Chad Ford, Tribe Fest and adidas Ultra Boost: While We’re Waiting…

Happy Monday, you guys. Cavs have won six in a row, the Indians start Spring Training soon, the Ohio State Buckeyes just filled The Shoe for the final time until this fall, and the Cleveland Browns…Well, yeah—we’ll have more on this later today. But While We’re Waiting…

If you’re one of those Radio Silent types on the weekend, you may have missed the investigation of sorts surrounding ESPN.com’s Chad Ford. Ford, whom you may know from his time ranking and discussing NBA Draft hopefuls, was caught editing Big Boards from years past, bumping up players who have had success while decreasing the rank (or sometimes removing them completely) of players who have not fared as well. Check this out:

James Harden moved up from #6 to #3. Jrue Holiday raised from #8 to #6. DeMar DeRozan improved from #10 to #8. Ty Lawson goes up from #15 to #11. Hasheem Thabeet, Jonny Flynn, Eric Maynor, and Austin Daye all got dropped. …

Tristan Thompson dropped from #6 to #7, swapped with Kawhi Leonard. Klay Thompson boosted from #11 to #8, swapped with Jan Vesely. Kenneth Faried raised from #14 to #10, with Jimmer Fredette dropping from #10 to #12, Alec Burks from #12 to #13, Bismack Biyombo from #13 to #14, and Iman Shumpert magically showing up in the top 20.

Since Reddit (and Deadspin and countless others) have pulled back the curtain on these changes, ESPN.com has magically moved them back to the original, or last-updated pre-draft spot. The rub? ESPN has released a statement saying that while they admit that changes were made, it’s unclear as to who made them. I find this intriguing on a few levels. One, because Ford is the cash cow on the NBA Draft side of things, the stepbrother to Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay—while they could always intoduce a new college basketball reporter into his role, it’d be a tough transition. But also because we here at WFNY, a company owned by an LLC and not—you know—a multi-billion dollar corporation like Disney can tell who made what changes to any post at any given time if needed. Unless someone else logged in to ESPN.com’s back end with Ford’s credentials, it should be pretty evident who is doing what.

Like most web-related items, this will likely blow over. And like most web-related items, there’s only a small portion of Internet types who care about stuff like this. Nevertheless, it’s good to see those hounds at Reddit finally put their infinite amounts of free time to good use.

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We’ve talked about Taylor Swift in these parts, so I will take the liberties of talking, briefly, about Lil Wayne and his release of Sorry for the Wait 2. A follow up to the last mixtape which preceded a delayed album release, Wayne goes all in on Cash Money Records for, well—apparently not releasing an album that’s been ready to rock for some time now. There’s a lot of “Cash Money” verbiage in Wayne’s discography and I’m sure there may even be some ink that denotes the same. Given Weezy’s prominence at the label, it makes little sense (in my opinion) to delay anything he puts out but what to do I know?

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So who went to Tribe Fest? According to the team (and Twitter, and Instagram) a lot of people. More than 8,000 fans attended the Third Annual Tribe Fest this past weekend at Progressive Field.  This year’s event included two four-hour sessions on Saturday and one five-hour session on Sunday.  Plenty of autographs were signed, plenty of games were played and plenty of interviews were had. The attendance this weekend represented a 15% increase from last year’s event and the highest attendance thus far. I don’t know the numbers, but it’s safe to say that this event has been a much bigger hit for the team than the mall-based appearances and Snow Days.

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Speaking of the Tribe, don’t forget to check out this year’s Promotional Schedule. Chock full of giveaways for the upcoming season.

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Skipping the hot takes on the hot takes. Here’s this week’s edition of #ActualSportswriting:

“The Worst Question in Sports: What We Talk About When We Say ‘Talk About’” by Brian Curtis (Grantland): “It would be one thing if the Talk About were confined to terminally awkward postgame press conferences, where everyone seems terrified of the sound of their own voices. But the Talk About has become so normalized that you now hear it in almost any sports interview, no matter the size of the scrum.”¹

“How Bud Selig survived huge mistakes to forge a legacy worth remembering” by Jeff Passan (Yahoo! Sports): “Forever the public will see Selig as the man whose face always seemed to contort the wrong way when photographers snapped their pictures, whose words struggled to carry authority, whose posture screamed sciatica instead of CEO. The public version of Selig the goofus runs in stark contrast to the legislator who glad-handed baseball into a thriving 21st-century business.”²

“Do you know Mike Krzyzewski?” by Dana O’Neil (ESPN The Magazine): “Who he is — truly is — is so much simpler, yet so much more interesting, than the image. For instance, he once fancied himself a pro wrestler. He loves to pop Bubble Wrap. He can’t dance, but he can garden now. He offended his future wife on a date early on, but is a well-intentioned, if not always perfect, parent and husband. And as hard as it is to imagine now, he once worried he wouldn’t be given enough time to prove he could actually coach.”³

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And finally, Brew Sneaker du Jour: Since I’m still doing the whole Operation: Be Less Gross thing, I wanted to supplement the typical Brew du Jour with something of similar affliction with sneakers. By now, you’ve likely seen a handful of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James-related posts in our multimedia section. This very sneaker doesn’t really have a Cleveland tilt to it, but I wanted to bring it up anyway.

Behold, the adidas Ultra Boost, what the company calls the most technically-advanced running shoe with Boost technology.

The high-end sneaker game isn’t just for basketball any more. With plenty of old school types picking their jaws up off of the floor every time a $200 pair of high-performance LeBrons gets released, adidas is upping the ante on the running shoe side of things with this $180 pair of kicks.

While adidas may be making a bold claim with their technology, note that this is the same BOOST technology that led to Complex giving the three-bar brand the top sneaker of 2014. The bounce is no joke. How long it lasts may be up for debate as even the best shoes wear out, but for the avid runner—especially on streets—or simply someone who appreciates a high-quality shoe, this may be the go-to. The knit construction provides wearers with enhanced breathability. The pebbled midsole contains 3,000 tiny energy capsules, returning energy to the runner with each stride.

Seriously. Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxRmUDX99BU

Many are already calling this running shoe a game-changer. Nike has long been the bread-winner in this space. Jordan Brand is trying to do the same. But it could be adidas that ends up taking the cake—only to have you burn off all of its calories. These bad boys are slated to hit shelves in early February. If I’m fortunate enough to get my hands on a pair beforehand, you all will be the first to get the true review.

Have a killer Monday, you guys.

1. YES. My GOD, yes. I’ve been waiting for someone of Curtis’ ilk to go hard at this form of questioning since the first day I stepped foot into a locker room. The laziness of these types of “questions” is beyond reproach. If the FSO cameras were any better, you’d pick up the sound of my eyes rolling back into my head every time someone “asks” David Blatt or LeBron James a question with this predetermined lead-in. [↩]
2. I’ll be the first to admit that I detest nearly everything Bud Selig stood for as commissioner of MLB, but this piece shed a lot of light on how much of a mess things were and how much they are thriving now—small-market economics aside. [↩]
3. There’s bound to be plenty of Duke and Coach K talk this week given his monumental win this weekend. Figured it was worth sharing this excellently done piece. [↩]