USA Men’s Hockey Destroys Finland With 6-Goal First Period

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Posted on 26th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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On To The Gold Medal Match!

With a 6-goal barrage in the first period, the USA hockey team shot past Finland and into the gold medal match where they will meet Canada in a highly anticipated rematch of the preliminary round meeting between the two that USA won 5-3.  Finland goalie Miikka Kiprusoff is known for often being a dominating force in net for his NHL team, the Calgary Flames, but was reduced to pondering and staring at the scoreboard for almost the entire game after he helped get the USA hockey puck rolling by giving away the puck on a very odd-looking passing decision just over two minutes into the contest.  For the Americans, it was all downhill from there.

Patrick Kane lead the scorers with 2 goals, while it was Ryan Malone who got things started with his interception of Kiprusoff’s errant pass and put the puck into the empty net.  Zach Parise, Erik Johnson and Paul Stastny also scored during the opening period – the only period the US would need to apply pressure in on the day.

Kiprusoff was pulled just after the 10-minute mark when he allowed his fourth goal of the period (on just 7 shots) and his day was done.  It was really shocking to see Kiprusoff looking so powerless out there on the ice in such a crucial match.  This was a win-and-your-in-to-the-gold-medal-match game, after all, and Kiprusoff is known more for standing on his head in the crease than allowing soft goals or giving the puck away as he did.

I can’t wait for the rematch with Canada.  I don’t normally like rematches but this one should be excellent… and for the gold!

Joannie Rochette Wins Winter Olympic Bronze Medal

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Posted on 25th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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Joannie Rochette Wins Bronze MedalJoannie Rochette (click here to visit Joannie Rochette’s website), just days after her mother died from an apparent massive heart attack, completed an amazing Olympic performance by winning the bronze medal in women’s figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.  Kim Yu-Na. easily the best performer of all the women competing in the event, won the gold medal while Mao Asada finished second and took the silver medal.

I find this a perfect ending to this Olympic’s women’s figure skating event.  I’ve repeatedly said that I’m not really a figure skating fan – let’s be honest, I rarely even watch unless Natalie has it on TV.  When I do watch it is generally because there are interesting sub-plots or stories that I have picked up on the airwaves and which make it more interesting to me.  As I wrote a few days ago when Joannie Rochette skated her heart out during her short program two days after her mother had died, her story had me on the edge of my seat and struggling to hold back my own emotion and knowing just how to feel or even breathe at times.  After that, I was hooked and needed to watch the remainder of the event to make sure that I caught the conclusion.

Watching the skaters and hearing the backgrounds of the skaters as put forth by NBC announcers, it seemed pretty clear that the top two performers were South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na and Japan’s Mao Asada.  The race behind them (barring unfortunate performances by either of the top two) was for bronze and respectable finishes (though Rochette did beat Asada in the past).  After the short program, Joannie Rochette was sitting in third place and I will admit I sort of wanted that to be the order of finish as well.

What I didn’t want was for Joannie Rochette to get onto the ice and finally fall victim to the emotional mess that was surely inside of her.  I didn’t want her to go out and falter on a jump while on this grand stage and then miss out on a medal as a result.  I thought that a bronze medal for her would be a triumph, actually, and something that would make the whole family – indeed the whole country of Canada – proud.  However, while I didn’t want her to falter I wanted to see her do well.  I wanted to see her go out and be the tough, focused, determined individual that she showed during the short skate.  It was as inspiring an effort as I have witnessed for some time and, selfishly, I wanted to see the encore performance.  I wanted to see her go out and win!

She put on another inspiring performance, even if there were a couple of moments where all of us uneducated figure skating “fans” witnessed something we were sure was a small mistake.  Her performance vaulted her back into 3rd position after some skaters had performed well enough in front of her to get into that position just prior to her turn to hit the ice.  From there she had to hang on as a young American, Mirai Nagasu, took her shot at the podium.  She, too, skated well but would have needed a pretty much flawless performance to reach the bronze medal due to the quality of Rochette’s short and free skate performances.

Rochette’s score did hold up and she finished off the success with another kiss to her mother towards the sky in another touching moment of emotion.  Again, Natalie and I both welled up a bit as she skated off the ice to a massive ovation and a shot of her father appeared on the TV.  I think both of us were thrilled to have seen what unfolded in front of us on the TV – I know I will personally never forget it.  I truly feel as if a new hero was born on Tuesday, during her short skate, and today it was confirmed for the world to see.

