Add the Cleveland Cavaliers to the list of Cleveland sports franchises in 2012-13 who decided their current head coach wasn't getting the job done and decided to make a change.
After Manny Acta (Indians) and Pat Shurmur (Browns) were each shown the door by their respective teams, the Cavs have followed suit today by dismissing head coach Byron Scott after three years on the job.
I think what surprises me more than anything, especially in this town, is that most people believe that Scott should have gotten another year.
To be honest, I really don't have an opinion one way or another. I've never been a big fan of the NBA, and my interest in the Cavs has waned, especially this year. All I know is, Scott had three big factors working against him in his bid for an elusive fourth year:
1. His average of 22 wins per season. Sure, the Cavs were in rebuilding mode after LeBron James decided to take his talents south, but I can't think of any head coach whose winning percentage was just .278 being allowed to coach a team longer than 3 years. It's a bottom-line wins, and wins are the bottom line. The Cavs were 64-146 under Scott, and Scott's wins and win percentage rank last among all full-time head coaches that have been with the team longer than one season.
2. His teams being among the worst in the NBA in overall defense. The Cavs finished last in the league in defensive field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot better than 47 percent. During Scott's three years in charge, opponents shot .475, .467 and .476 this season. They never ranked higher than 27th in the league defensively -- a stark contrast to the LeBron James-Mike Brown-era Cavs, who annually ranked in the top five teams defensively.
3. The team's performance this season. What should have been a season of continued growth and potential contention for a playoff berth turned into a miserable season. Sure, star point guard Kyrie Irving, forward Anderson Varejao and last summer's fourth-overall pick Dion Waiters each missed significant time with injuries this season. However, the Cavs blew four second-half leads of 20 points or more this season -- the only team in the NBA to do so and the first team in the last 15 years to do so, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Cavs blew leads of 27 points (at home to LeBron and his Heat) and 26 points (at home to Phoenix), which are the two largest leads blown team history and the two largest leads blown in the NBA this year. The Cavs also lost 16 of their last 18 games and looked listless at times, with some players questioning Scott's coaching decisions to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Sure, you can say that Scott played against a stacked deck from the beginning. Scott was hired after Michigan State coach Tom Izzo turned down a substantial offer from Dan Gilbert to be the new head coach. Scott was an All-Star point guard with the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s and had success in two other coaching stops in New Jersey (an NBA Finals berth) and New Orleans (helped develop Chris Paul into the best point guard in the NBA).
Scott was also hired just days before LeBron James went on ESPN and embarassed the city and the organization by announcing that he was signing with the Miami Heat. I'm sure Scott believed that he was coming here to help coach James and get him over the playoff hump. Instead, he inherited a listless group that lacked direction and missed their superstar teammate. That team slumped to a 19-63 record and lost an NBA-record 26 straight games. That team also disappeared with the world watching on Dec, 8, 2010, when Cleveland came out to voice their displeasure against LeBron James and saw a team that buddied up to him all game, didn't hardly guard him, let alone foul him, and lost by 30 points.
The second season, shortened to 66 games due to the lockout, had promise due to No. 1 overall pick Kyrie Irving and fourth-overall pick Tristan Thompson joining the fold. However, Irving battled injuries (as did Varejao) and the Cavs only won 21 games, landing another spot in the NBA lottery.
This season began with the fourth- (Dion Waiters) and 17th- (Tyler Zeller) overall draft choices joining the fold, and the team showed some promise at times. However, another Varejao season-ending injury pushed up the timetable on Zeller and forced veteran Luke Walton to play a lot more minutes than the team hoped. And, after a steller showing at All-Star weekend put Irving on the NBA map, he suffered yet another injury and missed a good chunk of the second half.
Irving, when he did come back, seemed to sulk both on and off the court. His final home appearance was marred when former Cleveland State standout Norris Cole made him look foolish on an attempted game-winning shot against the LeBron-less Heat, and then compounded when he walked off the court without taking part in the Fan Appreciation postgame ceremonies. While Irving has said all the right things today, it looked to most observers that Scott has lost the ear of his superstar point guard.
With the Cavs believed to be interested in luring James back to town next summer, when LeBron opts out of his contract with the Miami Heat, the time to make a splash is now. Perhaps LeBron never wanted to play for Byron Scott, and his hiring may have been his final push in Miami's direction (probably not, but it's an interesting theory). However, if the Cavs want to be considered a serious player in the LeBron sweepstakes, they need to show immediate improvement next season. That means not playing for ping-pong balls in hoppers and instead playing for playoff berths.
The Cavs enter this offseason with yet another high choice in the NBA lottery, where they could pick as high as first or as low as sixth (or stay put at third). Irving and Thompson will enter their third years as professionals, while Waiters and Zeller will become second-year pros. Young guys such as Shawn Livingston, Mareece Speights and Wayne Ellington could be counted on to add depth, and the team could be an active player in the free agent market for the first time since you-know-who left. The clock is ticking.
Several names have popped up in the early going in the search for the new head coach. The most intriguing is former Lakers coach Phil Jackson, but I don't think he comes here unless he's almost assured LeBron James returns for the 2014-15 season and beyond. Another intriguing name is Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has rebuffed many chances to jump to the NBA but could want to be paired up with his former point guard Irving (and, of course, LeBron loves playing for him).
More realistic names include Pacers assistant Bryan Shaw (who always seems to be linked to head coaching jobs, but hasn't landed one), Warriors assistant Mike Malone (a former Cavs assistant under Mike Brown), Miami assistant David Fizdale, former Pistons head coach Flip Saunders (a Cuyahoga Heights native), former Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy and current ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy.
There are some who think that Gilbert may make another overture to Izzo. Also, ex-Cavs coach Mike Brown, who was run out of Los Angeles just one week into this season, has already let it be known that he'd love to come back and coach the Cavs.
Joe Cleveland will go on record and say that, if the Cavs decide to re-hire Mike Brown, he will be officially done with Cavs. So, you basically are admitting that the last three years were a mistake. It also makes Gilbert (who fired Brown over the objections of GM Danny Ferry, who subsequently quit) look even more foolish than the national perception already is. And, when so many believed that LeBron was behind the firing of Brown (by quitting on him during the Celtics series and talking about wanting to play for a guy who at least had a track record of playing and coaching), why would those of you who think that LeBron would return next summer believe that he'd want to come back playing for Mike Brown?
It just doesn't make sense. But then again, nothing about the NBA makes any sense to me.
At the very least, the NBA planets aligned (wink-wink) and the Lakers backed into the playoffs, even without Kobe Bryant. That means the Cavs can get the Lakers' No. 1 overall pick this year instead of the Miami Heat's last pick in the first round. So, the Cavs should have two more first rounders in the top 16, which is a good thing.
A very precarious fan base hangs in the balance with this head coaching hire and what the team does this offseason. The Indians won back many disgruntled fans when they landed the big fish in Terry Francona and shown a willingness to spend money in free agency that they lacked recently. The Browns didn't land their so-called "big fish" in either Chip Kelly or Nick Saban, and a fan base waits with baited breath to see how new coach Rob Chudzinski and coordinators Norv Turner and Ray Horton mesh together with the new group of players. New owner Jimmy Haslam's problems with the feds stemming from Pilot Flying J, along with distrust of returning GM Mike Lombardi, have only added to the fan base's anxiety of the upcoming season.
The Cavs were a solid No. 2 (not counting Ohio State football) behind the Browns locally until this season. What they do between now and August will say a lot about if they can regain that spot among the locals, or if they will fade into more apathy and obscurity.
***
By the way, you may have noticed that I've written Joe Cleveland under my real identity. It was time. As it is, most of the people who read this blog already know who I am anyway. When I decided to bring back Off The Turnbuckle (theoriginalott.blogspot.com), I had to change my Blogger profile. That included Joe Cleveland. So, from now on, you will know that Dan Gilles is the guy writing Joe Cleveland.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Showing posts with label Byron Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Byron Scott. Show all posts
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
A little bit of this ...
Today marks the first Sunday without football since September. Mrs. Joe Cleveland calls this a "holiday" for herself, since she's survived another football season with me.
On this day, we can take a look at the three pro teams in Cleveland and see how they stand or what's to come. That, and I realized I've done nothing but write about the Browns in this blog for the last three months, and "Joe Cleveland" was supposed to encompass the entire sporting scene in Northeast Ohio. So, let's take a whirlwind look at our three pro teams, starting with the only one that's currently playing, the Cavs:
CAVS
The Cavs were in the midst of another forgettable and miserable season "A.L." (aka "After LeBron") when things suddenly began to click.
It started when GM Chris Grant traded a stiff journeyman named Jon Leuer to the Memphis Grizzlies for Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby (who was demoted to Canton) and a future first-round pick. Speights has been a force for the Cavs since coming here on Jan. 22, picking up the slack for the injured Anderson Varejao down low, while Ellington has been a solid contributor off the bench adding some depth to the guard positions.
Suddenly, coach Byron Scott has a bench he can trust to give his superstar point guard Kyrie Irving a breather now and then.
The Cavs are still pretty miserable at 16-33, but they've put together two three-game winning streaks since the deal, including a huge 115-110 win at Quicken Loans Arena against defending NBA runner-up Oklahoma City (who currently have the best record in the NBA) and have gone 7-4 since Jan. 16.
They have two more home games before the All-Star Break, in which Irving may become the East's starting point guard due to the season-ending injury to Rajon Rondo and Irving, Deon Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller are all members of the Rising Stars game held during the weekend. Irving will also take part in the 3-Point Shootout as well.
The Cavs are interested in signing former Ohio State 7-footer Greg Oden (the former No. 1 overall pick who hasn't played since 2009 due to chronic knee injuries) and could sign him after Feb. 22 for the next two seasons. If Oden is healthy, he could be a huge coup for this young team.
And, of course, the rumors about "you know who" coming back to Cleveland during the summer of 2014 continue to pick up traction. A few published reports have said that LeBron James winning the NBA title last year with the Heat means that "his job there is accomplished," and that he's looking for the next challenge. According to several close to LeBron, he still has a "soft spot" for Northeast Ohio and the fans and would "love nothing more" than to come back and deliver on his promise to bring a championship to his hometown.
Of course, other reports link him to the Lakers to pick up the slack from Kobe Bryant, who is on the downside of his career, and the Knicks, Bulls and Brooklyn Nets are always speculated destinations when it comes to him. It could be another circus all over again as fans await "The Decision II."
