The ‘Tomahawks’

That groan you heard this week was the sound of the owners of Ottawa’s newest sports franchise chopping themselves in the foot.

Just a day after announcing the city’s first professional basketball franchise, owners of the Ottawa Tomahawks were apologizing and heading back to the drawing board for a new team name and logo. They seemed to be the only ones in the city who were surprised by the overwhelmingly negative response to the team’s name.

The co-owners said the name refers to a basketball move — the tomahawk dunk. “The most powerful slam dunk in the game of basketball, the most entertaining way to score … the tomahawk dunk,” said Gus Takkale when he introduced the team. He later told the press conference: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to TomaHawk nation.” Exactly.

The tomahawk dunk would be a neat image to base a basketball franchise around if it were simply a great basketball move. But, of course, it is not.

Opinions vary about just how racist, if at all, the name is. And there is no evidence that the team owners had anything in mind but coming up with a good name. But it’s cultural appropriation in the context of a long debate about racism in sports-team names and when First Nations issues are up-front and highly sensitive in Ottawa and across Canada. Mainly, it is really bad marketing, and marketing is what professional sports is all about.

At least teams like the Atlanta Braves could argue their names are historic. Coming up with a brand new name built around an image of First Nations warriors — a caricature many find offensive and condescending — is head-shakingly dumb.

The team’s owners, to their credit, stepped in immediately to try to reverse the damage done by the naming fiasco and apologized for it. They say they will come up with a new name.

A little advice. This time, do more research and get a few outside opinions on the name before the launch.