During the medal ceremony, the range of emotion on the podium was stunning.  Kim Yu-Na was proud, happy and clearly relieved of all of the pressure that she had placed on her from her country and her sponsors.  Mao Asada looked like she wanted to be happy but was more disappointed and awaited some fateful results of her own pressures of competing with and losing to her South Korean counterpart.  And then Joannie… fighting to stay tough on the podium but realizing the enormity of it all… you could see the sadness, happiness gratitude and fortune all churning through her from the moment she stepped onto the podium throughout the raising of the flags.  I can only imagine what that must have felt like – perhaps the ultimate taste of bittersweet?   I would think so.

Congratulations, Joannie – you earned it and your mother is as proud as she could be for you.  You and your family inspired many of us through your toughness, ability to focus, gracefulness and classiness… and of course your athletic achievement as well.  This will all not soon be forgotten.

LaCha’im (To life!)

Joannie Rochette Skates Like A Champion After Her Mother’s Death

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Posted on 24th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in In The News | Sports Commentary

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If you were watching the Olympics, last night, I hope you caught the skate of Joannie Rochette’s life (see also CNN’s Rochette article, here) … and if you watched her skate I hope that her effort and her emotion tugged at your heart strings because I know she sure did for me.  I’m not a fan of ice skating so much as I am a fan of athletic achievement and last night’s performances on the ice were pretty special – none, though, were more special that Joannie Rochette’s.

Joannie Rochette Emotional After Her Nearly Flawless Short Program SkateImagine that just two days before the event of your life – in this case her home country staging the Winter Olympics in which she is a participating athlete – your mother of father dies suddenly, at an age far too early and without warning or signs.  Position yourself on a map so that you are far away from home – in this case completely across the country from where she calls home in Quebec.  You have no time to mourn, barely enough time to make plans, and probably no way to even get your parent’s body sent back home (I don’t even know how you would accomplish that task, anyway).  Imagine the swing of emotion from absolute excitement and pressure to being crushed with sadness, loss and depression.  Now… go out and perform like an Olympic champion on the world’s biggest stage and do it all on ice, while balancing, jumping, spinning and dancing on two 1/8″ pieces of steel strapped to the bottom of your feet.  Are you kidding me?  Maybe the fact that I can barely stand upright on skates of any kind is influencing my opinion, here, but I think that’s flat out amazing.

I honestly don’t know what I was feeling the most during her skate.  Was it hoping that she did well because of all the hard work and time she had put into getting to this stage?  Was it simply hoping that she would not fall on any of her jumps or have any problems during her skate because of the seemingly strong likelihood of that happening?  Was it hoping she would do well to honor her mother’s life?  Was it actual excitement for the quality of her skate?  All I know is I was on the edge of my seat … for the first time during Olympic women’s figure skating … and I could not blink.

You could hear the crowd suffering the same fate.  At times they were simply holding their breath.  At times they were likely choked up.  At times they were into the music, clapping, rhythmically into the performance.  At times they were excited, then hopeful, then back to worried.  I know, even without being there, because that’s what I was going through thousands of miles away in my own home.

Somehow she pulled herself together and competed – so well that she earned her personal best score for her efforts.  When she finished she was immediately overtaken with emotion, as anyone should have expected.  By the looks of things she was teetering on that edge just BEFORE she took to the ice so I can only imagine the rush that came over here at the end, after performing so well – a performance her mother would never physically see.  Immediately, I welled up inside and out as if somehow I completely understood what she was going through when there’s just no way that I could.

What a champion.  In a world looking for heroes searching for individual efforts that inspire – here we were provided with a tremendous example in the form of a French speaking Canadian figure skater.  Absolutely one of the most amazing Olympic stories/moments I’ve ever heard of and I will never forget it.