For the Cavs to become serious players, they'd need to improve on the court, starting now. The playoffs aren't likely for this season, but anything less than the playoffs in the 2013-14 season would seriously diminish their prospects. Why would the best player in the NBA come to a team that has been a perennial loser since he left following the 2009-10 season?
The team he'd be coming back to would, arguably, have the most and deepest talent he's ever seen. Irving would be a bonafide superstar by then at point guard, and Thompson, Waiters and Zeller should continue improving. If Oden bounces back, that's another bonus, and if Varejao can shake off the injury bug, that's more depth.
Speights could be dealt before the deadline for more picks, with speculation that he might want to opt out of his contract. If he stays, he's another piece to make it that much more enticing for James to come back.
Joe Cleveland, for one, isn't ready to buy into this hype. LeBron still has some apologies to make and some explaining to do. And, it could be another giant ruse where he plays Cleveland and signs with L.A. or New York (which I'm sure the NBA would love for him to do). Fool me once, shame on you; fool my twice, shame on me.
Joe Cleveland's not ready to get fooled again, so I'll believe LeBron James becomes a Cleveland Cavalier again when it actually happens. Until then, hopefully the young nucleus we've put together continues to improve and be ready for a playoff run of their own.
It does seem like this team is becoming more entertaining to watch lately, which is nice. They have the sports landscape all to themselves until April (with some offseason stuff by the Browns and spring training by the Indians to contend with), so let's see how they do.
INDIANS:
To say Joe Cleveland's been impressed by what the Indians have done this offseason would be an understatement.
The hiring of veteran skipper Terry Francona was an incredible hiring that immediately gives the Tribe a credible voice in the clubhouse. According to Francona, if the Indians didn't hire him, he'd return to ESPN, so the fact that this two-time World Series winner wanted to be here is huge.
Francona's presense has helped the Indians make their biggest free agency spash in many years, signing Ohio State standout Nick Swisher to a $57 million contract to play the outfield/first base for the next four seasons. Swisher could quickly become a fan-favorite based on his local ties and the way he carries himself on and off the field, and he gives the Tribe a credible bat they've been lacking in the middle of their order for the last few years.
Coupled with the signing of Mark Reynolds to play first base and DH -- a classic power hitter who can hit the ball a country mile but tends to strikeout whenever he doesn't -- is another big bat this team has been sorely lacking and gives the team a solid stick at a position that's been lacking that big bopper for a long time. Carlos Santana should be a happy guy with that type of protection in the lineup.
The Tribe dealt Shin-Soo Choo, an impending free agent who had no desire to re-sign here, to the Reds in a three-team deal that landed, among others, speedy outfielder Drew Stubbs and promising pitching prospect Trevor Bauer, along with some solid bullpen arms. Stubbs could be a presense either at the top or very bottom of the lineup, and Bauer could be a promising starter for many years (although speculation has him starting the season at Columbus).
Of course, it wouldn't be a Tribe offseason without some bargain-basement minor-league signings of retread, oft-injured players. The Tribe just finished signing former steriod cheat Jason Giambi and oft-injured former Japanese phenom Daiskue Matsuzaka to similar deals, while also signing pitchers Matt Capps and Scott Kazmir to those types of deals earlier in the offseason.
It baffles me that Paul and Larry Dolan, after selling their fledgling network SportsTime Ohio to FOX Sports for $250 million and getting additional money for the broadcast rights to their games, they wouldn't invest more of that windfall into their team. Sure, signing Swisher was a big one that normally wouldn't happen under this regime. However, it looks like the Dolans are going to pocket as much as they can to turn whatever kind of profit they can while still crying the poorhouse blues to their front office and the media and the Indians' fan base.
Hopefully, this spurs them on to sell off their last remaining asset, the Cleveland Indians themselves, winding up in the black and being away from the business of running a professional sports franchise. We can only hope.
Until then, we can hope that the Indians make enough moves to keep themselves relevent. Their pitching is still suspect, with the shaky Justin Masterson, the even worse Ubaldo Jimenez and the converted closer Brett Myers as the top three starters, and Matsuzaka and Kazmir in the mix with Carlos Carrasco (returning from Tommy John surgery), Corey Kluber and even Bauer.
At the very least, the Indians should be more entertaining than they've been in the past. Perhaps they won't flirt with 100 losses this year.
However, even with a high-profile manager and a high-profile free agent signing, this team will still struggle to win 81 games this season. Hopefully, they can turn Asdrubal Cabrera (who always mails in the second half and has been an attitude problem) and Chris Perez (enough said) into some more positive assets to help this team improve.
BROWNS:
The first offseason of the Jimmy Haslam-Joe Banner era has begun, with defensive end Frostee Rucker being released before his contract kicked in. Rucker, who signed a large contract with Tom Heckert last season as a key defensive end in their 4-3 scheme, was expendable thanks to the switch to the 3-4.
While the Browns have some significant holes to fill, especially in the defensive secondary and may have to replace both their punter and kicker (I hope not on the latter's sake; I'm a big Phil Dawson fan), the quarterback talk is fired up once again.
Haslam, Banner, Mike Lombardi and head coach Rob Chudzinski have been non-committal to Brandon Weeden's future as the Browns' starting quarterback. Haslam said he wants to bring in someone to provide competition and "push" Weeden for the job.
There's competition, and then there's an outright successor. If the Browns make a run at (and sign) former 49ers No. 1 overall pick and starting quarterback Alex Smith, either via trade or through free agency if Smith is released, Smith will be the starting quarterback, hand's down.
It will take a large salary to pluck Smith from other suitors. As it is, he has a large contract that he signed with the Niners prior to this season, so if you decide to part with draft picks or other assets, you will still have to pay him. You don't pay a quarterback a large salary and then have him "compete" with the starter from last year.
Some Browns fans are hoping they make a run at free agent Joe Flacco. However, the Ravens will franshise Flacco before he even gets a chance to test the market. Sure, the Browns could try to sign him to a big offer sheet that Baltimore would have to match to drive up his price (the Browns have the cap room to do it), but I doubt that happens. As it is, the Ravens will have to part with several assets to sign Flacco to the huge contract that he will command (he was the real winner of this Super Bowl based off of that), so it looks like this was Baltimore's one chance to win a title. It may be another 12 years before the Ravens get back to a Super Bowl (like the gap was the last time), so enjoy the title while it lasts, Baltimore.
Smith is really the only other starting-calibur QB that could be available on the open market. Other veterans that could be available, such as Matt Moore, Derek Anderson (please, God, hell no!), Matt Cassel, Brian Hoyer, Brady Quinn (see the Anderson comment), Tim Tebow or Kevin Kolb would fit Haslam's description of "competition" for Weeden.
Michael Vick would be a dumb decision, and not just because of his baggage and the PR nightmare that is a convisted dog killer playing in front of fans who sit in a section called the Dawg Pound. Vick is an old 33. His skills are clearly diminishing. He's taken too many hits to be at his best, which is using his legs along with his arm to beat you. The two-year layoff for prison may have given Vick an extended life, but it was clear that he's taken a beating with the Eagles over the last three years. Banner was the person who sold the Eagles' organization on signing Vick upon his release from prison, but Banner would be foolish to think that the 29-year-old Vick is the same as the 33-year-old Vick.
I, for one, believe that Weeden deserves another chance. I think Chudzinski's and Norv Turner's vertical-based offense fits Weeden's skill set like a glove and that he can truly be "coached up." I think Colt McCoy will be let go, as will Thaddeus Lewis (both are more West Coast-style quarterbacks), which is why I think they go shopping for a new signal-caller, if only to provide a new backup.
There's no one in the draft that is worthy. The supplemental pick of Josh Gordon cust the Browns their second-round pick (which would have been sixth-overall in that round), so they have to make their first-round selection (No. 6 overall) count. The deficiancies of the defense, along with the weakness of this quarterback class, should dissuade them from reaching on a Mike Glennon or a Matt Barkley. Stick with Dee Millner of Alabama and be happy, or look at trading down to get lower in the first and add a second-rounder.
If the Browns give up on Weeden, it essentially makes Tom Heckert's decision to trade down with Atlanta so they could acquire Julio Jones two years ago a horrible decision. Weeden was taken with Atlanta's first-rounder last year. With the four picks they acquired, the Browns essentially acquired nose tackle Phil Taylor, wide receiver Greg Little, fullback Owen Marecic and Weeden, and used the other pick to move up to get Trent Richardson. Meanwhile, Jones made his first Pro Bowl this season and has emerged as a stud wideout that the Browns have been seeking since Braylon Edwards displayed an occasional flash of brilliance.
Some fans are up in arms about the switch from a 4-3 base defense to a 3-4, but I'm not as angry about it. I think we're all a little concerned about the last time we made this switch, and Romeo Crennel (and later Eric Mangin) continued to forcefeed their bland 3-4 onto the Browns that never seemed to be built correctly for the scheme. What's funny is the switch to the 4-3 under Pat Shurmur and Dick Jauron almost seemed seemless.
Ray Horton's 3-4 scheme isn't as bland and predictable as Crennel's and Mangini's was. Horton's scheme should be adapted fairly easily by the existing personnel. In fact, you can say that if they remained a 4-3, they would have still have had to fill the same holes on defense (linebackers and secondary) this year that they have to with the 3-4.
Free agency will get underway the second week of March. Haslam cautioned against any "splasy" signings. However, I think they will be active and try to acquire some pieces that can make an impact on this team. Unlike the last two years, where Heckert and Holmgren essentially ignored the free agent market, I think that changes this year.
We'll see what happens.
MISCELLANEOUS:
<> It was good to see Ohio State reel in a No. 1, 2 or 3 recruiting class (depending on which service you trust) this month after National Signing Day. Urban Meyer only had a few months to bring in a top freshman class last season. With the benefit of a full season under his belt, Meyer showed why he is one of the best college coaches/recruitors in the country.
I don't buy into the hype about recruiting classes. How often to you see a "can't miss" high school, blue-chip senior fade into obscurity while the guy who accepted the final scholarship become one of the best players in the country? A lot, actually. I don't follow the recruiting scene or anything like that. All I know is the Buckeyes did farily well on paper, and that's encouraging for this season and beyond.
<> The Ravens winning the Super Bowl last Sunday was the lesser of two evils, in my opinion. The fact that the Hall of Fame shut the door on Art Modell again (and did it as decisively as they did back in 2001) tells me that his chances have greatly diminished in the future.
