I blew it. I was trying to buy WS tickets through the Indians both online and on the phone. They went on sale to the general public at 10:00. At 10:03, I got through, but my hand was in such a redial/hangup auto cycle that I’d hung up again before my brain could register that the phone was ringing.
Couldn’t get back through until 10:25, at which point I was informed that all tickets for all games were sold out.
This may be a Cleveland tradition, but it’s not a universal thing or even a rule in Cleveland. If the team says “wear the caps with the Cs on them” then that’s what they wear.
It’s hard to avoid the Chief Wahoo logo entirely, but at least wear the C-caps. The logo is gross.
This whole conversation makes me think of Bob Uecker in Major League, and his call-in show “Teepee Talk”, and Friends of the Feather, and Chief Wahoo’s Tribe, and Cayahuoga Warriors…
I realize the team has 100 years invested in the name and logo, and that’s hard to let go of. A few years ago when it was rumored the Blue Jays were going to drop the “Blue” and just be the “Toronto Jays” fans went completely apeshit, and that was a name with a third as much history. I know what team names mean. But come on, if they were called the Warriors or the Mustangs or the Eagles or something, within two years everyone would be wearing the new swag and they’d all be happy as clams.
Now, I totally understand that nobody means offense. And it could be worse (cough Redskins cough.) No one in Cleveland is out to get Native Americans or using the Indians’ logo and merchandise against anyone. They’re just into their team and it’s natural that the team’s nickname will lead to adjacent terms, if you will, like “the Tribe.” But, you know, what’s right is right.
I believe that, for the most part, this is true, but it also leads to people dressing like this at the ballpark. And dressing like this while explaining (or, maybe, whitesplaining) to an actual Native American about why he shouldn’t be offended.
Agreed that the name and logo are horrible for Cleveland. That also applies for the Braves. I cringe whenever they do the “Tomahawk Chop”. I mean, seriously, WTF guys?
Anybody remember a TV skit back in the 1990s — I can’t recall if it was SNL or In Living Color — that depicted a press conference wherein a group of Native Americans had purchased the Redskins, and were changing the name to “Rednecks”. The white reporters were “outraged” and “offended” when they saw the new mascot: a stereotypical, inbred-looking white hillbilly toting a jug of moonshine