CLEVELAND — The name change from the Cleveland Indians to Guardians wasn't done lightly or on a whim. The franchise conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with fans and surveyed more than 40,000 of them for their thoughts and feelings on the matter. Here's what some Clevelanders had to say.
Scott Dantio: "They could've called it whatever. I wasn't going to like it because I'm a die hard season ticket holder for 30 years—it's the Indians and it always will be—and just like this is Jacob's Field, it's not Progressive Field."
Max Lew: "Being an Asian American, I empathize with Native American peoples, and I don't know, I just thought the change was very impactful."
Kelly Colvin: "I'm a history person, So I think it's heartbreaking really and I know it's the way of world, everythings gotta be just so, But I think that it would be nice to keep history."
Wyatt Denuit: "I feel that Chief Wahoo was kind of racist, but i feel like Indians isn't racist in my opinion. I feel it's more supporting them, instead of saying we don't like them."
Mark Alexander: "The name change is long overdue, but people are obviously emotional about it that they won't accept another viewpoint that the name was based on fallacy in the first place and the subjection of the group."
John Criscione: "I think it's good, I think it's a good switch. I liked the logo, how it looked. It looked sort of like the classic Indians logo so I think it's a good switch."
Adam Harris: "It's something that people believe in, people love the Indians, they came for the Cleveland Indians, they love it, it's Tribe town. I just think it's just wrong that they changed it."
As you can see, die-hard fans have some mixed emotions about the matter. The history of Cleveland will always have the name Indians attached to it. But the future at the corner of Ontario Street and Carnegie Avenue is all about the Guardians.
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