Originally published at: Cleveland's baseball team will be called the 'Guardians' | Boing Boing
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I am so excited about the change that I will probably be buying my first merch for the team since I was a child. This is a particularly big thrill for me because, in addition to hating the old name, it references my favorite bridge. Having Tom Hanks narrate the video certainly was a nice touch.
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Clevelanders: “TheY sHouldN’t CHanGe thE name!”
Others: “TheY shOuLd haVe chaNged IT a lOng tiMe aGo!!”
I’m a Cleveland baseball fan and I’m good with it. Logo needs some help though.
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Good for them but the logo…
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Fans will probably still do the tomahawk chop thing at games.
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I’ve never seen that at an Indians game. That’s an Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Chiefs thing.
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I have. I’ve been to games with Cleveland fans who did it.
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This is very good news.
My wife’s mom and dad were relocated from their respective reservations to downtown Cleveland in the 1960s as part of the U.S.A.'s ongoing plan to dissolve indigenous sovereignty and ultimately “disappear” native people.
They fought that damned racist baseball team mascot from day 1.
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In case you wonder who the Guardians of Traffic are: 10 Things You Should Know About the Guardians of Traffic Statues, Since You Now Root for the Cleveland Guardians Baseball Team
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Took them long enough.
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“Forget about the curve ball, Ricky. Give 'em the heater.”
I don’t care for baseball, but I always find that movie strangely enjoyable.
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The logo looks like an 80s Christian heavy metal group. But it’s an improvement.
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If they put together a good Art Deco t-shirt design, I’d buy it.
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If you never heard of this bridge business (e.g. because you’re not from the immediate area), “Guardians” sounds vaguely martial, like a vigilante group. But perhaps baseball fans are into that.
In any case, it seems obvious they should have called it “Cleveland Rocks” (no need for a definite article). They wouldn’t technically even need to license the song.
I made this comment elsewhere earlier, and felt pleased with myself, but then I geegle it and of course I am not the first person to have the idea.
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I hope that the Exeter Chiefs follow suite. Yes, Exeter… in England… their Rugby Football Team is called the friggin’ Chiefs! Now, this name apparently stretches back a 100 years, when the first team was called “The Chiefs”; but their current logo? Just look at it! Fucking arseholes.
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Technically only half of the name was changed, but at least it was the half that mattered.
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In^H^HGuardians
I wonder of “_dians” being in the name is a coincidence or intentional.
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It will be rebranded as the Guardian Chop.
100% !
But what, exactly, are the “Guardians”? Is it generic (eg, like “the Generals”)? Is it an sly allusion to the Marvel CU? Is there a glimmer of Trump’s Space Force guardians? What are the Guardians guardians of?
Well, Tom Hanks explained it to me: the Guardians are the “Guardians of Traffic,” the 43-foot statues have stood on that Hope Memorial Bridge, iconic in the Cleveland area.
And I guess I have to trust the Hanx.
For a rebranding aboutface from a shamelessly racist one, I have to admit this is kind of a deft touch: the semantic echo of the previous name, integrating a past Cleveland icon, using Hanks. I can see this nudging even “heritage”-minded obdurants into the future.
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Hey, at least they’re not “Cleveland Baseball Team.”
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He didn’t design it, but he was one of the stonemasons and is the person the bridge is named for (in theory). The chief sculptor was Henry Hering, who also did sculptures at the Cleveland Fed, Severance Hall, and the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. The design architect was Frank Walker of Walker and Weeks, the firm which designed the Cleveland Public Library. The chief engineer was Wilbur Watson, who also oversaw the Sidaway bridge. Basically every step of the bridge’s design and construction touches on major landmarks of Cleveland (including negative stories like Sidaway). It even continues Cleveland’s tradition of terrible traffic engineers trying to destroy everything they touch, a trend which continues to this very day.
Despite the joke potential, it is probably coincidental. The Guardians of Traffic are baseball tossing distance from the stadium and one of the more iconic sites in the city. Among fans Guardians was one of the two names with pretty widespread support as the idea of renaming the team gained steam (the other being the Spiders). If you want the parts of the logo that are meant to tie back to the old name, look no further than the font choice.
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