Vancouver Winter Olympics, Georgian Olympic Team, Suffer Tragedy

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Posted on 12th February 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

What a tragedy… A georgian luger lost his life, the result of a practice accident just hours before the opening of the games. I’m not into the Olympics like I am other sports and settings but that is one of the most terrible things I’ve heard of. Here’s a guy that is going to proudly portray his country and give meaning to all the time and resources that he and others have put into this effort to give him a shot at proving that he’s amongst the best in the world at what he does, and he dies following a horrific accident during, of all things – practice. If that isn’t a hell of a twist of fate I don’t know what is. I can’t even imagine what his family is feeling right now. Absolutely unbelievable … I just hope there’s some way his family, coaches, Olympic teammates and anyone else who had a connection with this brave young man can keep their heads about them during a time when they are supposed to be celebrating and exhibiting pride and accomplishment.

Michigan Football Signs 27 Student Athletes For The 2010 Class

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Posted on 3rd February 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary | University of Michigan Sports

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The Wolverines have signed a speedy and deep 2010 recruiting class of student athletes to be added to the roster for the upcoming 2010 football season.  Several of the recruits have already enrolled after graduating early from their respective high schools and will be eligible to participate in spring practice, with the remaining recruits set to join the program in the late summer.

Highlighting the class are 3 top prospects in positions of great need – QB Devin Gardner, CB Cullen Christian and Safety Demar Dorsey.  Dorsey, from Boyd Anderson High in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, was a recruit that originally committed to Florida well before his senior season of football, but who grew apart from the Gators after the relationship became rocky.  He was a late signing day addition to the Wolverines, having only made up his mind on where he would attend college the night before.  He projects to be a player who could play multiple positions in the defensive secondary and even play some offense and kick returner due to his exceptional speed and athletic abilities.  Dorsey loves to throw his body into hits and make plays in the secondary, making him look like someone who could become the true impact safety that Michigan has lacked for so long.

QB Devin Gardner, from Inkster High School (MI), is a tall and still raw dual-threat QB talent who is already enrolled and hopes to impress coaches enough during spring practices to warrant giving him a shot at some playing time as a true Freshman.  The most striking assets Devin brings to the table are from the physical side, as he rises 6′-4″ from the turf and has plenty of room for development in the weight room for added durability and strength.  While improving markedly over his junior season, he is still very raw in mechanics and often resorts to throwing from the run or displaying unorthodox technique in the passing game.  Devin’s not the fastest runner from the QB position but should have plenty of speed to run a read-option offense.  Seemingly the in-between choice for Rich Rodriguez, Devin is faster than Tate Forcier though nowhere near as good a passer, while being a better passer than Denard Robinson albeit not nearly as fast or as gifted a runner.  Rich Rodriguez will now have some interesting decisions to make with his roster of QBs, now having 3; each of which offer something different and perhaps none of them being fully fledged enough to run his show completely, yet.

And Cullen Christian is a corner that has great size, quickness and fluidity … but who might need to work with a speed coach to gain the next level of speed required to keep up with the truly elite WRs that he’ll often face in college.  He could play safety, also, and there are some who believe that will be where he ultimately ends up.  However, with Michigan so thin at corner and with Cullen displaying all the tools necessary to be a good one, I expect him to find some early playing time at corner and stick in that position.  He will join a once thin and now young Wolverine secondary and likely be asked to contribute early.

Other noteworthy additions include Marvin Robinson, a safety/linebacker hybrid from Lake Region High School in Florida who I feel will ultimately end up at a linebacker position after starting out at safety, Jibreel Black, a versatile defensive line prospect who could wind up lining up at two or maybe three defensive line positions before it’s all said and done and who possesses a strong motor, Josh Furman, a running back/safety/linebacker who possesses great measureables and blazing speed, and Will Hagerup, a punter (yes a punter!) with a big leg, solid technique and a great shot at being the replacement for the departed Zoltan Mesko.

The remaining 2010 Michigan Wolverine recruits:

