It could have been “Rockers” or something else trying to connect to the Rock N Roll HoF. It’s a ridiculous image that I think certain elements of Cleveland want the rest of the country to think of them as, but no one does.
I was really hoping for the Spiders nickname, but the Guardians is… fine. It’s not silly, and maybe the Dolans can spend the money they save on not having to replace the latter half of the sign above the gate in resigning Jose.
I think that covers my feelings as well. I do like that it has a name with meaning to the city and that they even combined some of the imagery of the Guardians of Traffic in one of their logos. So I’m warming to it more.
My initial gut reaction to seeing that it was the Guardians was two-fold… “Oh crap, I liked the Spiders.” And, “Guardians, I guess that’s not awful.”
Would the Braves change their name? I’d expect the Braves and Chiefs would just abandon the native American motifs and have the words represent something else, much like the Golden State Warriors.
Hard to say; I think that, as nouns, both “Braves” and “Chiefs” are more tightly bound to Native Americans (at least in U.S. parlance) than “Warriors” is, and I could easily see an attempt by either team to keep the name while changing their logos coming across as whitewashing the original inspiration, and not ending well.
Maybe. That would probably be easier for the Chiefs. They could even go with a whole firefighter theme (like a fire chief) and their existing colors would work well. Sort of like what the Arizona Hotshots did in the AAF football league.
Huh, I did a search online and found that someone else made this suggestion in a letter to the editor for the Kansas City Star. NPR also had an article about the idea:
Someone even mocked up what that could look like (though I think it could be done better):
Okay so clearly my idea isn’t that novel. I still think it would work.
It’s more difficult for the Braves. Technically, the word can be used outside of the reference to Native Americans but it is very rarely used that way. In American English at least, it almost always applies to a Native American warrior.
The Chiefs could just lose the “i” and be the Chefs. Works well with the whole KC BBQ thing. Or, they could just remain the Chiefs, but change everything to be more corporate America (Chief Operational Officer, Chief Financial Officer, etc).
The Braves lost the alliteration when they moved out of Boston, so perhaps they can find a suitable name beginning with A. Atlanta Alligators? Atlanta Anacondas?
Alpacas or Antelopes.
More seriously, the symbol of Atlanta is the phoenix, symbolizing their rise from the ashes after being burned in the Civil War during Sherman’s March. There is a monumental sculpture called Atlanta from the Ashes that represents that idea.
So Atlanta Firebirds maybe?
They could be the only MLB team with an associated opera. Just think of the new audiences that would attract.
We did something like that with Blaze, the mascot for the 1996 Paralympic Games. He was a phoenix, and infinitely better than Whatdafuqwazit?
So Atlanta Firebirds or Phoenixes would be representative of the city; more so than “Braves”, which references the Boston Tea Party and is a relic of the team’s origin in Boston. “Firebirds” would also fit in with the avian theme of the city’s other teams, the Falcons and the Hawks.
Great googly moogly!
Funny comment, but I feel compelled to point out the Firebird is a ballet, not an opera.
Ah, see I was confused because the premiere was at an opera house. But even better; can you imagine the intersection of ballet and baseball fans? They’ll have so many new fans.
Baseballet!
That can be a whole new sport. Imagine fielding while en pointe, slippered feet moving furiously as you tip-toe to the warning track to catch a fly ball. Baserunners can simply leap over those trying to tag them out. Pitchers might pirouette to get more velocity while tossing fastballs. Hand signals will be a lot more graceful. And the brawls… You’ll see a lot more jump-kicks from people charging the mound. I think you might be onto something!
ETA: Oh crap I Googled it and it is sort of a thing already:
And remember that Stravinsky isn’t one of those sedate composers; they were rioting in the theater at the premiere of his Rite of Spring.
The Rite of Spring Training?
By golly, boys, I think we’re on to something here!
Der World Series Ring Die Nibelungen
The Batboy of Seville?
Cozy Baseball Fan Tootie
(Thanks for that Snickers ad link, kenobi - one of my all-time favorite sports-related ads).
I think that you would want to be very careful about naming a team for Atlanta’s role in the Civil War.