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Blue Jays announcer refuses to use Cleveland team name

9-10ths_Penguin

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Jerry Howarth, the Blue Jays' game announcer, will be referring to the Jays' opponents in the upcoming series as just "Cleveland".

He said that he hasn't used the team names "Indians" or "Braves" on air since the 1992 World Series against Atlanta. He was convinced by a fan letter after the season that the terms were offensive and insulting to First Nations members.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/base...warth-refuses-to-say-cleveland-team-name.html

Thoughts?
 
Quetzal

Quetzal

A little to the left and slightly out of focus.
Premium Member
9-10ths_Penguin said:
He said that he hasn't used the team names "Indians" or "Braves" on air since the 1992 World Series against Atlanta. He was convinced by a fan letter after the season that the terms were offensive and insulting to First Nations members.
Click to expand...
I respect that he is sticking to it and that its not some sort of reaction to recent PR pressure. Good on him.
 
9-10ths_Penguin

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
I think what he's doing is a good thing. I also like how some of the morning shows here were discussing whether their stations should take a similar approach in their sports coverage.

The wildest thing to me in all this, though: he's been doing it for more than 20 years and barely anyone noticed. It didn't get media coverage, anyhow.
 
9-10ths_Penguin

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Quetzal said:
A good question to go along with this is "why is it getting attention today instead of back then?"
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The article mentions that it came out during a recent radio interview he did on a local sports show. I haven't heard the interview, so I don't know the context of the conversation.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
My first thought was "those silly sport teams having to steal animal names!" and making me think of a the actual bird bluejay.
It's cool he's doing that. Amazing though that even through the Redskins controversy it's went seemingly unnoticed.
 
YmirGF

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
Shadow Wolf said:
My first thought was "those silly sport teams having to steal animal names!" and making me think of a the actual bird bluejay.
It's cool he's doing that. Amazing though that even through the Redskins controversy it's went seemingly unnoticed.
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What is amusing is that I have real Bluejays that come by an pester us. They are wonderful to look at but they have the most horrid cackle - far worse than crows. They can make pleasant sounds but more often than not are quite discordant and unpleasant.

In regards to the OP.... *rolls eyes*
 
Sunstone

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
The guy sounds like a reasonable, conscientious person. Without a doubt, he has no friends, and even his bartender probably ridicules him.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
9-10ths_Penguin said:
Jerry Howarth, the Blue Jays' game announcer, will be referring to the Jays' opponents in the upcoming series as just "Cleveland".

He said that he hasn't used the team names "Indians" or "Braves" on air since the 1992 World Series against Atlanta. He was convinced by a fan letter after the season that the terms were offensive and insulting to First Nations members.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/base...warth-refuses-to-say-cleveland-team-name.html

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

That would depend on how native peoples feel about it. If it's really no big deal and complementary, then I see it as yet another case of pc gone amuck.

I don't see how a team name could be disrespectful in that a sports team is usually something positive. Guess it depends upon how names are used.

I'd leave it up for native peoples in general to decide if it's something positive or not for them being it's a native designation.
 
lewisnotmiller

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
9-10ths_Penguin said:
Jerry Howarth, the Blue Jays' game announcer, will be referring to the Jays' opponents in the upcoming series as just "Cleveland".

He said that he hasn't used the team names "Indians" or "Braves" on air since the 1992 World Series against Atlanta. He was convinced by a fan letter after the season that the terms were offensive and insulting to First Nations members.

https://www.thestar.com/sports/base...warth-refuses-to-say-cleveland-team-name.html

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'm fine with it. It's his personal choice.
I still call Washington the 'Skins occasionally, but I really am not a fan of the name AT ALL.
Some other sports teams with Native-based naming have discussed it with the groups their name involves, so I don't have a blanket rule about this stuff. Harder to do that with a very generic name, obviously.
 
lewisnotmiller

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Nowhere Man said:
That would depend on how native peoples feel about it. If it's really no big deal and complementary, then I see it as yet another case of pc gone amuck.

I don't see how a team name could be disrespectful in that a sports team is usually something positive. Guess it depends upon how names are used.

I'd leave it up for native peoples in general to decide if it's something positive or not for them being it's a native designation.
Click to expand...

Best guess is you'd get a variety of opinions amongst native peoples, and no clear mechanism to determine what the consensus was.
 
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