For over 105 years, the Major League Baseball franchise in Cleveland has been known as the Indians, a name that has repeatedly been subjected to harsh (in my opinion warranted) criticism because of its perpetuation of racial stereotypes.
Last week the team announced that it would be changing its name to The Guardians following the completion of the 2021 baseball season. As the linked article describes, the new name came from The Guardians of Traffic: giant statues that are sculpted in The Hope Memorial Bridge.
Personally, I’m glad to see the century-old name for the franchise get scrapped. Though, if I lived in the area, I don’t know if I would have wanted a team name to remind me of being stuck in traffic.
I would have preferred that they had reverted to the team’s earlier name the Spiders.
That seems like a good name for a baseball team since spiders are good at catching flies. Though the downside is that spiders are often eaten by bats.
I also have to admit that Cleveland Rocks would have been a cool name.
“Cleveland Rocks” From Opening Credits of The Drew Carey Show