Ball Played: Cheers, everybody knows their names
April 7, 2016Indians’ Tyler Naquin reacts to recording first Major League hit
April 7, 2016It’s that time of year in Cleveland. The crack of the bats, the smell of popcorn wafting through the air, the sounds of “BEER GUY!” bellowed in guttural tones, while Native American protesters show up at Progressive Field to make a statement outside.
It happens every year, and in a year where the Indians’ owner Paul Dolan finally acknowledged the demotion of Chief Wahoo—even though it was something the team had done at least two years prior—the Chief Wahoo thing just won’t go away. Granted, it’s hard for something to go away until, you know, it actually goes away completely. In seasons past, the protests disappear promptly, as do the conversation with it. This time around, however, thanks to notorious bear-poker Bomani Jones, it will get a little bit of extra life in 2016 as he did a guest spot on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” wearing a Wahoo-mocking “Caucasians” t-shirt with the logo an obvious parody of Cleveland’s long-time mascot.1
It’s not shocking for Jones to make a statement about the Indians and Wahoo. As an avid listener to his podcast, I can tell you first-hand that he refuses to say the name of the team that plays football in Washington. He’s not an angry activist either, usually relying on mockery and jokes in place of anger and vitriol. All the more reason why a “Caucasians” t-shirt makes loads of sense for Bomani Jones, whose Twitter mentions promptly blew up as expected.
We’ve had the conversation here a number of times and I don’t think we should necessarily dig out the Wahoo argument flow-chart in this post. I’ll simply stick to what I think are the facts. This has been an issue for a long time. It used to be a very small issue and has grown, especially as that NFL team in Washington has had to fight battles over their name. All the momentum is headed in a certain direction and it certainly seems like we’re headed to a place where there is no official use of Chief Wahoo at all. It’s already been made secondary, placed on the sleeve of the team’s uniform instead of their hats and league-wide branding, and it seems unlikely that the toothpaste will be somehow squoze2 back into the tube.
At what point does it just make sense to end the debate officially as a team owner?
50 Comments
Seriously at this point, I’m more frustrated at the team’s dragging out of the complete removal than the actual use of it.
Also, “I’m not offended by it” crowd….this ain’t about you so don’t bother.
Best case scenario? Tribe’s October run to the World Series draws so much national attention that it forces their hand to remove the logo, which they do . . . following the end to their World Series drought. What says a fresh start more than being World Series champions, finally!? Wahoo can be placed in the team’s halls of history alongside their years of losing.
I agree with RG3.
I’m not offended by it.
You think having Wahoo associated with a WS winner would have it MORE likely to be removed?
Cool story bro, tell it again.
I wouldn’t have posted anything if you didn’t ridiculously tell people not to have opinions.
Hey man, free country and all. But when your opinion has zero to do with the actual issue then it’s about as useful as an ahole on my elbow.
Man I’m feisty today…I apologize Ben.
Just make sure you keep it clean!
appreciate you coming back around to preserve the sanctity of the community here. thanks.
No pressure, no diamonds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8bFiEHsUoM
So:
Someone who’s not an American Indian and is not offended, but thinks Wahoo should go = useful and worth hearing from.
Someone who’s not an American Indian and not offended, but doesn’t think Wahoo should go = useless and should keep quiet.
You nailed it.
Can’t tell if sarcasm or serious.jpeg goes here
No worries. And for the record, I don’t care if they give Wahoo the ax. I don’t like the block C as a replacement, but a new logo is probably the way to go.
Amerika!
serious. you lashed out but apologized for it. we all have differing opinions on a wide-range of topics but have been able to keep the discussions here civil.
Put me in the category of NOT OFFENDED by Bomani’s shirt.
What if it said “The Donald” instead of Caucasians?
And, I’m sorry. It’s impossible to not see Trump in it once that is said (I did not come up with it, but it’s so good).
I mean I can recognize when I go nuclear warhead as opposed to using a simply fly swatter on topics/opinions but seriously how people can’t get passed just dropping the logo already is beyond me (not saying Ben in that category).
The defenses of it being “Well I’m not offended by it” and “There’s no better logo” just continue to dance around the resolution.
Report to The Ministry Of Love immediately.
