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Indians owner: Timeline for eliminating Chief Wahoo has accelerated

Craig Calcaterra,NBC Sports 1 hour 38 minutes ago



Earlier this year Major League Baseball changed its stance on the Indians logo, Chief Wahoo, shifting from a position in which it merely acknowledged that some people find Wahoo offensive to having a clear desire for the Indians to chuck it. In the wake of Rob Manfred and the league voicing its opinion on Wahoo, team owner Paul Dolan acknowledged that Wahoo would likely be gone “within a couple of years.” It was not a decision Dolan said he was pleased about, just one that he felt that was inevitable due to league pressure.

Dolan continues to not be pleased about it, and continues to note that it’s the league, and not the club, moving this. Indeed, he says that the team and the league are in disagreement about it. At the same time, however, he appears to have revealed that the timetable for getting rid of Chief Wahoo has accelerated. From Ohio.com:

Dolan, speaking to 1590 WAKR’s Ray Horner as part of their speaker series at St. George Fellowship Centre in Fairlawn, indicated that the Indians and the commissioner’s office continue to work down the path of finding a “middle ground” regarding the usage of Chief Wahoo.

According to Dolan, they have not yet found it, but it won’t be long.

“We’re not exactly aligned on its future,” Dolan said. “But we will come to some understanding some time relatively soon, meaning before the start of the 2018 season and maybe sooner than that.”

Deadspin and other outlets passed along these comments yesterday, mostly with the angle that the team is resisting MLB’s plans for Wahoo and searching for a “middle ground.” That may be true, but it seems more to me like this is an epic game of good cop, bad cop, with the league willing to be the heavy while the club takes whatever opportunities it can to appear to be fighting it in order to keep from alienating fans. Which may, in fact, be the team’s actual sentiment on the logo. But the key takeaway here, I feel, is that the timetable for moving Wahoo just leaped forward a year, from “a couple of years” just this past spring to “the start of the 2018 season and maybe sooner than that.”

I can’t help but think that this is being orchestrated on some level. If so, it’s pretty deft orchestration, with the club being allowed to remain the good guys and, perhaps, depending on what “middle ground” means, being allowed to continue to sell merch with Wahoo on it to Wahoo-loving fans, with the added sheen of rebellion or underground cred to it.

Which is not the worst thing in the world. Sure, ideally, the team would cease any and all associations with Wahoo. Realistically speaking, however, people were going to continue to wear their old Wahoo stuff once it was eliminated as an official logo and bootleg manufacturers were bound to step in to fill the demand. It was never going to be possible to scrub Wahoo’s existence from the face of the Earth. The key goal is for a racist caricature to no longer be an official mark of a Major League Baseball team. Particularly for it to no longer appear on the team’s uniforms and marketing and promotional materials.

Reading between the lines in Dolan’s comments, that’s happening faster than first expected.


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/indians-owner-reveals-timeline-eliminating-124822120.html

Between Wahoo, the Browns kneeling and the Cave being a bunch of drama queens I'm just about ready to say the heck with all you crybabies and start learning the rules to Hockey.

Between Wahoo, the Browns kneeling and the Cave being a bunch of drama queens I'm just about ready to say the heck with all you crybabies and start learning the rules to Hockey.

Well hockey isn't the most diverse sport. It also isn't the most popular. Many believe the thing that is holding the sport back in the United States is its lack of inclusivity, and that a combination of economics and access to the sport are the main factors explaining why the sport continues to be overwhelmingly white.

Well, it occurs to me sports in American culture is changing.

I'm sure there's a multitude of nonsports fans who are decrying Chief Wahoo and praising the Browns kneeling.

People who couldn't care less about the sports.

Maybe it's related to the effiminization of the American male.

It does seem society is headed that direction in general.

sucks only because i gotta buy some new merch.

oh well, hopefully the new snapbacks with the 'C' starts looking better designed.

this decision wouldn't had bothered me one way or another, because at the end of the day, the logo will never changed what this team means to the city, and anybody who says otherwise is only fooling themselves. but, i'm glad the owner decided to act on his morals, so that's a good sign, IMO.

Go tribe!!

Dolan and the League will not miss the Chief and neither will they miss any money I will not spend on the Team or the League.

Yep, Bye Bye.

stripping away the traditions and culture associated with the team make me want to watch it even less.

and what if somebody does not consider Chief Wahoo racist?

I agree. Being so attached to a stupid logo is almost hard to believe. People whining, crying, stomping their feet about losing their precious little logo is almost hard to comprehend.

I agree. Being so attached to a stupid logo is almost hard to believe. People whining, crying, stomping their feet about losing their precious little logo is almost hard to comprehend.

People whining, crying, stomping their feet about losing their precious little logo is almost hard to comprehend.

I agree. Being so attached to a stupid logo is almost hard to believe. People whining, crying, stomping their feet about losing their precious little logo is almost hard to comprehend.

I wonder if Tampa Bay fans had this debate when they pivoted away from 'Bucco Bruce?'

Well hockey isn't the most diverse sport. It also isn't the most popular. Many believe the thing that is holding the sport back in the United States is its lack of inclusivity, and that a combination of economics and access to the sport are the main factors explaining why the sport continues to be overwhelmingly white.

Nope I don't need a new one. I don't consider the Chief racist. I do however consider the clan racist. SO I would disagree with any clan members who said they were not racist, just like those who think the Chief is racist will disagree with me.

MLB is caving to the PC crowd