  • QB/ATH Conelius Jones – Spartanburg, SC (Spartanburg High School)
  • RB Austin White – Livonia, MI (Stephenson High School)
  • RB Stephen Hopkins – Flower Mound, TX (Marcus High School)
  • WR Ricardo Miller – Ann Arbor, MI (Pioneer High School)
  • WR Jerald Robinson – Canton, OH (Canton South High School)
  • WR Jeremy Jackson – Ann Arbor, MI (Huron High School)
  • WR Drew Dileo – Baton Rouge, LA (Parkview Baptist School)
  • WR DJ Williamson – Warren, OH (Warren G. Harding High School)
  • OC Christian Pace – Avon Lake, OH (Avon Lake High School)
  • DT Terry Talbott – Huber Heights, OH (Wayne High School)
  • DT Richard Ash – Pahokee, FL (Pahokee High School)
  • DE Kenny Wilkins – Washington, PA (Trinity High School)
  • DE Jordan Paskorz – Allison Park , PA (Hampton High School)
  • DE Antonio Kinard – Youngstown, OH (Liberty High School)
  • OLB Jake Ryan – Cleveland, OH (St. Ignatius High School)
  • OLB Davion Rogers – Warren, OH (Warren G. Harding High School)
  • S Carvin Johnson – Metairie, LA (Archbishop Rummel HS)
  • Ray Vinopal – Youngstown, OH (Cardinal Mooney High School)
  • CB Courtney Avery – Lexington, OH (Lexington High School)
  • CB Terrance Talbott – Huber Heights, OH (Wayne High School)

Overall this class has plenty of speed to upgrade the Wolverines roster all over the field, though at times being undersized and other times being somewhat unproven.  Plenty of WR and Slot WR prospects to try to increase production out of those key areas for Rich Rodriguez’s offense, and a nice haul of athletic defenders to replenish a defense searching for answers at almost all levels.  A solid B+ class for Rich Rodriguez and company.

Go Blue!

Six Former Michigan Wolverine Football Players In Super Bowl XLIV

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Posted on 25th January 2010 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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University of Michigan Official Athletic Site – Football

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Six former Wolverines will travel to Miami for Super Bowl XLIV, including 4 players and 2 coaches.  Make us proud gentlemen.

Enough! Fed-up Browns fans planning protest

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Posted on 29th October 2009 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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Enough! Fed-up Browns fans planning protest

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I pick on Cleveland Browns fans a lot – and for justifiable reasons – but one thing you have to give them credit for is a true passion and the willingness to get the lead out when it makes sense to.  This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen from a fan base, in recent memory.  And, while I think  they could do better, I applaud them for doing something.  Fans spend a lot of money (seriously, often a stupid amount of money) on this type of entertainment… get mobile and take action when your money is being wasted; make the organization hear you any way you can that is constructive.

The way the NFL franchises have weaseled into our hearts and structured everything, it is extremely difficult to talk to an organization in the language they understand the best – with your money.  Sure you can avoid buying a shirt or some of the food that you normally would at the game, but as long as the PSL (license to buy the ticket) and the tickets are sold the organization has nothing in front of them that demands attention.  Rich NFL owners, unfortunately, often like to play with their money in this environment and, when things don’t work out, throw their hands up in the air saying, “Look, I tried!” as if that is enough.  Financially, If they lose a little, break even or make a small amount of money, then the prestige of owning an NFL franchise and truly being the ultimate “fan” balances out the equation in their favor – in their minds.  But if an NFL owner were to only make money when their team did well, and more importantly lost a good deal of money when the team was not good, NFL owners would take immediate notice and would quickly do whatever it took to ensure the gain and prevent the loss.  (Yes, that’s a tough argument with many angles one could play, I know… but this is coming from a fan’s point of view, here).

With the way the NFL shares revenue and TV money, a franchise can post a marginal loss and still come out ahead when all the checks are passed out.  This makes it even hard to get the message across to the NFL owner who is at the wheel of a floundering NFL franchise.  What it means is that, in order to “hit ‘em between the eyes”, the fans have to stoop to a level most would frown upon in other situations – belittling and embarrassing the organization publicly.  That way the guys holding the purse strings no longer get to sit back and be looked at as prestigious as they once were, which eliminates that aspect of the balanced equation.

In reality, this works out pretty well for the NFL fan.  After all, not too many fans are going to want to give up their seats on a long term basis to get short term improvements in the quality of the team – I think most fans would agree that’s a bit much to be expected.  But if there’s one thing fans like it is to be heard and seen, and with the internet age it is so easy to be heard and seen that this just encourages even more along that line of thought.

Now the Cleveland Browns fans are getting creative.  They have a home game, next Monday (how the hell do the Browns keep getting onto Monday Night Football anyway?), against Baltimore (a.k.a. the organization that ran off with their team years ago) and some of the fans are planning this protest where they will leave the seats empty at the beginning of the game for all the TV cameras to see.  This is great and will be talked about throughout the NFL and the media, putting Browns owner Randy Lerner in a plainly uncomfortable position that he cannot himself counterfeit by waiting to evaluate the season until that time when he looks at a year-end balance sheet.

