Eskimos: change your name

[Hambone]

Do you remember of cases in which a city had two sports teams with the same nickname?
I easily remember that for the city of St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, both their NFL football team and their MLB baseball team were named the Cardinals.

Pittsburgh almost had the trifecta. The MLB Pittsburgh Pirates have existed since 1887. From 1925 to 1930 the NHL franchise in Pittsburgh was also known as the Pirates. In 1930 they relocated to Philadelphia and were known as the Quakers. They lasted only 1 year in Philly before getting permission to temporarily cease operations hoping to re-establish in either Philly or Pittsburgh. The Great Depression killed any hopes of that. 3 years after the NHL Pirates left for Philly a new NFL team was formed, also called the Pittsburgh Pirates. They would play as the Pirates until changing their nickname to Steelers in 1940.

In the case of the Cardinals the NFL team started out as the Chicago Cardinals in 1920. 40 years later they took the team and Cardinal name to St. Louis. Cities with 2 teams in different sports carrying the same nickname was commonplace in the 20s and 30s. Around 1924 the Ottawa Rough Riders changed their name to Ottawa Senators for about 3 years. The hockey Ottawa Senators had been around since 1883 and played in the NHL until moving to St. Louis in 1934.

In the early years of the NFL there were several franchises who adopted the names of MLB teams in the same city. Some didn't last long but the Boston Braves, New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants all were teams in the NFL at the same time as teams of the same name played in MLB. The MLB Giants and NY Football Giants co-existed in New York from 1925 when the latter were formed until 1957 when the baseball Giants moved to San Francisco.

Sidenote the NFL Boston Braves started in 1933 playing in the same park as the MLB Boston Braves. The next year they moved to Fenway, home of the Red Sox. Keeping the Native American theme and I assume recognizing their stadium mates the Red Sox they changed their name to Boston Redskins. In 1937 they moved to Washington.

[Sir Purrcival]

Since the term Quaker's has been mentioned. That too was a derogatory name at it's inception. Used as a reference to the religious group who "tremble before god" by those that would typically persecute them. They refer to themselves as "Friends" although they have come to embrace the term Quakers as well. A word is what you make of it.

[South Pender]

Edmonton reported to be changing team name:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... ange-name/

[Robbie]

Do you remember of cases in which a city had two sports teams with the same nickname?
I easily remember that for the city of St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, both their NFL football team and their MLB baseball team were named the Cardinals.

Pittsburgh almost had the trifecta. The MLB Pittsburgh Pirates have existed since 1887. From 1925 to 1930 the NHL franchise in Pittsburgh was also known as the Pirates. In 1930 they relocated to Philadelphia and were known as the Quakers. They lasted only 1 year in Philly before getting permission to temporarily cease operations hoping to re-establish in either Philly or Pittsburgh. The Great Depression killed any hopes of that. 3 years after the NHL Pirates left for Philly a new NFL team was formed, also called the Pittsburgh Pirates. They would play as the Pirates until changing their nickname to Steelers in 1940.

In the case of the Cardinals the NFL team started out as the Chicago Cardinals in 1920. 40 years later they took the team and Cardinal name to St. Louis. Cities with 2 teams in different sports carrying the same nickname was commonplace in the 20s and 30s. Around 1924 the Ottawa Rough Riders changed their name to Ottawa Senators for about 3 years. The hockey Ottawa Senators had been around since 1883 and played in the NHL until moving to St. Louis in 1934.

In the early years of the NFL there were several franchises who adopted the names of MLB teams in the same city. Some didn't last long but the Boston Braves, New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants all were teams in the NFL at the same time as teams of the same name played in MLB. The MLB Giants and NY Football Giants co-existed in New York from 1925 when the latter were formed until 1957 when the baseball Giants moved to San Francisco.

Sidenote the NFL Boston Braves started in 1933 playing in the same park as the MLB Boston Braves. The next year they moved to Fenway, home of the Red Sox. Keeping the Native American theme and I assume recognizing their stadium mates the Red Sox they changed their name to Boston Redskins. In 1937 they moved to Washington.

Very well written, Hambone.

I wonder why in 1994 the NFL made an injunction in disallowing the use of the Baltimore CFL Colts even though they were clearly two different professional sports leagues with the NFL Indianapolis Colts similar to how both BC and Detroit uses the Lions. I suppose there was too much confusion given the fact that they were both American cities close to each other and both are pro football teams.

[Hambone]

I wonder why in 1994 the NFL made an injunction in disallowing the use of the Baltimore CFL Colts even though they were clearly two different professional sports leagues with the NFL Indianapolis Colts similar to how both BC and Detroit uses the Lions. I suppose there was too much confusion given the fact that they were both American cities close to each other and both are pro football teams.

Maybe something to do with trademarks or copyrights? The NFL possibly still had the trademark or copyright to the name Baltimore Colts.

