Warning: Devil not included.
With Thursday's word from Tampa that the city's MLB "franchise" has now officially renounced the surname "Devil" from the teams nickname and is now going to be known simply as simply the Rays.
I'm sure some of our Nation's finest tree huggers out there nodding in approval and saying "Hey man, it's no big deal. Kentucky Fried Chicken went through the same thing when they went to KFC. Did the mf'n Colonel bitch a storm about it man? Besides, it's just not cool for the word 'devil' to belong on a sports team's name man. It's just that Devil Rays was a lil harsh if you ask me…anyone want to go to White Castle?"
Oh really? Well if it's war you want, then its war you are gonna get hippies.
Indians fans, or most importantly fans of Chief Wahoo, you should be very concerned with the latest developments from the Sunshine state. At first glance, it's easy to think this isn't like some of America's colleges changing school nicknames or mascots such as Illinois dropping their mascot (and Chief Illiniwek), St. John's going from "Redmen" to "Redstorm," and even Syracuse going from Orangemen to just the plain ol' Orange (who the fuck did they offend?). After all, these schools rely on subsidies and donations so resistance is often futile right? Well…not so fast.
However, for the first time, a professional sports franchise has actually given in to the pressure for a name change just for the pure sake of political correctness. Unfortunately for fans of the old Devil Rays name, their list of enemies was long. Ranging from the surviving family of Steve Irwin, to traumatized Evangelical trick-or-treaters, to even Lucifer himself who is just doesn't even want to be associated with a team that breaks out the champagne in celebration just because they avoided a last place finish (2004). The weirdest part about this name change is that it is over fear of a fictional character that is as likely to appear anytime soon in the city of Tampa as the Easter Bunny himself.
For fans of the beloved Chief Wahoo, right now they must feel a similar fear as the remaining European aristocracy felt amidst both the French and American revolutions of centuries ago. Let's just hope Wahoo isn't next in line for the guillotine. Indians (along with Redskins while we are here), after all, aren't fictional characters but are actually real people and that may be enough to inspire a legitimized logo/nickname revolution on the pro circuit. Thanks to the Rays, the first crack in the wall has been formed. Will the rest of the wall soon crumble?
Read the complete post at http://kidcleveland.blogspot.com/2007/11/no-more-devil-in-rays-wahoo-next.html