The last time anyone saw this type of action it was not caught on camera as vividly as what might happen on next Monday night.  You might recall this: Detroit Lions fans running through sections during a game holding up “Fire Millen” signs in voicing their displeasure with then GM, Matt Millen.  Thus, even though the fans getting exercise while running away from security was highly entertaining, it was not made into a national spectacle and, in fact, only made the news because the Lions and Ford Field felt the need to publicize it by releasing a notice that all signs of similar ilk would be confiscated by security.  Even people in Detroit didn’t know about it until they heard of the release or if fans at the game had mentioned it.  On Monday, assuming the fans follow through with their threat of protest AND if the producers of the CBS TV coverage at the game allow all the bright orange empty seats in the stadium to be included in what viewers see, this protest will carry a bit more visibility.

What this threat of protest lacks, though, is teeth – the teeth being the money issue again.  If all goes “well” with the protest it will serve as embarrassing to Randy Lerner and the Browns, but unless ownership and leadership can connect that with some kind of threat of loss of income it will be only that.  If the Browns fans want something immediate to happen, they need to figure out how to add some teeth to this – so that, when Randy Lerner looks at his balance sheet at the end of the year and sees that he’s doing “okay”, he’ll remember that he’s far from doing okay.  And the clearest reminder of that would be if he looks at that balance sheet and sees something ugly starring back.

Boubacar Cissoko Booted From Michigan Football Team

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Posted on 27th October 2009 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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Boubacar Cissoko, a promising young cornerback from Detroit Cass Tech High, was removed from the Michigan Football Team for ‘unspecified violation of team rules’, Coach Rich Rodriguez announced on Tuesday. Cissoko had been suspended from playing with the team on Saturday for similar reasons in weeks previous, but had worked himself back onto the playing field through meeting daily objectives and saw time during Michigan’s loss against Penn State on Saturday. Apparently, the positive momentum of his efforts was short lived.

Speculation by those surrounding and reporting on the team seems to indicate a variety of possible issues, most assuming a direct violation of the same things that he had been working on in recent weeks being the main undoing. But others, including Cissoko’s high school coach, shed a bit different light on the subject.

A number of sources claim that Cissoko had a poor work ethic and was incompatible as a teammate. Others focus instead on the fact that he was consistently struggling to get to class and doing well enough once there. What’s clear, given his previous publicized issues (shouting at a police officer who pulled him over, for example) is that Cissoko simply needs to get his head on straight before he completely throws away the opportunity that so many wish they had.

There’s no shortage of stories that sound like this: Talented high school sports star goes to play at college but fails to manage all that surrounds him and take advantage of his gifts and ends up disappearing from sight. It’s unbelievably sad, I think, to hear this story over and over again.

Boubacar, if you’re out there or reading this, please understand I am not angry about anything you did, nor do I feel the need to bash you at your time of difficulty like some others do. I’m just disappointed that things didn’t turn out differently and especially at a school/progam with as many available resources as Michigan has to offer to counter the incredible demands of FBS college football. I hope you find your way and are able to still eventually put your strong athletic talents to use for another program.

I hope to see Boubacar find a smaller program away from all the BCS madness so he can focus on gettting stronger mentally and educationally while still letting his physical tools just open the doors he needs to keep progressing. It’s pretty clear, if ge can his head straight, MAC schools can serve as ample proving grounds for the NFL. Who knows, maybe hindsight will prove that to be the kind of route he should have originally taken.

Laughing At Grumpy Cleveland Browns Fans Is Easy.

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Posted on 12th October 2009 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies | Sports Commentary

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Before I go any farther, I just have to open and honest … I really can’t stand anything about the Browns. When we moved into Cleveland many moons ago I was without a pro football team. I had followed and cheered for the Lions as a kid but the lack of performance and the lack of any bonafide star players to connect with since Barry retired has made that an impossible option. I’ve also always been a college football fan much moreso than a fan of the NFL game. So, thinking it wouldn’t be bad to adopt an NFL team and having just moved to this supposed football Mecca of Cleveland, why not adopt the browns?