Modell's best chance may have been this year. With the dirt over his grave still fresh and his former franchise making a Super Bowl run, Modell became a hot name. Baltimore made a full-court press to promote his candidacy, while Cleveland did one to diminish his candidacy. Modell's name was the second-longest debate among the 16 candidates, and his name was the first one to get cut from 15 to 10 regardless.
I got into a very heated argument about the subject with my dad and one of my uncles during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, we can be a very stubborn family. There's no reasoning with us. They believe that the City of Cleveland was at the most fault. I've stated my case as to why it was Modell's fault. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.
The voters did the right thing. Part of me believes that, ultimately, the location will keep Modell out. If the Hall of Fame was in Hershey, PA., or somewhere like that, Modell probably would have already got in. But because the Hall of Fame is in Canton, right in Browns Country, it may be his undoing.
<> Baltimore liked to bring up the fact that there are several team owners in the Hall of Fame that moved their franchises, such as Lamar Hunt, Al Davis, George Preston Marshall and Dan Reeves. Reeves, in fact, moved his Rams franchise from Cleveland to Los Angeles following the 1945 season.
Allow Joe Cleveland to dissect each one, starting with Reeves.
Reeves was a Cleveland businessman who bought the Cleveland Rams in 1941, but struggled during his ownership. The Rams never had a definite home stadium, alternating between League Park and Cleveland Stadium, and even had to suspend operations in 1943 due to a shortage of players during World War II. Thanks to rookie quarterback Bob Waterfield, who wound up winning the NFL's MVP award, the Rams turned it around in 1945 and won the NFL Championship with a 15-14 win over Sammy Baugh and the Washington Redskins. But, Reeves convinced the NFL to let him leave Clevveland for the West Coast.
The news that Paul Brown was going to be involved with a new professional football franchise in Cleveland in a new league starting in 1946, and that team (which would called the Browns) already locked down a lease to play in Cleveland Stadium, along with the untapped resourses of Los Angeles, gave Reeves the reason he needed to relocate. The move was met with little resistance from Clevelanders, who were gaga over the new Browns (and justifiably so -- the Browns won the AAFC title all four years, won the NFL title their first year in the league and reached 10 consecutive championship games their first 10 years of existance, winning seven). The Rams came back to Cleveland for the 1950 NFL Championship Game (losing a thrilling 30-28 game) and beat the Browns in L.A. in 1951.
Reeves ultimately got in because he had the foresight to take advantage of the West Coast, which helped the NFL blossom, broke the NFL's color barrior in 1946 with the signing of Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, and hired a young executive named Pete Rozelle who wound up becoming the NFL commissioner in 1960.
Hunt was the founder of the American Football League. For that alone, he deserves to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
Hunt moved his team from Dallas (known as the Texans) to Kansas City following the 1962 season (and the Texans winning the AFL title) because his team couldn't compete financially with the more stable NFL Cowboys, which debuted the same year as his Texans did. To help the league succeed, Hunt sacrificed his home market and found a viable market in Kansas City. The move did help the league thrive, as the newly-christened Chiefs became one of the AFL's most recognizable franchises.
Marshall was a notorious bigot who stubbornly refused to break the NFL's color line until 1961, when he acquired Bobby Mitchell from the Browns (who wound up making the Hall of Fame himself). Marshall might not have gotten into the Hall of Fame today if he was still on the outside looking in.
However, Marshall is enshrined because several of his innovations, such as pushing for the forward pass to be legal from anywhere beyond the line of scrimmage, moving the goal posts to the goal-line (which was changed back to the end line in 1974), and pushing for a standardized schedule for each team, defined what the NFL became.
The Redskins were initially called the Boston Braves, having shared Braves Park with the baseball Boston Braves. A year into Marshall's tenure, he moved the team to Fenway Park and called the Redskins. However, he moved to the Nation's Capital in 1937, citing the need to put an NFL presence in the capital. It was also the NFL's southern-most market until they expanded to Dallas in 1960, and Marshall kept his teams lily white to appeal to the Southerners (or so he said). Marshall also found it difficult for his team to succeed in the baseball-mad Boston area, and when football returned in 1959 with the AFL's Boston Patriots, they had a tough time gaining a foothold in the market.
Finally, Davis, the most notorious mover of them all. Davis is enshrined mostly because of how he helped the AFL blossom from a fly-by-night operation into a legitimate rival to the NFL, which necessitated the merger. He was the NFL's most controversial owner, suing the league and Pete Rozelle many times during his tenure. However, he built the Raiders' organization into one of the most respected organizations in football during the 1960s through the early 2000s, reaching the Super Bowl in four different decades and winning three of them.
While Davis moved his team twice (and both more recently than the other three men I've mentioned), both moves were within the same state. After the Rams left L.A. for a stadium in suburban Anaheim, Davis sued the NFL in 1980 to move into the vacated L.A. stadium. He won the suit in 1982 and moved to Los Angeles. In the late 1990s, he sued again to move back to Oakland, and then sued after the move claiming that he still had control of the L.A. market.
It would be like if Modell decided to move the Browns to Columbus (which almost happened. If Modell was forced to stay, Cleveland was prepared to build a new stadium. They would have torn down the old stadium and had the Browns play at Ohio Stadium while the new stadium was built).
So, of the owners in the Hall of Fame who moved, the most comporable to what Modell did was Davis, and Davis didn't exactly move to another state when he moved the Raiders.
<> The best collegiate basketball team in the state of Ohio may not be Ohio State (even though they are ranked in the top 10). It's definitely not Cleveland State, who is below .500 this season after battling injuries. No, it may be the University of Akron.
The Zips have won a nations-best 15-straight games and are 19-4 overall. They became the first Zips hoops team to ever be ranked in the Top 25 during the regular season a few weeks ago and they continue to keep climbing up the poll.
Akron could be an interesting decision made by the NCAA Tournament selection committee if they don't win the MAC Tournament. The MAC hasn't had more than one bid in recent years, and the Zips have been a notable snub in the past. However, they may have both the national ranking and RPI ranking to make their case for an at-large bid.
That's about all for now. Glad I was able to cover a wide range of topics in this one.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
On this day, we can take a look at the three pro teams in Cleveland and see how they stand or what's to come. That, and I realized I've done nothing but write about the Browns in this blog for the last three months, and "Joe Cleveland" was supposed to encompass the entire sporting scene in Northeast Ohio. So, let's take a whirlwind look at our three pro teams, starting with the only one that's currently playing, the Cavs:
CAVS
The Cavs were in the midst of another forgettable and miserable season "A.L." (aka "After LeBron") when things suddenly began to click.
It started when GM Chris Grant traded a stiff journeyman named Jon Leuer to the Memphis Grizzlies for Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby (who was demoted to Canton) and a future first-round pick. Speights has been a force for the Cavs since coming here on Jan. 22, picking up the slack for the injured Anderson Varejao down low, while Ellington has been a solid contributor off the bench adding some depth to the guard positions.
Suddenly, coach Byron Scott has a bench he can trust to give his superstar point guard Kyrie Irving a breather now and then.
The Cavs are still pretty miserable at 16-33, but they've put together two three-game winning streaks since the deal, including a huge 115-110 win at Quicken Loans Arena against defending NBA runner-up Oklahoma City (who currently have the best record in the NBA) and have gone 7-4 since Jan. 16.
They have two more home games before the All-Star Break, in which Irving may become the East's starting point guard due to the season-ending injury to Rajon Rondo and Irving, Deon Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller are all members of the Rising Stars game held during the weekend. Irving will also take part in the 3-Point Shootout as well.
The Cavs are interested in signing former Ohio State 7-footer Greg Oden (the former No. 1 overall pick who hasn't played since 2009 due to chronic knee injuries) and could sign him after Feb. 22 for the next two seasons. If Oden is healthy, he could be a huge coup for this young team.
And, of course, the rumors about "you know who" coming back to Cleveland during the summer of 2014 continue to pick up traction. A few published reports have said that LeBron James winning the NBA title last year with the Heat means that "his job there is accomplished," and that he's looking for the next challenge. According to several close to LeBron, he still has a "soft spot" for Northeast Ohio and the fans and would "love nothing more" than to come back and deliver on his promise to bring a championship to his hometown.
Of course, other reports link him to the Lakers to pick up the slack from Kobe Bryant, who is on the downside of his career, and the Knicks, Bulls and Brooklyn Nets are always speculated destinations when it comes to him. It could be another circus all over again as fans await "The Decision II."
For the Cavs to become serious players, they'd need to improve on the court, starting now. The playoffs aren't likely for this season, but anything less than the playoffs in the 2013-14 season would seriously diminish their prospects. Why would the best player in the NBA come to a team that has been a perennial loser since he left following the 2009-10 season?
The team he'd be coming back to would, arguably, have the most and deepest talent he's ever seen. Irving would be a bonafide superstar by then at point guard, and Thompson, Waiters and Zeller should continue improving. If Oden bounces back, that's another bonus, and if Varejao can shake off the injury bug, that's more depth.
Speights could be dealt before the deadline for more picks, with speculation that he might want to opt out of his contract. If he stays, he's another piece to make it that much more enticing for James to come back.
Joe Cleveland, for one, isn't ready to buy into this hype. LeBron still has some apologies to make and some explaining to do. And, it could be another giant ruse where he plays Cleveland and signs with L.A. or New York (which I'm sure the NBA would love for him to do). Fool me once, shame on you; fool my twice, shame on me.
Joe Cleveland's not ready to get fooled again, so I'll believe LeBron James becomes a Cleveland Cavalier again when it actually happens. Until then, hopefully the young nucleus we've put together continues to improve and be ready for a playoff run of their own.
It does seem like this team is becoming more entertaining to watch lately, which is nice. They have the sports landscape all to themselves until April (with some offseason stuff by the Browns and spring training by the Indians to contend with), so let's see how they do.
INDIANS:
To say Joe Cleveland's been impressed by what the Indians have done this offseason would be an understatement.
The hiring of veteran skipper Terry Francona was an incredible hiring that immediately gives the Tribe a credible voice in the clubhouse. According to Francona, if the Indians didn't hire him, he'd return to ESPN, so the fact that this two-time World Series winner wanted to be here is huge.
Francona's presense has helped the Indians make their biggest free agency spash in many years, signing Ohio State standout Nick Swisher to a $57 million contract to play the outfield/first base for the next four seasons. Swisher could quickly become a fan-favorite based on his local ties and the way he carries himself on and off the field, and he gives the Tribe a credible bat they've been lacking in the middle of their order for the last few years.
