Nick - The Point You're Missing

To be honest, I had this long, drawn out repsonse written and then decided it wasn't necessary. The bottom line is that I wasn't interested before and nothing to this point has come close to making me more interested. In fact, it's turned me off more. I haven't watched 1 inning of playoff baseball and it probably won't happen until the World Series, if at all! It's weird, I really enjoy the game of baseball and am a big Indians fan, but baseball has not gotten back to the point for me where I can watch any team, anytime, as I do with Football. I'm not sure it can ever get back to that either.

So Much To Say

I get to work this morning and receive the following text from ZG.

"So much for the great baseball playoffs...NL series are not even competitive!"

Gut reaction....I hate you, you're gay.

However I have too many things to say about this topic so rather than sending a text back I feel the need to put them down here....

I can't really argue with the fact that the NL has been uncompetitive so far. Both series are 2-0 and the Cubs and Brewers have looked lifeless. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean there hasn't been intrigue and good baseball. The Phillies pitchers (Myers and Hamels) have been lights out, I know that's not exciting to a lot of people, but that's some good baseball. The Dodgers have Manny who is showing once again he is just a freak of nature and a player who should be watched and talents admired. I don't really care what you think about his attitude, bottom line is we may be watching one of the Top 10 post season players of all time (possibly even top 5?), if you can't get behind watching that then I just feel sorry for you.

As for the opposite end......as an Indians fan you should be LOVING this. With the Brewers making the playoffs the "Player to be Named Later" in the CC deal has become a higher rated prospect which will help your team, PLUS you get to witness and laugh at Brewers fans for what you knew all along, that CC while great in the regular season, squeezes too tight and is massively ineffective in the post season. How is that not a win-win for Cleveland fans?

Next take a look at the AL. Both are only a game in, but you can't tell me you don't think those will be more competitive? Evan Longoria for the Rays...HOLY SHIT, first two at bats are homeruns? Carl Crawford making a comeback? The White Sox with there experience are bound to take 1 or 2 games in this series, so this will be a good matchup of vets versus youngsters. Plus you have the added bonus of AJ Perzinski (misspelled I know) in the series so he'll end up doing something crazy soon and everyone can hate him even more after that.

Angels vs. Red Sox. The best team that ran away and hid all season the Angels struggling to take care of the Sox their post season nemesis. Jon Lester pitching like Kofax in Game 1, Jason Bay saying F'You to everyone trying to compare him to Manny. Gary Matthews Jr. forgetting to take his steroids and hitting like a 15 year old girl and misplaying fly balls in the outfield. With all that did you think at any point the Angels couldn't come back it that game? Or course not.

I know most of you don't share the same joy of baseball outside of your favorite teams, but I've spent the better half of the last decade plus cheering for a team that has a hard time even sniffing the playoffs, so I take joy in watching good games when they're on, especially this time of the year.

Ah..hell....screw it....ZG you're gay....

At least we're not the Raiders...

Can signing Cedric Benson make them any worse? Can their reputaion get more tarnished? I got that text from Hewlett and my reaction was..."Eh...". I don't think it will help them. It can't possibly make them any worse. I did however think to myself "Benson? Really? That's who you came up with?". Then I saw the other names that tried out that day: Noah Herron, Vernand Morancy, LaBrandon Toefield, Dwayne Wright and Keon Lattimore. Alright I know the first three names, but no fricking clue who those last two are. As I started to write this I went and looked them up. Dwayne Wright was a rookie last year cut by the Bills. Keon Lattimore: love this...actually has his own website! KeonLattimore.com! Hilarious. His mother must have a lot of free time on her hands. Apparently he was a running back from Maryland cut by the Cowboys before the 08 season started. Interesting fact though, he's the younger brother of Ray Lewis (not sure about the last name difference, probably a half-brother or something). Anyway, I don't really care about Benson. He's no risk -- virtually no upside. He'll get the league minimum until Watson gets healthy and probably won't last through the season. Who knows though, maybe he just needed a change of scenery...doubt it though. On the plus side, I think I know who the Bengals should sign after this Benson experiment fails: TRAVIS HENRY! He was recently indicted on cocaine trafficking or something...sounds like he'd look perfect in stripes!

Ugh...at least we aren't forced to start Mewelde Moore this week...

Al Davis is beyond psychotic. He's just Al Davis. My favorite part of this whole story was where Kiffin submitted his final roster for one of the last games and listed more safeties than corners necessary. Davis said that Kiffin did not have the authority to submit final gameday rosters. Then there was an issue on salary offers to free agents. Davis put the blame on Kiffin and said that it was his fault for botching up a deal. So let me get this straight...Kiffin isn't allowed to say who is active or inactive for a game...but it's his responsibility for player salary details?! He was set up to fail in the worst possible way. I feel for him...I know what that's like... I'm not sure you should be making a big fuss about Tom Cable, KD. He's just an interim head coach. Those guys hardly ever retain the job for the following season. Then again, Davis did hire Art Shell...twice...

I think Al Davis is crazy finally

Who the hell are these guys that Davis keeps hiring to coach one of the most storied NFL teams in history?? He hires Kiffin, who the fuck was that?? and then turns to some other no name schmuck to replace him after he says "I hired the wrong guy!" Well who the hell is Tom Cable??? Oh I see; he is regarded as one of the top offensive line coaches in the game, so because he can teach guys to block he should be in charge of the Oakland Raiders??? Oh wait!: he worked with successful offensive line units in Atlanta and then Oakland and he spent four years as a college head coach at Idaho. IDAHO!?!?!?!?!?! WTF??? If I were a Raider fan I would wish for Al Davis to be put in the home, now!! Since their Super Bowl loss, the Raiders have posted five consecutive losing seasons and Davis thinks an OL guru is going to help bring back their winning ways?? This guy was their best option?? Amazing.

