Editor's note: Reports on July 16 note that the Edmonton CFL team will drop its racist nickname.
The Washington NFL team will have a new nickname, the first change to the team nickname since 1933. The R-word finally will be gone.
The Atlanta MLB team sent out an e-mail to season ticket holders Sunday saying the nickname would stay but would reevaluate the "tomahawk chop" chant. I was at a MLB game in Atlanta many years ago; that sound will haunt me for the rest of my life.
The Chicago NHL team also said its nickname will not be changed. Their rationale is they are honouring Black Hawk of Illinois' Sac & Fox Nation (they aren't) and they will expand awareness. Difficult to expand awareness when you hardly show any awareness now. The logo is the worst.
The Edmonton CFL team should change its nickname.
CanadianCrossing.com has a strict policy to not use the sports team nicknames that are offensive or demeaning. This includes the Atlanta MLB team, the Cleveland MLB team, the Edmonton CFL team, and the Chicago NHL team.
When the Washington NFL team came to Toronto to play the Buffalo Bills in 2011, we avoided the nickname.
The Esks is already a part of the team moniker even if we know what that is short for saying. Our suggestion is to switch one letter and be the Edmonton Elks. The Elks nickname was used by the Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club for the 1922 season. Unlike the Washington NFL team, no need to change the Edmonton logo.
The elk is a dominant animal in that part of Alberta and is definitely part of the eating experience in Alberta.
The Edmonton CFL team issue is not at the top of the worst of the nicknames. The Washington nickname is at the top of the list. Team founder George Preston Marshall renamed the Boston team (the team shared the nickname with the NL team at that point, the same team that is now in Atlanta) the dreaded R-word in 1933 and moved the team to D.C. in 1937.
High school and university nicknames have been easier to change with alumni having more clout than season ticket holders. McGill University in Montréal changed its derogatory nickname to the Team for the previous athletic season and a new nickname will be announced soon.
Longtime Toronto Blue Jays radio announcer Jerry Howarth went out of his way to not say the Cleveland MLB team nickname, a difficulty especially during the 2016 American League Championship Series.
Some white people have argued that the Vancouver Canucks, Minnesota Vikings, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are also problematic. Canucks is slang for Canadians. Generally, this falls in the Montréal Canadiens category. Not the greatest nickname but not so much as to be offensive or demeaning. The orca whale that is in the logo could be a future nickname switch.
The nicknames tied to native people are more hurtful because of how society treated them then and now. If all the offensive nicknames against indigenous people were removed, logos and all, then we can think about the Vikings.
2019 CFL Week 16 preview
Australian comic Jim Jeffries took on the topic last fall on the The Jim Jeffries Show on Comedy Central in the United States and CTV Comedy Channel in Canada.
We posted the video as well. Jeffries talks to Edmonton CFL fans and actual Inuit people in the segment.
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The CFL is about diversity. When the NFL went out of their way not to have black quarterbacks, the CFL welcomed them. Warren Moon is the most famous example but not the only one.
The Michael Sam story didn't last long in Montréal but not because of bigotry.
The Edmonton team said last week they would be "accelerating our ongoing process of review" following calls by sponsors. That includes longtime sponsor Belair Direct, one of the team's 13 premier partners, saying its use of the derogatory nickname is no longer appropriate.
We would love to write the story of the Edmonton CFL team changing to the Elks or whatever nickname they choose.
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Would be really nice to watch a CFL game and have the announcer say, "The Elks look like they recovered the fumble." The current nickname is a fumble. Recover the fumble.
photo credit: Edmonton CFL team
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