On February 26th owner Gus Takkale held a press conference at Ottawa City Hall, announcing the franchise’s new name. 24 hours later he has announced he is taking back the name, and starting the naming process over again.
Owner Gus Takkale at the original team name announcement
The team’s twitter account has been deactivated, as the renaming process begins.
Former Ottawa logo
This is no longer the logo of the Ottawa basketball team.
Stay tuned to sportslogos.net for any further naming or logo news. Or opinion on other subjects.
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JR Francis is an actor, writer, director, graphic designer, UX guru, father, comedian, and craft beer snob. You can reach him at jrfrancis@sportslogos.net or on Twitter @JRFrancisSLN *One of several full-time uniform reporters this site has including its founder, Chris Creamer, who started his site in 1997
Jacob Hoyer
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 00:43Lemme guess, its because tomahawks relate to indians and they find that racist...
Pete
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 05:02that's what it says in the papers. So lame. Like that "controversial" Atlanta Braves BP hat coming out this year, man if my picture was on a baseball cap i'd be so proud!!!! SOOOOOOOOO many teams with references to natives in their names, logos, but for some reason in imagery it's starting to get frowned upon. What have we become!?
MC
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 12:49With all the native tension in Ottawa right now though, it makes sense why people are just too oversensitive at the moment. There's also a movement to get a children's football club to change their name from the Redskins.
Xino J
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 23:44Why would concern over racist imagery and names reflect an "oversensitivity"? The name is racist on its face and in its effect(s).
rcj
Friday, March 1, 2013 at 14:11This is a step way too far. We're talking about an inanimate object here, not a racial epithet or a percieved racial epithet. Tomahawks existed. Recognizing that objects existed isn't racist. Guns, spears, swords, knives, axes, missiles, arrows, etc. don't insult a race. I think some people seem to be over assuming the use of an inanimate object as if the name chosen was "scalpers" or some such. Thats not what happened here. It's time people started to calm down and think rationally rather than reactionally.
wolfgangII
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 14:38I hope they change the logo too.
Bill A
Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 23:19Being as old (52) as I am is one thing, but I would be a lot more comfortable in a society that didn't go weak-kneed at the prospect of possibly offending a special-interest group because of a prospective team nickname which happens to be used in an honorific way. Otherwise, I'm glad we don't live forever, or that I've had any kids of my own.
Mark Hinkley
Friday, March 1, 2013 at 13:48A tomahawk is a type of axe, right? It's also a type of slam dunk, yes? This logo contains none of the usual trappings, feathers, war paint, stereotypical iconography or the most obvious one, and actual tomahawk. It does have wings, like a hawk would. I'm not naive in thinking the name is completely innocent, but I do believe it was never intended to be "Tomahawks like natives" but rather "Tomahawks like the slam". Do does the Ottawa Windmills strike fear into the hearts of opponents?
Max
Friday, March 1, 2013 at 14:35Get that apostophe back in between that "Ottawas'" 'a' and 's.' Why are they changing the name?
JR Francis
Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 21:11We have a formatting issue with our software that "eats" the apostrophe. It was there, I assure you, it just didn't appear in the headline. If i missed it elsewhere, it was accidental.
ingmar66
Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 14:26So-so name, bad logo. But then again, most basketball teams have bad logos because of the baal-has-to-be-included rule which seems te be in effect. I also think that the nickname Tomahawks is not racist at all and claiming such a thing is ludicrous. Before we know it, all types of nicknames (weapons, animals, aggresive actions, weather conditions, occupations) will be scrutinized and sanctioned and we end up with something bland like the Ottawa Basketball Club.
RCP
Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 19:58Tomahawks is no different from the Indians, Braves, or Sioux.
Dave
Thursday, March 7, 2013 at 12:13I don't know much about Ottawa or the tensions with anyone that claims to have lived there first, but I don't understand why some of those groups are opposed to any mention whatsoever as a sports team name, whether it sheds a positive light on their people or not. I get the objection to the Redskins, but is the objection just that it's a battle weapon and they don't want to be only associated with fighting? It would be one thing if they were the only people depicted that way, but there's celtics, pirates, buccaneers, raiders, patriots, texans, cowboys, Saints, Trailblazers, Knicks (talk amongst yourselves), Yankees, Brewers, 49ers, Canadiens and Canucks, it goes on and on, and those depictions aren't necessarily flattering images of the ethnic groups typically associated with them, so I don't think the intent is to embarrass or shame the, well, natives, even though they had to show up there at some point as well. Maybe they can make those offended by the name happy AND be hip with those interweb usin' kids and call the team the Ottawa Firsts! (exclamation point required). That said, the logo was pretty weak anyway, hopefully they'll get a better one with the new name.
Phillip den Hollander
Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 20:49They were just renamed the Skyhawks. Just tweaked the logo to accomodate the new name