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.
LOL
Exactly!
Yeah! What you said! Go Jays!
Eliminate all Indian reservations. Created by Democrats as another plantations.
Assimulate or form a baseball team.
A peek into the future the Left wishes on America.
Yeah we been too the moon you don’t t even have arm in low eart orbit
Stupid; also inane. Mindless PC. Nothing derogatory about those words.
My dad had a 53 Chief, he let me ride it one time, in the yard. I still really like them..
I have never had a motorcycle and I’m probably too old for one now. But what a beautiful machine!
The pussies just keep outing themselves.
They won’t fire Howarth. He is a long standing broadcaster for the Blue Jays going back to the early 1980s. He probably has the longest association with the team of anyone. No one else is close. He is also originally American although now lives locally in the Toronto area. I am pretty sure during the 1992 World Series broadcast he called the Atlanta Braves exactly that. The Rogers group which owns the Jays is a liberal run cabal so that is another reason they would never fire him over this.
What a dweeb.
Anyway, they need to change the rule for ground rule doubles, umpire decides if the runner from first would score if it stayed in play or not, or something.
INDIANS threatening to go up 3-0.
I think Kluber should go in game 5 when he will be at his best.
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