'Unquestionably terrible': New NBL team savaged over name
Basketball fans have had a mixed and mostly bemused reaction to the name of the newest NBL franchise, to be established in Tasmania - the Jack Jumpers.
The nickname was reported to have pipped Tridents after a shortlist of five was whittled down to two.
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An official announcement will be made on Thursday morning.
The island state has not had a team in the national basketball league since the Hobart Devils folded after the 1996 competition.
Tasmania will enter the league for the 2021-22 season and play largely out of Hobart's Derwent Entertainment Centre.
The club in August appointed former Hobart Chargers president and Golf Australia operations boss Simon Brookhouse as CEO.
Other names that were in the running were the Timbers, Mountaineers and Pride.
The Tigers and Devils weren't considered given their association with the state's cricket team and AFL sides.
Basketball greats baffled by new NBL team’s name
While there is plenty of excited over Tasmania rejoining the national competition, Australian basketball greats Andrew Bogut and Chris Anstey were scratching their heads over the Jack Jumpers nickname.
“The NBL takes a great step back into Tasmania, then calls them the Jack Jumpers? My goodness,” Anstey posted on Twitter.
Former NBA star Bogut was equally bemused.
“Joking yeah? Good one. Got me good,” he replied to Anstey.
The fan reviews were also somewhat mixed, with some finding it hard to take the name seriously.
Tasmania’s new NBL team is called the Jack Jumpers due to, I can only assume, every other name in the world being taken.
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) September 30, 2020
Can anyone fill me in with What does Jack Jumpers mean?
— Brendan Joyce (@Brendan_Joyce12) September 30, 2020
The Tasmania ‘Jack Jumpers’ is good, but they have a while to go before they’re better than the Scottsdale ‘Fighting Artichokes’ pic.twitter.com/GaCI4yHf7Q
— Ned Balme (@NedBalmeLives) September 30, 2020
I realise all of their 'choices' were bad... but Jack Jumpers was unquestionably terrible #NBL
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) September 30, 2020
However, Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times journalist Angus Livingstone took to Twitter to dispel a few myths about the insect’s ferociousness.
Turns out you don’t want to mess with Jack Jumpers if you can help it.
“If you've never been bitten by a Jack Jumper then you are a mainlander, sorry,” he wrote.
“Jack Jumpers are brutal and actually deadly to a small percentage of the population, and yes they literally jump really high.”
With AAP
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