Only Browns fans can quiet the rage monster
February 25, 2015Browns considering former Buckeye Ted Ginn Jr
February 26, 2015
It’s every other Thursday again!? Has it been two weeks already? Have I run out of creative segues into the topics at hand in my version of the WFNY-W3’s (which sounds like a tasty wing joint and a tax form simultaneously)? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”.
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Leading off, Kendrick Perkins is a Cleveland Cavalier. How about that? Somehow, I just *KNEW* we were going to end up with one of those much-hated Celtics from those 2008 and 2010 encounters. The Sloan Sports Analytics Conference is also this week, and our own Jacob Rosen (aka #JakeyStats) is going to be on location yet again geeking out. What do these two things have in common? When we last met in the WWW space, I highlighted a letter to Charles Barkley about how analytics are not, in fact, the devil. Well, it goes both ways, nerds!
It was this particular tweet that left me shaking my head:
https://twitter.com/KJ_NBA/status/569182874605195265
This tweet reads like someone who forgot to look up from their spreadsheet long enough to watch any actual game film of the Cavaliers this season. Is Perkins incredibly limited offensively? Yes. Is he a foul magnet? You betcha. But, he does bring, well, grit and toughness to a Cavalier bench that was painfully short on it prior to his signing. Now, if the Cavaliers had signed Perkins with the intention of inserting him into the starting lineup or giving him a Tristan Thompson-sized role on the team, I’d understand this disbelief. But, the Cavaliers spent virtually nothing to acquire a 30-year-old immovable post defender that is an infinitely better option at this point than A) 35-year-old Brendan Haywood, B) small ball with 36-year-old and breaking down Shawn Marion, or C) small ball with 34-year-old James Jones.
The Cavs need Perkins to give a handful of minutes when Mozgov, Love, or Thompson get into foul trouble, and he provides insurance in a big man-heavy playoff matchup such as the Bulls. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. But, to ridicule the Cavaliers for improving their fourth big situation seems silly. Ignoring game film and on-court impact can be just as obtuse as shunning advanced statistics sometimes. There has to be a balance. Neither alone is the answer.
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Moving on to the Tribe, you might have missed it (I sure did!), but the Indians adjusted the navy shading on their uniforms for the 2015 campaign. Unlike the Browns, they didn’t hold a massive press conference or conduct a two-year public process to do so. They just said, “Welcome to Goodyear. Oh, by the way, our uniforms are a little darker now.”
The primary home cap and alternate home and road jerseys, which were more of a medium or cobalt blue, are now back to more of a midnight/navy look as they were in the 90s. I’m not necessarily a fan of this switch from a pure color preference standpoint. To me, the midnight is so dark that it can look like black in many situations. However, I do like that the team is syncing up the shades of blue throughout their uniforms (to match the road uniforms, which are such a great look).
Of course, we all know the navy shading of the Indians uniform is a far cry from the polarizing change on the horizon. You know, rhymes with Beef Yahoo.
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Between the Browns tripping over themselves leading up to #DRAFTSZN and the Cavaliers in a title chase, the Indians are going to continue to fly under the radar. The more I think about this Central Division, the more I anticipate a wide-open and tight race that the Indians can truly win. FanGraphs is just the most recent of a chorus of voices seeming to think so as well.
Just be average fielders, Tribe. The rest should take care of itself. Five teams finishing within 10 games of each other in the AL Central? That would be wild, and it’s something that wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
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The Big Ten is getting more serious about freshman ineligibility. That can’t be music to either Urban Meyer or Thad Matta’s ears.
I covered this sentiment before earlier this year when I talked about the bittersweetness of D’Angelo Russell probably only being a Buckeye for one season with this shell of a team around him. I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m pretty sure freshman ineligibility is not that answer.
I’m all for allowing those players that are ready to make the jump to do just that, but I don’t think it’s necessarily fair that the college product has to suffer. Again, I’ll volunteer the baseball rule for basketball. Go to school for three years or make the jump immediately.
As for the Big Ten trying to take this stance, it will only happen if the all the conferences are a united front, and even then, I just don’t see it.
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I enjoyed these two articles from Everybody Hates Cleveland (EHC for short) by Steve Orbanek and Rich Primo respectively about enjoying the ride with the Cavaliers in this stretch run and one more logo take couldn’t hurt, right?
Also, DJ Byrnes and our friends at Eleven Warriors keep us up-to-date on the awesomeness that is Buckeye left tackle Taylor Decker’s Twitter game. Anything is possible, folks. Third-string quarterbacks *do* win national titles.
