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The Cleveland Guardians


Blackout Friday

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All the cows here…I was worried to take one on a date thinking they might accidentally kick over a lantern. And I bet it wasn’t even the poor cow, I bet mrs o’Leary was sipping on some whiskey and did it herself!  Anyways..guardians is wack.  Spiders will be amazing when one team chooses it.  Watch the A’s move to Vegas and become the Las Vegas Spiders

Edited by JPR
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Eh, I also would have preferred Spiders.  Would have kept the name a little more low-key, as baseball names have tended to be.  I agree with a previous poster that Guardians evokes a space theme, based on the new Space Force and Guardians of the Galaxy.  
 

But it comes with some tie to the city.  I don’t hate it.  (As a child of the 90s, still hate the team.  So many crushed dreams by those 95-99 Cleveland Indians-turned-Guardians teams.)

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36 minutes ago, MiddleCoastBias said:

Why did sports collectively agree that animals (particularly birds and big cats) are the go-to team name and mascot? Because they're boring and non-offensive.

Kudos to Cleveland for trying something with their identity. You're always going to get those people that are upset when something goes against the grain, even if it plays to the local identity and the area supporting the team likes it.

Hell, look at the mixed reviews and backlash Kannapolis got on their rebrand to the Cannonballers. Local connection but still has broad appeal and a fun mascot.

It's always going to happen that way, and then we'll all get used to it.


With the move, the team announced in February 2019 that it would seek ideas for a new name to be introduced at the same time.[11]The new owners cited their inability to widely market the Intimidator name due its association with Earnhardt, and trademark rights held by his estate. On October 23, 2019, the team unveiled its new identity as the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. Team leadership looked for a name that reflected both the city's heritage and its association with auto racing. "Cannons" was among the most popular suggestions, which was refined into "Cannon Ballers" for a broader appeal. The mascot — a baseball-headed stuntman — has a mustache reminiscent of Earnhardt's.[12][13] A public vote was held to determine the mascot's name, with "Boomer Baller" announced as the winner on January 15, 2020.[14]

 

There’s another Kannapolis connection wikipedia hasn’t picked up on….they were the towel sponsor for a lot of the SALLY League teams in the 1990’s.

 

The Cannon Mills Company was an American textile manufacturing company based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, that mainly produced towels and bed sheets. Founded in 1887 by James William Cannon, by 1914 the company was the largest towel and sheets manufacturer in the world.[1]

Cannon remained family-owned until 1982 when it was sold to Fieldcrest, becoming "Fieldcrest-Cannon". The recently formed company was sold to Pillowtex Corporation in 1997, which went into bankruptcy in July 2003. The remaining Cannon brands were then purchased by the Iconix Brand Group.[2]

Wikipedia.com

 

 

Edited by caulfield12
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48 minutes ago, Quin said:

I'm considering that our team is named after an article of clothing and we only like it now because it's over a century old. Lots of sports names suck and only become good over time. Examples of teams that would be eviscerated if named today:

- Either Sox
- Dodgers
- Knicks
- Rays ("sunshine" version)
- Reds
- Browns, but Orange
- Lakers
- Jazz of Utah Variety (to be fair, they are mocked for this)
- Cubs
- Phillies

These are the ones off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.

I get team names can and will be weird, I embrace that.  This isn't weird fun, this is weird safe, and also weird cheap.  That's why I don't like it at all.   I love Seattle Kracken, I love minor league teams that have fun with it like the Chanclas and Isotopes and stuff like that.  Go big or go home.  Spiders would have been real fun and added a historical context to it as well.

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1 minute ago, Kyyle23 said:

I get team names can and will be weird, I embrace that.  This isn't weird fun, this is weird safe, and also weird cheap.  That's why I don't like it at all.   I love Seattle Kracken, I love minor league teams that have fun with it like the Chanclas and Isotopes and stuff like that.  Go big or go home.  Spiders would have been real fun and added a historical context to it as well.

Rocket City Trash Pandas (Huntsville)…speaking of “Guardians” of the Galaxy, of course Rocket is also the nickname there

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15 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

In reality, anything other than Rockers and Spiders was going to be a fail.  I don't know why they picked a 3rd choice, but eh.

