The Cleveland team from "Block C"

On January 8, a seemingly innocuous tweet changed the face of the Indians forever:

"Indians changing primary logo to the block-C. No change to uniforms, Wahoo still on home cap, sleeves."


It is widely accepted that the Indians are named as an homage to one of the first Native American to play professional baseball, Louis Sockalexis. There are conflicting reports about this, though.


In any case, the Wahoo logo has caused controversy for decades. Over the past few seasons, there has been an obvious and blatant decline in the use of Chief Wahoo in official Indians ventures. I noticed it a couple years ago when everything seemed centered on the "I" script seen on uniforms:


Of course, the "I" stands for "Indians," and well, we can't have that in this day and age of political correctness. Likewise, we cannot have a cartoon version of a Native American representing a professional baseball team, now can we? (Note the undertones of sarcasm)


So, as the "Team formally known as the Indians" moves away from the logo and ultimately the name, the organization has been quietly pushing Wahoo out of the picture.  The tweet, though, is the first public admission to this move.


Supposedly, Wahoo will remain on certain items and in certain places. It is quite obvious, though, this will not last long. Soon, the mascot will be nothing but a footnote in a Wikipedia entry.  Soon to follow will be the name. The Atlanta Braves will also have to change their name and any logo references to Native Americans.


Instead of grabbing on to these last bastions of public honor, Native Americans are helping to write themselves out of American culture. Instead of embracing the fact that professional teams (Indians, Braves, Redskins, Blackhawks, et al) could be HELPING the Native American history, by tweaking the focus of those teams to positive lights instead of negative ones, today's world of "don't offend anyone" has poisoned those prospects. Soon, there will be no mention of, or connection to, Native Americans in the public eye.  Essentially, the arguments against these teams only serves to further sweep the rich and horrific history of those that were in America long before it was "discovered."


Specifically to the "Team from Cleveland," the organization has decided that the "Block C" will serve as the primary insignia for the team this year. We might as well join the A's and just call ourselves "The C's."  Nothing says "We're lucky to be average" like using a big letter "C" as your primary logo.


Seeing the writing on the wall, it will not be long before any references to "The Tribe" will be passe' and even the name of this blog will be chastised. I bet that before 2020, the "Team from Cleveland" will no longer be called the Indians. Instead, they will have some other name (probably some stupid inanimate object).


How long will it be before PETA forces teams to quit using animals as mascots?




Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Wahoo
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/08/the-indians-are-changing-their-primary-logo-from-chief-wahoo-to-the-block-c/
http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/history/cle_history_overview.jsp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_mascot_controversy