bet this team finishes last in the league in defense.

Do I really need to go on?

[26 Year Gap]

http://politicalhumor.about.com/libr...chmagazine.htm

[bellnier]

We have morons south of the border too...Buffalo's new ABA team is the Silverbacks, the logo being a male silverback gorilla. Some local black leaders, never shy about playing the race card over any issue here in Buffalo, are accusing the team of being racially insensitive because (a) white racists have sometimes called African-Americans 'monkeys', 'apes', etc. and/or (b) the gorilla in the logo "looks like an angry black man" (this comment was actually from a black woman). Sheesh.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by bellnier

We have morons south of the border too...Buffalo's new ABA team is the Silverbacks, the logo being a male silverback gorilla. Some local black leaders, never shy about playing the race card over any issue here in Buffalo, are accusing the team of being racially insensitive because (a) white racists have sometimes called African-Americans 'monkeys', 'apes', etc. and/or (b) the gorilla in the logo "looks like an angry black man" (this comment was actually from a black woman). Sheesh.

And yet the NFL still has a team called the "Redskins". Yeesh!

[dblref]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

And yet the NFL still has a team called the "Redskins". Yeesh!

And MLB still has the Braves & the Indians.