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Finally, let’s conclude with a frequent topic of mine, Twitter. For the last eight days and counting, I have only sent out a handful of retweets and favorites along with continuing to promote the site’s content on my Twitter handle. In fact, I haven’t had one organic tweet in those eight plus days. After my podcast conversation with Craig (or leading into it, really), I decided to take a Twitter sabbatical—a cleanse, a purge—to put myself into read-only mode, if you will. I’ve continued to read through the platform essentially as I normally would, but in doing so, I’ve silenced my own voice in those crowded walls for the time being.
So, what caused me to do this? What caused someone who has been pretty consistently ripping off 75-100 tweets per day with relative ease for a couple of years now to put a stop to it? Well, it really starts with a lot of the sentiment that Craig had in regards to Browns fans shredding the logo design decisions and conservative approach to change. That’s really a small symptom of a larger epidemic, and Craig definitely pointed that out. Twitter can be a toxic place sometimes. It can absolutely become a intellectual back-alley knife fight if you let it. And believe me, I’ve let it… again… and again… AND AGAIN! It got to the point where I had to look at myself in the mirror and say, “Kirk, you can come off as a bit of a jackass at times on Twitter. You don’t have to barrel into every hot take with your squirt gun!”
I’m not an angry person in real life. I’m not confrontational nor do I have an outgoing personality. But, on Twitter, when you see the same cheap shots and stale jokes happen over and over again, it can become too much to not reach out and ask the person you’ve chosen to follow or that gets retweeted into your timeline why they have to be unfair to a player, team, coach, etc. I’m generally a very optimistic sports fan too, but on Twitter, I would get misinterpreted and labeled as overly negative about Kevin Love or the Cavs during their winning streak, for instance. The instant gratification of a tweet can be a coping mechanism that prevents me from throwing my remote through the wall or slamming my fist onto the coffee table. But, I usually balance any short-term negativity with long-term optimism and perspective when there’s some to be found. If I can’t believe that a team is headed in the right direction at least, it makes it very difficult for me to buy in emotionally, so I really make a concerted effort to accentuate the positive.
So, in conclusion, I’m going to see how long I can keep this sabbatical up. I may just try to stretch it all the way up until the Indians season begins. My goal in doing this is by drawing a line in the sand and going read-only, I hope the muscle memory of not hitting the reply button reflexively gives me pause in the future when I do take the padlock off. I’m also not doing this for a big dramatic effect or for any back-pats or atta-boys. I wouldn’t even be mentioning it here if not for just letting you guys all know why I’m suddenly just a fly on the wall during games.
Twitter’s been a great vehicle for me over the years. It almost directly led me to this gig at WFNY, and it’s allowed me to meet a lot of great people, particularly in the #CavsTwitter community. I’m not giving up on Twitter, just working on getting a new filter to better showcase and enjoy the good things within.
I hope your Thursday is the cat’s pajamas!
39 Comments
I’d say that “segway” is pretty creative.
Have to say that especially compared with the other beat writers in the city, Jordan Bastian is the best.
Freshman ineligibility is as bad as not letting the guys go after a year (or even making them go to college for a year). All it means is that the guys have to sit for 1 year and then leave after their sophomore year. If the kid is good enough to contribute, let him play. I just don’t see how this works. Hey kid, practice hard, because next year you may be able to play. Even if the game is out of hand, don’t think you will be getting any playing time. I just don’t understand the logic. There are plenty of freshman that make huge differences to teams, would suck to not see that anymore.
I didn’t post this until late yesterday, so it probably got overlooked.
Amid all the logo-gate controversy, read this and tell me you can’t not smile, and look forward to seeing Crowell play even more next season.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2015/02/24/3582198_former-carver-star-browns-running.html?rh=1
You should read this too, Johnny Foosball.
Excuse me, RGB, but I just went blind. But one second before I did, I thought I might have have read the non-world “logo-gate.” I internet love you, but audio-gif me and tell me this is not true, and perhaps my brain will unclench and I will see again.
So much good stuff on that link. And, thank you for sharing it and getting some positive Browns offseason things highlighted.
The highlight being shown is THE touchdown run against Falcons. Of course.
Smart enough to change his message based on age group.
Fact of doing the talks in the first place.
He has got to get a better guy for the autograph photo boxes. You put the pictures upside down so that when you flip the lid the people in line can see them right side up. Cmon 🙂
http://38.media.tumblr.com/4eb2e39bdb92d7019d41047e1ba81c20/tumblr_mlq4n9XBNT1r5bvcto1_400.gif
Beef Yahoo would instantly become my favorite Yahoo, mainly for the #HotSteaks
There’s a great Korean place in Killeen, TX, that serves the best Beef Yahoo.
just have to give John Adams a couple of Slim Jims to use and replace Slider with this guy
https://forgottenadvertisements.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/199865_187628457948678_100001045742803_469236_7330517_n.jpg
Kirk is now a fly upon the wall? Most curious. Will it be possible for him to return to his human form?
