Brookswords

Against All Odds

Against all odds, an improbable challenger faced up to and defeated a foe considered an 'inevitable victor', bound to win, born to win.  I'm talking, of course, about the New York Giants defeat of the New England Patriots.  And I'm also talking about  Barack Obama's looming defeat of the Hillary Clinton juggernaut.

A Slap in the Face

Major League Baseball decided this year to have, a day before this season's official start, a game in Memphis and dub it "The Civil Rights Game"--and then in an act of mind bending thoughtlessness, one of the two teams invited has an offensive racial stereotype (named Chief Wahoo!?!?) for a mascot!

Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News delivers a finely worded summation here; some highlights of that piece:

Who: The Cleveland Indians, a team famous for its Chief Wahoo cartoon caps, will face the St.Louis Cardinals.

Where: In Memphis, along the Southern land route of the Trail of Tears, a genocidal, forced march of Cherokees in 1838. The relocation was mandated by President Andrew Jackson, and caused the death of at least 4,000 Indians, many buried in shallow graves. Tens of thousands of Cherokee descendants now live in and around the city.

How this happened: Professional baseball apparently wants to pretend that Native Americans are all dead and don't matter, like dinosaurs.

Finally, the piece ends by saying "The Civil Rights Game" is

a harsh, unnecessary slap in the face to the Cherokee. The team may be met with protests, but these Indians will be spared a forced march through Arkansas.

As Deadspin asked before the game, "If the Indians win, do Native Americans get civil rights?"

Full Disclosure: As a second-grader, my little league team was ..the Indians.  Yes, I wore the Chief Wahoo cap.  My only excuse was that I was too young to know better.  I've destroyed all the  photographic evidence.  (I actually wanted to get picked for my favorite team, the Giants--so perhaps I have a secret bitterness about wearing an Indians cap, which may be the deep reason for this post.)