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Originally Posted by JD
NOTHING to do with it? I'd find it hard to believe that the folks that came up with the slogan weren't even faintly aware of the city's recent run of championships.
It had something to do with it. For sure. I'm thinking that in their minds, it was, "well, if the shoe fits..."
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the2bears
Not sure I buy that. I have no quotes to back my thoughts here, but what I remember from being around at the time there was no mention of the tornado regarding the slogan. It was all sports success related. As I said, though, just a feeling.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack
yea I've heard that tornado explanation a bunch of times too and it just doesn't make any sense. it strikes me more as an excuse they made up years later to try and reduce the embarrassment of perpetually naming your city after something that is anything but perpetual.
when everyone was celebrating the 9/11 policemen and firefighters, I do not remember anyone saying "god bless those wonderful Champs!"...that's just a weird word to use. if it were really about the tornado, it would be more like "City of Heroic Emergency Workers". but then again, this is the same city that just came up with "Make Something Edmonton", so I guess anything is possible.
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It was a phrase that Mayor Laurence Decore used at the time and people liked it so much that they adopted it as the city's slogan. Perhaps the citizens of Edmonton liked the phrase because their city was in the midst of a bunch of sport success as well that decade, but it was the Tornado and the Mayor's subsequent comments about it that were the source of the slogan.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/04/black-friday/
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Huh... turns out the City of Champs phrase was first used by a couple of council members in 1983 in order to attempt to promote the city (
Research paper).
Interestingly enough, the Oilers didn't win their first cup until the 83/84 season, which would suggest that YES, the success the Coilers had from 83-87 likely played a big part in adopting an old promotional phrase as the city's official slogan. But no one can deny that it was the Tornado of 87, and the mayor's subsequent use of the phrase, that sparked it being adopted as the slogan.