![]() ![]() Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) How FIFA, UEFA punish racist and anti-gay chantsįIFA and UEFA have had to develop and refine rules over the past several years to deal with fans yelling racist or homophobic chants during soccer games. The Tomahawk Chop, a customary cheer at Atlanta Braves games, has been decried as racist by many Native American groups. To get rid of the chop forever, MLB has to take cues from the most popular sport in the world: soccer. The Braves could somehow decide to stop encouraging their fans to do the chop, but that doesn't mean the fans won't do it on their own. The chop needs to be eradicated, but changing fan behavior isn't that simple. One of baseball's 30 teams encourages its fans to perform a racist chant at home games, and that can't be explained away by "regionalism." Just because Manfred claims Atlanta is fine with the chop doesn't make it any less racist or inappropriate. However, racism is still racism regardless of where it takes place. If others feel it's racist and are offended by it, that's too bad because they don't live in Atlanta or have a relationship with the Braves. Even that assertion is a bit murky, and certainly doesn't hold up on a broader scale. According to Manfred, because the local Native American community supports the continued use of the chop, the Braves can keep doing it. Let's put aside Manfred's baffling comments about baseball not being marketed nationally and focus on his comments about the chop. And there are all sorts of differences among the clubs among the regions as to how the games are marketed. ![]() We don't market our game on a nationwide basis, you know, ours is an everyday game, you’ve got to sell tickets every single day to the fans in that market. ![]()
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