Meanwhile, Cleveland fans (at least on Reddit) are relieved that it was anything other than Rockers or Spiders. They wanted Commodores, but are cool with Guardians as a second option.

 

 

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Just now, Quin said:

Meanwhile, Cleveland fans (at least on Reddit) are relieved that it was anything other than Rockers or Spiders. They wanted Commodores, but are cool with Guardians as a second option.

 

 

Interesting.  To be fair, it is their team and their name, so if they are happy, forget all of the rest of the noise.

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2 hours ago, Blackout Friday said:

This is their new name. Seems odd, but maybe there’s a history or reference I’m not aware of. 

Sounds more like an excuse or very weak attempt to cling to the inguardians. Probably spent more on the marketing firm Intradgedians to come up with this weak name than their on field payroll. There will be a large portion of fans who will cling to the indians or shorten it to 'dians. Spiders would have been a great option, but obviously no indians reference. 

I guess it beats the Custodians, though not IntComedians, with Drew Carey as the logo.

5d228ea2104af.image.jpg?resize=1200,1552

Time for the Chicago Hockey Team to embrace change, in every single aspect of their organIzation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM

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Having designed sports logos and working on a brand new team before I know how difficult the process can be. I think the name is pretty good. I do like the connection to the city once I saw some of the images/statues. I feel like having this name it's weird for 3 out of the 4 marks to feel like throwbacks to the mid-century Indians logo types/ cap marks. Then we get the flying G mark and it's just a Frankenstein of a logo, basically three ideas mashed into one and just doesn't work. If you take out that mark it's a good set. With the guardian statues and their Art Deco style, the identity to me should have focused more on that.

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1 hour ago, Quin said:

Meanwhile, Cleveland fans (at least on Reddit) are relieved that it was anything other than Rockers or Spiders. They wanted Commodores, but are cool with Guardians as a second option.

 

 

Interesting. I would have thought Spiders was popular. Flows well. 
 

not a lot go people seem to know it, but there’s actually an Indy team called the Rockers already, in NC. 

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Just now, Eminor3rd said:

Interesting. I would have thought Spiders was popular. Flows well. 
 

not a lot go people seem to know it, but there’s actually an Indy team called the Rockers already, in NC. 

Spiders - judging by here, r/Baseball, Twitter, and Facebook - was the very, very popular choice by non-Cleveland fans. My friends from Ohio/Cleveland on Facebook joke about the Spiders record / seem indifferent to Guardians. Kyyle's right in that this seems like the safe choice.

After reading that Reddit thread, I got admit, Commodores would have been a pretty baller name: https://www.cleveland.com/letters/2021/01/cleveland-commodores-would-tap-into-powerful-battle-of-lake-erie-history.html

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Just now, Quin said:

Spiders - judging by here, r/Baseball, Twitter, and Facebook - was the very, very popular choice by non-Cleveland fans. My friends from Ohio/Cleveland on Facebook joke about the Spiders record / seem indifferent to Guardians. Kyyle's right in that this seems like the safe choice.

After reading that Reddit thread, I got admit, Commodores would have been a pretty baller name: https://www.cleveland.com/letters/2021/01/cleveland-commodores-would-tap-into-powerful-battle-of-lake-erie-history.html

Yeah there’s way more to lose than to gain when it comes to making a change like this at the MLB level. You’re gonna sell merch regardless because the fanbase is stable. It makes a lot more sense to take a huge risk at the minor league level, where you stand to potentially gain from something viral

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7 minutes ago, Eminor3rd said:

Yeah there’s way more to lose than to gain when it comes to making a change like this at the MLB level. You’re gonna sell merch regardless because the fanbase is stable. It makes a lot more sense to take a huge risk at the minor league level, where you stand to potentially gain from something viral

Yeah, the Staten Island Yankees were able to get away with Pizza Rats rebrand - everyone loved it and you can still get that gear. (except reportedly the Yankees, and that reportedly might be part of why they got dumped). Caulfield mentioned the Rocket City Trash Pandas. I'm debating getting a blue "Ballers" jersey because it looks super clean. My brother owns an "Iron Pugs" shirt because that was a great promo.

No one cares about the Winston-Salem Dash or Fresno Grizzlies (but everyone loves the Fresno Tacos).

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