Anyone that has followed this blog over the years may remember that a few years ago, I talked about the Cleveland Indians being my favorite baseball team. I know it may seem strange growing up in Oklahoma that my favorite team would be the Cleveland Indians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story of why my favorite team is the Indians can be found in the archives of this blog and even though it\u2019s a spellbinding story and holds a lot of memories for me, today it just goes down as a part of history. Today, the Cleveland Indians are no more \u2014 the team name has been changed to the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been reminded many times that I don\u2019t like change. That\u2019s true, but I realize that change is inevitable and constant and often it\u2019s necessary or for a good reason. I\u2019m not questioning that there may be a good reason for ditching the Indians as the team name.\u00a0
Society in general, and sports teams in particular, recognize that team names often offend \u201cminority\u201d groups\u2026 in the case of the Indians \u2014 Native Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not sure why \u201cIndians\u201d was chosen for the team mascot in 1915, but I never took it as a slur against anyone. I was born and raised in Oklahoma \u2014 known as Indian Territory before statehood \u2014and have some Native American heritage, but it never occurred to me that the Cleveland Indians were derogatory or disrespectful in any way. I grew up playing Cowboys and Indians and the majority of people in Maysville. Oklahoma were not cowboys or<\/em> Indians.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess the change was inevitable \u2014 call it a sign of the times. And I can\u2019t say that it wasn\u2019t socially and probably morally the right thing to do. The Cleveland Indians weren\u2019t always the Cleveland Indians \u2014 the team had three names before they became the Indians: Blues, Bronchos and Naps. But I alway knew them as the Indians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I first heard the team was to be call the guardians, I immediately thought of someone who looks after and is legally responsible for someone unable to manage their own affairs, like an incompetent or disabled person or a child.\u00a0 But it\u2019s just hard for me to imagine being an eight year old kid in Oklahoma, tuning in his crystal radio every night to listen to the Cleveland Guardians. What\u2019s in a name? Sometimes a lot \u2014 and sometimes it\u2019s a lot more than a lot\u2026. Anyone that has followed this blog over the years may remember that a few years ago, I talked about the Cleveland Indians being my favorite baseball team. I know it may seem strange growing up in Oklahoma that my favorite … Continue reading
Of course, I didn\u2019t grow up in Cleveland and \u201cguardian\u201d didn\u2019t have any special meaning to me. Clevelanders have a special relationship with the term. Guardian was chosen to \u201chonor\u201d the statues named \u201cThe Guardians of Traffic\u201d that adorn the Hope Memorial Bridge that is very near the ballpark.
As far s I know, those statues are unique to Cleveland, so I suspect the new name will prove to be fairly popular.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"