I think the odds are low of a name change, but given the current state of affairs it's a non-zero possibility. And if we don't have input, the name will end up being some trite adjective in front of the word Hawks, which has happened with pretty much every other sports name change in America. Green Hawks, Fighting Hawks, Screeching Hawks, whatever. We don't want that.
I suspect that some members of Chiefs management read this site occasionally to get our takes on who should be starting at left guard or how they should handle a particular contract, so this is our chance to have input into the process. (Oh, and hi, Clark. Nice work last year, my friend. PM me about getting together for dinner next time you're in Denver.)
So we'll have a renaming tournament. In this thread, you may propose up to three names, and I'll structure everyone's suggestions into heats. Using the Chiefsplanet brain trust, we'll give Clark and his team valuable input into what the Chiefs should become if we eventually delete our homage to indigenous plains cultures. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
There's an endangered species fishlike thing (edit: salamander) in Missouri called the hellbender: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/status/endangered
That's a really good name, and the red jerseys can be recast as devilwear.
I prefer either:
The Kansas city Pink Muckets, or
The Kansas city Flathead Chubbs
The Kansas city Snuffbox gets an honorable mention [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
Are you trying to get your statue torn down or something?
While we all have our own beliefs about the Chiefs name, the truth is that there are some public relations people dogging on us. It's best to be prepared in case something happens and we have to pivot quickly. We'll just prepare an acceptable alternative name and Clark can keep it in his back pocket.
Seriously, between the kneeling, BLM and this crap, I'm just glad we won it all last year. Let's just take our trophy and go home.
Originally Posted by TheMartyr:
The Chiefs should be able to keep the name, but the Tomahawk chop will be gone at some point. It will likely live on in some parts of the stadium and the fandom, but I think there will be a concerted effort by the team to phase that out. I personally think the chop is not worth fighting for as it is just a tradition stolen from Seminoles/Braves fans.
They have already made some small steps to encourage more education and connection to Native American tribals groups in the area. If I were in charge, I would take the following steps:
1) Make immediate plans to get rid of the chop
2) Start implementing policies that gets fans to not wear Native American headdresses and other symbolic apparel at the game
3) Reach out to local tribal leaders and do more to honor these groups at the games with some half time performances that are educational, respectful, and inclusive to Native Americans
4) Create strategic partnerships with local Native American institutions, such as Haskell University in Lawrence, the Mid-American Museum Center in Wichita, holding free football camps on Indian reservations (there is actually a long and storied history of Native Americans embracing football), etc.
Get out in front of the messaging and do the best you can to mitigate the fallout from the angry subset of fans who are pissed off that you are taking “their chop” away from them.
You forgot to mention eliminating the Indian face logo from Big Chief writing tablets and ensuring the crying Indian in the "Keep America Beautiful" commercials is handed a helium-filled balloon at the end of each one so he wipes away the tear and smiles broadly at the camera. [Reply]