So the Cleveland Indians baseball team got knocked out of the playoffs last night, losing to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 4-0. And there was much sorrow in the land of Cuyahoga.
I myself do not mourn the loss. I have long been fed up with the way that professional sports teams gouge and extort local communities by having them subsidize their fancy stadiums. But to add insult to injury, the Indians have that repulsive Chief Wahoo logo. As long as they keep their logo, I have no sympathy for the team, however much they may moan about not winning a World Series for so long. They can never even make the playoffs again, and it would not bother me.
Apparently these three fans who were whooping it up at the game did not get the memo with the revisionist history that is being put out that Wahoo, far from being insulting, is meant to ‘honor’ Native Americans. Right.
Oh that’s a picture? Funny, if I were a painter, and trying to express my contempt for the casual oblivious racism white people perpetuate in things like sports -- I might paint a scene like that.
Three red-face white dudes in an otherwise sea of whiteness, looking almost like they just saw themselves up on the jumbo-tron, and the two of them maybe just felt the teeeeny twinge of something while the older chief cackling-ass, with the rainbow feathers -- has just had his day made. You made it bros! You’re on the big TV! Smile, wave to your wives!
Something about that look -- slightly apprehensive face sitting underneath a big racist caricature red-face happy grin -- fucking priceless. A fleeting glimmer of self-awareness shouldn’t come at so high a price.
Or maybe they’re just watching their team lose to one without a racist name.
When I saw the title, I thought Mano had started watching baseball because of the lack of cricket in the US. I know what it’s like to go years without seeing you’re favourite sport on a regular basis.
Maybe the Clevelands owners or MLB should change the name to one that a Cleveland baseball team had a century ago. History always plays well to the crowds. Somehow, though, I doubt players or fans would like having an arachnid for a nickname, unless it were “scorpions”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Spiders
There are plenty of other team names that use Native American name or derogatory versions -- “Redskins”, “Black Hawks”, “Seminoles”, “Utes”, etc. But sometimes it seems the amount of controversy is not related to the perceived or actual offensiveness; it seems more related to how high the profile of the team.
The name by itself would not raise too many hackles, though I think that it too should be ditched. It is the logo that is really offensive.
It’s not just the logos, though. Some prominent sports writers are flat-out refusing to write or use the name “Redskins” any longer. It’s become a growing trend, and might spread to other teams and sports.
http://mmqb.si.com/2013/09/06/eli-manning-new-york-giants-dallas-cowboys/2/
http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/september/add-bill-simmons-to-the-list-of-those-boycotting-the-redskins-name.html
And my typos were a result of typing while tired.