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Thursday, July 09, 2020

#ChopOff?

The Braves say they're not considering a name change, but are having internal discussions regarding phasing out the tomahawk chop. Makes some people happy, makes other fans sad – or mad. Is this the right thing to do?
 
Back in the early 90's when the Braves were early in their historic run of championships, fans wanting to catch the eye of Deion Sanders copied FSU's tomahawk chop, and the thing caught on with Braves country. It was amazing to see sold-out crowds all going the chop. Owner Ted Turner chopped. Jane Fonda dressed in Indian garb and chopped. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter chopped. I chopped.

Years passed. The team struggled. But fans still chopped. The organist would initiate the chop. Turner Field had a huge neon tomahawk in centerfield, and an even larger Chickfila cow in left field that would do the chop. Fans gathered in the Chop House to drink.
 
When the Braves moved north to SunTrust Park, I thought the club might use the change to phase out the chop. Nope. A brand new three story Chop House was built. The hashtag #ChopOn became the catch phrase, printed on bumper stickers and t-shirts. The Braves started a new tradition: at every home game a celebrity led the crowd in the chop, like rapper Ludacris below.

But during the 2019 NLDS a St. Louis newspaper interviewed a Cardinal reliever who happened to be part American Indian. The pitcher expressed his displeasure with the chop, and the story went national. After years of ignoring the elephant in the room, the Braves immediately capitulated, saying the plan to distribute foam tomahawks would be put on hold, and the chop wouldn't be played when the pitcher was in the game.
 
This angered Braves Country. No "we'll take it under consideration." Instead surrender for the Cardinal series, and discussions for the future. The media came out of the woodwork, both local and nationwide, calling for the end of the chop.
 
 
Over the winter, without fanfare, the team quit using #ChopOn and floated out #ForTheA." The Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the Super Bowl, and their use of the chop came under the same national scrutiny.
 
Then the virus struck, protests of deaths in Minnesota and Georgia led to riots, statues and other monuments were defaced and toppled, and time became right for the Redskins and Indians to change their names. Would the Black Hawks, Eskimos, Chiefs, and Braves be next?

And here we are. The website TomahawkTake.com called for the Braves to end the tomahawk chop. Kinda ironic, don't you think?
 
Yes, it is time to retire the chop. The Braves organist should stop playing it. The jumbotron should no longer encourage fans to chop. But like prayer in schools, fans can always start the chop themselves. While there will always a percentage of the fan base who will have to have their tomahawk pried from their cold dead hands, you'd think whatever young woke urban millennials won't join the chop as a matter of principle. We shall see.
Then there's the next elephant in the room: the iconic tomahawk on the jersey. You'd think they'd be the next to go. But no announcement as of yet, of course. The team has begun workouts wearing their new Nike jerseys replete with tomahawk – and a spring training cap with a tomahawk on the side. Not a very good start so far.
The team could easily remove the tomahawks from the uniforms, and roll out a line of tomahawk-free jerseys and t-shirts to sell. But fans won't be happy. As always, they'll complain on social media, threatening to never return. But of course they will, should the virus permit.
As so many these days do, fans are quick to forget their history. The Braves quit wearing the tomahawk in the early sixties, and took the field in tomahawk-free unis for over twenty years. The world won't end if the Braves drop the tomahawk. It's the right thing to do.
Maybe the change will change the team's luck. Maybe they'll start making deeper runs into the playoffs. It all starts with doing the right thing.

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