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....
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....
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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!
