Bilder » opportunities to welcome Francophone

OTTAWA -- The expansion Ottawa Redblacks have changed the name of their new lumberjack mascot after receiving some critical feedback on the original choice. The CFL team announced last week that the mascot would go by the handle of "Big Joe Mufferaw." On Monday, the name was changed to "Big Joe" in English and "Grand Jos" in French. "We unintentionally offended some with the original name and we sincerely apologize for that," said Jeff Hunt, the president of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which owns the Redblacks. "We hope to create a fan base that is unified in its support for the Redblacks and we will continue to strive to do our best in that regard." The team received a number of suggestions from fans before naming the mascot. Many wanted it named after late Ottawa storyteller Bernie Bedores character, which was inspired by Joseph Montferrand, a real-life Outaouais logger and defender of Francophone rights in the 1800s. However, critics felt that using the "Mufferaw" name was disrespectful. The team said it plans to continue to seek opportunities to welcome Francophone football fans from Gatineau, Que., and Eastern Ontario and engage the Francophone community with appearances by players and the mascot throughout the region. Big Joe Mufferaw was also immortalized in a famous song by Canadian country-folk legend Stompin Tom Connors. The Redblacks will kick off their inaugural season July 3 in Winnipeg. Their first home game is scheduled for July 18 versus Toronto. Cheap Edgar Martinez Jersey . Klose has a bruised pelvic bone and abdominal muscle problems but team doctors are trying to get him fit in time for the match. Bender has a hamstring injury. Germany is already without half-dozen players, due to injury or bad form. Cheap Seattle Mariners Jerseys . The team announced the moves before Sundays game against Houston. Shaw was 1-4 with a 4.26 ERA in 43 games for the Diamondbacks. Bergesen was claimed off waivers from Baltimore on Friday. http://www.cheapmarinersjerseys.com/?tag...-johnson-jersey. -- Keith Aulie has joined the Tampa Bay Lightning. Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic . "I dont know where we would be without him," McClendon said. "Hes done a tremendous job for us and (Wednesday) was no different." Logan Morrison drove in two runs in Seattles big sixth inning, Young pitched seven strong innings and the Mariners beat the Houston Astros 5-2 to complete a three-game sweep. Cheap Mariners Jerseys Authentic .S. womens soccer team to a 2-0 win over China in Colorado in the afternoon.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ike Opara scored in the 17th minute and Sporting Kansas City beat the Columbus Crew 1-0 on Saturday night. Kansas City (15-10-6) entered with the best goals-against average in MLS (0.97) and prevented the Crew from attacking through the midfield as Jimmy Nielsen made his only save on Federico Higuains 30-yard free kick in the 77th minute. Nielsens 11th shutout moved KC to within two points of Eastern Conference leader New York. "All 10 guys worked very hard in front of me and had huge discipline in the performance today," Nielsen said. "We know Columbus has very dangerous guys up front. We wanted to avoid giving them any room to play in." The Crew (13-14-5) had a three-game winning streak stopped and are two points out of the final playoff spot in the East with two games left. "We had very few answers whether it was a final pass, maybe the final dribble for somebody to step around somebody, maybe the run was offside," Crew interim coach Brian Bliss said.dddddddddddd "Whatever it was, we came up short in having an answer in the final third." Opara took advantage of an injury to the Crews Agustin Viana to score. Viana was hit in the head while defending Opara on a corner kick and went to the turf as the Crews Tyson Wahl cleared a shot in front of goal. The ball went to Graham Zusi, who immediately serviced the ball to the opposite post where Opara had an open shot for his third goal. "Im not sure (Zusi) even knew he was on the ground before he crossed the ball in," Opara said. "It was tough. I saw the goalie come in and I saw the post and I knew I had to head the ball." ' ' '