Can the Indians bullpen survive without Andrew Miller?
August 3, 2017Kluber blows out Yankee candle
August 4, 2017The Browns are in camp. The Indians are chasing the playoffs for a second straight year. Meanwhile all I can think about is our basketball team. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James are still fueling the fiery furnace of sports interest in August. What has this world come to?
It’s still all about LeBron James
I’m not mad at LeBron James for the Cavaliers off-season, but it’s largely his responsibility that it’s gone the way it has. It’s important to make a distinction that I’m not upset with LeBron James even as I’m suffering through one of the most tumultuous off-seasons in Cleveland Cavaliers history. As I’ve said prior, this might be the worst off-season that a championship-contending team has ever had. Like everything else in our solar system revolves around the sun, in the Cavaliers’ space configuration, LeBron James is the piping hot ball of gas that warms us in the summer and occasionally burns our skin.
I know what you’re thinking. “LeBron isn’t the one who demanded a trade with two years left on his contract after making a third straight trip to the NBA Finals, and one championship!” It’s easy to look at Kyrie Irving as the catalyst, but that’s a boondoggle. He’s desperately trying to exercise his own free will and try to wield whatever power he possibly can, but it’s all in reaction to LeBron James. The further we get away from the trade request (demand?) the more it feels like any rational fan has to view it through the lens of LeBron.
Is Kyrie salty because the Cavaliers considered trading him this off-season? Maybe, but they’d only consider trading him to make LeBron James happy and try and build a team that would convince LeBron to sign up for another contract.
Is Kyrie trying to get a jump on choosing his next team? Maybe, but if that’s the case, it’s hard to look at the cacophonous silence around LeBron as rumors of him bolting Cleveland after this season go unchecked and undisputed and (ahem) Uninterrupted.
Kyrie reportedly didn’t want to play alongside LeBron James anymore. Even in choosing to express his independence and worth as a solo player, it’s all in the context of having stood in LeBron James’ shadow for three straight years on the biggest stages of professional sports.
LeBron James was “devastated” by the news that Kyrie Irving didn’t want to play alongside him anymore. Like it or not, he’s the one who has the power to try and mend fences and keep these things going. It’s not necessarily in his job description, but many things he’s done and influenced over his monumental career were outside a simple player’s job description. Even in choosing not to do anything, that’s a choice when you’re a power broker like LeBron James.
LeBron is choosing not to do lots of things these days. He isn’t talking about the Los Angeles Lakers rumors that have pervaded since the NBA Finals. He hasn’t discussed his future in Cleveland past this season. He reportedly hasn’t weighed in on the direction of the team as they’ve faced challenges this off-season. He’s told them to do what’s best for them going forward, but that’s kind of laughable when you can’t know that unless you know what the chances are that LeBron James is going to be a part of that future.
LeBron James is the most powerful player in the NBA. LeBron James has exercised his own right of free agency in structuring his contracts with the Cleveland Cavaliers. I’m not mad at him for doing it because I think we’d all be tempted to give ourselves flexibility with a wild card like Dan Gilbert at the helm of the organization. Just because I get LeBron’s situation and motivations, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have to own some of the responsibility for the Cavaliers off-season.
Everything that is happening with the Cavaliers this off-season – including the seemingly nuclear Kyrie Irving blow-up – is all referential to LeBron James. As I’ve said, I’m not necessarily mad at him, but you just can’t deny it’s the truth.
Ozark is the most natural Breaking Bad sequel yet
I’m going to be doing some podcasting about Netflix’s blockbuster show Ozark coming up here soon, but I need to tell you all about it now anyway. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney star in this show and it’s one of the most binge-worthy TV shows I’ve seen in quite some time. It’s likely the best show I’ve seen since Breaking Bad, and it’s very much in the same vein.
It’s the story of Marty Byrde who had to uproot his family and move them to Missouri from Chicago in order to try and launder a bunch of money for a drug cartel. Somehow even in telling you all that, I haven’t spoiled anything yet. What unfolds is a capitivating story of Marty’s family including a high school aged son and daughter and a marriage on the rocks. There are inter-related side stories that unfold with the locals and law enforcement without feeling like they’re completely different tales. We also flash in and out of backstory at times to further deepen our knowledge of different protagonists.
The storytelling is phenomenal. They captured the region to the point that I feel like I’m there when I’m watching a show. As I watch different characters in precarious positions I actually care what happens to them. They’ve toed the line of hero and anti-hero in the same ways we’ve grown to love when shows like Breaking Bad, Dexter, and even The Sopranos were at their best. Are there any good characters? That’s a reasonable question as we move through the show and as I type this to you, I believe the only genuine victims in the show might be Wendy and Mart’s children. But with a show like this, I feel like there’s still time…
94 Comments
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Dear Corey Kluber,
You rock! We needed that.
Love,
Fans, the Bullpen, the Front Office, and all of WFNY
Ok, a little rant…watching the HOF Game last night, you’d barely know who Kenny Easley is or was.
He should have been enshrined years ago, and the Four Letter all but ignored him last night.