Coupled with the signing of Mark Reynolds to play first base and DH -- a classic power hitter who can hit the ball a country mile but tends to strikeout whenever he doesn't -- is another big bat this team has been sorely lacking and gives the team a solid stick at a position that's been lacking that big bopper for a long time. Carlos Santana should be a happy guy with that type of protection in the lineup.
The Tribe dealt Shin-Soo Choo, an impending free agent who had no desire to re-sign here, to the Reds in a three-team deal that landed, among others, speedy outfielder Drew Stubbs and promising pitching prospect Trevor Bauer, along with some solid bullpen arms. Stubbs could be a presense either at the top or very bottom of the lineup, and Bauer could be a promising starter for many years (although speculation has him starting the season at Columbus).
Of course, it wouldn't be a Tribe offseason without some bargain-basement minor-league signings of retread, oft-injured players. The Tribe just finished signing former steriod cheat Jason Giambi and oft-injured former Japanese phenom Daiskue Matsuzaka to similar deals, while also signing pitchers Matt Capps and Scott Kazmir to those types of deals earlier in the offseason.
It baffles me that Paul and Larry Dolan, after selling their fledgling network SportsTime Ohio to FOX Sports for $250 million and getting additional money for the broadcast rights to their games, they wouldn't invest more of that windfall into their team. Sure, signing Swisher was a big one that normally wouldn't happen under this regime. However, it looks like the Dolans are going to pocket as much as they can to turn whatever kind of profit they can while still crying the poorhouse blues to their front office and the media and the Indians' fan base.
Hopefully, this spurs them on to sell off their last remaining asset, the Cleveland Indians themselves, winding up in the black and being away from the business of running a professional sports franchise. We can only hope.
Until then, we can hope that the Indians make enough moves to keep themselves relevent. Their pitching is still suspect, with the shaky Justin Masterson, the even worse Ubaldo Jimenez and the converted closer Brett Myers as the top three starters, and Matsuzaka and Kazmir in the mix with Carlos Carrasco (returning from Tommy John surgery), Corey Kluber and even Bauer.
At the very least, the Indians should be more entertaining than they've been in the past. Perhaps they won't flirt with 100 losses this year.
However, even with a high-profile manager and a high-profile free agent signing, this team will still struggle to win 81 games this season. Hopefully, they can turn Asdrubal Cabrera (who always mails in the second half and has been an attitude problem) and Chris Perez (enough said) into some more positive assets to help this team improve.
BROWNS:
The first offseason of the Jimmy Haslam-Joe Banner era has begun, with defensive end Frostee Rucker being released before his contract kicked in. Rucker, who signed a large contract with Tom Heckert last season as a key defensive end in their 4-3 scheme, was expendable thanks to the switch to the 3-4.
While the Browns have some significant holes to fill, especially in the defensive secondary and may have to replace both their punter and kicker (I hope not on the latter's sake; I'm a big Phil Dawson fan), the quarterback talk is fired up once again.
Haslam, Banner, Mike Lombardi and head coach Rob Chudzinski have been non-committal to Brandon Weeden's future as the Browns' starting quarterback. Haslam said he wants to bring in someone to provide competition and "push" Weeden for the job.
There's competition, and then there's an outright successor. If the Browns make a run at (and sign) former 49ers No. 1 overall pick and starting quarterback Alex Smith, either via trade or through free agency if Smith is released, Smith will be the starting quarterback, hand's down.
It will take a large salary to pluck Smith from other suitors. As it is, he has a large contract that he signed with the Niners prior to this season, so if you decide to part with draft picks or other assets, you will still have to pay him. You don't pay a quarterback a large salary and then have him "compete" with the starter from last year.
Some Browns fans are hoping they make a run at free agent Joe Flacco. However, the Ravens will franshise Flacco before he even gets a chance to test the market. Sure, the Browns could try to sign him to a big offer sheet that Baltimore would have to match to drive up his price (the Browns have the cap room to do it), but I doubt that happens. As it is, the Ravens will have to part with several assets to sign Flacco to the huge contract that he will command (he was the real winner of this Super Bowl based off of that), so it looks like this was Baltimore's one chance to win a title. It may be another 12 years before the Ravens get back to a Super Bowl (like the gap was the last time), so enjoy the title while it lasts, Baltimore.
Smith is really the only other starting-calibur QB that could be available on the open market. Other veterans that could be available, such as Matt Moore, Derek Anderson (please, God, hell no!), Matt Cassel, Brian Hoyer, Brady Quinn (see the Anderson comment), Tim Tebow or Kevin Kolb would fit Haslam's description of "competition" for Weeden.
Michael Vick would be a dumb decision, and not just because of his baggage and the PR nightmare that is a convisted dog killer playing in front of fans who sit in a section called the Dawg Pound. Vick is an old 33. His skills are clearly diminishing. He's taken too many hits to be at his best, which is using his legs along with his arm to beat you. The two-year layoff for prison may have given Vick an extended life, but it was clear that he's taken a beating with the Eagles over the last three years. Banner was the person who sold the Eagles' organization on signing Vick upon his release from prison, but Banner would be foolish to think that the 29-year-old Vick is the same as the 33-year-old Vick.
I, for one, believe that Weeden deserves another chance. I think Chudzinski's and Norv Turner's vertical-based offense fits Weeden's skill set like a glove and that he can truly be "coached up." I think Colt McCoy will be let go, as will Thaddeus Lewis (both are more West Coast-style quarterbacks), which is why I think they go shopping for a new signal-caller, if only to provide a new backup.
There's no one in the draft that is worthy. The supplemental pick of Josh Gordon cust the Browns their second-round pick (which would have been sixth-overall in that round), so they have to make their first-round selection (No. 6 overall) count. The deficiancies of the defense, along with the weakness of this quarterback class, should dissuade them from reaching on a Mike Glennon or a Matt Barkley. Stick with Dee Millner of Alabama and be happy, or look at trading down to get lower in the first and add a second-rounder.
If the Browns give up on Weeden, it essentially makes Tom Heckert's decision to trade down with Atlanta so they could acquire Julio Jones two years ago a horrible decision. Weeden was taken with Atlanta's first-rounder last year. With the four picks they acquired, the Browns essentially acquired nose tackle Phil Taylor, wide receiver Greg Little, fullback Owen Marecic and Weeden, and used the other pick to move up to get Trent Richardson. Meanwhile, Jones made his first Pro Bowl this season and has emerged as a stud wideout that the Browns have been seeking since Braylon Edwards displayed an occasional flash of brilliance.
Some fans are up in arms about the switch from a 4-3 base defense to a 3-4, but I'm not as angry about it. I think we're all a little concerned about the last time we made this switch, and Romeo Crennel (and later Eric Mangin) continued to forcefeed their bland 3-4 onto the Browns that never seemed to be built correctly for the scheme. What's funny is the switch to the 4-3 under Pat Shurmur and Dick Jauron almost seemed seemless.
Ray Horton's 3-4 scheme isn't as bland and predictable as Crennel's and Mangini's was. Horton's scheme should be adapted fairly easily by the existing personnel. In fact, you can say that if they remained a 4-3, they would have still have had to fill the same holes on defense (linebackers and secondary) this year that they have to with the 3-4.
Free agency will get underway the second week of March. Haslam cautioned against any "splasy" signings. However, I think they will be active and try to acquire some pieces that can make an impact on this team. Unlike the last two years, where Heckert and Holmgren essentially ignored the free agent market, I think that changes this year.
We'll see what happens.
MISCELLANEOUS:
<> It was good to see Ohio State reel in a No. 1, 2 or 3 recruiting class (depending on which service you trust) this month after National Signing Day. Urban Meyer only had a few months to bring in a top freshman class last season. With the benefit of a full season under his belt, Meyer showed why he is one of the best college coaches/recruitors in the country.
I don't buy into the hype about recruiting classes. How often to you see a "can't miss" high school, blue-chip senior fade into obscurity while the guy who accepted the final scholarship become one of the best players in the country? A lot, actually. I don't follow the recruiting scene or anything like that. All I know is the Buckeyes did farily well on paper, and that's encouraging for this season and beyond.
<> The Ravens winning the Super Bowl last Sunday was the lesser of two evils, in my opinion. The fact that the Hall of Fame shut the door on Art Modell again (and did it as decisively as they did back in 2001) tells me that his chances have greatly diminished in the future.
Modell's best chance may have been this year. With the dirt over his grave still fresh and his former franchise making a Super Bowl run, Modell became a hot name. Baltimore made a full-court press to promote his candidacy, while Cleveland did one to diminish his candidacy. Modell's name was the second-longest debate among the 16 candidates, and his name was the first one to get cut from 15 to 10 regardless.
I got into a very heated argument about the subject with my dad and one of my uncles during the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, we can be a very stubborn family. There's no reasoning with us. They believe that the City of Cleveland was at the most fault. I've stated my case as to why it was Modell's fault. Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.
The voters did the right thing. Part of me believes that, ultimately, the location will keep Modell out. If the Hall of Fame was in Hershey, PA., or somewhere like that, Modell probably would have already got in. But because the Hall of Fame is in Canton, right in Browns Country, it may be his undoing.
<> Baltimore liked to bring up the fact that there are several team owners in the Hall of Fame that moved their franchises, such as Lamar Hunt, Al Davis, George Preston Marshall and Dan Reeves. Reeves, in fact, moved his Rams franchise from Cleveland to Los Angeles following the 1945 season.
Allow Joe Cleveland to dissect each one, starting with Reeves.
Reeves was a Cleveland businessman who bought the Cleveland Rams in 1941, but struggled during his ownership. The Rams never had a definite home stadium, alternating between League Park and Cleveland Stadium, and even had to suspend operations in 1943 due to a shortage of players during World War II. Thanks to rookie quarterback Bob Waterfield, who wound up winning the NFL's MVP award, the Rams turned it around in 1945 and won the NFL Championship with a 15-14 win over Sammy Baugh and the Washington Redskins. But, Reeves convinced the NFL to let him leave Clevveland for the West Coast.
The news that Paul Brown was going to be involved with a new professional football franchise in Cleveland in a new league starting in 1946, and that team (which would called the Browns) already locked down a lease to play in Cleveland Stadium, along with the untapped resourses of Los Angeles, gave Reeves the reason he needed to relocate. The move was met with little resistance from Clevelanders, who were gaga over the new Browns (and justifiably so -- the Browns won the AAFC title all four years, won the NFL title their first year in the league and reached 10 consecutive championship games their first 10 years of existance, winning seven). The Rams came back to Cleveland for the 1950 NFL Championship Game (losing a thrilling 30-28 game) and beat the Browns in L.A. in 1951.
