Ohio State’s Urban Meyer is not a fan of the BCS
November 18, 2013Browns “lucky to be alive” after turbulent landing on Sunday night
November 19, 2013Cleveland sports fans are waiting. Thus, while we’re all waiting, the WFNY editors thought you might enjoy reading. Because you never know how long we might be waiting. So here are assorted reading goodies for you to enjoy. Send more good links for tomorrow’s edition to tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“Can a superstar-less team win a championship again? The last occurrence of that feat came in 2004, via the Billups – Hamilton – Prince – Wallace Brothers starting five. Last season though, two of the NBA’s final four were superstar-less. The Pacers and Grizzlies greatly resembled those 2004 Pistons. Arguably, current day, 36-year old Tim Duncan isn’t a superstar on the level of in-their-prime Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, or Duncan; ESPN’s #NBARank considers him the league’s 16th best player. Three of last year’s final four teams put themselves in near position to win a championship without a current #NBARank top-ten player, and with a few lucky breaks (or maybe more appropriately, a sprain, perhaps to Lebron’s ankle) could win one this season. As a team in a market like Cleveland – similar to Indy or Memphis to some extent — isn’t that the target to build towards? Other than Kevin Durant, recent “superstars” in a non-marquee market have bailed on the franchise that drafted them.” [Hetrick/Cavs the Blog]
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One of four candidates for ‘hit of the year’ over at the Stew. “2. Jason Giambi’s walk-off homer rescues Indians. From Sept. 25: ” The Indians, on the verge of being eliminated in the AL Central race and losing sole possession of a wild-card spot, were down to their last out against Chicago closer Addison Reed. Giambi took care of that, giving the Indians a stunning 5-4 victory, their 11th walkoff win by nine different players in 2013.” [Big League Stew]
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“Police in northwestern Ohio are on the hunt for Bowling Green State University’s missing falcon. School officials say someone made off with a stuffed peregrine falcon from the university’s collection of more than 2,400 birds.
The university whose sports teams are known as the Falcons says the bird was taken sometime in the past week or so from the Life Sciences Building on campus.” [WCPO]
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Check out the snap count breakdown for the Browns against the Bengals. Perfect mix for the defensive line if you want my opinion. Starters for two-thirds of the snaps. Second unit for about a third. [Dawgs by Nature]
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“With that said, the Coaches Poll reveals a lot about the perception of the Big Ten relative to other conferences. You see these coaches who are getting paid millions of dollars to coach are spending their time coaching during the week and of course also coaching on Saturday. They don’t get a chance to see many other teams play. Instead they rely on final scores, national media perception and any football they were able to watch during their bye week to aid in penciling in their top 25.
Unfortunately the B1G is the inevitable loser in this equation, and it’s not just the Buckeyes who should be feeling scorned. Teams like Michigan State are also victims of the “B1G Blows” national narrative. So come on…follow me on a painful yet necessary journey down Bias Lane. It’s the third street on the left, just past Antiquated Algorithms Avenue.
Michigan State is a really good football team. The 9-1 Spartans only loss came against a 7-3 Notre Dame squad. Currently the Green and White have the nation’s No. 1 defense giving up just 228 yards per game and only 13.2 points. That’s about as stifling as a unit can get.” [Beck/Eleven Warriors]
3 Comments
Off topic, but my nomination for quote of the year, after the Giambi homer, Nick Swisher said “This was by far one of the most important wins of the year.”
by FAR
Other than Kevin Durant, recent “superstars” in a non-marquee market have bailed on the franchise that drafted them
sigh. not true. Kevin Durant does not deserve any special recognition for staying with the Thunder, yet. he has done the same thing that LeBron, Melo, Love, and plenty of others have done in the smaller markets. that is, he signed a max extension with the club that drafted him when his rookie deal was almost up. if he didn’t, then he’d be a RFA and the Thunder would have kept him anyway (unless he was willing to sign the QO as a 1 year getaway deal, which NO star player has yet done).