Ok, now that I've gotten the click-bait pic out of the way, since either pictures of hot women or sunsets draw more pageviews than the actual words written or a serious picture....
A couple weeks ago I WROTE about the the Cleveland Indians making the decision to look into changing their name as The Washington Redskins were taking heat about their name...Washington has officially changed their name, for now to the Washington Football Team...That's because a really smart dickhead bought up the Trademarks to the top contenders...Dozens of names he owns now...But that's a different story....It was also the right after SEATTLE put on a huge production for their new Hockey team's name and logo...As the kids would say (by kids I mean 25-30-somethings who think they're being cool) IT'S FIRE!
Since the Indians announced they were looking into a name change, people have wrestled with the idea...Shit, I sit here writing this, drinking out of a Indians coffee mug my son got me...
I may have accepted that a name change is a good thing, but it's a good mug, I'm not throwing it away...
Why are people wrestling with it? Because they have these great memories from childhood, and young adulthood, and even middle aged...Going to games with dad...taking your kids to their first game...those teams in the 90's...Bob Feller...10 cent beer night...But then there's this....
The majority of us realized, and understand that "Blackface" is/was wrong and racist as fuck...Guess what? "Redface" is racist as fuck too! If you dig deep (I hate the term deep dive so I avoid saying that) into history you'll see that the name and logo aren't a good thing...
Since the organization came out talking about a name change, fans and talented artists have pumped out tons of mock-ups for the new name and logo...With The Cleveland Spiders being the front runner...While I don't love it, and my wife hates it because of her fear of spiders, it has a history tied to Cleveland Baseball...
Last week ownership met with players, discussing the name change...Owner, Paul Dolan also told the media, "we will engage Native American leaders to better understand their perspectives, meet with local civic leaders, and continue to listen to the perceptions of our players, fans, partners and employees.”
Dolan continued, “We feel a real sense of urgency to discuss these perspectives with key stakeholders while also taking the time needed to ensure those conversations are inclusive and meaningful.”
Thing is, the team is playing games, with the word Indians across their chests, and Chief Wahoo on their shoulder and it doesn't feel like there is really a sense of urgency...Just ask the Indigenous groups the team said it was going to meet with...The Cleveland American Indian Movement of Ohio told the Washington Post, "They have made statements now that they are going to reach out to the Native community, but no one in the Native community has heard anything from them.”
Am I and other expecting too much...Is Dolan dragging his feet...The Cleveland Indians brand is 105 years old...The Chief Wahoo cap one consistently one of the top selling for years and years...Rebranding does seem like a big move...I think some fans wanting the name change think it should be done just like ripping off a band-aid, real quick...Once you say you're considering something like that, the people onboard with the idea get geared up and want that instant gratification...
Personally, I think the organization is taking it slow purposely...I think they are hoping for the racial and social tension in this country calm down and the majority of people will forget about all this...I think saying they will discuss a name change was a PR move but they really don't want to change the brand...I expect a few more vague statements and then just hoping it all fades...
I hope I'm wrong...I grew up an Indians fan and I always loved Chief Wahoo...I have so many great memories from Municipal Stadium and Jacob's Field. (yeah I still call it the Jake)...But hey, I'm from Cleveland, and have many friends and family still there...the actual Cleveland Browns are in Baltimore, but everyone was able to move on with the new franchise that held onto the history and name...Cleveland can keep the history of The Indians and move forward with a new name...And maybe some sweet new merch that is thousand times better than the lame-ass block "C"....
The image is click-bait but that's always been part of the game, and a major part of my game since I started blogging at Sporting News back in 2007...But I always found a way to tie it in with the post...I carried it on with me here and at the now defunct YouGabSports....
