Opening Day is (finally!) here: While We’re Waiting…

Happy Opening Day, kids! Though St. Louis and Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay and Toronto and New York and Kansas City (Interleague play on the first weekend?) have already taken to the diamond, and fantasy baseball owners have been mulling over players and prospects for much of the last few weeks, today is the day your Cleveland Indians start their six-month-long trek to hopefully play in a seventh. Today’s the day that Indians fans treat baseball the same way that Chicago Cubs fans treat it all season long. Today’s the day, at least until 4:05 p.m., where there’s impeccable hope and unblemished pride, and we can point out all of those glowing forecasts and Cy Young odds and think maybe—just maybe—this is our year.

The difficult part, increasingly more so with modern day analysis and social media, is that a six-month season lends itself to an awful lot in the way of ebbing and flowing and analyzing every game or inning or (God help us all) at-bat can prove tiresome. Had MLB really wanted to do the Tribe a favor, they would have been handed a series with the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies. Be that as it may, there will be fans who place an entire season’s worth of weight on this afternoon’s game against David Price and the Boston Red Sox.

There is good news, however, in that much like the Cleveland Browns’ home opener, the trick is to make the game itself as small of a portion of your day as possible. Tailgate next to a heating element or pre-game with a few tallboys before the game, meet up with friends at The Corner during it, and then go grab a bite to eat after—assuming you don’t just devour everything in sight at the improved District. Keep WFNY refreshing on your mobile web and get that Uber app downloaded and ready beforehand¹, and you’ll have yourself one hell of an afternoon, regardless of what the Indians do. Why rest the the outcome of your day on a group of strangers? It’s cold, it’s early, and they’re facing one of the game’s marquee teams. This way, if they do top Price—despite having a starting outfield of three guys who weren’t in Cleveland a year earlier—that’s just an added bonus.

I realize this may sound an awful lot like Mark Shapiro in that the win or loss means little, but when it comes to Opening Day, it’s the one time a year the Indians are guaranteed a city-wide holiday. It’s entirely on you if you don’t make the most of it. As I was walking into my office this morning, event parking rates were already on garages while gigantic, inflatable beer bottles were already in the lot at Huron and E. 4th. A fun afternoon is there for the having—it’s up to you to go get it.

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So, this piece by Brian Windhorst on Tyronn Lue putting LeBron James in his place is worth the reading. All too often, fans speak as if they know what goes on behind the scenes. It’s stories like this that shed a little light on what actually goes on.

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If you’re not here for Indians or Cavs talk, you’ll want to check out one of the more recent Channel 33 podcasts on Bill Simmons’ network. Former Grantland football writer extraordinaire Robert Mays (more on him later) talking Draft with Mallory Rubin. The entire podcast is worth your time, but the 20-minute mark starts a ton of talk on Hue Jackson and the Browns and why quarterback is not the pick at No. 2.

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Nothing clever this week. Screw hot takes. Read this week’s edition of #ActualSportswriting:

“First base coaches are baseball’s super spies” by Tom Verducci (Sports Illustrated): “Blue Jays ace David Price had flummoxed hitters during the regular season with his outstanding changeup: Price held batters to a .124 average on his change in two-strike counts, and .222 overall on the pitch. But Kuntz noticed that when Price was about to throw his changeup with runners on, he would take an exaggerated deep breath as he brought his hands to the set position. ‘He gave his little humph!’ Kuntz says of Price. ‘Always a changeup.’ The Royals clocked Price’s change for a .333 average in the series, beating the Jays in both of his starts.”²

“This Is Your Pre-draft Reminder That the Browns Need Way, Way More Than Just a Quarterback” by Robert Mays (The Ringer): “Cleveland has plenty of glaring needs, but none greater than wide receiver. At the NFL owners’ meetings last week, new Browns head coach Hue Jackson actually said, ‘It’s an area we need to address, obviously.’ That honesty is comforting; it’s also grim as hell. Even if the NFL honors Josh Gordon’s reinstatement request — cue the collective finger-crossing — Cleveland will still need another receiver. Jackson noted that he prefers taller options, and while current Browns Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel have utility, they’re small enough to work in the Keebler tree.”³

“Jared Goff May Be the Next Tim Couch—In a Good Way!” by Robert Mays (MMQB): “The list is 24 names long now, and as each new one is etched at the bottom, its status as the most depressing document in sports is reaffirmed. It’s been growing for 16 years and includes four first-round picks, an average of one new hope every election cycle. There’s a Couch, two McCowns and, for a single game in 2000, a Spergon Wynn. Since the franchise returned in 1999, Cleveland has been where quarterbacks come to crumble, but this year, picking behind only a team with its signal-calling savior already in the fold, the Browns are hoping it’s finally time to tie that list of failed starting quarterbacks to a rock and drop it to the bottom of Lake Erie.”⁴

“What happened when venture capitalists took over the Golden State Warriors” by Bruce Schoenfeld (NY Times): “Lacob was not the first venture capitalist to buy a franchise, but he is the first to operate one according to what might be called Silicon Valley precepts: nimble management, open communication, integrating the wisdom of outside advisers and continuous re-evaluation of what companies do and how they do it. None of that typically happens in professional sports. Most franchise owners of previous generations became wealthy mastering businesses that did one specific thing, if only because that was the way that people used to become wealthy in America. They’ve run their teams, for better or worse, in the same autocratic, hidebound fashion that they ran those companies. As a manager, Lacob prefers to surround himself with expertise and exploit it.”⁵

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No videos today. You shouldn’t be watching them anyway as you should all be prepping for Opening Day. Get out there and slay.

1. Enter UBERWFNY for a free ride! [↩]
2. One of the game’s best covering the game’s reigning champions. Always recommended reading. [↩]
3. Your reminder to sign up for any newsletter that pumps you full of original, quality material. [↩]
4. The first #ASW to feature two pieces from the same writer at all let alone the same writer for two different publications. Kudos to Robert Mays. [↩]
5. I’m instantly drawn to any piece that focuses on risk taking and alternative decision-making. Factor in that it’s about one of the most successful franchises of the last three years, and it’s all the better. [↩]