Posted on 10/11/2016 4:04:40 PM PDT by rickmichaels
Blue Jays broadcaster Jerry Howarth won’t be using the word “Indians” when he calls the American League Championship Series between Toronto and Cleveland, and he says he hasn’t uttered the team nickname on the air for nearly 25 years.
Howarth told The Fan 590 on Tuesday that he stopped using team names like Indians and Braves and terms such as tomahawk chop and powwow on the mound after receiving a letter from an aboriginal fan after Toronto defeated Atlanta in the 1992 World Series.
He called it “one of the best fan letters I’ve ever received.”
“He said ‘Jerry, I appreciate your work but in the World Series, it was so offensive to have the tomahawk chop and to have people talk about the powwows on the mound and then the Cleveland Indians logo and the Washington Redskins.’ He just wrote it in such a loving, kind way. He said ‘I would really appreciate it if you would think about what you say with those teams.”’
Howarth wrote the man back, promising he would stop using Indians, Braves and other offensive words.
“I haven’t from that point on,” he said.
Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell, who hosts “Blue Jays Central,” said he will be following Howarth’s lead.
“Like Jerry Howarth, I will attempt to avoid using the name of Cleveland’s baseball team during our broadcasts,” Campbell tweeted.
The issue was also gaining steam on social media Tuesday, a day after Cleveland beat the Boston Red Sox to advance to the AL championship series against Toronto, with many praising Howarth and using the hashtag notyourmascot.
There have been demonstrations at Cleveland’s home opener every season for decades with protesters calling on the team to change its nickname and abolish the Chief Wahoo logo, an image of a smiling, red-faced character with a feather on his head.
Similar calls have been made for the NFL’s Washington Redskins and CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos to change their nicknames.
The Indians have said they understand there are passionate views about the logo but will keep using it on uniforms and caps.
But Howarth said he has no intention of changing his approach.
“It’s always interesting to see things in black and white but when you get a fan letter from someone who has lived it and breathed it, and said in a very eloquent way ‘It’s just so offensive and we don’t like it’ … it was my way of saying ‘I agree with you and your feelings and that’s how I’m going to honour that and your entire native American culture.”‘
The ALCS starts Friday in Cleveland.
This is just getting to be so silly
I’d fire the guy...in a heartbeat.
GO INDIANS!
Sounds like they held a tribal council in the broadcast booth.
Can he say “the Tribe,” or is that forbidden too?
Um...no.
Gee didn’t know who I would want to win...............Go Indians.
What would he call this?
My, isn’t YouTube a great thing when you can watch MLB, NHL, NFL, and NBA games from peoples’ original videotape collections or taken from ESPN Classic broadcasts? When those sports were more fun and happier things for everyone to enjoy before they became outrageously expensive and overcoached and overdressed and filled with the PC nonsense as shown in the article.
Go Tribe!....Scalp those B-Jays!....OOPS! Not to P/C there was I? HeHeHe.
What a sports idiot.
The Braves had a mascot named Chief Noc-a-homa, but had to let him go because he liked the firewater too much.
Eh? Pale face have panties in wad.
I’d say “Scalp ‘Em”, but that’s FSU’s slogan. Or at least it used to be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.