Cleveland Indians to become the Cleveland Guardians

snowmanny

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Dec 8, 2005
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I wish there was at least a basic Cleveland quiz people were required to take before they could make their dumb insults. The Cuyahoga River caught fire, not Lake Erie. Also, for future reference, the "Mistake by the Lake" referred to Cleveland Stadium, which has been gone for more than a quarter of a century. FirstEnergy Stadium, where the Browns play, is located there. The Indians play over a mile away from the lake (or ocean if you're Oil Can Boyd).
So you’re saying they should be called the Ocean Fire?
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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Feb 22, 2004
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Hell, we root for the Red Sox, which only gained name greatness because of decades of history. Guardians is perfectly fine
Team names become respectable over time. Guardians feels bland/generic but so far as these things go I tend to think all you want to do is be better than the Wizards, Nets, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim garbage tier.
 

kartvelo

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Why not use the profile of one of the statue's heads as the logo instead of the late-night-cartoonish flying G-ball? Creates possibilities for the mascot as well.
42894
 

54thMA

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Will they allow Indians gear in the park next season? Are they continuing to sell it?
The gear at the stadium pro shop and stores in the area is now 90% off.

The screen printers who make the gear have already changed "In" to "Guar" and have fired up the machines.

The guy who bangs away on the war drum for 9 innings in the bleachers is now out of a job however.

I'm curious what the relatives of Louis Sockalexis think of the name change; if they are happy with it, that's all that matters,.
 

simplicio

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"we are unable to comment at this time" means the lawyers are hashing out money, so yeah, they googled.
 

bankshot1

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Sounds like a tangled web for lawyers to get unstuck.

So is Spyders still in play?

Somewhere on a banked track Joan Weston is laughing and elbowing someone in the mouth..
 
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Lose Remerswaal

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Why would the Cleveland Baseball Team announce this before it’s hashed out?
Cause they have enough resources to not be very bothered about stepping on the toes of a roller derby team, likely.
or the discussion is down to “20 free season tickets” or “18 free season tickets and 200 t shirts”
 

Rovin Romine

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I think the roller-derby's team's graphics are better than Cleveland-Baseball-Club-Team-Guys.

or the discussion is down to “20 free season tickets” or “18 free season tickets and 200 t shirts”
Bit pricer than that I'd expect. Baseball-guys will want the name, domain name, and likely for the derby team to change their name as well, so there aren't marketing issues.

Plus, you don't want to mess with them.

 

barbed wire Bob

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I think the roller-derby's team's graphics are better than Cleveland-Baseball-Club-Team-Guys.



Bit pricer than that I'd expect. Baseball-guys will want the name, domain name, and likely for the derby team to change their name as well, so there aren't marketing issues.

Plus, you don't want to mess with them.

Wasn’t this Drew Carey episode?
 

tims4wins

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I know Tom Hanks spent some time in Cleveland, but couldn't they actually get someone who was born and raised there to do the voice over??
 

Deweys New Stance

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They should put one statute on each foul line - they can "guard" the foul lines. Besides, it will be a fun obstacle for the players to navigate!
Like the centerfield monuments at the original Yankee Stadium. I vote that they should put a Guardian head on top of each foul pole.

The Guardian statues are Art Deco gems, and having learned of the history I also think they made a wise choice. More importantly, they're finally getting rid of the old name, and it sounds like Cleveland fans are generally in favor of this new choice. I would have changed the blue and red color scheme, maybe by dropping the red and adding bronze or old gold as the accent color.

Paul Lukas' Uniwatch site had highlighted this site several months back which was advocating for the name Municipals. I prefer Guardians but I think that would have been a decent choice as well, and I liked that the hat logo was a nod to the old Negro League Cleveland Buckeyes:
1627334429059.png

FWIW, this was their argument against the name Guardians, which strikes me as far too dismissive of the history:
People keep saying because the last five letters in “Guardians” are the same as the last five in “Indians,” it will make for an easy transition. Are we really concerned the people of Cleveland can’t learn a new name without the help of “d-i-a-n-s?” There’s no doubt that the Guardians of Traffic statues on the Lorain-Carnegie bridge are great pieces of public art, but do they really represent the city and its people? When the country finds out the team named itself after four statues on a vehicle bridge representing different kinds of traffic they will rightfully think, “Damn, that town’s got nothing, huh?” On top of that, it’s not even unique. The XFL has a team called the New York Guardians, and if you think that sounds like a perfect name for a team in the XFL, you’re correct. Not to mention it’s the new name for members of the Space Force, whatever that is.
 
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soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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View: https://twitter.com/JoshGerben/status/1421486146673123333
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@FantasyD1Wrestl @SportsLawLust @Indians The roller derby team is claiming common law rights going back multiple years. If the claims prove out, they could be used to show an earlier priority date than the April date the baseball team has acquired.

View: https://twitter.com/JoshGerben/status/1421500156663537666


@CamRocha_ @sportsarenice @Indians Yes, but, the common law rights claimed in this application would predate the April filing. This could create a problem for the MLB team.

View: https://twitter.com/JoshGerben/status/1421503861785772034

I can’t believe mlb royally botched this.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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I expect they negotiated a figure awhile ago and now this is a great marketing opportunity for the roller team that perhaps the baseball team is participating with in some way.
The only reason I could see the baseball team agreeing to participate in any way would be if it helped move the negotiations along because from the outside they look quite inept.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Once they decided on the Guardians name they basically had two options: do what they've done or let all the renaming news leak out through legal proceedings. I think that would look more inept.
 

voidfunkt

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I kind of think the flying baseball logo looks awesome, very unique... kinda quirky. There's a lot of room to play with it too if they want to drop the 3D styling and go for something more classic.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

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Bumping this for the news that the roller derby team has filed suit in federal court to block the team formerly known as the Indians from using Guardians. I think if the Cleveland Baseball Team opened up their wallets a bit more this would have been settled but that would be too easy.

Two months after the baseball team filed its trademark application, it contacted the roller derby team to inform it of the name change, according to the lawsuit. As the two teams corresponded, Gary Sweatt, the owner of Guardians Roller Derby, offered to sell the rights to his team’s names, including the website, and invited the M.L.B. team to make an offer.

In June, the M.L.B. team offered to pay “a nominal amount,” the lawsuit said. Mr. Sweatt rejected the offer and countered with another proposal, which the baseball team did not address, according to the lawsuit. In July, the baseball team announced its name change with a theatrical video posted online that was narrated by Tom Hanks.
Also amused by this line:
In the lawsuit, the roller derby team said it was “inconceivable that an organization worth more than $1B and estimated to have annual revenues of $290M+ would not have at least performed a Google search for ‘Cleveland Guardians’ before settling on the name.”