Anyone remember the "Cleveland Indians"?

[Frayed Knot]

I'm not sure if Bees was ever meant to represent the flying insects or whether it was just a shortened version of Braves.

Back in the early days of baseball, nicknames were more informal and what you'd call a team might vary depending on

the part of the city you lived in or which newspaper you read.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Either way, it's a better historical name than Crackers, which was the longtime minor-league team that played in Atlanta.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, I was thinking that Crackers might stir up folks in the White Lives Matter group.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I'm all for approaching this stuff with nuance, on a case-by-case basis, rather than treating them all the same.

Frayed Knot wrote: The Braves aren't nearly in the same situation. - the word 'Braves' can at least be seen as complimentary, or at least not as generically insensitive

Perfectly true.

Frayed Knot wrote: - they don't have an embarrassingly cartoonish caricature as a logo

-Ish. The violently screaming tribesman isn't embarrassingly cartoonish, but he's sure not advancing thoughtful understanding and dialogue.

Frayed Knot wrote: - they do have an ongoing dialog with native representation in their region on the name and related topics

And unlike the Washington Football Team, the "dialog" isn't just using some representative sap as pr cover.

Frayed Knot wrote: - and while it's tough to stop fans intent on doing the chop, the team is no longer actively encouraging it during games

It all begins here, doesn't it? Talking about a new nickname without first ending that stupid chop thing is ass-backwards.



Although, tomahawk chopping would sure be pointless if your team was called "The Peaches" or something.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well, if they change their name to "Bees" instead of doing a tomahawk chop, the fans can flit around in the stands pretending to pollinate flowers.

[Edgy MD]

The Cleveland organization can honor the Jacobs ownership and call themselves The Cleveland Jakes.



Then they can switch their stadium name sponsor from Progressive to State Farm.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Paddy Power putting 3-1 on the Spiders to be the next team name*. I think that would be a great nick, nod to history, and could produce some great logos. /slams gavel



*I made this up

[G-Fafif]

[Benjamin Grimm]

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1092454427049578499/SMRmdbPX_400x400.jpg>

[Frayed Knot]

And Mike Hargrove, tabbed with the less-than inventive but quite sportsy nickname of 'Grover', both played and managed in Cleveland - so it works that way too.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It will be more "basebally" if they call themselves the Cleveland Grover-Alexanders.

[Frayed Knot]

Not that I needed a lot of convincing on the name change, but the fact that Trump dislikes it just adds more ammo to the decision.

[Benjamin Grimm]

They'll continue to be the Indians for the 2021 season, and then they'll be the Something Elses beginning in 2022.

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ... they'll be the Something Elses beginning in 2022.

That's a terrible name.

[Edgy MD]

I don't get that.



I assume licensing deals have to be honored, but there ain't much more honor than that in it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I guess they didn't want to be "Cleveland Baseball Team" for a year.



They should have spent the last however many months, since the Redskins announcement, laying the groundwork for this instead of starting now. I read that just a couple of months ago, some squatter trademarked "Cleveland Spiders". The MLB team should have grabbed that years ago.



They've already missed out on https://clevelandspiders.com/https://clevelandspiders.com/

[MFS62]

I thought of this thread when I watched Major League the other night.

Will we be able to enjoy the movie after they change the team name, even after it becomes an anachronism?



Later

[G-Fafif]

The moral arc of the universe was running late c. 1986.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Yikes.

[whippoorwill]

That's hilarious



BTW my son says he's okay with ‘Spiders'

[Chad ochoseis]

Are you sure that was meant to be Indian dress? I look at that and I'm searching for a 1986 story about them considering a name change to "Village People".



"Spiders" seems to be the consensus winner. "Rocks" is just too cute and corny. If an MLS franchise ever comes to Cleveland, they can be the Rocks. "Guardians" is getting some traction, but having to explain to out-of-towners that it's because the bridge next to the ballpark has some cool sculptures named the "Guardians of Traffic" is going to get old fast. The main argument against "Spiders" is that the 19th century version didn't end well.



I imagine the trademark issue can be bargained into irrelevance or handled in some other way. In a country where public entities can legally take over privately-owned land for public benefit, there's got to be some kind of a way that intellectual property issues can be finessed as well. If they become the "Shaker Heights Spiders" and still play their games downtown, maybe that withstands a legal challenge.





OE - I looked through the history of this thread and realized I posted this almost verbatim three months ago. I'm consistent, anyway.

Edited December 30, 2020 by Guest

[TransMonk]

As an aside, @Super70sSports is a must-follow on Twitter.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I guess they can be the "Ohio Spiders" or the "Cuyahoga County Spiders" or even the "Lake Erie Spiders".

[LWFS]

"Washington Football Team" + kick-drum-pattern-based bassline groove =



https://i1.wp.com/www.13thfloor.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ohio-Players.jpg?resize=371%2C278&ssl=1>

[whippoorwill]

There ya go!