I’ve been bouncing around this Cleveland Indians thing since the Wahoo controversy reignited just before opening day. At one point I suggested to someone that team management should have a contest inviting people to come up with a new team name and logo. I tried to think of something that was uniquely Cleveland and considered several names.
The Cleveland Eries? Nah. Sounds like something out of Halloween, after the baseball season’s over.
The Cleveland Lakers? The Laker’s name is already taken.
The Cleveland Burning Rivers? No way we want to be reminded of that disaster.
Then I remembered the Falcons which perch on the Terminal Tower – itself a tried & true symbol of Cleveland. The “Falcons” name is already taken by the Atlanta football team although I don’t know if it’s against the rules or would be confusing to have two teams with the same name even though they’re different sports.
Technically, the birds at the Terminal Tower are Peregrine Falcons, which is one of many types of Falcons. What I like about the Peregrine name is it’s derived from the Latin term Peregrinus, originally meaning "one from abroad", that is, a foreigner, traveler, or pilgrim. Well, our Cleveland is home to many peoples from many lands. So the name itself is a salute to the diversity that most of us except types like those who sing Chief Wahoo’s praises hold dear.
So here is my suggestion for a Cleveland’s new baseball team:
The Cleveland Peregrines
Mascot: Boomer the falcon
Uniform: Blue and gray with variations for home & away games.
Logo: A fierce Peregrine Falcon in profile.
My fellow Clevelanders: It's time to put this embarrassing chapter in Cleveland's history to rest. It's time to rebrand the Cleveland Indians as the Cleveland Peregrines.
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