So Cleveland, Was It Worth It?

Alright so Commissioner Manfred got me all fired up this morning when I read that he said there is no relation between the Indians giving up Chief Wahoo and the MLB giving us the All-Star Game in the same year. I’ve already expressed how bullshit this statement was, but now my question to all of you in Cleveland is, was it worth it?

Let’s first start with what the MLB gave us: All-Star Week. So the general consensus around the league is that the All-Star festivities in Cleveland were absolutely perfect. That’s not hometown bias. That’s not optimism. That’s just a fact.

Literally everything went as well as it could have. First off, the weather was INCREDIBLE the entire time. Not too hot. Not too cold. Zero rain. Just how it always is in Cleveland, right?

So things started off with the Cleveland vs. The World celebrity softball game. Jim Thome was back in town. Travis Hafner hit one out of the entire park. And JR Smith went shirtless. What a start.

Then we had what many people are calling the greatest Home Run Derby EVER. Who could argue with that??

And then last night’s All-Star Game was flawless. CC Sabathia threw out the first pitch. The entire league stood with Carlos Carrasco in his battle with leukemia. The game came down to the wire. And the Indians 5th starter Shane Bieber struck out the side and got MVP. A movie director couldn’t have drawn this up any better.

Toss in the fact that downtown was bumping. Bars and restaurant were making bank. And all of the players and announcers had nothing but great things to say about the city every time they were asked. This could not have been a better weekend for my city, but again: was it worth it?

Now let’s move on to what we had to give up to get this week:

Was it an insensitive logo? Yup. No other way to put it. But there is also absolutely no doubt in my mind that the people of Cleveland that proudly wear it on our chest have zero to do with that insensitivity. We grew up with the logo, we respected it, and we loved it. I’m sure other people rightfully see it differently, but the tradition of that logo meant a lot to me and I felt it was wrongly taken away.

If you’re going to get rid of Chief Wahoo, wipe sports of anything that could be considered controversial. Goodbye Redskins. Goodbye Braves. Goodbye Seminoles. Goodbye Blackhawks. And goodbye Notre Dame Fighting Irish, right? Disgusting that the stereotype is that all Irish people are short, have beards, and like to fight.

Do I really believe that? Nope. I think things were fine just the way they were. You can find an issue with anything if you really look for it. You don’t have to look to hard with our new logo though. The Block C flat out SUCKS. So yeah, this All-Star week was one of the best events in Cleveland history, and I’ll cast my vote on if it was worth it: