December 2010
18 posts
Cleveland Is Changing - Our Sports Teams Don't... →
Great post on the dated portrayal of Cleveland sports fans by the Browns, which is then carried over by the national media … all of which feeds in to the perception of Cleveland as one kind of town - a hardworking base of manufacturers - that is no longer the truth anymore. Themes here that we’ve been circling for a while.
Cavs Make a Run at Sacramento →
From Adjusted +/- guru Wayne Winston … NBA Rankings … the Cavs are now at #29, only -.39 points away from Sacramento. Ouch.
3 tags
Mangini's Fatal Flaw
There are plenty of reasons to wonder whether or not Eric Mangini deserves to keep his job as head coach of the Cleveland Browns - an offense that isn’t productive and isn’t fun to watch chief amongst them - but I would argue that there is one overarching reason why Mangini, unfortunately, must be removed from his position:
Mangini has a fatal flaw. He wants to play close games.
...
3 tags
Cavs-Hawks Bazooka Point
Last night, while watching the Cavaliers lose in rather pedestrian ways to the Hawks, I was thinking about which team I would rather be a fan of right now. I was very prepared to say I would rather be a fan of the Cavs than of the Hawks … until I read this insider piece from Jodie Valade about Byron Scott’s desire for a “dominant” back to the basket post player.
In the...
8 tags
The Fantastic(?) Mr. Fox
After the Browns dropped consecutive disappointing road games to 2-win teams, the sports punditry seems to have decided once again that Eric Mangini is running out the clock on death row.
I’m still not entirely sure that I agree with this opinion or, if it is true, the actual decision. As Mike pointed out earlier, good teams require continuity, and firing a coach every two to three...
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The NBA's Fatal Flaw
On Sunday, Adrian Wojnarowski posted this piece on Dwight Howard’s championship ambitions, and the inevitable pressure his demands place on the Orlando Magic’s front office, given his eventual status as a free agent in 2012.
This is a story all of us in Cleveland are beyond familiar with. We heard LeBron James repeatedly say that his entire free agency decision would be based on...
4 tags
Browns-Bengals Bazooka Point
After another debacle, I could go in two different directions with a post that goes toward explaining why the Browns split the season series with Cincinnati.
The first option would be to blame the defense. To label their performance as “porous” would be an understatement. Coming into today’s game, the Bengals were averaging less than 90 yards rushing per game. They ended the...
7 tags
Mangini: Losing His Edge?
Even casual Browns fans had to have been shocked by Eric Mangini yesterday. He did something so utterly out of character, so foreign to my understanding of his coaching philosophy, so staggeringly unexpected that I’m still trying to come to terms with it.
That’s right: he named Colt McCoy the starter not only for this Sunday vs the Bengals…but for the remainder of the 2010...
2 tags
Some Notable Cavs Statistics (Part II)
After the 9th game of the Cavaliers’ season - an embarrassing loss to the Indiana Pacers that I watched in person - I posted a few notable statistics that you wouldn’t read in your morning paper. Because the Indians didn’t sign Cliff Lee and the Browns are in treadmill mode, I figured I would revisit those same stats, to see just how far the Cavs have fallen now that 24 games...
4 tags
The Folly of Benching Peyton Hillis
I just got done listening to this week’s Plain Dealer podcast with Tony Grossi. As usual, I came away from it appreciative of the fact that Grossi is able to maintain perspective and bat down ridiculous questions from both the chat room and the actual host. Also as usual, one such question set me off a little bit and compelled me to write a post.
What was the question, uh, in...
4 tags
Browns-Bills Bazooka Point
Today, after a pretty uninspiring loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Browns find themselves at 5-8 and firmly in 3rd place in the AFC North.
In other words, if you weren’t thinking about the future before today then you really should be thinking about the future now.
This brings me to something I’ve been wondering about for much of the season but haven’t yet stated publicly:...
3 tags
The Argument for Rock Bottom
Over the course of the past 10 days, Mike and I have made various allusions to what may be a semi-controversial opinion regarding the Cavs.
My take on the team is this: I have no interest whatsoever in mediocrity, the 8th playoff spot, or band-aid trades. The concepts of saving face and ‘proving the doubters wrong’ are irrelevant to me. I don’t give a shit about Dan...
1 tag
Cavs-Bulls Bazooka Point
So, tonight Byron Scott tried a new starting lineup:
Mo @ 1 Boobie @ 2 Parker @ 3 Jamison @ 4 Andy @ 5
What was the end result? Cavs -5.
Before tonight, the team was ranked 29th in offense, 25th in defense, 13th in pace (surprising), and 30th in point differential.
In that sense, -5 doesn’t look so bad.
The simple take on the new starting five goes something like this: “Wow,...
3 tags
The LeBron James Survival Guide
With the Cavs treading the line of unwatchability thanks to yet another double-digit loss last night, I thought that I’d turn my attention to other basketball matters.
Ever since LeBron made the choice to sign with Miami, it dawned on me that Heat fans (all 1,000 of them) were about to be introduced to an entire array of tics, habits, and pre-meditated actions that those of us who had...
6 tags
Browns-Dolphins Bazooka Point(s)
Two substantial points to make about the Browns’ 3-point victory over the Miami Dolphins earlier today: Mangini and Daboll are Not Lennon and McCartney. The play calling today - up until the team’s single successful drive for a touchdown in the 3rd Quarter - was as predictable as I have ever seen an NFL offense. It got so bad, in fact, that DAD and I felt comfortable taking part in a...
7 tags
Cavs-Heat Bazooka Point: Taking Aim at B-Scott
For months, I’ve been hearing the same chorus about LeBron from Clevelanders: “It’s not that he left, it’s how he did it.” Last night, I think we could all say it’s not that the Cavs lost, it’s how they did it.
The size of the egg they laid makes a few things crystal clear to me.
Byron Scott is, at this point of the season, a fraud. I wrote about this...
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Cleveland, C'mon Now, We Can't Let Sports Define...
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write this column. I considered posting a video of myself offering suggestions for what the people of Northeast Ohio should be doing instead of spending a whole lot of time worrying about a basketball player named LeBron James. But here I am, staring at the screen, typing away. I suppose I can’t stop myself from writing, no matter how badly I sometimes wish...