Tag: Washington Wizards

Cleveland Indians to get rid of Chief Wahoo logo by 2019 season

The Cleveland Indians plan on getting rid of the Chief Wahoo logo for the 2019 season. This is according the AP’s Twitter account, one of my favorite oracles of truth and knowledge:

This from the New York Times:

The Cleveland Indians will stop using the Chief Wahoo logo on their uniforms beginning in 2019, according to Major League Baseball, which said the popular symbol was no longer appropriate for use on the field.

The logo has long been the source of anguish and frustration for those who consider it offensive, outdated and racist, but for many of the team’s fans it is a cherished insignia — a divide that has played out at all levels of sports in recent years with teams featuring such nicknames and insignias.

I can’t even pretend to imagine what it would be like to experience “anguish and frustration” over a cartoon character. I’m quite picky when it comes to what I anguish over. The same with what I experience frustration over.

Cartoon images don’t make the cut.

I can’t help but notice how Major League Baseball worded the message about Chief Wahoo. They said it was no longer appropriate for use on the field. What about the gift shop or in the stands?

My guess is that they will still sell merchandise with Chief Wahoo on it because people like Chief Wahoo.

The Washington Bullets changed their name years ago to the Washington Wizards because they didn’t want their name associated with gun violence. Guess what? You can still buy lots and lots of Washington Bullets merchandise.

If I cared about sports, this story might mean more to me than it does. I find the older I get, the less I care about sports. In fact, I’m starting to go the other way.

I’m starting to believe sports and the consumption of sports is more harmful to our society than it is beneficial. It feels like whatever one benefit sports give to our society as a whole, it also generates at least five other problems that we are too willing to ignore.

Washington Wizards mock fans of opposing teams

The Washington Wizards have begun a new gimmick they call the Bandwagon Cam. It’s where they find people in attendance wearing paraphernalia of the opposing team and then show them on the jumbotron and label them as bandwagon fans. The three hundred people in attendance to see the Wizards then boo these bandwagon fans and everyone has a good laugh.

It’s unclear if they do this every night or only when the visiting team is one of the best teams in the league, for instance, the Miami Heat.

As a transplant to this area, I don’t really know what to make of this. Though I don’t ever see myself going to a Wizards game wearing the opposing team’s gear, I can foresee the day that I go to a Washington Capitals game decked out in Los Angeles Kings attire, assuming that I was there to see the Kings play. Considering that the Kings finally won the Stanley Cup a few years ago and since then, have been consistently one of the best teams in the NHL, would I run the risk of being labeled a bandwagon fan?

Maybe, but I don’t really care. Washington D.C. area sports fans are some of the worst sports fans in the entire country. They give the term fair weather fan a whole new meaning. Look up the term on Wikipedia, and you’ll probably see a picture of some fat guy wearing an RG3 jersey that’s a size too small. Don’t believe me? Look at the above photo. See all those empty seats? The Wizards were hosting the defending two-time NBA champions and Washington fans couldn’t care less. The fact that the Wizards beat the Heat in convincing fashion made the lack of home team support kind of funny.

I could not care less what Washington D.C. sports fans think of me.