-I had a couple of masterpiece blogs in the bullpen...They were going to get me noticed by Barstool Sports who would offer me a job...(yeah, right!)But with the murder of George Floyd, the ensuing protests, the hate spewed by the President and his ignorant supporters who hold the Confederate Traitors in such high regard, I scrapped those...I didn't blog...I just carpet bombed social media facts, truth, reality, history, and quick rants...I got flagged on Facebook for things that were factually correct but Anti-Trump and Anti-Racism...I got unfollowed by plenty of people, which is fine...If you're a racist...If you are ok with people flying Nazi and Confederate flags, I don't want to know you and don't want you around....I got suspended on Twitter twice...A week for tweeting at Drew Brees that he "is a fucking idiot"....My first tweet back was at Twitter and their owners, pointing out the hypocritical bullshit standards they have...And then I retweeted porn clips that are allowed on twitter at them...
-One blog shredding MLB for being a bunch of greedy fucks who are killing their game and are about to lose the dog days of Summer to the NHL...The NHL is planning to have their playoffs (the best playoffs of all sports) in July, August and September...Pushing the start of next season back, and if they stick with it that way they can continue starting their season later, and having their playoffs in the Summer, sports dead zone, when many people get extra casual with Baseball until it gets closer to September....But with Billionaire owners and millionaire players fighting over money, more and more people are going to care less and less about a sport who's core fanbase is dying...
-I had done series of "COVID Blogs"...Those stopped This next section was going to be one in the series...A month into the COVID shutdown, we moved my Mother-in-Law in with us...My wife, three kids, two dogs, myself and my dementia riddled Mother-in-Law...She was in assisted living and was locked down, stuck in her room for over month...No visitors allowed, no activities, no dining room...It scrambled her already fragile brain even more...When we saw her outside of the place on her birthday, my wife and I knew we had to get her out...So she's here with us...My Father-in-Law went down this same road so we knew to some extent what we were getting into...But it's bad...It's hard...
The kids were doing school from home...The wife works from home...there's limited separation people can get...We get bombarded with the same questions over and over again...The last 20 years don't exist...She doesn't know who I am, except that I cook for her and answer questions...There are times she doesn't know my wife...
We made a answer sheet for her to keep...When she starts asking questions we tell her to look at it...She would ask a question, you would answer and she would ask it again immediately...She looked at the sheet and said, "This is my daughters house?" I said yes...She then said "Is she still alive?"...Which was when the most blunt thing I could say fell out of my face..."If she was dead you wouldn't live here." I felt awful, but she forgot it within seconds...
My day often starts with making her Tea and toast or an English muffin with orange marmalade...Once she is sitting down eating and working on a puzzle I go and check to see if I have to mop the floor in her bedroom, the hallway and the bathroom, as she likes to take her diapers off during the night and often leaves a trail of pee....
It's hard seeing someone fall apart in front of you...It's hard on my wife, as her mother often seems ungrateful for what we do for her...At night she becomes child-like, wants to "break rules" and gets pissy with my wife...We had to put up a baby gate to try and prevent her from roaming around the house at night while everyone is asleep...She loves to search for cookies between 11:00 PM and 4:00 AM...We have signs on doors to help her and prevent her taking a header down the basement steps....
The one thing makes my wife nuts...Her mother will go to the bathroom door wide open, doing her business, everything hanging out...But then when she's done, she pulls the door shut behind her...WTF!?!
If 2020 didn't suck bad enough, especially for the kids, my oldest having her senior year of high school kicked in the balls...She gave up her room for her Grandmother and moved into her little sister's room...And Grandma has no idea who our kids are...She had lived everyday for over two months with them and looks at them like strangers...We spent so many weekends visiting...Personal time and vacation time spent with my in-laws...Moved to fucking Erie to take care of things for them....and she has no memory of them or any of it...There are moments when I talk to her and she looks at me like 'Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here.?'
As frustrated and annoyed as I get, I have to remind myself that my wife is watching her mother's brain turn to pudding right in front of her everyday...I don't know how my wife deals with it so calmly...Well, she does like to hit the bottle like the piece of click-bait at the top of this post!
That's what's been going on in my world...
Have a drink...Stay safe...Stay strong...Don't be a racist...Help fight for positive change in this country and world...And love...Love your family...No matter what, love your family.