Reeves ultimately got in because he had the foresight to take advantage of the West Coast, which helped the NFL blossom, broke the NFL's color barrior in 1946 with the signing of Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, and hired a young executive named Pete Rozelle who wound up becoming the NFL commissioner in 1960.
Hunt was the founder of the American Football League. For that alone, he deserves to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
Hunt moved his team from Dallas (known as the Texans) to Kansas City following the 1962 season (and the Texans winning the AFL title) because his team couldn't compete financially with the more stable NFL Cowboys, which debuted the same year as his Texans did. To help the league succeed, Hunt sacrificed his home market and found a viable market in Kansas City. The move did help the league thrive, as the newly-christened Chiefs became one of the AFL's most recognizable franchises.
Marshall was a notorious bigot who stubbornly refused to break the NFL's color line until 1961, when he acquired Bobby Mitchell from the Browns (who wound up making the Hall of Fame himself). Marshall might not have gotten into the Hall of Fame today if he was still on the outside looking in.
However, Marshall is enshrined because several of his innovations, such as pushing for the forward pass to be legal from anywhere beyond the line of scrimmage, moving the goal posts to the goal-line (which was changed back to the end line in 1974), and pushing for a standardized schedule for each team, defined what the NFL became.
The Redskins were initially called the Boston Braves, having shared Braves Park with the baseball Boston Braves. A year into Marshall's tenure, he moved the team to Fenway Park and called the Redskins. However, he moved to the Nation's Capital in 1937, citing the need to put an NFL presence in the capital. It was also the NFL's southern-most market until they expanded to Dallas in 1960, and Marshall kept his teams lily white to appeal to the Southerners (or so he said). Marshall also found it difficult for his team to succeed in the baseball-mad Boston area, and when football returned in 1959 with the AFL's Boston Patriots, they had a tough time gaining a foothold in the market.
Finally, Davis, the most notorious mover of them all. Davis is enshrined mostly because of how he helped the AFL blossom from a fly-by-night operation into a legitimate rival to the NFL, which necessitated the merger. He was the NFL's most controversial owner, suing the league and Pete Rozelle many times during his tenure. However, he built the Raiders' organization into one of the most respected organizations in football during the 1960s through the early 2000s, reaching the Super Bowl in four different decades and winning three of them.
While Davis moved his team twice (and both more recently than the other three men I've mentioned), both moves were within the same state. After the Rams left L.A. for a stadium in suburban Anaheim, Davis sued the NFL in 1980 to move into the vacated L.A. stadium. He won the suit in 1982 and moved to Los Angeles. In the late 1990s, he sued again to move back to Oakland, and then sued after the move claiming that he still had control of the L.A. market.
It would be like if Modell decided to move the Browns to Columbus (which almost happened. If Modell was forced to stay, Cleveland was prepared to build a new stadium. They would have torn down the old stadium and had the Browns play at Ohio Stadium while the new stadium was built).
So, of the owners in the Hall of Fame who moved, the most comporable to what Modell did was Davis, and Davis didn't exactly move to another state when he moved the Raiders.
<> The best collegiate basketball team in the state of Ohio may not be Ohio State (even though they are ranked in the top 10). It's definitely not Cleveland State, who is below .500 this season after battling injuries. No, it may be the University of Akron.
The Zips have won a nations-best 15-straight games and are 19-4 overall. They became the first Zips hoops team to ever be ranked in the Top 25 during the regular season a few weeks ago and they continue to keep climbing up the poll.
Akron could be an interesting decision made by the NCAA Tournament selection committee if they don't win the MAC Tournament. The MAC hasn't had more than one bid in recent years, and the Zips have been a notable snub in the past. However, they may have both the national ranking and RPI ranking to make their case for an at-large bid.
That's about all for now. Glad I was able to cover a wide range of topics in this one.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Open mouth, insert foot
So, Indians closer Chris Perez was one of two Wahoos to be named to the American League All-Star Team, along with shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.
Something tells me that Mr. Perez will be one of a tiny few on the AL roster who get booed by the crowd at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium. In fact, he'll probably be the recipient of the loudest boos of the night for any player on any team.
I wonder how Perez will take it, considering how sensitive he is to being booed by a home crowd.
This is what happens when you run your mouth for no apparent reason, other than to rile yourself up. You suffer the consequences.
I wonder if Kansas City fans will do the "You can't see me gesture" to him if he enters the game and starts giving up hits. I wonder if someone will hold up a sign that says, "You drill us, we drill you!"
It appears the guy who calls himself "Pure Rage" isn't completely over the mentality of Cleveland fans and their long memories when it comes to his performances and the performances of his Indians' teams. His little popoff to the New York Times confirms it.
Perez seems like another Braylon Edwards. Edwards mostly dressed down Cleveland, the Browns organization and his teammates while he was here, and then lit into all of them the moment he was sent packing to New York to play for the Jets.
Browns fans booed Braylon, and booed him hard. And, they will continue to boo him ... that is, if he ever finds another NFL job.
The moment Perez leaves the Indians -- and it could happen sooner rather than later -- he will pull a Braylon and really let Cleveland know how he feels. He may stress that he doesn't want to go anywhere, but I believe that he's praying that the Indians fall out of contention so they will dangle him to the highest bidder.
Last week, while the Indians were in New York to play (and subsequently get swept by) the Yankees, Perez expounded on his earlier feelings about the fans.
He said fans seemed to care more about rooting against LeBron James and the Miami Heat than they do about rooting for the Indians.
It's head-scratching. It's just -- they don't come out. But around the city, there's great support. They watch it in the bars. They watch it at home. They just don't come."
A few Cleveland fans claimed that Perez was "speaking the truth." About what, Joe Cleveland wonders?
So, Perez -- a University of Miami graduate -- thinks that the people who support his team in the city he plays should "get over" LeBron James. Apparently, it's OK for Perez to keep an entire city, region, fanbase and franchise in limbo for three years while he drops cryptic hints, gives up on that franchise during his final playoff series, not return any phone calls from the media (or his franchise) after the season, even after that franchise dumped the coach and GM to placate him, and then go on national TV and say you're taking your so-called "talents" somewhere else.
Sure, it's OK for that guy to make disparaging comments about Cleveland after he leaves and throw your teammates under the bus ... then again, this is exactly what Perez has been doing all along.
All of his comments and off-color on-field demeanor simply riles up his opponents. Meanwhile, he sits in the sanctity of the bullpen for 8 innings and only pitches if his team has a lead and only pitches one inning when he does. His teammates, which aren't that good to begin with, find out that other teams are bringing their best and not holding back anything because they've gotten the proper motivation to do so.
Perez likes to talk trash abour the Browns and Browns fans. OK, Chris, let me throw some cold, hard facts your way.
The Cleveland Browns have 8 championshps, while the Cleveland Indians have 2 (and the Cleveland Indians have been around almost 50 years longer than the Browns have).
The Cleveland Browns have won a championship more recently than the Cleveland Indians have -- 1964 (Browns) to 1948 (Indians). Even though the Indians have been in the World Series two more times than the Browns have been in the Super Bowl since 1964.
Going back 10 years -- to 2002 -- the Cleveland Browns have had the exact same amount of playoff berths (one) and winning seasons (two) than the Cleveland Indians have.
So, Chris Perez, why, exactly, is your franchise better than the Browns? Do your history homework, son!
There really isn't a scientific reason as to why Cleveland is more of a football town than a baseball town. You factor in 8 homes games for the Browns to 81 for the Indians, and you can see why people go more ape-shit for the football home games. Plus, it's actually cheaper to go to a season's worth of Browns games than a season's worth of Indians games, when you factor in parking, concessions, travel, etc.
Perhaps the move (and the way the fans responded and the end result) only added to the Browns fervor. The fans showed what loyalty can accomplish when they got the NFL to make a ruling they've never done and gotten concessions (the guarantee of a franchise within a certain time frame, the complete history of the franchise retained, the NFL to kick in on a new stadium) the NFL has never allowed. Yes, the team has been mediocre (by and large) since they've returned. But, quite honestly, haven't all the Cleveland franchises been pretty mediocre during that span?
The Cavs had five straight playoff berths from 2005-2010 with LeBron James in town, even reaching the NBA Finals once. If any franchise wants to call "scoreboard" to the town, the Cavs deserve it, even with LeBron tucking tail and going ring hunting in Florida.
The Indians haven't had a winning season since 2007 (which, coincidentally, was the Browns' last winning season). That year, they had a 3-1 lead in the ALCS over the Boston Red Sox, with Game 5 being played at Jacobs Field with Cy Young winner CC Sabathia on the hill. Somehow, the Tribe blew it.
Perez wants to crow about how his team is "winning," but pennants aren't awarded because you had a great April and May. The Indians had a phenomenal April and May last season, only to finish two games under .500 and double-digit games behind Detroit for the AL Central crown. This season, they had a good April and May, but have struggled ever since Perez went nuclear on his own fanbase.
Yes, the team's offense and the inconsistant starting pitching and some of Manny Acta's moves are all to blame, and Perez still hasn't blown a save since Opening Day. But it seems AWFUL coincidental that the team's overall struggles occurred when Perez popped off the media about a so-called "lack of support" from his fan base.
Perez doesn't seem to get it. Unfortunately, his comments have made him somewhat of a cult hero to a sect of the fan base. But, Joe Cleveland sees a fan base that has struggled to back the Indians because of their apparent lack of supporting a winning product, from ownership on down, and realizes that the Indians blew a lead last year that very few franchises blow and wound up with nothing, and knows that a guy popping off about THEM being the problem and not his manager, his general manager, his president and his owners being the problem (which they are), and most of THEM will sit on their money and not feel as motivated to make the trek to Carnegie and Ontario on a summer night.
The Indians were 12-15 in June. They were 23-17 when Perez first popped off, and 40-39 now, which is 17-22 since May 19. They are barely over .500 and first place in the Central (which is what they were on May 19) seems like a distant memory.
I want the Indians to succeed. However, Chris Perez, if you struggle, Joe Cleveland will not be shy about letting you have it or letting you hear about it.
You drill us, we'll drill you!
Hope you're somewhere else after July 31, Chrissy. Vinnie Pestano should get three measly outs in the ninth inning just as well at a fraction of the salary, without being a lightning rod for controversy.
***
After LeBron led the Heat to the NBA title a few weeks ago, someone argued that LeBron's last Cavs team, the 2010 team, was just as good, if not better, than his current Heat team.
