In 1915 Cleveland's American League Baseball team needed a new name...They had been known as 'The Naps" in honor of their player-manager, Napoleon Lajoie...Look him up, he was a helluva ballplayer...There was a contest and the winning submission "Indians" was sent in by a fan that said it was in honor of former Cleveland Spiders player, Louis Sockalexis...Sockalexis was a Penobscot Indian, born in Maine on a Penobscot Resevation...For the Spiders Sockalexis played 66 games in 1897, batting .338...He became an alcoholic and in 1898 only appeared in 21 games, batting .224...His career ended after only playing in 7 games in 1899...He spent the rest of his days as a drifter and died in Maine... That's the history lesson of the name... Last week after more pressure was put on the Washington Redskins to change their logo and name...The Cleveland Indians ownership jumped forward and said they were actively looking at a name change...In recent years, they have pushed out the classic Chief Wahoo logo and have locked onto the very boring and lame "Block C"....
As an outsider, who doesn't give a fuck about the Washington Redskins and who's a white guy, I would think the name "Redskins" is much more offensive then the logo...I always thought the logo was solid...Unlike the Indians, smiling, red-faced cartoon character...But if the name goes, obviously the logo goes... I get Redskins being offensive...And for a long time I fought against the idea of Indians as a term and a team name as being offensive...And I wasn't alone...I did a few polls on Twitter, asking if The Indians, The Braves and The Blackhawks team names were offensive....
But I looked up some shit, did a little studying and well, it's not cool...Now back in 1915 it was a common term...People didn't no all the details of treaties broken by the U.S. government and well, it was a pretty racist world...Yes, even more racist then the one we are living in now...So, while I have so many memories wrapped up in the Cleveland Indians, I won't fight the change...I'm in...Now...Don't fuck the change up! Ideas so far have sucked...Naps...No, did that all ready and it was dumb then too...Fellers...STOP! How lame and unoriginal is Cleveland...Stop naming after people...The Browns are already named after Paul Brown, and it's stupid name...Yes, Bob Feller was a Great Indians pitcher and War hero...But no... The Rockers...No...The Cleveland WNBA team did that...Cleveland is obsessed with promoting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the city's History with music..But it's corny and lame... Blues is also suggested...It was the name of the Cleveland National League baseball team from 1879-1884... Blue Sox...Jesus like MLB needs another franchise named for a color of socks...Holy fucking stupid! Buckeyes...This was the name of the Cleveland Negro League team from 1942-1950...I don't like the name Buckeyes but the history is a nice touch...But then you have to worry about Trademark and Licensing issues with Ohio State... Cuyahogas...Ugh...Cuyahoga County is the county Cleveland is in and is named for the Cuyahoga River...It's a Iroquoian word, meaning "crooked river"...The Cuyahoga River world famous for catching fire twice, thanks to pollution! No, no, no, God no! Spiders...This is a very popular one...Many fans are onboard with this...Reaching way back into Cleveland's Baseball History...The Spiders was Cleveland's professional baseball team name from 1887-1899...There are a shitload of logos and uniforms mocked up already....
...... Buzzards...One of Cleveland's biggest radio stations was WMMS, "Home of the Buzzard!" Clevelanders love their pride and history and Rock and Roll and this reaching for that again...Seems like there would be serious legal wrangling's for this one...
Crows...This one surprised me...There are plenty of Crows throughout Northeast Ohio...There is an ominous feel with crows...Then you have the movie "The Crow"...Dead dude taking out his vengeance on people...
Honestly, right now Crows is my frontrunner...Maybe because I'm in a dark mood and want to watch an old movie with a dead guy killing a bunch of evil mother fuckers from Detroit.... Whatever The Cleveland Indians do...Don't fuck up this decision!
So we are in mid-May and COVID is kicking the world in the balls and so many talking heads and politicians want everything back to normal...Refusing to accept that there isn't going to be a true normal until we have rock solid treatment or a vaccine for this monster...But science and research need time, so we have to be patient and realize normal is still miles down the road. But Major League Baseball pressured by politicians and greed, today said they have a plan and presented it to the Players Association and now they all have to sit down and hash it out and try to agree on things...The plan is talking about starting in early July, playing about 80 games...Interleague play will happen because the idea is to keep things as regional as possible...They are also talking about everyone using the DH...I'm totally fine with that...14 teams would make the playoffs...And now we get into the mud....The Owners, who are Billionaires are asking the players to take a pay-cut...They say paying prorated salaries will be too steep of a cost for them and they are talking about a 50/50 revenue sharing deal... Of course agent Scott Boras has already spoken out against this and some players have spoken out against revenue sharing and that revenue sharing is how owners will implement a salary cap...This is where, in typical fashion is where MLB owners and the MLBPA shows how the out of touch they are with us regular people...Not all of them but too many of them... Sean Doolittle has made it clear his number 1 priority is making sure it is safe for all players, team staff and facility employees before they are worrying about playing...
Safety has to be the top priority...And so far, with this plan and all the plans MLB has kicked around, they haven't answered the big question..."What if a team gets exposed?" It takes 1 player, or trainer, staff member to catch COVID, and in a blink the whole team is infected...And the tricky bitch about this thing is people can carry it for 14 days without showing symptoms...They say they are going to be actively and aggressively testing, but we have seen most tests have not been 100% accurate...Many tests are being used that haven't even been approved by the FDA... All the PR people are saying this will be done safely, and every state governor and says they are going to open their economies safely, but how can you do it safely if you don't have an answer for to the big what if? If you can't guarantee the players and staff and facility employees safety, maybe you shouldn't being trying to rush into this... Now lets talk about the Baseball aspect...If my beloved Cleveland Indians won the World Series in this horse shit, fake, half season, I'd be happy while watching, but in my heart, and my brain, it wouldn't be real...It wouldn't be legit....More than any other sport Baseball prides itself on History and Stats...Baseball also prides itself on being a marathon...So how can anyone feel a half season with a doctored postseason is legit...As someone who loves baseball and I know guys like me are getting older and are a dying breed, if Baseball is played this season I'll simply see it as an exhibition season... Personally, I've already stated in a previous blog that the NHL and NBA should just take the L and not bothering trying to cram in an end of the season and playoffs...MLB talking about a half season, starting in July...I say scrap it...It won't be real...If it's not real, why risk health issues or injuries... More importantly, if Baseball isn't played because owners and players are going to spend the next month bickering over money, they will lose more than just a season (or shitty half season)....They will lose a huge part of their fanbase...They will take a loss that they may not be able to recover from... Have a drink
