Cleveland Indians to drop "Indians" from team name after 105 years

HughFreakingDillon

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30515643/sources-cleveland-drop-indians-nickname-105-years

I say change it to Cleveland Colonizers. Has kind of a nice ring to it. 

F Me In The Brain

Go Lake Monsters!
I think that would be a sweet name, lol.

gimmesometruth27

i vote cleveland steamers!!

gimmesometruth27

seriously though, it is about time they changed it. the logo is timeless, but super racist though.

Merkin Baller

gimmesometruth27 said:

seriously though, it is about time they changed it. the logo is timeless, but super racist though.

Yeah, the logo was awful. 

The modern day use of the name 'Indians' is over the top dumb too, considering Indians are from, you know... India.   

cincybearcat

I heard they were going with Cleveland Proud Boys

HughFreakingDillon

I'm calling it now: in this hyper-partisan time, I bet they go with something ridiculous like The Cleveland Americans, and they'll release a statement saying the new name reflects an attempt to be all inclusive, that they are a "team for everyone". 

gimmesometruth27

Merkin Baller said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

seriously though, it is about time they changed it. the logo is timeless, but super racist though.

Yeah, the logo was awful. 

The modern day use of the name 'Indians' is over the top dumb too, considering Indians are from, you know... India.   

i suppose it could have been worse. could have called them the "cleveland injuns".

gimmesometruth27

i remember studying this back in 1998 in my sports sociology class in grad school. at the time we thought they would change it within the next 5 years. i remember we talked about this issue in class on the same night mcgwire hit number 62.

MayDay10

there are some Grade-A meltdowns going on in some Cleveland Indians' fan groups I am in.  

Personally, I am glad they are doing this quickly.  It was a matter of time and we would only be prolonging the debate.  I like the Chief Wahoo logo.  I associate it with a baseball team I have followed since I was 6 more than 35 years ago... but I completely understand why it had to go.  They did a good job hanging on until they were going to be directly in the crosshairs and they bailed on Wahoo just in time.  You just cant have a cartoonish caricature depicting a race of people as a company logo.

Indians is also a crummy name.  I would never call a Native American an "Indian" to their face and have known that since high school.  

The Indians in the post-wahoo days have shown that they have zero branding ability behind their name "Indians".  The letter 'C' is also highly used in MLB and they cant throw on a headdress or something because it would enflame the debate again.  Their current block-C logo is the worst in the league, and their colors are very drab.

So this is a good opportunity to go in a new direction with that.  It doesn't change the past, but they can get with the times.  I just hope they dont make a monumental farce out of their identity.

OnWis97

They may have been able to pull this name off for the long-haul (unlike the Washington NFL team...which needed to dump that name decades ago) if they'd have maybe worked with tribes on some respectful imagery. Instead, when people started criticizing the "Chief Wahoo" logo, they kind of dug in their heels.  Their fanbase loved it as do the "anti-woke" masses, so there was a market.  They dumped the logo a couple of years ago but I wonder whether they could have kept the name if they'd handled the marketing/imagery better in recent decades.

For the rename, rule 1 needs to be "Forget that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland."  No Rockers. No "Cleveland Rocks." No guitars in the logo. Rule 2 should be "think about the name 20 years from now; not next year." The problem that Cleveland and Washington both have is that these names were around so long that any new name is going to feel like New Orleans Pelicans* or something. That these names were outdated doesn’t make this any less jarring than if the Detroit Tigers had to pick a new name.  They flat out cannot have a timeless name right out of the gate.  Like the Minnesota NHL team should have, these teams should think about how the name will seem in 20 years, not next year.

 

*I liked the Pelicans name from day 1 but it was still essentially an expansion name and didn’t feel right like, say, Mavericks or Pacers. By now, though, it has kinda blended in, unlike Wild.

Sorry; I'm into sports logos and uniforms.

MayDay10

OnWis97 said:

They may have been able to pull this name off for the long-haul (unlike the Washington NFL team...which needed to dump that name decades ago) if they'd have maybe worked with tribes on some respectful imagery. Instead, when people started criticizing the "Chief Wahoo" logo, they kind of dug in their heels.  Their fanbase loved it as do the "anti-woke" masses, so there was a market.  They dumped the logo a couple of years ago but I wonder whether they could have kept the name if they'd handled the marketing/imagery better in recent decades.

For the rename, rule 1 needs to be "Forget that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland."  No Rockers. No "Cleveland Rocks." No guitars in the logo. Rule 2 should be "think about the name 20 years from now; not next year." The problem that Cleveland and Washington both have is that these names were around so long that any new name is going to feel like New Orleans Pelicans* or something. That these names were outdated doesn’t make this any less jarring than if the Detroit Tigers had to pick a new name.  They flat out cannot have a timeless name right out of the gate.  Like the Minnesota NHL team should have, these teams should think about how the name will seem in 20 years, not next year.

 

*I liked the Pelicans name from day 1 but it was still essentially an expansion name and didn’t feel right like, say, Mavericks or Pacers. By now, though, it has kinda blended in, unlike Wild.