Of course, the main arguement for the pro-LeBron, pro-Decision people is that Cleveland never gave him the proper supporting cast, yadda-yadda-yadda.
Joe Cleveland did some research, and you might be surprised just how evenly these two teams match up.
If you're a stats guy, look it up. If you're a basketball guy, consider this:
STARTERS:
PG -- Mo Williams vs. Mario Chalmers (advantage Cavs)
SG -- Anthony Parker vs. Dwayne Wade (advantage Heat)
SF -- LeBron James vs. LeBron James (I'll give the slight edge to the Heat James because he wasn't afraid to play in the post, unlike his time with the Cavs)
PF -- Antawn Jamison vs. Chris Bosh (even)
C -- Shaquille O'Neal vs. Joel Anthony (advantage Cavs, even with Shaq on the downside, he would eat Anthony for lunch)
Cavs Bench -- J.J. Hickson, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson
Heat Bench -- Shane Battier, Norris Cole, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller, Ronny Turiaf
Cavs get a major advantage here, even taking into account Miller's 3-point surge in Game 6. As Gibson showed in 2007, everyone catches lightning in a bottle sometime.
For you stat guys:
2012 Miami Big 3 (points-rebounds-assists)
Lebron James 27-8-6
Dwayne Wade 22-5-5
Chris Bosh 18-6-2
The key was LeBron himself. This year, he carried his team to a title. In 2007, he carried the Cavs to the finals. In 2009 and 2010 (and 2011 with Miami), he disappeared when it mattered, except for one fantastic buzzer-beating 3-pointer in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron had the pieces around him here in Cleveland, regardless of what ESPN wants to revise in their own history books or what Cleveland-haters want to believe. It was LeBron who failed Cleveland, not the other way around.
I think that's what angers Cleveland fans more than anything. They know, deep down, that Miami's title should be theirs.
***
When the Cavs drafted Dion Waiters with the No. 4 pick last Thursday, Joe Cleveland's not going to lie -- I was pretty angry.
When the Cavs gave up their remaining three draft picks to acquire center Tyler Zeller, Joe Cleveland's mood didn't get any better.
How could the Cavs screw up this draft, I wondered? Why would they take a collegiate non-starter that they never worked out with their first pick, and then give up everything else for a white "stiff" center?
Well, I let it marinate for 24 hours, did some research, listened as the national pundits didn't lambaste the Cavs over an open spicket like I thought they would, listened as Byron Scott and Chris Grant beamed and boasted about the picks, and realized, well, I might have rushed to judgement.
Two of the Cavs' most glaring needs was an athletic 2-guard to team up with Kyrie Irving in the backcourt and an athletic, long center to clog up the middle. They may have filled those two needs with Waiters and Zeller.
Zeller is not a center like Shaq or Dwight Howard or Roy Hibbert. Zeller is along the lines of another guy named 'Z' that played with the Cavs for a long time, a finesse big man who has range. Unlike Ilgauskas, Zeller is more athletic and can get up and down the floor quickly while also disrupting things on the defensive end.
Waiters may be the most athletic player in this draft, in terms of skill set and intangibles. Waiters is confident in his own abilities. You need that to succeed in today's NBA. He can create his own shot while also meshing well with who he called "his brother," Irving.
All the Cavs were raving about the picks when they happened. The national media have given them high grades. Byron Scott can't want to get this young team out on the court for the 2012-13 season.
They are going to run, run, and run some more.
I'm still not 100 percent, but now I'm more anxious to see these kids in action than I was before.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Something tells me that Mr. Perez will be one of a tiny few on the AL roster who get booed by the crowd at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium. In fact, he'll probably be the recipient of the loudest boos of the night for any player on any team.
I wonder how Perez will take it, considering how sensitive he is to being booed by a home crowd.
This is what happens when you run your mouth for no apparent reason, other than to rile yourself up. You suffer the consequences.
I wonder if Kansas City fans will do the "You can't see me gesture" to him if he enters the game and starts giving up hits. I wonder if someone will hold up a sign that says, "You drill us, we drill you!"
It appears the guy who calls himself "Pure Rage" isn't completely over the mentality of Cleveland fans and their long memories when it comes to his performances and the performances of his Indians' teams. His little popoff to the New York Times confirms it.
Perez seems like another Braylon Edwards. Edwards mostly dressed down Cleveland, the Browns organization and his teammates while he was here, and then lit into all of them the moment he was sent packing to New York to play for the Jets.
Browns fans booed Braylon, and booed him hard. And, they will continue to boo him ... that is, if he ever finds another NFL job.
The moment Perez leaves the Indians -- and it could happen sooner rather than later -- he will pull a Braylon and really let Cleveland know how he feels. He may stress that he doesn't want to go anywhere, but I believe that he's praying that the Indians fall out of contention so they will dangle him to the highest bidder.
Last week, while the Indians were in New York to play (and subsequently get swept by) the Yankees, Perez expounded on his earlier feelings about the fans.
He said fans seemed to care more about rooting against LeBron James and the Miami Heat than they do about rooting for the Indians.
“I don’t get the psyche,” said Perez, who grew up in
Florida. “Why cheer against a guy that’s not even in your city anymore? Just to
see him fail? Does that make you feel good? I could see if the Cavs were in the
championship, but that’s their mentality.
“They’ve had a lot of years of misery. They say, ‘You just
don’t understand because you don’t live here.’ O.K., maybe I don’t. But that
doesn’t mean it has to keep going.”
The Indians drew more than 3 million fans for six seasons in a row starting in 1996, the year the NFL Browns moved to Baltimore.
The new version of the Browns has not won a playoff game in its 13 seasons.
“That’s what I don’t understand,” Perez said. “Their whole
thing is, ‘We want a winner.’ Well, why do you support the Browns? They don’t
win. They’ve never won. They left. You guys blindly support them. I don’t
understand it. It’s a double standard, and I don’t know why.It's head-scratching. It's just -- they don't come out. But around the city, there's great support. They watch it in the bars. They watch it at home. They just don't come."
A few Cleveland fans claimed that Perez was "speaking the truth." About what, Joe Cleveland wonders?
So, Perez -- a University of Miami graduate -- thinks that the people who support his team in the city he plays should "get over" LeBron James. Apparently, it's OK for Perez to keep an entire city, region, fanbase and franchise in limbo for three years while he drops cryptic hints, gives up on that franchise during his final playoff series, not return any phone calls from the media (or his franchise) after the season, even after that franchise dumped the coach and GM to placate him, and then go on national TV and say you're taking your so-called "talents" somewhere else.
Sure, it's OK for that guy to make disparaging comments about Cleveland after he leaves and throw your teammates under the bus ... then again, this is exactly what Perez has been doing all along.
All of his comments and off-color on-field demeanor simply riles up his opponents. Meanwhile, he sits in the sanctity of the bullpen for 8 innings and only pitches if his team has a lead and only pitches one inning when he does. His teammates, which aren't that good to begin with, find out that other teams are bringing their best and not holding back anything because they've gotten the proper motivation to do so.
Perez likes to talk trash abour the Browns and Browns fans. OK, Chris, let me throw some cold, hard facts your way.
The Cleveland Browns have 8 championshps, while the Cleveland Indians have 2 (and the Cleveland Indians have been around almost 50 years longer than the Browns have).
The Cleveland Browns have won a championship more recently than the Cleveland Indians have -- 1964 (Browns) to 1948 (Indians). Even though the Indians have been in the World Series two more times than the Browns have been in the Super Bowl since 1964.
Going back 10 years -- to 2002 -- the Cleveland Browns have had the exact same amount of playoff berths (one) and winning seasons (two) than the Cleveland Indians have.
So, Chris Perez, why, exactly, is your franchise better than the Browns? Do your history homework, son!
There really isn't a scientific reason as to why Cleveland is more of a football town than a baseball town. You factor in 8 homes games for the Browns to 81 for the Indians, and you can see why people go more ape-shit for the football home games. Plus, it's actually cheaper to go to a season's worth of Browns games than a season's worth of Indians games, when you factor in parking, concessions, travel, etc.
Perhaps the move (and the way the fans responded and the end result) only added to the Browns fervor. The fans showed what loyalty can accomplish when they got the NFL to make a ruling they've never done and gotten concessions (the guarantee of a franchise within a certain time frame, the complete history of the franchise retained, the NFL to kick in on a new stadium) the NFL has never allowed. Yes, the team has been mediocre (by and large) since they've returned. But, quite honestly, haven't all the Cleveland franchises been pretty mediocre during that span?
The Cavs had five straight playoff berths from 2005-2010 with LeBron James in town, even reaching the NBA Finals once. If any franchise wants to call "scoreboard" to the town, the Cavs deserve it, even with LeBron tucking tail and going ring hunting in Florida.
The Indians haven't had a winning season since 2007 (which, coincidentally, was the Browns' last winning season). That year, they had a 3-1 lead in the ALCS over the Boston Red Sox, with Game 5 being played at Jacobs Field with Cy Young winner CC Sabathia on the hill. Somehow, the Tribe blew it.
Perez wants to crow about how his team is "winning," but pennants aren't awarded because you had a great April and May. The Indians had a phenomenal April and May last season, only to finish two games under .500 and double-digit games behind Detroit for the AL Central crown. This season, they had a good April and May, but have struggled ever since Perez went nuclear on his own fanbase.
Yes, the team's offense and the inconsistant starting pitching and some of Manny Acta's moves are all to blame, and Perez still hasn't blown a save since Opening Day. But it seems AWFUL coincidental that the team's overall struggles occurred when Perez popped off the media about a so-called "lack of support" from his fan base.
Perez doesn't seem to get it. Unfortunately, his comments have made him somewhat of a cult hero to a sect of the fan base. But, Joe Cleveland sees a fan base that has struggled to back the Indians because of their apparent lack of supporting a winning product, from ownership on down, and realizes that the Indians blew a lead last year that very few franchises blow and wound up with nothing, and knows that a guy popping off about THEM being the problem and not his manager, his general manager, his president and his owners being the problem (which they are), and most of THEM will sit on their money and not feel as motivated to make the trek to Carnegie and Ontario on a summer night.
The Indians were 12-15 in June. They were 23-17 when Perez first popped off, and 40-39 now, which is 17-22 since May 19. They are barely over .500 and first place in the Central (which is what they were on May 19) seems like a distant memory.
I want the Indians to succeed. However, Chris Perez, if you struggle, Joe Cleveland will not be shy about letting you have it or letting you hear about it.
You drill us, we'll drill you!