My sources say the Indians’ color change is the first step in officially changing to the Cleveland Blues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zetS51I0WwU
Boooo….and not Blooooo…..or Booo-urns….or Bourn.
This would be acceptable
But, we have a logo that is already so perfect…
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lduip3QORl1qffic9o1_400.jpg
http://media2.giphy.com/media/5nhk5nGrIrdlK/200_s.gif
http://i.imgur.com/9PQvvDd.gif
Agreed, switch the name to the Cleveland Rapids. Use the above logo (minus letters and numbers, imo). Keep the navy blue, switch the gray to battleship gray (for his time in the Navy), and switch the red to scarlet. One sleeve gets three scarlet chevrons to represent his rank of Chief Petty Officer. The other sleeve gets the logo.
The man was the first athlete to sign up for WWII, in the middle of his prime no less, and should be honored as such.
The compulsory freshman redshirt idea is terrible, and even worse if it’s only adopted by the Big Ten. I can’t see anything coming out of this except for gutting Big Ten recruiting.
agreed on all counts. also, for the main hat, I would invert the coloring to make the silhouette white on a navy background.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
Nerd Club needs to roust the new WFNY writers (sans Bode) and make them type one thousand times: “Spell check is not proof reading.”
and no
Big men who can guard the paint never wash up. They just get tired of NBA road trips. If Charles Oakley announced he was training for a comeback at least 6 teams would work him out.
Ugh..dammit! Segue! SEGUE!
“Spell check is not proofreading.”
“Spell check is not proofreading.”
“Sp-
http://imageserver.moviepilot.com/yo-the-disney-princess-rivals-you-never-knew-hated-each-other-jasmine-and-sleeping-beauty-catfight.gif?width=400&height=225
Whenever I see these redemption stories my inner Libra compels me to counterbalance the quick blow-by of what he did: it wasn’t just that Crowell had a weapon concealed in his car. The luger under his seat had the serial number completely rubbed off, and all that implies. Let’s hope last year’s modest success and the “friends” a NFL contract can attract don’t change his current path.
When my mom made me write for punishment, I always found it was quicker to write vertically rather than horizontally. Probably defeated the purpose of having to say it to myself that many times, but it got me done faster.
So,
S
S
S
Then,
Sp
Sp
Sp
Followed by,
Spe
Spe
Spe
And so on…
It was for this exact reason that I debated RGB this time last offseason about drafting him. I was happy to sign him as an UDFA because we could cut him if we sensed any trouble with no worries. At this point, I shall hope that he has learned that invaluable lesson the hard way, but it will definitely come back up if he ever does get himself back into trouble (see: Dez Bryant 2011 Wal-Mart story).
Oh, I understand the implications of possessing a weapon with the serial number filed off, but other than that, he has no other instances of malfeasance (A good Harv approved word, I presume.), that would create a tangible pattern of behavior. ie. Kush Gordon, Johnny Foosball….
At this point, he’s kept his nose clean long enough, that I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
gets my BOD also, until another incident. Because another incident will indicate that your link was just one of the 4 or 5 cliche story lines editors seek, that he couldn’t internalize life lessons from falling all the way from acclaimed pro prospect to UFA and climbing back up. We shall see.
The last thing the Indians want to do is bring any more attention to their logo and uniforms.
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/1gjdAX7.gif
It had started as a game… a good natured test of will between the young and old. The young would act impetuously, not thinking about the long term effects of their movement and action and therefore were bemusedly perplexed – if young people can be bemused- by the old’s response. Time passed as is its prerogative and as with all things rooted in miscommunication the game changed ever so slightly at first but clearly a new layer of significance had been added. The stance in opposition to the old had become something of a right of passage a defining characteristic that screamed “I am young and I stand here”! To this the Old’s voice grew louder and more insistent with the message “You will not stand there”! With each passing day the event spiraled further and further away from the simple game it once was. This was now a question of property rights of self determination. And so with each passing morning as the rebellious young lads and lasses gathered, staking out their turf, Harv’s cry of “Hey you kids get off My Lawn”! carried with it greater political and social ramifications not just for the participants but for civilization.
Long winded sarcasm is the sincerest form of flattery I am capable of offering, lest this be taken wrong.
I ran through 3 beef yahoo jokes and tossed them all. Im glad they would have lost.
hater
If you want a brown lawn, go root for Arizona
“Hello, Human Fly here! Come on, I stayed up all night dying my underwear!”
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BA4hjvzCEAAaN8O.jpg