Cleveland Indian By Heart

What’s your least favorite sports name in America today?

As a committed fan of Cleveland professional baseball fondly called the Indians for over five decades of my life, I’m disturbed to hear my revered baseball team title referred to as the Guardians today. Giving some thought to this new team title, I reason then why anyone would really care for such a common name that originates from an obscure bridge structure in downtown Cleveland? Or who might I be prompted to guard as in football in this new title when trying to show enthusiasm for today’s baseball game action? Most importantly as well, does this questionably inspiring name seemingly intended for a new generation of fans magically make the players a better performing team? I say not. So you might understand that when I ride around on our road trips these days, I make it a point to wear my old Indians hat with the historic image of Chief Wahoo’s wide smile insignia oftentimes at sporting events I frequent.

Yet it seems that it’s more than a trend setting team title that’s needed to satisfy today’s short attention span crowd to stay interested in “Tribe” baseball. Witness for example my attendance at Friday’s Cleveland Guardians game featuring dollar dog night, $2.00 beers, a twenty two minute fireworks show, a short rap music concert, and of course a heavily timed pitch and hit count version of baseball. Yet there’s a simple answer to such layers of new sports distraction. Just concentrate on the little white ball that keeps the game action moving. Batter up Indians!