Hope you're somewhere else after July 31, Chrissy. Vinnie Pestano should get three measly outs in the ninth inning just as well at a fraction of the salary, without being a lightning rod for controversy.
***
After LeBron led the Heat to the NBA title a few weeks ago, someone argued that LeBron's last Cavs team, the 2010 team, was just as good, if not better, than his current Heat team.
Of course, the main arguement for the pro-LeBron, pro-Decision people is that Cleveland never gave him the proper supporting cast, yadda-yadda-yadda.
Joe Cleveland did some research, and you might be surprised just how evenly these two teams match up.
If you're a stats guy, look it up. If you're a basketball guy, consider this:
STARTERS:
PG -- Mo Williams vs. Mario Chalmers (advantage Cavs)
SG -- Anthony Parker vs. Dwayne Wade (advantage Heat)
SF -- LeBron James vs. LeBron James (I'll give the slight edge to the Heat James because he wasn't afraid to play in the post, unlike his time with the Cavs)
PF -- Antawn Jamison vs. Chris Bosh (even)
C -- Shaquille O'Neal vs. Joel Anthony (advantage Cavs, even with Shaq on the downside, he would eat Anthony for lunch)
Cavs Bench -- J.J. Hickson, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Daniel Gibson
Heat Bench -- Shane Battier, Norris Cole, Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller, Ronny Turiaf
Cavs get a major advantage here, even taking into account Miller's 3-point surge in Game 6. As Gibson showed in 2007, everyone catches lightning in a bottle sometime.
For you stat guys:
2012 Miami Big 3 (points-rebounds-assists)
Lebron James 27-8-6
Dwayne Wade 22-5-5
Chris Bosh 18-6-2
2010 Cleveland Big 3
Lebron James 29-7-9
Antawn Jamison 19-8-1
Mo Williams 15-3-5
Lebron James 29-7-9
Antawn Jamison 19-8-1
Mo Williams 15-3-5
Miami has a plus-4 advantage in points, but just a plus-1 advantage in rebounds, while the Cavs had a plus-2 advantage in assists.
To me, what this shows is that, if LeBron had shown half the gumption and heart he showed this year that he didn't show in 2010, the Cavs would have won a championship that season.The key was LeBron himself. This year, he carried his team to a title. In 2007, he carried the Cavs to the finals. In 2009 and 2010 (and 2011 with Miami), he disappeared when it mattered, except for one fantastic buzzer-beating 3-pointer in Game 2 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron had the pieces around him here in Cleveland, regardless of what ESPN wants to revise in their own history books or what Cleveland-haters want to believe. It was LeBron who failed Cleveland, not the other way around.
I think that's what angers Cleveland fans more than anything. They know, deep down, that Miami's title should be theirs.
***
When the Cavs drafted Dion Waiters with the No. 4 pick last Thursday, Joe Cleveland's not going to lie -- I was pretty angry.
When the Cavs gave up their remaining three draft picks to acquire center Tyler Zeller, Joe Cleveland's mood didn't get any better.
How could the Cavs screw up this draft, I wondered? Why would they take a collegiate non-starter that they never worked out with their first pick, and then give up everything else for a white "stiff" center?
Well, I let it marinate for 24 hours, did some research, listened as the national pundits didn't lambaste the Cavs over an open spicket like I thought they would, listened as Byron Scott and Chris Grant beamed and boasted about the picks, and realized, well, I might have rushed to judgement.
Two of the Cavs' most glaring needs was an athletic 2-guard to team up with Kyrie Irving in the backcourt and an athletic, long center to clog up the middle. They may have filled those two needs with Waiters and Zeller.
Zeller is not a center like Shaq or Dwight Howard or Roy Hibbert. Zeller is along the lines of another guy named 'Z' that played with the Cavs for a long time, a finesse big man who has range. Unlike Ilgauskas, Zeller is more athletic and can get up and down the floor quickly while also disrupting things on the defensive end.
Waiters may be the most athletic player in this draft, in terms of skill set and intangibles. Waiters is confident in his own abilities. You need that to succeed in today's NBA. He can create his own shot while also meshing well with who he called "his brother," Irving.
All the Cavs were raving about the picks when they happened. The national media have given them high grades. Byron Scott can't want to get this young team out on the court for the 2012-13 season.
They are going to run, run, and run some more.
I'm still not 100 percent, but now I'm more anxious to see these kids in action than I was before.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Random Thoughts from a Random Mind
A little bit of that and a little bit of this ... (yes, that is a slight twist on how Hal Lebovitz opened up his weekly Sunday column)
Joe Cleveland finds himself completely apathetic when it comes to the plight of the Cavs. They've lost like 23 games or something and have only won once since LeBron and his Heat came to Cleveland and completely shamed them in front of a packed house rabid for some overdue payback.
The Cavs hugged their former teammate, joked with him, let him drive the lane at will and lethargically lost by 25 or something ridiculous. At that point, in my opinion, Cavs Basketball as we know it died.
It doesn't seem coincidental that the team has fallen into the toilet since that beating, very rarely playing competitively. Even when they have, they have continued to lose. Some on last-second shots (I was at one of those games, against the TimberWolves), others by as many as 55 points.
This team is coming dangerously close to setting the all-time NBA record for the longest losing streak. Players are routinely getting hurt and not playing, meaning a lot of rookies that no one has ever heard of (Manny Harris? Christian Eyenga? Samardo Samuels? Anyone?) The team is actively trying to trade away proven commodities such as Antawn Jamison or Mo Williams (unfortunately, their contracts are pretty ridiculous and large). Byron Scott looks like someone who didn't think he was signing up for this back in June, when he took the coaching job.
Of course, at the time Scott got the job, LeBron James was still a Cavalier. Two weeks later, he wasn't.
To be honest, I thought the Cavs would be more competitive than this. I thought they would win enough games to sneak into the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed. I thought LeBron's supporting cast, guided by a proven head coach like Scott, would be good enough. Their 7-9 start to the season kind of reaffirmed that optimism, too.
Now, this team is on the fast track to a high NBA Draft lottery selection. A lot of locals wanted this to happen. My question is, WHY???
Is there a "can't miss" prospect in this year's draft class? Quick, name me someone who is the bonafide No. 1 pick. I can't. The only name that pops into my head is Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, and that's only because he plays for Ohio State. So, why tank the season?
Sad part is, I don't think they are doing this on purpose. Not like the year before LeBron came out, when Jim Paxson cut costs and trotted out a team that probably couldn't beat a rec league team in a regular basis.
This is probably the worst the Cavs have looked as a franchise since Ted Stepien owned the team in the early 1980s and nearly ran the club into the ground with his boneheaded decisions both on (and off) the court. I was too young to remember Stepien, only hearing many stories and reading many articles and books about it ever since.
Dan Gilbert, once lauded as the "best owner in Cleveland sports," is now a pariah on the national scope because of his open letter to the fans just hours after LeBron's self-proclaimed, self-centered "Decision." The Cavs' value as a franchise is falling. There's even speculation (questionable speculation, at that, but speculation nonetheless) that if the NBA decides to contract teams, the Cavs may be on that list.
Unfortunately, the Cavs and their losing ways have the pro stage all to themselves until the Indians open Spring Training. That's another story all in itself.
***
Hope is not lost on the local basketball fan, though, if he or she wants to watch the sport. It just has to be on the collegiate level, but so be it. The college game may be more entertaining than the superstar-driven NBA is, anyway. Why do you think the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is one of the most watched (and most wagered-upon) sporting events of the year, pro or college?
Joe Cleveland has always followed the Cleveland State men's basketball team ever since the Vikings made their miracle run to the Sweet 16 in 1986 (even spending a few years covering them while attending that same university in the 1990s). Needless to say, I'm enjoying this 20-win bunch. Joe Cleveland will get a chance to see them in person for the first time on Thursday's game vs. Valparaiso, so I'm looking forward to that. In recent years, the Vikings have won every time I've seen them at the Wolstein Center, so hopefully, that string continues.
Joe Cleveland has also started paying more attention to the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Thad Matta has done a tremendous job turning the Buckeyes into a top-notch basketball program to coincide with their usual football excellence. He's reached the National Championship game once and has churned out top recruting classes year after year after year. I don't know if they can stay undefeated (right now, they are the only one left in Division I), but this team should be a force in this year's NCAA Tournament.
Basketball fans can enjoy Ohio State and Cleveland State for what they are. Leave the Cavs in the dust and focus your energies on the college guys. You won't be sorry.
***
Joe Cleveland likes to point out that the City of Cleveland has nine pro football championships overall compared to Pittsburghs's seven. Well, make that 10. The Cleveland Bulldogs won the 1926 NFL Championship, I just recently discovered. So, 10 total, and 8 with the Browns. You've got to be proud of something, don't you?
***
If you're tired of the "I'm rooting for the Packers because they're playing the Steelers" arguement, how about rooting for the Packers because of some of their players?
Matt Wilhelm is a Lorain County product and resident who was a co-captain on Ohio State's 2002 National Champions. He's a special teamer and backup linebacker for the Packers. I covered Matt while he was in high school at Elyria Catholic. Root for Matt.
Charles Woodson is from Fremont who became the only defensive player to win a Heisman Trophy while at Michigan. Woodson is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL today. Root for Charles.
Clay Matthews is the son of former Browns standout linebacker Clay Matthews. Many Browns fans wished that the team drafted Matthews when they had the chance (and, they had several, thanks to all the trades Eric Mangini made in that draft). He's the front-runner for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year who is just like his dad, both in ability and personality. Root for Clay.
A.J. Hawk and Ryan Pickett are other ex-Ohio State players who dominated on the defensive side for the Buckeyes during their tenures and were fan favorites. Root for A.J. and Ryan.
And, how can you not root for Green Bay, one of the last bastions of purity in the NFL. The only team in the league that is community owned, playing in the NFL's equivilant of Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. Lambeau Field is a football cathedral, famous for the "frozen tundra" and tough players. Lombardi, Staff, Hornung, Taylor, Gregg, Kramer, Nitchke, Adderley ... do I have to go on? Their history would make a Steeler fan blush (and it should). And, besides, Brett Favre doesn't play for them anymore. He left them in a selfish huff and embarassed himself out of the league. The Packers are in the Super Bowl playing for the trophy named after their famous former coach.
Those enough reasons for you? They're more than enough for Joe Cleveland.
***
Why all the doom and gloom about the possibility of a 4-3 defense for the Browns? Did you not pay attention to the way this team played defense the last six years?
