Browns continue ugly preseason against Rams
August 23, 2014Despite Sam Bradford injury, Pettine doesn’t think Hoyer is back too soon
August 25, 2014
It’s Monday Funday, you guys!
Kevin Love Kevin Love Kevin Love Kevin Love. First order of business on this lovely Monday is to point you in the direction of Brian Windhorst’s latest on the Cleveland Cavaliers and their pursuit of one Kevin Love. It’s a fascinating look at the way the dominoes slowly lined up over the course of the last year and how much luck—in addition to shrewd draft pick accumulation—played such a huge role in tipping the first one over.
Twelve teams had reached out to the Timberwolves in attempt to discuss the acquisition of Love. The Cavaliers were the ones to pull it off. It’s interesting how much of a role Dan Gilbert played in all of this, and what was known when the team’s majority owner met with LeBron James before The Decision 2.0. It’s also interesting that LeBron’s decision to go with a shorter contract put a bit of a crimp in the team’s original plans—ones that involved waiting until 2015 and utilizing free agency. That said, it was also James who proved to be the ultimate recruiter—”James’ strong statement with his contract and private talks to win over Love proved to be the final grease to the skids.”—bringing two of the top 12 players in the league to Cleveland for the long haul.
This all still seems so surreal.1
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Talk about a quick turnaround. The Browns only had a few days to prepare for the St. Louis Rams, but the ultimate efficiency comes from the Cleveland street vendors who were able to churn out a slew of this shiny new take on the Johnny Manziel money gesture. Perfect timing for that back-to-school shopping!
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It’s officially fall. School’s back in, football has started and the award show floodgates have opened. Last night’s VMA’s, while not exactly The Academy Awards, were a bit of a mess, but there will certainly be plenty of headlines in the pop culture world. Front-loading the performances seems like a weird move, but when in doubt, put Beyonce on stage.
In the very least, Miley Cyrus winning Video of the Year allows me to repost this gem:
Monday night brings us the Emmy Awards, shining light on all of the amazing television shows over the last year. Breaking Bad cleans up, right?
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What does the future hold for Time Inc? NYMag’s Gabriel Sherman penned an in-depth profile of the country’s most storied magazine company as it operates amidst budget cuts and a murky landscape. Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, People, InStyle, and Real Simple are just a handful of the titles owned and printed by Time Inc. While they’re all still making money, earnings have fallen by nearly 65 percent since 2006.
The main misstep? Failing to implement a coherent strategy to adapt to the web, a gaffe that was only compounded by cost cuts rather than a reallocation of efforts. It’s shaping up to either be a turnaround story for the ages or a case study for media students of the next generation.
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“You can never have enough unreported opinions.” — No one, ever. Here’s this week’s edition of #ActualSportswriting
“You can’t quit cold turkey” by Tommy Tomlinson (ESPN The Magazine): “Early in the second quarter of the River Monsters’ next game, Lorenzen was scrambling when a defender came at him head-on. Lorenzen got low. The defender got lower. The hit broke Lorenzen’s tibia and ruptured ankle ligaments. Now he’s got six screws and a plate in his lower leg and a long scar running down the outside. He says he’s finished, for good. He’s 33 years old, and for the first time since he was 5, Lorenzen has no plans to play football.”
“How Felix Hernandez has so far survived baseball’s arm injury epidemic” by Jeff Passan (Yahoo! Sports): “His corners are his binky, especially on his arm side. Hernandez peppers the outside corner with his fastball against left-handers only to work back over the plate and bury the changeup that has become his trustiest pitch. Hernandez loves his change, which he picked up in 2009 fiddling around with grips. He made his index finger and thumb into a circle, squeezed his middle finger between the two seams and saw the ball come out of his hand and do unsavory things.”
“30 Yards and a Cloud of Dust” by Seth Wickersham (ESPN The Magazine): “>Nobody has ever run a team quite the way Chip Kelly runs one. And [LeSean] McCoy is about to learn what it means to live and work in Kelly’s new system. During practice, players wear mandated heart monitors and GPS devices. Trainers carry water bottles labeled with each player’s name and after practice ask the players to pee into a cup, part of Kelly’s plan to track hydration. A monitor on a wall in the facility ranks the most hydrated players. Drinking water is now a drinking game.”
