On a busy sports day, there was one clear loser: any team with an offensive mascot.
Monday was officially Columbus Day, but it’s less renowned counterpart – Indigenous Peoples Day – came out the real winner.
Indigenous Peoples Day has been gaining traction in recent years with many cities choosing to celebrate the holiday in lieu of Columbus Day due to accounts of Christopher Columbus’ role in the genocide of Native Americans.
The new celebration wants to honor and highlight the native communities that have always been here and suffered under Columbus.
On Monday, three teams with mascots or traditions that mock Native Americans – the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves and Washington Redskins – all lost their games today with the two MLB teams being eliminated from the postseason.
See ya Indians
The Indians started the day’s losing streak off by getting swept by the Houston Astros. It was a must win game for them and they did anything but.
They had a 2-1 lead in the sixth and ended up losing 11-3. Not everyone was upset about Cleveland’s season-ending loss though – remember they’re a team whose mascot is an Indian caricature.
The most worrying and vitriolic hate mail I ever got was after I wrote this piece about Chief Wahoo in 2016. I mean it even more emphatically now. https://t.co/EnjsXe1PKj
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) October 8, 2018
The irony did not escape most people today.
Monday’s game was the last we’ll see of the Chief Wahoo logo. Earlier this year the MLB deemed it “no longer appropriate” and Cleveland had already been phasing it out in favor of their block C.
Luckily, they brought out the Wahoo logo this postseason in time to get swept!
Bye, bye Braves
The Braves’ Tomahawk chop are not getting phased out just yet. The team fared slightly better than the Indians though losing by four instead of eight runs because unfortunately for them more tomahawk cheers does not mean more runs scored.
Still, some were just happy that they lost. Fans had been rooting for the Dodgers to win purely because of the insensitive cheer.
The Dodgers came through for them with a 6-2 win to take the series 3-1. What a way to kick off Indigenous Peoples Day in LA which voted to replace Columbus Day last year.
Even when some pointed out how denigrating and insensitive the cheer is, it didn’t stop fans from rallying to support their team.
Sports are often likened to war. Braves are warriors, tomahawk is an amazing weapon.. we cheer-on our team not to mock native culture but to honor their spirit. What better mascot to denote the gauntlet that is sports. #GoBraves ahhhhh, ahh , ahhh uhh ahhh #ChopOn @Braves
— Original CriYolo (@AnthonyLiuzza) October 8, 2018
The combination of the Braves and Indians losing was enough to make even seasoned sportswriters celebrate.
The tomahawk chop has been silenced for the season and chief Wahoo has been bounced from baseball for good. #TodayWasAGoodDay
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) October 9, 2018
The Cleveland Indians, who’s logo is a red-faced Native American chief, and the Atlanta Braves, who do the Tomahawk Chop every 5 seconds, were both eliminated from the postseason on the first ever Indigenous Peoples Day. pic.twitter.com/DW61fzvRDs
— Rich MacLeod (@richmacleod) October 9, 2018
Washed out Redskins
To round out the trifecta of losers on Indigenous Peoples Day, one of the NFL’s most controversial teams went down on Monday to history-making Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.
