The Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball organization announced in a press release on Sunday it’s looking to change its team name, as our sister site Hot Air reported on Monday. And, as you might reckon, it has to be something unrelated to Native American culture. This, of course, comes on the heels of the Washington Redskins telling everyone that, until they figure out their team’s new name, they’ll go by the utterly vanilla “Washington Football Team.”

But for anyone paying attention, what happened in Cleveland over the weekend wasn’t a surprise. In fact Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air wrote in 2018 about the Indians starting to move in this wrong direction, when they decided to 86 their longtime mascot, Chief Wahoo.

Chief Wahoo is the latest victim of cancel culture. How could anyone have a problem with this? pic.twitter.com/Pbl60q0ESJ

— Francis Wolf, Dudes Rock PhD (@basebaIIcrank) December 14, 2020

Then in July 2020, as RedState’s own Alex Parker reported, the team began mulling the possibility of losing the name, too. (See:
Foul Bawl? The Cleveland Indians Toss Around a Name Change)

Now, two politicians at the center in the white-hot, national spotlight of the Georgia Senate run-off races have released a joint press release taking a stand against cancel culture in professional sports. Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler don’t hold back in their opposition to the SJW trend potentially spreading to their state’s own MLB franchise, the Atlanta Braves:

Inbox: "Joint Statement From Senators David Perdue And Kelly Loeffler In Opposition To Renaming Atlanta Braves"

— Steven Shepard (@POLITICO_Steve) December 14, 2020

The release, shared via Sen. Loeffler’s Twitter account, began with a preface:

“Statement from @Perduesenate and me on our steadfast opposition to renaming the Atlanta @Braves #gapol #gasen”

Statement from @Perduesenate and me on our steadfast opposition to renaming the Atlanta @Braves. #gapol #gasen pic.twitter.com/L3axKziBri

— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) December 14, 2020

It read:

We adamantly oppose any effort to rename the Atlanta Braves, one of our state’s most storied and successful franchises. Not only are the Braves a Georgia institution — with a history spanning 54 years in Atlanta — they’re an American institution. The Braves’ name honors our nation’s Native American heritage, which should not be erased — and under no circumstances should one of the most celebrated teams in sports cave to the demands of cancel culture and the radical left.

Of course, as readers are likely aware, the movement on the left to rid the sport world of Native American-themed names, mascots, and chants is nothing new. I remember seeing activists protesting against Indian names outside the now-razed Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome stadium in downtown Minneapolis, before Game 1 of the 1991 World Series between the Minnesota Twins and the Braves. It was the first time I’d ever seen what far-left activists looked and sounded like. They were raucous and mean and, frankly, frightening. It’s one thing to read about what the Left has done, in the sanitized texts of a high school textbook, and a whole other thing to see it in person.

Let me leave you with one positive, recent move by a pro sports team: back in July, the Chicago Blackhawks announced they would not be changing their name or mascot.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s voters began taking part in early voting for the special, Senate races Monday, and the president-elect’s appearance Tuesday at a rally for Loeffler and Perdue’s Democrat challengers — Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock — only underlines how crucial these wins will be for Republicans to keep control of the Upper House. Election Day for the much-coveted seats is Tuesday, January 5, 2021.