After years of controversy and local and national pressure, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team finally changed its name. The Cleveland Indians are now the Cleveland Guardians, an option chosen from a list of more than 1,100 ideas. The new name was announced this morning with a video narrated by Tom Hanks.
Together, we are all… pic.twitter.com/R5FnT4kv1I
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) July 23, 2021
Coincidentally, today also marks the one-year anniversary of Dan Snyder’s decision to temporarily rename his squad Washington Football Team. Cleveland’s smooth segue from one moniker to the next highlights the disarray of our NFL outfit, which continues to use an absurd non-name, is still reeling from the fallout of an NFL-commissioned report about its toxic workplace, and has had one of the NFL’s lowest vaccination rates, only recently crossing the 50 percent threshold. Earlier this month, Snyder announced he’s temporarily stepping away from day-t0-day running of the team, giving his wife control.
Although WFT is still known by its interim name a year later, it seems like a new permanent name is on the horizon. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that a new moniker and logo will be revealed in early 2022. Perhaps, in the proud tradition of MLB/NFL name duplications like the Giants and Cardinals, they could go with the Washington Guardians?
Anne Tate, originally from Annapolis, MD, joined Washingtonian in July 2021. She is a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied journalism and psychology.