“Twilight The Saga: The Final Fascinating Days of a Legend” by Chris Ballard (Sports Illustrated): “The thick-armed man moves quickly, establishing a perimeter and securing the entryway. This is his seventh year on Kobe Bryant’s overseas security team, and he knows how quickly things can go sideways, especially in China. Once, four years ago in Shandong Province, a guy slept overnight on the roof of a gym, curled in the darkness, and then, when Kobe approached, leaped from a low overhang, yelling, “Kohhhh-beeee!” In one fluid motion Attila Portik—for that is the muscle-bound man’s name, of Hungarian origin—intercepted the crazed fan and hurled him aside, as if bailing out a boat.”
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And just because… A Tyler Holt web gem to start your day.
Happy Monday, kids.
- An aside: Chris Grant won’t get much credit in what transpired over the last two months, but he certainly should. [↩]
20 Comments
How FX’s The Americans got basically passed over by the Emmys is terrible. Best show on TV right now.
Holy crap, Scott, what a great reading menu. Too bad I have to work and will have to just pick one. Barkeep, gimme a Windy and I’ll take the rest to go.
Agreed that Chris Grant should get at least some of the credit for what transpired this off-season. He may have been pretty crappy at team building (unless he was building it to tank, i.e. 76ers), but he built the foundation of assets that scored these deals.
A little luck never hurts either (KI pick, Wiggins pick, Spurs boat racing the Heat in the finals).
Imagine how nice this team would look with Beal instead of Waiters…stupid DC.
I like to imagine we traded Bennett, McDermott & the final pick of next year’s draft for Love. Not bad!
or with Jonas, Noel, or Drummond. but, that is beside the point now.
I’m still not sold on Noel ever playing a complete season. But yeah – definitely those other 2.
Perhaps this is because I’ve only seen the doubleheader and yesterday’s game the last couple weeks (and both in person), but I really like Holt. He had web gems in both games I’ve seen and has hit really well, too. Very impressive.
after the defense we have been watching all year, he is a breath of fresh air and the hitting is just a pure bonus.
his minor league profile didn’t look like a MLB hitter until this season. so, it’s possible he figured things out and it’s possible he’s just having a good year. but, gotta love what we have seen thus far from him.
I absolutely love Chip Kelly. A bunch of the things he does don’t end up working, but he is willing to try them and figure it out and admit when he is wrong. And, his main concept of making simple plays look complex is his most ingenious quality IMO.
There’s so many young guys just like Holt, athletic and aggressive and who just look like ballplayers. The challenge will be how he reacts once he hits enough to make the pitchers notice him enough to attack the holes in his swing. If he keeps going yard we’ll know soon enough.
Ugh, broken record time: why doesn’t a local writer have this behind the scenes scenario? Maybe I’m behind the new times, maybe local beat writers are irrelevant rather than less competent. But important sources in this story go beyond Paul and Termini, they’re within the Cavs org and you’d think a beat writer would have sources much like Pluto does. Anyway, thanks yet again, Windy (sigh).
that’s why Banner wanted him. In hindsight it does seem ridiculous that Banner thought Kelly would be willing to work under a guy like … Banner.
Lloyd is about as close as we have in this arena. Windy has done an excellent job at keeping his Cavs sources at arms reach despite the change in coverage.
I try to forget that courtship ever happened.
One of the best most definitely. I’m big into The Strain right now nice lead in for when The Walking Dead comes back. FX is putting together some nice series to rival AMC,
More K-Love please! 3 PM ET tomorrow he gets introduced.
So glad the Cavaliers didn’t draft him.
**shivers…**
Pluto usually does good behind the scenes writeups after a big trade or a major team shakeup goes down.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/minnesota–cutting-all-ties-to-kevin-love–trades-k-love-the-octopus-to-cleveland-212429869.html