Shame on you NFL.
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Make the call Sashi…
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20241193/ryan-tannehill-miami-dolphins-now-feared-need-surgery-knee
miss you, dude who could quickly decipher a defense but couldn’t do much with that knowledge. Miss your gravitas, miss your leadership. You’re going to be a helluva QB coach, OC or color commentator on par with Gary Danielson one day.
Think Os is a better fit in that offense than Kaep?
You lost me at watching the HOF game…..
Like a few weeks ago, just disagree with your analysis of this sitch, Craig. LeBron supposedly should have done/ should do what? Comment on LA rumors? No. Reach out to Kyrie? We don’t know that he hasn’t tried, in multiple ways. Or maybe just not be so … so … LeBron, the most powerful athlete in sports, who alone maybe doubles the franchise’s worth?
Poor Kyrie. ” He’s desperately trying to exercise his own free will and try to wield
whatever power he possibly can, but it’s all in reaction to LeBron
James.” Wait, what? Should LeBron cede some of the influence his historic greatness has bestowed, and if so, how much is too much? How much is too little. Probably exactly the amount, at the exact time and in the perfect manner that will attract other great players but not drive them away. But Kyrie alone deserves to weild all the power he can.
You know, when LeBron infamously orchestrated The Decision (or was under the influence of others who did) he was 25 years old. We say he was immature then. Kyrie is 25. Might he later regret how or what he is doing now as immature? I am not a knee jerk LeBron defender, but the standard to which we hold him sometimes turns into a game of whack-a-mole, where every commendable thing requires something more perfect, and every understandable silence is criticized because he didn’t instead proactively say what we imagine to be the perfect thing.
I don’t really care…
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Sorry. It’s home, so I’m drawn to it.
Good thing I didn’t use Seneca…
Mr. Hero.
Thank you for taking a principled leadership stand by refusing to mentor the rookie.
(Wow. That came off far more biting than I had intended when the fingers first started flying over the keyboard. Still, I’m going to let it stand.)
Trying to figure out which one is me.
I thought we were over this.
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Because that’s how he is on GP, not because he worried Johnny might vomit on his shoes. Oh, wait, some commenters still hold the position that Johnny’s supposed self-destructive habits were a media concoction, didn’t we all binge through our first jobs, yaddayaddayadda.
(Wow. That came off far more biting than I had intended when the fingers first started flying over the keyboard. Love you, brother)
Nah. This isn’t about the rookie. That rookie could have been anyone. Joe Montana. It’s about the local guy that everyone loves and likes to call a leader because . . . he gets us?
no, this is about a bunch of pent up teenage boys thinking someone is the hot girl because they’ve only seen … (HELP! I’M TRAPPED IN A COMMENT AND CAN’T GET OUT!)
I’m over it; just also over that other dude.
Still . . . what might have been? Okay, there’s some echoes of pining. I’m only human.
I’ll always have this:
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So I was out sick on Colin Kaepernick day, but feeling better on TV-shows-I-don’t-watch day? So unfair.
There are no days off.
. . . Brady Quinn.
I gotcha.
I think Ray texted that play from the owners box.
Top left hand corner, I give you a chest bump.
Just think about that play for a minute, and the major players involved. Play called by Shanahanahanahan. Ball thrown by Mr. Hero. Ball caught by Gooserider. Ends in penalty. This play IS the Cleveland Browns.
Yep. That looks like my level of toughness.
It’s nice not being a fan of the Cavs and the NBA right now! Nice to not be required to have an opinion on this! Nice not having to analyze Instagram posts in hope of gaining some insight into the hearts and souls of people that I do not know!
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Rather lose with Os than win with Kaep!
that response is so Friday I dub thee Joe Friday.
So you’re a man of principles too? You two should get along great then.
Is that Putin? Are the Russian influencing American opinion through Disqus up-votes now too? Is nothing sacred? We need a special investigation into this.
I should also say that if this was an Indians or Browns thing, I’d be combing Cody Kessler’s instagram to see what he put up there when Kizer was drafted.
is that Putin, or is he just happy to see me?
Both.
OMG WE POSTED SAME THING AT SAME INSTANT
FRIIIIIDAYYYY!!!!
This is the internet. Any resemblance to actually held beliefs, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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I feel like every comment is better today.
And just used “feel like” in way I detest.
I’m Putin in my nomination for “GIF of the Week”
Every single year of my life, I never see the HOF Game coming. Then it’s *BAM* FOOTBALL IS HERE. And every year I think, you won’t catch me napping next year, HOF Game. And then, twelve months later *BAM*.
I’m Russian to see those rankings.
(We’re not doing this again, are we?)
These Russian puns are Sochi-zee
You want to do this again!?! I’m Vlad-ered
Tsar you guys gonna do this again?
Annnnd, AND, he caught the ball better than any of Ray’s WRs.
right?
As much as I hate meaningless sports terms, this past week showed why Corey Kluber is an ace and Carlos Carrasco is not.
i detest puns, but that’s great
*month*