The Cleveland Indians appear to be the next sports team changing their name

The Cleveland Indians appear to be looking into changing their name after 105 years.

The Cleveland Indians may not be the Cleveland Indians much longer. The team is apparently looking into a name change following the news that the Washington Redskins are doing the same. Unlike the Redskins, the Indians’ team name was never a slur, but more a mislabel of a group of people. The Indians will now look to change the name and see what they come up with.

The move will not sit well with everyone, but it’s time that it does happen. It’s past time. While I’ve never been offended by the name, and many haven’t, the fact that it’s just not a good name. It’s not accurate, it’s not even quality sounding. It’s just flat out bad. I’ve never been a fan of the Indians or Chief Wahoo as a brand. Yet, the team has always been near and dear to my heart. If the name should be changed, I welcome it.

There are three obvious choices that one can go with; Spiders, Sliders, or The Tribe. I think the last two are great ideas. I frankly would never be ok with The Cleveland Spiders as a team name. That’s just a dumb idea. With a creature that invokes so much disgust, why even bother going that route? The Cleveland Sliders make all the sense in the world, as we already have the widely popular mascot for people to interact with so that just makes it all the more worthwhile of an idea. Plus his image would look good on merch. Finally, the Tribe keeps everything status quo. It was already an alternate nickname for the team and one that fits into the history of the team without narrowing the focus of the term to a specific group of people.

After all, tribe as a word means a group of people with a shared belief. It’s also a taxonomic category, above genus and below family. So there’s multiple uses for the word that don’t need to be placed on the shoulders of first nations members.

What do you think the team’s nickname should be?