[cms22]

i would bet that if you asked the average inuit or native indian that they don't care negatively about this. in fact the ones i know i think would be positive (and this includes people very very negative on residential school past)

i believe the washington post did such a survey with those results..... and a cal-berkeley professor did a similar survey and they did care about it. but it seemed like she just included natives likely to be offended. OTOH, washington post might have loose inclusion.

honestly, if it weren't for the eskimos, not sure i would ever give the inuit any thought whatsoever. not true of native indians.

i personally think many of the names/logos are good and that native indians like them... but some nativists and all white liberal activists don't like them.

just my opinion....... change it to inuit, work with that community on logos/info and cut them in on a small portion of the merchandise revenue.

[Hambone]

At the end of the day the "controversy" would never go away. The supposed results of consultation the Esks held with the Inuit apparently showed fairly strong objection to use of the name in the eastern Arctic to maybe 25% strongly objecting in the western arctic. Overall it was about 50/50 and that was 2 years ago. I think the same consultation today would see the support numbers drop across all groups due to the scrutiny such things are under now. The conclusion the Esks came out with out of the last consulation may have amounted to "well they didn't say no,....."

Another reality the Eskimos would have to face is that with every team or college that opts to change their name to something more PC the scrutiny and pressure for those who don't will only intensify.

[maxlion]

If I was trying to sell a product and even 5% of a particular market found the product name to be offensive, I would consider changing it. There has been more than enough evidence available around for years, if not decades, that a significant number of Inuit don't like this name and don't like being called Eskimos.

The label Eskimo was applied to Canada's northern people by a colonizing power without their input. The football team took commercial advantage and treated their identity like a novelty or gimmick. There are more important issues in the world, to be sure, but I think the name is disrespectful and, personally, I would be embarrassed to be associated with a team with this name.

Sometimes people only do the right thing when they are forced to. In any case, good for Edmonton for finally making the right choice.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Do you remember of cases in which a city had two sports teams with the same nickname?
I easily remember that for the city of St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, both their NFL football team and their MLB baseball team were named the Cardinals.

Until some time in the 1960s there was a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team. And sometime around then there was also a semi-professional lacrosse team with the same name.

Montreal had a Junior Canadiens hockey team.

[Sir Purrcival]

How about the Edmonton Rough Riders?
We have to have the Roughriders vs Rough Riders rivalry. Only in Canada you say.

[BC 1988]

I would have laughed at the idea of EDM "Empire", since it's past use seemed to be more of a disparaging term (like the EE=Evil Empire).
https://www.esks.com/join-the-empire/
No idea how long that has been up, but it sure looks like they want everyone to embrace the Empire (Evil or otherwise).

https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdm ... ng&tab=reg
EDIT: Ok it looks like they have been getting ready for this since March 2018--no doubt in reaction to the ongoing demands to drop the offending nickname.

https://3downnation.com/2020/07/22/edmo ... -our-name/
Turns out he agrees with me. I wonder who had the bright idea back in 2018 to go to all that trouble/expense to launch the Empire. Maybe polling after the fact turned up the unforeseen negatives--probably the Colonialist connotations of the word. I remember seeing an ad sometime last season on TSN during an EDM home game and they were employing the word Empire in the ad. At the time I thought "you can't be serious". The playful moniker Evil Empire goes back at least as far as 1983, when Ronald Reagan used it (and echoes Star Wars).

It will be interesting to see if they totally eliminate "Empire" along with "Eskimos".

[Robbie]

Washington Redskins is now officially called Washington Football Team until an appropriate new name is made.

Many people may not know that they actually had a history of team logos:


And now, the logo is by far the plainest but at the same time, the least controversial:

[DanoT]

Seattle's NHL team is going to be called Kraken. Krack for short, I guess. Kinda fits in with the consumption practices of Chaz/Chop crowd along with Seattle's large homeless crowd.

And then there will be the opposing fans chanting "Krack is Crap" or "Hey Krack, Blow it Out Your Nose".

Don't these marketing geniuses ever think things thru and ponder unintended consequences?

[B.C.FAN]

Seattle's NHL team is going to be called Kraken. Krack for short, I guess. Kinda fits in with the consumption practices of Chaz/Chop crowd along with Seattle's large homeless crowd.

And then there will be the opposing fans chanting "Krack is Crap" or "Hey Krack, Blow it Out Your Nose".

Don't these marketing geniuses ever think things thru and ponder unintended consequences?

The arena will be known as the Krakhouse and fans will be known as Krakheads. Not something I would like but perhaps Seattle fans will embrace it.

[Hambone]

Seattle's NHL team is going to be called Kraken. Krack for short, I guess. Kinda fits in with the consumption practices of Chaz/Chop crowd along with Seattle's large homeless crowd.

And then there will be the opposing fans chanting "Krack is Crap" or "Hey Krack, Blow it Out Your Nose".

Don't these marketing geniuses ever think things thru and ponder unintended consequences?

That's right up there with rec hockey teams calling themselves the Nads. Go Nads go. A team out of Port Alice called themselves Nads for that reason. I have heard of this Kraken concept for Seattle but for the life of me have no idea why it's getting traction. I don't know if there's some sort of historical or regional background to it.