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I Wouldn’t Woo Woo You

Hey Swish…Woo Woo.

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26 comments

1 Chyll Will   ~  Dec 18, 2012 4:17 pm

"Deserve's got nuthin' to do with it."

I'm still quite baffled at his comments at the end of the season. I didn't think anyone could ever need more coddling that Alex.

2 Alex Belth   ~  Dec 18, 2012 4:24 pm

1) Swisher apologized for those comments after the season. Alex is far from the biggest baby that's ever needed coddling. They are a dime a dozen in pro sports.

3 Chris   ~  Dec 18, 2012 5:21 pm

Worst logo in the history of sport.

4 Chyll Will   ~  Dec 18, 2012 5:47 pm

[2],[3] True, true...

5 The Hawk   ~  Dec 18, 2012 5:54 pm

The Brandon McCarthy response was pretty funny. Then I was reading his other tweets and they were at times humorous as well. Also he was good on my fantasy team before getting hit in the head.

And that's pretty much that

6 Greg G   ~  Dec 18, 2012 6:01 pm

Love the quote Alex! It took me a minute, but then I recognized Ralph Kramden.

No offense to the good folks of Cleveland, and they are very good folks, but I wouldn't want to live there.

7 Chris   ~  Dec 18, 2012 6:09 pm

I'm a little surprised with some of the moves this off-season. Letting go Swish, Coltrane and Chavy, offering up Granderson, signing (maybe) Ichiro. I probably would do the same on all counts, and that's what's surprising.

Also I'm coming to a conclusion that I think lots of other folks reached years ago. This organization cannot develop talent. That's a bit of a bummer - it's one of the most interesting parts of the game for me. But it still beats the misery of watching the Ms flail along every year.

8 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Dec 18, 2012 6:43 pm

[3] Washington National Football League team logo even worse. Hideous and offensive.

So long, Swisher!

9 monkeypants   ~  Dec 18, 2012 7:40 pm

[8] I don't think the logo is offensive per se---certainly not as offensive as the Indians logo---but the name is obviously more offensive.

10 Start Spreading the News   ~  Dec 18, 2012 8:11 pm

As someone born in India, I am very much annoyed by the Cleveland team name. But the Washington football team name is really much worse.

11 joejoejoe   ~  Dec 18, 2012 8:33 pm

As Yakov Smirnoff said, when he got out of Soviet Union he settled in Cleveland, Ohio where they made him feel at home. So he had to escape again.

12 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Dec 18, 2012 9:40 pm

[11] Good one! Wonder what happened to Yakov?
[8] That's right, and what I meant to say. I'm out of practice with the commenting. When does baseball start again???

14 Dimelo   ~  Dec 19, 2012 9:35 am

[13] Holy crap, another 75 year old on the team. Awesome!

This team is going to suck so bad.

15 Dimelo   ~  Dec 19, 2012 9:44 am

[10] I am confused, why does being born in India cause you to be annoyed by the Indians/Redskins logo? Is it just a general annoyance that has nothing to do with being born in India? Or is there something about being born in India that I'm not getting? I don't think these logos were meant to insult Punjabis'.

Because the connection with Natives is an obvious one, and why they would be annoyed by the Indians/Redskins logo makes sense to me.

16 The Hawk   ~  Dec 19, 2012 10:16 am

[15] If I may, it seems like there are two separate things. To whit: Calling Native Americans Indians is a ridiculous misnomer and thus annoying, whereas calling a team the Redskins is out and out offensive, without having to do with misnomers and whatnot.

17 Chris   ~  Dec 19, 2012 11:02 am

One of the dumbest things in the whole world, IMHO, is that Europeans quickly realised after landing in America that they were not in India or the East Indies but they kept right on calling the people "Indians." And that was a long time ago. What's our excuse now?

I always use the (factually) correct term "Native American," but our laws, for example, still use the wrong term. Makes us look stupid and/or racist to me. And that leaves aside the whole sport nickname ridiculousness.

18 monkeypants   ~  Dec 19, 2012 8:56 pm

[17[ And that was a long time ago. What's our excuse now?

That it was long time ago, so long that it is silly to argue about the misnomer. After five centuries that has become the name. There are plenty of examples throughout history of incorrect and/or inaccurate names sticking and, over time, becoming the accepted term.

And anyway, it's not like "India" is a native term for the subcontinent of south Asia. That term is itself a western imposition.

19 Bruce Markusen   ~  Dec 19, 2012 8:58 pm

As someone who works in the museum field, we've been taught that "Native Americans" and "Indians" are both acceptable and pretty much interchangeable terms. The Thaw Gallery at Cooperstown's Fenimore Art Museum is regularly referred as the museum's "American Indian Wing."

20 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Dec 20, 2012 12:24 am

[18] None of which changes the fact that it's ridiculous. It's incredbily annoying to have to explain to people that my West 'Indian' born mother's family actually came from a place called 'India', that has nothing to do with Pocohontas. It's always irrtating how so many of us non-white folks are lumped together..but that's an argument for another blog!

21 monkeypants   ~  Dec 20, 2012 1:19 am

[20] Nearly all proper names, especially for nations and ethnic monikers, are ridiculous, because they are often relics of long ago historical processes and, yes, errors. That's why Calabria today is on a different side of Italy than it used to be, or why the name Canada derives from a mistaken understanding of a now extinct Iroquoian dialect's word for village, or why Americans commonly refers to people from the United States but not other nations in North or South America, or why there is a region in France called Brittany, or how the Pennsylvania Dutch are actually not descended from the Dutch but from Germans (Deutsch)---though of course Dutch and Deutsch are etymologically and historically related words, so on.

It may be irritating to have to explain to people the difference between India and west Indian (and Indiana for that matter), but that is a problem more with the ignorance of the audience than with the names themselves, which are (after all) simply monikers that have developed over time. Like I said, Native Americans have been known as "Indians" now for 500 years. At this point, the only people confused by the name are those who are grossly ignorant or willfully obtuse.

22 Boatzilla   ~  Dec 20, 2012 1:57 am

[21] I guess I'm late to this party, but I like what you wrote, Monkey. However, "Native American" is, in fact, also a misnomer unless it includes us. I am a Native American and I bet most of you gays and gals on the Banter are, too.

Now, it's true I have Injun blood (I'm allowed to say that), about a 16th of me is Blackfoot. But the fact remains, I am a Native American. My father, his father, his father, his father, and his father, etc. where born in "America," going back to Henry Boateman the first "traveler" who arrived in 1672, before there was a USA.

But you don't have to have roots that deep to be a "Native American." The term is ridiculous IMHO, and a worse misnomer than Indian, which has been in use much longer and that's what make a name a name.

23 monkeypants   ~  Dec 20, 2012 2:07 am

[22] However, "Native American" is, in fact, also a misnomer unless it includes us.

Yep.

24 Boatzilla   ~  Dec 20, 2012 2:27 am

[23] And it designates between my daughter and I. She holds a U.S. passport, but she was born in Japan. American, but not native.

25 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Dec 20, 2012 6:10 am

[22][23] Strongly disagree.
[24] Passports don't make you something. I can get a Japanese passport but never in a million years would be considered 'Japanese' (as you know, of course..)
Call it Native or Indigenous, whatever. But 'Indians', even if it IS used by their community, is really kind of absurd.

26 Boatzilla   ~  Dec 20, 2012 8:46 am

[25] She is an American. No two ways about it.

However, Native "Americans" have never felt the slightest bit American, nor do they embrace the concept of "America" as a country. I can't see how that name makes any sense from their perspective.

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