Mike Pettine discusses failed running attack against Jacksonville
October 21, 2014What Did the Browns Lose Sunday? One Game.
October 21, 2014Happy Tuesday WFNY!
It’s mostly happy, anyway. The Browns remembering how to be the Browns again was awfully frustrating, and pessimistically it was perhaps enlightening. Because really, does anyone know who the real Browns are?
This has to be the most bipolar football team I can recall. You have the first halves of the first Steelers game and the Titans game, and then you have the second halves of those games. You have a bitter loss to Baltimore, but you also have a nail-biting win over the Saints. They absolutely crushed the Steelers in the second game, only to follow that up with a loss to a previously win-less team. So yeah, go ahead and figure this team out.
I don’t know how to explain the Jaguars game. Some of it was clearly the absence of Alex Mack. Those of us who thought maybe the team would be ok without him might have been premature in that assessment. Some of it was complacence. Coming off an enormous win, the team thought they could just show up in Jacksonville, enjoy the weather, and go through the motions to win the game. And some of it was just learning what it takes to be a good NFL team and to win the games you are supposed to win.
And, some of it might just be that the Browns aren’t quite as good as we thought in the wins, nor quite as bad as we think after the losses. The Browns, to me, seem like the kind of mediocre NFL team that is capable of beating almost any team, but also of losing to any team. And you know what? Even just being that is still progress. And if the Browns can still come back and win these next two games, this season still has the potential to be something great. We’ll see over the course of the next month which Browns is the real Browns.
*****
The kiss heard ‘round the world
So, I’m sure everyone has seen this by now, but in a recent pre-game interview with FOX Sports Ohio’s Allie Clifton, Cavaliers PF Tristan Thompson jokingly referred to Allie by the wrong name, then winked to the camera and gave her a kiss on the side of the head.
There has been so much discussion on this event. Much of it has been highly critical of Tristan Thompson. And I guess that makes sense. If I just saw video of, say, Taj Gibson doing this to a sideline reporter, I would probably be extremely uncomfortable with it. But when I saw the video of Tristan doing it, my genuine reaction was a shrug of the shoulders and I said to myself “Eh, I guess that’s kind of funny, but not one of Tristan’s better pranks with Allie”. I then went about my day without thinking about it again. It was actually my dad who first told me this was becoming a national story.
So I’ve been thinking about this the last couple of days and really struggling with it. I know why my initial reaction was so nonchalant. I’ve seen practically every single Allie Clifton interview. I know the rapport she has with these guys, especially Tristan. I’ve seen the team try to prank her before. I remember Jarrett Jack’s April Fools prank when he pretended to be extremely angry and frustrated and kept giving Allie short, one or two word responses to her questions. I get the context around this team and why what Tristan did was ultimately harmless. It’s the context that matters.
But it’s that context that everyone nationally is missing. And not having that context doesn’t make them wrong. And this is part of the problem with omnipotent connectedness of our society. We see everything, including fun little inside jokes that maybe weren’t meant for us. In our day to day lives, we all have a certain way of talking and joking around with our closest friends. I call my friends all kinds of things I would never call other aquaintences. I don’t know if that’s right or wrong. It’s not a justification of many things that are said or done publicly, but it’s an understanding of context.
There’s something deeper here, too. Tristan and Allie have a great working relationship. That much is obvious to all of us who watch Cavaliers pregame shows on FOX Ohio all the time. What Tristan did was a playful joke, calling her by the wrong name. Then the kiss was just sort of a sign of affection. A way saying “I’m just messing with you, I still love you”. But what if it was a male reporter. Would Tristan still have kissed him on the head? Maybe, maybe not. It’s more likely he would have give him a playful shove or a punch to the shoulder. And that difference matters here. That’s the gray area.
What are we trying to achieve as a society? We crave diversity, but it seems like we also want to soften our differences as people. Does that fact that many of us treat women differently than men mean that we are failing as a society? Or is that difference between how we behave around men and women something we should embrace? I mean, if Tristan had given Allie a playful shove or a punch to the shoulder, the outrage would be a lot different and a lot louder, no?
And that’s the crux of my struggle. How do we celebrate and embrace diversity without becoming homogenized? Is it really so bad for Tristan to joke around with Allie? Did he cross the line by kissing her on the side of the head, even if it didn’t mean anything? Does it matter that Allie seems to have had absolute no problem whatsoever with what Tristan did?
Hey fans @RealTristan13 thing was inside joke & not a big deal. We have a good working relationship. All is good. Can't wait 4 @cavs tonight
— Allie Clifton (@RealAClifton) October 20, 2014
I don’t have answers to all these questions. I just know that I don’t fully grasp the outrage on this one. I see the ambiguity here, I totally get why eyebrows were raised. As I said, if it was (random NBA player) kissing (random local sideline reporter) on the head, I would probably be a little more uncomfortable with it.