Yes, occasionally, they did well. But that was occasionally. Not even Rob Ryan's self-proclaimed genius could make the Browns a consistant force on the defense end. And, remember, all those teams played in a 3-4 base.
The Browns are actually better suited for a 4-3 defensive alignment. Don't think so? How about this:
DE-Matt Roth; DT-Shaun Rogers; DT-Athyba Rubin; DE-Kenyon Coleman (or someone else); OLB-Scott Fujita; MLB-D'Qwell Jackson; OLB-Chris Gocong. D-Lineman Jayme Mitchell was acquired in a trade, and he's supposedly better suited to play end in a 4-3 (Heckert made that trade; Mangini never played him).
I think this defense would be a lot better than what we've seen, and no moves had to be made. Of course, is Jackson completely healthy, and will Roth and Jackson re-sign, and will Rogers come back (without Mangini around, he might be rejuvenated), and how will the draft, free agency and trades impact things? There are still questions, but I think there are more answers than you'd expect.
***
Cleveland Indians GM Chris Antonetti (wow, didn't realize he was still alive, considering how quiet the team was during the offseason) says he expects the team to be contenders this season.
Manny Acta is talking a lot of sunshine and rainbows and is hard-selling a disenchanted fan base on his optimism.
Meanwhile, the Indians did not make any significant offseason moves, still having a major hole at third base, second base, the outfield and the bench. Let's not forget first base, either, where Matt LaPorta hasn't exactly been as promised when he was acquired for CC Sabathia.
I'm sorry, but if Joe Cleveland wants to watch minor league baseball, I'll go to Columbus, or Akron, or Eastlake, or Avon. They actually charge minor league prices and make no bones about what they're trying to do. And, it's more entertaining.
This Indians fan isn't ready to drink your Kool-Aid yet, Chris and Manny. You have poor ownership who cut corners all the time who keep saying they'll "spend when the time is right," but then let a team that was one game away from a World Series just three years ago fall apart because (wait for it) THEY DIDN'T SPEND!!!
I love the Indians, but Joe Cleveland will be busy paying attention to how CSU and OSU are doing in the NCAA Tournament and how the Browns draft to care about your annual 8-16 April.
I admire your optimism, and for Cleveland's sake, I hope your right. I just don't see it. Convince Larry Dolan to sell the team, and maybe I'll start believing.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
Joe Cleveland finds himself completely apathetic when it comes to the plight of the Cavs. They've lost like 23 games or something and have only won once since LeBron and his Heat came to Cleveland and completely shamed them in front of a packed house rabid for some overdue payback.
The Cavs hugged their former teammate, joked with him, let him drive the lane at will and lethargically lost by 25 or something ridiculous. At that point, in my opinion, Cavs Basketball as we know it died.
It doesn't seem coincidental that the team has fallen into the toilet since that beating, very rarely playing competitively. Even when they have, they have continued to lose. Some on last-second shots (I was at one of those games, against the TimberWolves), others by as many as 55 points.
This team is coming dangerously close to setting the all-time NBA record for the longest losing streak. Players are routinely getting hurt and not playing, meaning a lot of rookies that no one has ever heard of (Manny Harris? Christian Eyenga? Samardo Samuels? Anyone?) The team is actively trying to trade away proven commodities such as Antawn Jamison or Mo Williams (unfortunately, their contracts are pretty ridiculous and large). Byron Scott looks like someone who didn't think he was signing up for this back in June, when he took the coaching job.
Of course, at the time Scott got the job, LeBron James was still a Cavalier. Two weeks later, he wasn't.
To be honest, I thought the Cavs would be more competitive than this. I thought they would win enough games to sneak into the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed. I thought LeBron's supporting cast, guided by a proven head coach like Scott, would be good enough. Their 7-9 start to the season kind of reaffirmed that optimism, too.
Now, this team is on the fast track to a high NBA Draft lottery selection. A lot of locals wanted this to happen. My question is, WHY???
Is there a "can't miss" prospect in this year's draft class? Quick, name me someone who is the bonafide No. 1 pick. I can't. The only name that pops into my head is Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, and that's only because he plays for Ohio State. So, why tank the season?
Sad part is, I don't think they are doing this on purpose. Not like the year before LeBron came out, when Jim Paxson cut costs and trotted out a team that probably couldn't beat a rec league team in a regular basis.
This is probably the worst the Cavs have looked as a franchise since Ted Stepien owned the team in the early 1980s and nearly ran the club into the ground with his boneheaded decisions both on (and off) the court. I was too young to remember Stepien, only hearing many stories and reading many articles and books about it ever since.
Dan Gilbert, once lauded as the "best owner in Cleveland sports," is now a pariah on the national scope because of his open letter to the fans just hours after LeBron's self-proclaimed, self-centered "Decision." The Cavs' value as a franchise is falling. There's even speculation (questionable speculation, at that, but speculation nonetheless) that if the NBA decides to contract teams, the Cavs may be on that list.
Unfortunately, the Cavs and their losing ways have the pro stage all to themselves until the Indians open Spring Training. That's another story all in itself.
***
Hope is not lost on the local basketball fan, though, if he or she wants to watch the sport. It just has to be on the collegiate level, but so be it. The college game may be more entertaining than the superstar-driven NBA is, anyway. Why do you think the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is one of the most watched (and most wagered-upon) sporting events of the year, pro or college?
Joe Cleveland has always followed the Cleveland State men's basketball team ever since the Vikings made their miracle run to the Sweet 16 in 1986 (even spending a few years covering them while attending that same university in the 1990s). Needless to say, I'm enjoying this 20-win bunch. Joe Cleveland will get a chance to see them in person for the first time on Thursday's game vs. Valparaiso, so I'm looking forward to that. In recent years, the Vikings have won every time I've seen them at the Wolstein Center, so hopefully, that string continues.
Joe Cleveland has also started paying more attention to the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Thad Matta has done a tremendous job turning the Buckeyes into a top-notch basketball program to coincide with their usual football excellence. He's reached the National Championship game once and has churned out top recruting classes year after year after year. I don't know if they can stay undefeated (right now, they are the only one left in Division I), but this team should be a force in this year's NCAA Tournament.
Basketball fans can enjoy Ohio State and Cleveland State for what they are. Leave the Cavs in the dust and focus your energies on the college guys. You won't be sorry.
***
Joe Cleveland likes to point out that the City of Cleveland has nine pro football championships overall compared to Pittsburghs's seven. Well, make that 10. The Cleveland Bulldogs won the 1926 NFL Championship, I just recently discovered. So, 10 total, and 8 with the Browns. You've got to be proud of something, don't you?
***
If you're tired of the "I'm rooting for the Packers because they're playing the Steelers" arguement, how about rooting for the Packers because of some of their players?
Matt Wilhelm is a Lorain County product and resident who was a co-captain on Ohio State's 2002 National Champions. He's a special teamer and backup linebacker for the Packers. I covered Matt while he was in high school at Elyria Catholic. Root for Matt.
Charles Woodson is from Fremont who became the only defensive player to win a Heisman Trophy while at Michigan. Woodson is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL today. Root for Charles.
Clay Matthews is the son of former Browns standout linebacker Clay Matthews. Many Browns fans wished that the team drafted Matthews when they had the chance (and, they had several, thanks to all the trades Eric Mangini made in that draft). He's the front-runner for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year who is just like his dad, both in ability and personality. Root for Clay.
A.J. Hawk and Ryan Pickett are other ex-Ohio State players who dominated on the defensive side for the Buckeyes during their tenures and were fan favorites. Root for A.J. and Ryan.
And, how can you not root for Green Bay, one of the last bastions of purity in the NFL. The only team in the league that is community owned, playing in the NFL's equivilant of Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. Lambeau Field is a football cathedral, famous for the "frozen tundra" and tough players. Lombardi, Staff, Hornung, Taylor, Gregg, Kramer, Nitchke, Adderley ... do I have to go on? Their history would make a Steeler fan blush (and it should). And, besides, Brett Favre doesn't play for them anymore. He left them in a selfish huff and embarassed himself out of the league. The Packers are in the Super Bowl playing for the trophy named after their famous former coach.
Those enough reasons for you? They're more than enough for Joe Cleveland.
***
Why all the doom and gloom about the possibility of a 4-3 defense for the Browns? Did you not pay attention to the way this team played defense the last six years?
Yes, occasionally, they did well. But that was occasionally. Not even Rob Ryan's self-proclaimed genius could make the Browns a consistant force on the defense end. And, remember, all those teams played in a 3-4 base.
The Browns are actually better suited for a 4-3 defensive alignment. Don't think so? How about this:
DE-Matt Roth; DT-Shaun Rogers; DT-Athyba Rubin; DE-Kenyon Coleman (or someone else); OLB-Scott Fujita; MLB-D'Qwell Jackson; OLB-Chris Gocong. D-Lineman Jayme Mitchell was acquired in a trade, and he's supposedly better suited to play end in a 4-3 (Heckert made that trade; Mangini never played him).
I think this defense would be a lot better than what we've seen, and no moves had to be made. Of course, is Jackson completely healthy, and will Roth and Jackson re-sign, and will Rogers come back (without Mangini around, he might be rejuvenated), and how will the draft, free agency and trades impact things? There are still questions, but I think there are more answers than you'd expect.
***
Cleveland Indians GM Chris Antonetti (wow, didn't realize he was still alive, considering how quiet the team was during the offseason) says he expects the team to be contenders this season.
Manny Acta is talking a lot of sunshine and rainbows and is hard-selling a disenchanted fan base on his optimism.
Meanwhile, the Indians did not make any significant offseason moves, still having a major hole at third base, second base, the outfield and the bench. Let's not forget first base, either, where Matt LaPorta hasn't exactly been as promised when he was acquired for CC Sabathia.
I'm sorry, but if Joe Cleveland wants to watch minor league baseball, I'll go to Columbus, or Akron, or Eastlake, or Avon. They actually charge minor league prices and make no bones about what they're trying to do. And, it's more entertaining.
This Indians fan isn't ready to drink your Kool-Aid yet, Chris and Manny. You have poor ownership who cut corners all the time who keep saying they'll "spend when the time is right," but then let a team that was one game away from a World Series just three years ago fall apart because (wait for it) THEY DIDN'T SPEND!!!
I love the Indians, but Joe Cleveland will be busy paying attention to how CSU and OSU are doing in the NCAA Tournament and how the Browns draft to care about your annual 8-16 April.
I admire your optimism, and for Cleveland's sake, I hope your right. I just don't see it. Convince Larry Dolan to sell the team, and maybe I'll start believing.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
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