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Quebec Jumping Frogs; Basketball Team
Topic Started: Aug 14 2006, 03:09 PM (109 Views)
MaxPower
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Follower of Branigann's Law
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MONTREAL (CP) - The owner of a new American Basketball Association team in Quebec City has defended his decision to use a cartoon frog in the new team's logo.

The team, which starts play in November, will be named either Kebekwa or the Quebec Jumping Frogs. "We are in 2006 and we have to be able to laugh at ourselves," Real Bourassa said Wednesday. The 49-year-old businessman said the frog was recommended by several marketing firms that tested various ideas with focus groups.

Bourassa said he was also told that using a frog could provoke or shock "nationalist" Quebecers.

The two team names and the logos being proposed both feature a green frog with a red, white and blue basketball in its hands.

The word 'frog' has been used over the years to insult French-speaking Quebecers.

Kebekwa is a phonetic pronunciation of 'Quebecois,' which is the French word for Quebecer.

"There was no thought given to try to provoke anyone with that name," Bourassa insisted.

The Quebec City entrepreneur said that, as of Monday, Kebekwa was narrowly leading in an online contest to pick the team's name.

He also said he received "seven or eight e-mails that bordered on death threats."

"Some of them, unsigned, insulted me," he said. "Others treat me as a racist."

But Bourassa said about 80 of the roughly 100 e-mails he has received praise the team for being innovative and many agree Quebecers should be able to laugh at themselves.

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

Bourassa has been criticized by a Montreal sports columnist who said 'frogs' is considered a racist insult everywhere in North America.

A number of French Internet blogs also slammed the choice of Jumping Frogs.

As of Monday, online voting indicated that Kebekwa was slightly ahead of Jumping Frogs. Voting began three months ago.

Bourassa said he expected the winning team name to be announced at the end of the month, a few days before team tryouts.

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

:lol
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Jesse Snadden
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Pakistan's Strongest Man
People are so sensitive, I think The Jumping Frogs is funny.
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GrantB
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Grant is a magnificent bastard
Jose Plante has a frog tattoo. He points to it to prove that he's 100% french (as if the accent wouldn't give him away)...
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WildGorillaMan
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P&B Ambassador to the SDF
I think that rawks.
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Jesse Snadden
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Pakistan's Strongest Man
Grant, he's francophone... not french ... for the love of god, don't confuse us with the french ....
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GrantB
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Grant is a magnificent bastard
lol...OK, let's say Quebecois, then...
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Peter
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Not The Mama
Nice to see there are still enough people with a sense of humor left.
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