Sorry; I'm into sports logos and uniforms.

I think 'Indians' would have hit the chopping block at some point regardless of branding.  

I agree on the branding/logo things you said 100%.  I am also 'into' this and Minnesota Wild is always one I think about as a pitfall.  I dont want any sort of rock and roll hall of fame crap.  None of the trendy 'minor league' double-names like the Rumble Ponies or the Lake Rockers.... and also the trendy "indoor lacrosse" style non-plural action names like "Fury", "attack", "Wild", etc.... 

I dont trust them.  I dont trust anybody.

Personally, I am open to the idea of Spiders because there is history there.  Also really would like 'Barons' as that is a call out to the defunct NHL team, and that sounds good.  

OnWis97

MayDay10 said:

OnWis97 said:

They may have been able to pull this name off for the long-haul (unlike the Washington NFL team...which needed to dump that name decades ago) if they'd have maybe worked with tribes on some respectful imagery. Instead, when people started criticizing the "Chief Wahoo" logo, they kind of dug in their heels.  Their fanbase loved it as do the "anti-woke" masses, so there was a market.  They dumped the logo a couple of years ago but I wonder whether they could have kept the name if they'd handled the marketing/imagery better in recent decades.

For the rename, rule 1 needs to be "Forget that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland."  No Rockers. No "Cleveland Rocks." No guitars in the logo. Rule 2 should be "think about the name 20 years from now; not next year." The problem that Cleveland and Washington both have is that these names were around so long that any new name is going to feel like New Orleans Pelicans* or something. That these names were outdated doesn’t make this any less jarring than if the Detroit Tigers had to pick a new name.  They flat out cannot have a timeless name right out of the gate.  Like the Minnesota NHL team should have, these teams should think about how the name will seem in 20 years, not next year.

 

*I liked the Pelicans name from day 1 but it was still essentially an expansion name and didn’t feel right like, say, Mavericks or Pacers. By now, though, it has kinda blended in, unlike Wild.

Sorry; I'm into sports logos and uniforms.

I think 'Indians' would have hit the chopping block at some point regardless of branding.  

I agree on the branding/logo things you said 100%.  I am also 'into' this and Minnesota Wild is always one I think about as a pitfall.  I dont want any sort of rock and roll hall of fame crap.  None of the trendy 'minor league' double-names like the Rumble Ponies or the Lake Rockers.... and also the trendy "indoor lacrosse" style non-plural action names like "Fury", "attack", "Wild", etc.... 

I dont trust them.  I dont trust anybody.

Personally, I am open to the idea of Spiders because there is history there.  Also really would like 'Barons' as that is a call out to the defunct NHL team, and that sounds good.  

I am actually on a sports logos/uniforms board and a lot of them like "Spiders," probably because there's a bit of that "timeliness" kind of built in (at least to the history-minded fan). I can live with Spiders, though the fear is you'd get a minor league quality angry spider holding a bat as the logo.

HughFreakingDillon

Cleveland Clairvoyants. 

DOTC as their them song. 

a hippie named "Claire" as their mascot. 

Meltdown99

Long overdue.  The Chiefs and the Braves need to go as well...

brianlux

Hooray!  About time!

Name change suggestion:  The Cleveland River Burners

Poncier

Cleveland Steamers

New logo:

Gern Blansten

I fear for the Blackhawks

stuckinline

F Me In The Brain said:

Go Lake Monsters!
I think that would be a sweet name, lol.

Monsters is already taken:
https://www.clevelandmonsters.com

tempo_n_groove

gimmesometruth27 said:

seriously though, it is about time they changed it. the logo is timeless, but super racist though.

They dropped the logo a few years ago.

For whatever reason I never saw the logo as racist.  It was a caricature to me and not to be taken seriously.  people losing their shit over this makes sense.  People don't like change and especially with their sports teams.

Some of the other name changes that I think were ridiculous were the Pelicans.  The Devil rays to Rays.  The Bullets to the Wizards.  The Washington Bullets was head and shoulders the coolest name for a team anywhere.

I will be petitioning Hockey and Baseball to change the name of the Devils and Angels.  We should separate religion from sports.  On that note, go Halos!

HughFreakingDillon

tempo_n_groove said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

seriously though, it is about time they changed it. the logo is timeless, but super racist though.

They dropped the logo a few years ago.

For whatever reason I never saw the logo as racist.  It was a caricature to me and not to be taken seriously.  people losing their shit over this makes sense.  People don't like change and especially with their sports teams.

Some of the other name changes that I think were ridiculous were the Pelicans.  The Devil rays to Rays.  The Bullets to the Wizards.  The Washington Bullets was head and shoulders the coolest name for a team anywhere.

I will be petitioning Hockey and Baseball to change the name of the Devils and Angels.  We should separate religion from sports.  On that note, go Halos!

no offence, but that's your privilege talking. saying it makes sense that people lose their shit over losing a logo or a name meant for entertainment, but it shouldn't bother the people that it is caricaturising, is pretty tone deaf.