We’re at a strange point as a society today, one where everything lives under the microscope and nothing is sacred. Perhaps context matters more today than ever before, but I can see an argument where context is being marginalized. We, as a society, seem to be at some kind of crossroad. We’re trying to elevate discussions and to be a better society, but we’re also trampling on a lot of our differences and the things that make us all unique. The outrage mob demands we all be of one mind. There’s something a little uncomfortable about that. I just want us to not leave context behind.
*****
What if LeBron gets hurt?
You know, this has been a time of celebration for Cavaliers fans. Yep, in Cleveland, the city where things always go wrong for the sports teams, many Cavs fans are celebrating LeBron’s return and rejoicing in this Championship window that suddenly opened. And I don’t blame them. Heck, I share in the enthusiasm. As much fun as the first LeBron era was, this next one should blow the first away. LeBron, Kyrie, Love, Dion, Andy, Tristan, a coach with a fun basketball philosophy. It all seems too good to be true.
But there’s a funny thing about windows in the NBA. They often close before you have a chance to climb through. The Cavaliers, when healthy and at full strength, have the potential to be a juggernaut of a team. But with so many aging and injury-prone players on the roster, everything is hanging by the smallest of threads. The margin for error here is miniscule. And what happens if LeBron gets hurt a la Kevin Durant?
I found this conversation between Paul Flannery and Tom Ziller on SB Nation to be extremely fascinating. They are discussing Durant’s injury and how it impacts the Thunder this year, and eventually they touch on what this means for the Oklahoma City window.
ZILLER: That’s the rub. To survive in the absence of KD, Westbrook needs to be WESTBROOK. If that happens, there’s really little more room to grow for guys like Lamb and Jones than there’s ever been. And that’s what can make the Thunder better in the long run: confidence among and in the younger guys.
I’m of the opinion that the Westbrook Show will be thrillingly entertaining and that the Thunder will eventually only be so good as the KD-Westbrook offense and the Ibaka-led defense are. It’s good enough to win a title, but not by acclamation. I’d love to be proven wrong though.FLANNERY: Well, they’ve had five years to convince us and each year it’s something. They were too young, then it wasn’t their time, then it was LeBron’s time, then Westbrook got hurt, then the Spurs happened. We’re almost at that point where we look at what the Thunder have and what they’ve accomplished and ask ourselves: Is that all there is? Because it hasn’t been enough.
We have to be patient as the Cavaliers try to find their way, but we can’t be too patient. Life has a funny way of catching up to us quickly. Nothing should be taken for granted. The Cavaliers need to capitalize on this opportunity as quickly as they can.
I don’t want us to, three years from now, suddenly be looking back and saying “where did this all go wrong?” It’s possible everything will turn out great and the Cavaliers will contend for the next five to seven years with Kyrie and Love still in their primes and LeBron still one of the game’s best players. But there are many possible outcomes much scarier than that.
So my advice is to enjoy this season, be patient with the team as they go through all their ups and downs. But don’t take them for granted. And don’t rest on the future. This team is a contender today, and winning the Championship this season should be everyone’s goal, because who knows what next year will bring.
*****
Pearl Jam did WHAT???!?!?!?
Those of you who have been following the site for a while and have listened to any of the music podcats I have done with Craig probably know that Pearl Jam is my favorite band of all time. And you may or may not know that their fifth album, YIELD, is my favorite album of all time.
Well, Pearl Jam, YIELD, and I have had a bit of a rough relationship over the years when it comes to seeing them play those songs live. Sure, Given To Fly is a staple and Do The Evolution is played a lot, and sure I’ve seen some deeper cuts that I love like Faithfull and In Hiding. But I’ve never seen my favorite song, No Way, live. In fact, the band has hardly ever played it live. I’ve never seen Brain of J, or All Those Yesterdays, or Pilate.
Anyway, back in 2006, a group of fellow YIELD fanatics and I decided we were going to see Pearl Jam play in Cincinnati. And we decided to formulate a campaign where we would provide postcards for fans to send to the band, asking them to play YIELD songs at that show. So postcards were sent, signs were made, and off to the show we went.
And Pearl Jam didn’t play their first YIELD song until late in the set, and that night they only played two YIELD songs total. I’m not saying they did this to spite us. I’m sure they never even got the postcards. But still, it was a letdown.
Anyway, fast forward eight years later, and last night in Wisconsin, Pearl Jam played YIELD in its entirety, from start to finish. Man. I am insanely jealous of those fans, but also beyond excited to get my hands on the bootleg for this show.
Anyway, I’ll leave you guys this week with this homemade music video someone did for my personal, all time favorite Pearl Jam song, “No Way”. Enjoy, and have a great rest of the week!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-5ON-OfTqg
55 Comments
I don’t even want to know
you dont. but, frankly, you should.
I’d recommend spending some time on the PJ message board. YIELD is one of the most popular albums among fans. YIELD is an absolutely brilliant piece of music and it is a perfect album in every way.
It will be serving as music to grade tests by this evening. I have to figure out what I missed.
YIELD is up there for me, too, though Ten and Vs. are still my favorites, if only because of the timing of when they came out for me (early/mid high school).