Cedric Benson....Really?!

hahahahahahahahaha. Wow, that's about all I can say about this signing by the asshole franchise of the NFL - the Cincinnati Bengals. I mean honestly Streck, how in God's name can you be a fan of this worthless franchise. Incredible. Can we just move them to L.A. or another city and start over. There is no hope as long as Mike Brown owns that team.

It's going to be a very long year...

So I'm tailgating down outside Paul Brown Stadium and I get a text from one of my friends who is a Browns fan: "Palmer being out helps our chances :)". No one had any idea down there and I about caused a riot in Lot B of PBS. Then I hear people say "Well Fitz might be alright...at least he's mobile". Yea he was mobile alright...he should have just ran it every time. There were times where he had great protection, wide open receivers and he'd throw as if he was tossing to Manute Bol and George Muresan. Absolutely dreadful. Then we were down to only 1 RB with Watson inactive and Dorsey leaving early in the game so we had to rely on Fitz's lack of an arm. These may sound like excuses, but they're not. Despite all that, we still had plenty of opportunities to win. We look like the most hapless, lifeless, unmotivated team I've ever seen. Hell even the 2-14 2002 Bengals showed more fire than the Bengals did yesterday. They just look like they have given up. The worst part of all this: this was the EASIER part of our schedule. We still have the displeasure of playing Pitt twice, Baltimore again, Dallas this coming week, Philly, Jags, Colts and Skins. I called for a 7-9 season before the year started. That's looking that would be a miracle at this point. The fact that they looked so good last week against the G-men gives me a glimmer of hope that the rest of 08 will be watchable, but I'm preparing myself for the worst. I'll still be there though. Torturing myself watching the road games on TV and the home games in person...

As for Chad...ZG, I wasn't defending his caliber of play. I was simply refuting Dunigan's statement that he's nothing but a "Me-guy" and that his antics are somehow playing a part in the Bengals' woes. Since you brought it up though...I still think he's one of the most talented guys in the NFL. He's a headcase though and it carries over to the field. Is he streaky? Hell yes. It's frustrating but having that all-or-nothing explosiveness that you know has a chance to deploy at anytime is a nice weapon to have. And while his big games do usually occur in just about 3 or 4 games a year...I'll take these overall stats any day: Over the last 5 Seasons Avg: 92 catches, 1,374 yds, 8.6 TDs.

The Browns are in no better shape than the Bengals (I'm getting very close to reverting back to the dreaded Bungles label). DA looked like DA from the first few weeks. Turning the ball over 5 times certainly made his day easier. As bad as Fitz was, he somehow threw for more yards than Anderson. The Brady Quinn era is upon us.

I could go on and on about how badly both teams suck, but there's no point. I know everyone knows it. I almost laughed when I heard T.J. say after the game "We're going to beat Dallas". Um...really? Sure about that? However, he did follow it up with, "Then again, I thought we were going to beat Cleveland today". Mmmhmm, yea me too Housh...me too. Oh and we might get a second helping of Fitzpatrick's noodle arm as Palmer may be out next week too. Yay...

Awful

Well, I must say, I think I was easily watching 2 of the worst teams in football yesterday. That was an absolutely pitiful display by both teams. I mean really, there is no reason the Browns should not have massacred the Bengals with freaking Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB. That was an embarrassing game and I'm disgusted to have watched it. Of course, had I not had J. Lewis playing on my fantasy team I wouldn't have watched more than the first quarter or so. I did enjoy the Packers/Bucs game on Fox though. As for DA, I'll now officially admit that i think it's time to give Quinn a shot. I mean he really can't do much worse.

Also, Scotty, I can't believe you are abandoning your team and season after only 4 weeks! What happened to all that playoff and SB talk! C'mon, you aren't a fair-weather fan are you?!?!

And to get back to Strecker from last week...stoppped sucking Chad Johnson's ding-dong. The dude has 3 huge games a year and does pretty much nothing the rest of the season. If I were starting a team he wouldn't even be in my top-10 WRs and I probably would take Housh over him. He's more consistent and always gets open. And don't give me the "Chad is always double-teamed" bullshit. All the top receivers are consistenly doubled or coverage rolled to their side and it doesn't seem to stop them all that much.

Hey, At Least They're not as Bad asThe Bengals!!!!!

Well, The Browns won the battle of the two WORST teams in Football yesterday. That was extremely brutal to watch. It seemed like each team did everything in their power to lose that game, including not playing Carson Palmer, although Palmer at like 60% is better than Ryan Fitzgerald, who still had some success against the Browns porous D. That was hard to watch. The only excitement coming when Braylon Edwards fought DA on the sidelines, which,. I'm not gonna lie, I was totally hoping for Braylon to get so pissed that he hit DA breaking his nose, and officially starting the Brady Quinn era. Speaking of Which, how do you not Put Brady in that game? Derek Anderson tried his best to lose that bad boy, but was bailed out by some great catches by Braylon, and Kellen Winslow, and by the fact that Jamal Lewis is a beast, when they commit to the run. Also, Ryan Fitzgerald being the opposing QB didn't hurt. Do we really have to sit through more weeks of Derek Anderson being unbelievably bad? Just Start Brady Quinn Already!!! But we did find out one about the Browns this weekend: They're not as bad as The Cinci-Tucky Bungles!!!!

Also, all this won't matter in a month when the Cavs start their Quest for the inevitable title this year!!! It's Bronson time Gentlemen!!!