The departure of Chief Wahoo is a rather major and important talking point in Cleveland sports and likely will be for some time. Once known as the Cleveland Naps, a name change was instituted to "Indians" in 1915 as a way to honor former player Louis Sockalexis (1887-1899) of the then Cleveland Spiders.

Sockalexis is thought to be the first person of American Indian descent to play Major League Baseball, a rather important milestone that has all but been lost in Indians and MLB history. What was meant as an honor is now viewed as disrespect by some American Indians. Some things from 1915, as you might know, don't age well, like boxing and fascism. When the time comes, our society amends old ideas to better suit our world today.

Baseball is unique it that it is the oldest major American sport with an extremely well-kept history. The history of the game is incredibly important to its fans as well as those in charge of the future. As a result, baseball is often slow to change. Whether it be game speed or useless statistics, baseball is deeply set in its ways. So it should come as no surprise that the Cleveland Indians moving on from Chief Wahoo would be met with considerable resistance.

The key difference in the case of Wahoo is that his face will change nothing about the sport. Whatever the logo becomes, it will not affect the number of runs scored nor the skill of the players on the field. Wahoo represents a now common divide between people who view him as racist and an outdated juxtaposed with those who see this country as soft and greatly cherish Wahoo's long history as a member of the Cleveland community. It seems a new variant of this debate arises every day. Baseball is not exempt from this controversy.

It's good practice to put yourself in another's shoes. Empathy is an emotion that humans often take for granted. The ability to picture yourself experiencing what someone else may be going through is an incredibly useful and unique tool that we have created for our species. But in truth, it is impossible to truly grasp how someone else may see the world you both live in. Anyone can look at a situation and think they would respond in some way, but you can't ever fully view the world through someone else's eyes if their life has been different from yours since the moment both of you were born. I try to make a habit to have an opinion on major political issues because I believe it is my duty as an American citizen.

Despite that, I don't believe I have the right to tell an American Indian how they should view Chief Wahoo the same way I don't believe I have the right to tell a woman what she should do with her body. I understand the loyalty many feel towards Wahoo, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't miss his smiling face. But the way I look at this, I wouldn't want someone to take parts of my appearance I take pride in, accentuate them in a cartoony way that implies a joke has been made, and then watch them make a profit off my likeness. Nor do I have the right to tell someone else how their own caricature should make them feel.

It should also be said, that anyone who views this change as an example of our world becoming too "sensitive" or "soft," you're discrediting yourself. I share some of those same feelings about many things in today's world but changing a logo because of its perceived racial insensitivity is as weak of an argument as I have seen. People see the word "offended" and immediately throw out "snowflake." There is no thought about how some situations are different than another, like a reflex. As I said before, a logo isn't going to change the game. Its old and outdated (like much of baseball) but the players aren't going to stop competing. The best players will still play. There will still be winners and losers and trophies and confetti. And you can bet the world will be a better place tomorrow because of it all.

From here, I think several things could be done to make everyone a little happier. An upgrade of the primary "C" logo is necessary and many people would like to see it incorporate the team's history in some way. A feather laid across the center of the C seems to be a universally liked solution, a design made by GVartwork. I think it would also be a great show of faith in regards to the team's history if the Indians decided to elect Sockalexis to their ring of honor alongside club greats like Thome, Doby, and Feller. If he was worth having the club named after his race, he should be worthy of being remembered in the club's museum. That would show the club has not forgotten where its name came from in a way that is more common in celebrating an important player from the old days of the game. All in all, baseball won't be leaving Cleveland nor will the game itself change. Sounds like a good deal