While We’re Waiting… Trent Richardson’s fantasy potential, Jordan Hall’s Injury, Remembering Paul Sorrento, and Warming up to Waiters

While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

The Browns might actually have a worthwhile fantasy player! Huzzah! “Richardson is a do-everything back, a three-down player who will clearly be the centerpiece of Cleveland’s offense. No less an authority that Greg Cosell has referred to the Alabama rookie as”the best back to come out since Adrian Peterson in 2007” and “a foundation back.” If somehow you’ve failed to view a Richardson highlight reel, click this one right here. You will not be disappointed. This is an inventive, determined runner who routinely sheds tacklers, dances around them, cuts wickedly, stiff-arms, catches passes, plays big on big stages … in a nutshell, he’s tremendous. This is a potential franchise back.

I realize that many of you have longstanding biases against rookie runners, and thus I’m not likely to talk you into drafting Richardson near his current ADP (14.8). That’s fine with me. Please, by all means, keep your hard-and-fast inviolable rules. It just means more Richardson shares for the rest of us. I’ll gladly take the rookie at the turn, as a late-first or early-second round selection. He’s a legit talent in line for a huge workload, and the names behind him on the depth chart aren’t too impressive: Montario Hardesty, Brandon Jackson, Chris Ogbonnaya. Let’s remember that Peyton Hillis, a player who isn’t in Richardson’s class as a ball-carrier, gained over 1,600 scrimmage yards for Cleveland just two seasons ago, breaking the plane 13 times. [Andy Behrens/Roto Arcade]

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Ohio State’s first string running back, Jordan Hall, is expected to miss 10 weeks due to foot surgery. “But the freak accident from stepping on a piece of glass that led to surgery on his foot on Friday will keep him out of offseason activities for the rest of the summer and will also sideline him during training camp, which is far from an ideal situation for the Buckeyes as they transition to a new offense.

Perhaps even tougher for new coach Urban Meyer and Hall — the two appear to be a perfect match, and it might take them a bit longer than expected to get rolling together.

“This is an unfortunate accident to a really fine young man,” Meyer said in a statement. “He’s handling things well, though.

“He’ll be in a non-weight bearing cast for about six weeks and then he’ll rehabilitate the injury for at least four weeks after that.”

That 10-week timeframe would keep Hall out of the opener against Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 1, and most likely the projected starter in the backfield would be limited a week later against Central Florida.

The Buckeyes would still have two more games before Big Ten action opens at Michigan State, and they might not be unveiling the entire offense during the two nonconference dates either.” [Austin Ward/Buckeye Nation]

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The quick turnaround on twitter to the selection of Dion Waiters (some NSFW langauge) [Mike Mayer/Rebuilding Since 1964]

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LeBron will always be worse because he was from this area, but Dwight is really pushing him. “Howard picked up the option for the final year of his contract with Orlando on March 15. But since then, he has grown increasingly disgruntled with the organization, even telling people close to him that he feels the Magic blackmailed him into signing the “opt-in” clause.

Howard shared his feelings of being blackmailed by the Magic with the NBA Players Association last week, sources said. He — either himself or through his representatives — approached the union wondering if he might have a legal complaint against the club.

The goal of such a complaint would be to eliminate his “opt-in,” thereby allowing Howard to become a free agent this summer.

Sources said the union has no plans to pursue any such legal action against the Magic.” [Chris Broussard/ESPN]

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One man’s reaction to the Dion Waiters selection (some NSFW language) [Ten Cent Beers]

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That ’95 Tribe team was something else. “Sorrento had a knack for coming through in the clutch and he made the most out of many of his homeruns.  For his career, Sorrento blasted nine grand slams, tying on the all-time list with big-name hitters like Yogi Berra, Orlando Cepeda, Mickey Mantle,Stan Musial, Sammy Sosa and Jim Thome.

Two of Sorrento’s slams came in the summer of 1995.  The first came on May 9 in record-setting fashion when Sorrento took Kansas City Royals’ starter Doug Linton deep to give the Indians an 8-0 lead.  The reason that the lead was record-setting was because the Indians had the 8-0 lead with nobody out in the first inning.  At the time, this was an American League record for runs scored in a game before making an out (the Boston Red Sox broke the Tribe’s record in 2003 by scoring 10 runs against the Florida Marlins).  The Indians went on to win the game 10-0 behind the strong pitching of Orel Hershiser.  The second grand slam came in a bit more of a close game.” [Steve Eby/Did the Tribe Win Last Night]

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I’m a big fan of Ernie Johnson and that entire TNT crew. Well, except Shaq. “Q: If you could bring on anyone else for one show to guest host, who would it be? I’d like to see Gregg Popovich between the four of you.

A: That’s an interesting thought … Gregg Popovich.  I had a really nice conversation with him in his office before the WCF began and have always had a lot of respect for him as a coach and a man.  I just don’t know if he would put up with our foolishness for an extended period of time. I think it would be fun to have MJ on the show too, given his history with Chuck

[snip]

Q: If you could change or add one rule in the NBA, what would it be? I’m partial to doing something to get rid of the flopping.

A: I’m with you on the whole flopping thing.  I don’t want to go to a basketball game and see a soccer game break out.  I think if flopping drew a technical foul it would certainly cut down on the amount of acting we’re seeing.  The problem there is that to be sure somebody flopped you have to look at the replay.  Often a player will try to draw an offensive foul and there is legitimate contact.  I think the technical would come into play when you can determine that it was a blatant flop.  Not easy to do without having to check replay and disrupting the flow of the game.  We all want to see flopping done away with..just gotta figure out a way to do it. [The Big Lead]