Breaking News - Cleveland Indians

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is incorrect, I would say all of the older franchise names have deeper meaning (many from their original locations of origin). The Detroit Tigers were named as a tribute to the Civil War Brigade for Detroit, "The Tigers". The original name of the Wolverines was never official. The Portmouth Spartans were relocated to Detroit and were renamed the Lions as a tribute to the popular sports team in the city...The Tigers. It was a theme.

The Bears were again a young franchise named to reflect the popularity of the other popular team of the city and continue a theme as well...The Cubs. They were previously the Decatur Staleys and named after a starch company that owned them. Not exactly a catchy name.

My great grandfather played for the Decatur Staleys and that was a sense of pride because he also worked at A.E. Staley Manufacturing and raised on a soy farm who supplied the plant. He unfortunately missed the most important year of their teams history and continued to play on what was more of a club after the Halas team moved up. The history I grew up with was that "Da Bears" were a continued theme playing off of the massively popular baseball franchise as you mention above.

[Tao_Moko]

At the end of the day - why offend if it's entirely unnecessary. Ohio is now the official birthplace of aviation and many other industries. There's plenty of other content to pull from too. Cleveland Aviators has tons of marketing potential.

[perezfan]

Fracking is another big industry in Ohio. The Cleveland Frackers has a pretty nice ring to it, but might it be construed as offensive?

[campyfan39]

Respectfully submitted: There are so many things that "offend" all of us in this world but most of us just go on with our lives and let others do the same; understanding that we will never agree on everything. I think if this were done in another year we could give it more consideration etc. but 2020 has been a year of extremes in so many ways it just seems reactionary. (yes I know its been discussed for a while)

What is next? Braves? Chiefs? Tar Heels? Warriors? Yankees? Mountaineers? Seminoles? Ole Miss Rebels? Utes? Blackhawks? Colonials? Orangemen? Cowboys? Illini? Aztecs? Tribe? etc. Thats just off the top of my head

Originally Posted by Tao_Moko

At the end of the day - why offend if it's entirely unnecessary. Ohio is now the official birthplace of aviation and many other industries. There's plenty of other content to pull from too. Cleveland Aviators has tons of marketing potential.

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

Respectfully submitted: There are so many things that "offend" all of us in this world but most of us just go on with our lives and let others do the same; understanding that we will never agree on everything. I think if this were done in another year we could give it more consideration etc. but 2020 has been a year of extremes in so many ways it just seems reactionary. (yes I know its been discussed for a while)

What is next? Braves? Chiefs? Tar Heels? Warriors? Yankees? Mountaineers? Seminoles? Ole Miss Rebels? Utes? Blackhawks? Colonials? Orangemen? Cowboys? Illini? Aztecs? Tribe? etc. Thats just off the top of my head

Not exactly the same, but I'm a huge Notre Dame fan and of Irish descent. My mascot is literally a short, fighting mad, cartoon leprechaun with red hair(sometimes), donning the colors of the Republic of Ireland. I'm not affected negatively by it, but I don't suggest that everyone should feel that way. I would also survive if we simply became a clover. Ultimately, there's not going to be anyway to make everyone happy. My point was there's other proud recognition available to pull from for Cleveland that might encompass a larger crowd. It's not ever going to be the end of the world if a sports team changes it's name. There are more important issues at hand than sports names and mascots.

[packs]

I know it may be hard to believe but there are almost no original names in sports. Even in the examples given, Ole Miss was known as the Flood until 1936. Time has a way of moving forward and after a while nobody even remembers there was a different name.

[Throttlesteer]

Originally Posted by Tao_Moko

It's not ever going to be the end of the world if a sports team changes it's name. There are more important issues at hand than sports names and mascots.

Very true. But, that can be applied both to those who are annoyed with it, or those pushing desperately to change it. As previously pointed out, there are plenty of things to be frustrated, stressed, or even ill about in 2020. I believe a lot of the annoyance is that sports teams' names should be WAY down the list of priorities.

Perhaps people have too much time and pent up frustration from sitting at home and feel they "need to make a difference"?

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Throttlesteer

Very true. But, that can be applied both to those who are annoyed with it, or those pushing desperately to change it. As previously pointed out, there are plenty of things to be frustrated, stressed, or even ill about in 2020. I believe a lot of the annoyance is that sports teams' names should be WAY down the list of priorities.

Perhaps people have too much time and pent up frustration from sitting at home and feel they "need to make a difference"?

As I have posted before, my hometown college in Mankato, Minnesota changed its nickname from Indians to Mavericks more than 40 years ago, and the University of Nebraska-Omaha did the same at around the same time. Stanford too. These types of changes have been mulled and made for generations now, and yet now we hear the same gripes about them being the wet dreams of so-called progressives. Now it's claimed to be part of a cancel culture and it is suggested as the product of some new wave of leftists. No one is "pushing desperately to change it", it has been a topic of change for decades.