500 Words on Andrew Miller and Cody Allen
April 19, 2018Did Bradley Zimmer turn a corner?
April 20, 2018Hello everyone. Happy Friday to you. It’s my turn at the helm. Let’s get things rolling.
Les Levine is the best.
On occasion, because we’ve been on his TV show, I get asked what Les Levine is like off the air. I always tell people that he’s exactly as nice as you expect him to be. Well, plus a few extra curse words. I don’t mean to act like Les Levine has passed away, and we’ve told everyone how much we love Les for the longest time, but it seems pertinent to bring up this week as Les made a dramatic announcement that he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Here’s the segment from his radio announcement on Baskin and Phelps in case you missed it.
We obviously wish Les nothing but the best. He’s been one of the greatest friends to WFNY over the years. He had us on his show and helped give us credibility as a sports media entity. When we would make appearances on his show, we’d instantly know the power of it because people would start recognizing us around town. I even felt slightly big time in Costco once when someone recognized me in front of my wife and kid from being on Les Levine’s TV show. There was no reason in the world why Les should book some internet sports writers and podcasters for his show, but he gave us a chance and then invited us back multiple times over the years.
Even beyond what he’s been able to do for us, he’s been a great friend to the site. Whenever I run into him, he’s quick to make time for me and anyone else for that matter. As a guy who just wanted to cover Cleveland sports as a hobby, you can’t imagine what a thrill it was for me to be at training camp one day and be the third wheel in a sports conversation with Les Levine and Terry Pluto. Maybe that’s not as exciting for everyone on planet earth, but I think the Cleveland sports fan readership of this site knows just how awesome something like that would be. It’s just the kind of guy Les is. He probably thought nothing of it, but that’s just how easy it comes to him to be that guy.
Again, I don’t want this to come off like a eulogy. Les isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I just want to acknowledge our love at this important moment in time. We want to wish him well because he’s an awesome guy with a great spirit and he’s done so much more for us here at WFNY than we ever could for him.
R.I.P. to my favorite troll-turned-friend, Boney
One of the most notorious Cleveland sports trolls passed away at the end of March and it made me really sad. To me, Boney had become a friend despite it all.
There was a time that I hated Boney. Like so much. At one point I had him blocked on every possible platform and unfriended him on Facebook. I never do stuff like that. I’m not that volatile friend from high school that blocks people and tells everyone while making a show of it every couple of months. I had just had it with this Detroit fan who pretended to be my friend sometimes and trolled me mercilessly at other times.
Eventually, we came to an understanding. He understood that I didn’t like his flavor of humor that went as far as it did, despite the fact that we both loved the brutality of the humor on Opie and Anthony. I liked it when I listened to other people do it, but I didn’t have the stomach for it personally. He did.
Eventually, we came so far that he and I went to a Tribe vs. Tigers game with his dad and Brian Spaeth some years back. I’ve always believed that meeting people face-to-face is a salve for many of the internet’s fights and disagreements. The fact that Boney and I kinda became friends after all that negativity is a testament to that notion.
He even came on the podcast a couple times. I know a lot of people disliked Boney because of how he trolled on social media, but this is a troll I got to know and he became an internet buddy.
Rest in Peace, Boney.
Daniel Linehan Bohnlein Obituary
Hop Along has new music…
I want to finish on something that’s a little more upbeat. How about a phenomenal band from Philly with a follow-up to one of my favorite records of the last five years? I don’t know that anything can live up to their last record, but that’s alright. I really like this new song. Check it out and take care of yourselves.