It’s funny, when I first saw it, and noticed the dollar sign, I was all, like, “Hey! wait a goshdarn minute!,” and the offended rage began to simmer. And then I realized, “Oh, I see what you did there.” And my cold, hard heart that is two sizes too small, suddenly was all, like, “Wait a minute, is that what it feels like?”
Is this that “empathy” thing that I keep hearing about?
It’s not offensive, but then again, it is, kinda – which is the whole point. Regardless (or therefore), it’s a great shirt; but I am pretty tired of the whole thing. Let’s just be done with the Chief once and for all.
Eh Jones doesn’t bother me. But I rarely pay attention to him either.
as to most debates, there are dumb and valid arguments to both sides.
I have started to get into the category of not letting things offend me or stress me out that I cannot control. I think regardless of whether the Chief will be phased out or not, there will still be the unofficial merchandise floating around for a long time. So people are going to continue to see it until the team possibly changes the name. Are people going to be happy if the team retires the Chief?
Bomani Jones has a passive-aggressive message?
Man, people will never be happy, especially those that are inclined to find offense (on their own behalf or on the behalf of others) under every rock.
Can we all agree Chief Wahoo is offensive? Maybe not to you, but to some people? So now it’s just a question of how many people you are OK with offending and what people you are OK with offending. I’m OK offending the few people who are offended at everything like the use of animals as mascots. I’m not OK when that number is in the tens of thousands or more and/or that group’s core is a minority. Change it and move on.
Given they’re the “Indians” and not the “Indigenous Persons,” shouldn’t Bomani be wearing a “Whites” shirt and not a “Caucasians” one?
Probably worth mentioning that Wahoo was on the Indians’ hats for both games this week. So, the “relegated to the sleeve” isn’t even entirely accurate. Rumors of his death have been greatly exaggerated, etc.
Do you have the number of Native Americans offended? You are speaking with a voice of authority so I presume so…
That wasn’t Chief Wahoo. That was some white guy in redface. It’s their loophole.
Don’t like Coke (or the logo), Drink Pepsi
#moneyball
Can you change your logo? The redness offends me.
See: The Rams changing to their weird Blue and Gold scheme from the Blue and Yellow after winning that Greatest Show on Turf Super Bowl.
I mean that’s all I can think of, so your guess is as good as mine…
Wahoo doesn’t bother me but it’s obviously a pretty darn offensive symbol to Indians. Can we just go back to being the Spiders? Think of the possibilities!
I’m a Native American and I’m not offended. I’m a white guy, too.
Allow me to post a rebuttal…
http://static4.fjcdn.com/comments/3563470+_448e6b1b2accda1303955fe35fce6c30.jpg
http://www.vitamin-ha.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Kill-it-with-Fire-031.jpg
http://meme-lol.com/wp-content/uploads/meme/2014/04/Kill-it-with-fire.jpg
http://static4.fjcdn.com/comments/3563470+_448e6b1b2accda1303955fe35fce6c30.jpg
Boom.
Separating Native American offense from All offense is inconsequential. And yes if using a 2 second Google search to find 13,000 people on one change.org petition makes me an authority so be it.
But are the 13,000 offended people Native Americans or are they 13,000 more Bomani Joneses who are culturally appropriating offense?
I don’t know why I’m dipping my toe back in this pool, but this might help you.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/04/67-percent-native-americans-say-redskins-offensive-155143?page=0%2C0
As Ive said on Twitter, Bomani Jones doesnt care about Native Americans, Clevealnd or our MLB team. he’s trolling for his own benefit. Yawn
(for the record, if it hurts people, its time for it to go. Im not offended by much, but thats just me. Its not my decision to make, but if they decided to get rid of the Chief, it’s not going to ruin my day)
what about “Browns”? We all know what that means.
Slang for hopeless losers?
Until the team actually bothers to work with any local American Indian groups on what would be appropriate, I can’t see how anything is. The “we don’t give enough of a crap what you think to bother asking you” is just as insulting as any symbol.
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I was pondering that, how could it be done? I know they attempted with the remnants of the Cuyahoga Tribe in the 80’s but at that point the population was only around 80 (and made no progress), not exactly representative of the Native American Population as a whole.