I’ve covered this before on many a blog post and forum thread so I don’t want to go into the lengthy topic that this can be, but let me just say that the Browns as a team, fanbase and organization have easily been as disappointing as any that I’ve heard of in a world that loves to bitch about any company at any time. Performance on the field can’t significantly outshine even the Lions, the organization can’t figure out how lead themselves let alone pick a leader for the team, and watching or following the browns is just flat out a miserable experience. The game environment is so boring and the stadium is just filled with anticipation … of failure. The uniforms are as dull and uninspiring as you can get and the color scheme is just awful – Jesus Christ is that really BROWN and white that dominates your uniform? But by far the worst part of the gig is the fans. By themselves they crush any possible hope of enjoying watching or following the team.

If you go to a game, Be prepared to sit by ‘fans’ dressed in gear from head to toe who show their love for their team by booing them at the top of their lungs when the opening possession for the Browns’ offense doesn’t prove successful. “Successful, by the way, can only mean scoring points according to those dressed like muddy pumpkins. These ‘fans’ will then proceed to try to predict when the coaches will call running plays, and they do this all game long. Because, you see, running the ball is dumb. No, it doesn’t matter that the situation at hand dictated that a running play be called upon… no no. “That’s dumb!”. Perhaps my two favorite Cleveland Brown fan features, though, are (1) the eternal inbred belief that, no matter what, the Browns are still better than you and (2) the incorrect assignment of blame upon any “unsuccessful” play attempt, game or team situation.

A very loudly spoken conversation I got the privilege of sitting next to during lunch today illustrates both of these faults perfectly. The opening statement, made before the two guys even sat down was, “Hey did you see that game yesterday… the 49ers game?” (the Atlanta Falcons played at the 49ers yesterday). “Oh my god … I thought the Browns were bad, the 49ers … oh they are worse!” You see, it’s not how bad the Browns are that matters to the fan it’s the ability to manufacture the opportunity to call out someone else as being worse.  It’s an endearing quality, really, especially when you consider that entering play on Sunday the Browns were 0-4 and still looking to understand what exactly it means to score touchdowns or to get more than 4 first downs in a quarter.  Nevermind that the 49ers were playing well and held a 3-1 record and heading into a really difficult stretch of their schedule.  The only point that matters is, to the Cleveland Brown’s fan, San Francisco played poorly on Sunday and that gave him just enough room to argue that the 49ers are worse than the Browns.  On a personal note, I think I’ll take the team averaging 22.4 points a game over the team averaging 11 points a game just about any day of the week.  Alas, this point is moot as the two teams don’t play this year.  I wonder if the Cleveland fan knew either of those points?

Now, if that were the only fault, I could live with “fan speak”.  Any fan has license to at least try to play the “My team’s better than yours!” card, but you simply have to know what you’re talking about when you emphatically put “facts” out there or give accounts of a game.  I’m not saying you have to be perfect or have some matching singular notion of what you believe happened during a period of time, but I am saying that facts are facts, left is left, and scores are scores.  For example, when you say things like, “They wore orange helmets again and they always seem to lose when they wear those orange helmets…” I can live with that.  The helmets, after all, are orange and when you qualify your statement with “they always seem to…” now we can agree there’s some wiggle room to the statement.  The problem is most Browns fans don’t qualify their statements like that, and this lunch time conversation was yet another classic example of this endless spew.  Today’s topics were oldies but goodies… how the Browns “always run up the middle” and “never pass”.

There was only one NFL game on TV in the Cleveland market, on Sunday, and so I had the misfortune of sitting and watching one of the worst played football games I can ever remember taking in.  In the game against the Buffalo Bills – easily an equal in the dredges of NFL quality teams this season, mostly because of a putrid offense – the Browns clearly felt the way to make hay against the Bills was to run the football.  This could possibly have been because they had just reorganized their passing attack by trading away Braylon Edwards and were now having to rely on a rookie, a new-this-week guy, and an undersized possession receiver, but it could also have something to do with the fact that the Buffalo Bills have one of the better pass defenses in the league.  Neither of those points were brought up by the fan as he bitched to his fellow fan, nor were those points brought up in response.  Instead, it was teamwork reinforcement of the belief that all the Browns did on Sunday was run up the middle and that they never threw the ball.  One look at the game stats would tell a different story AND, if they had actually watched the game and have been interested in absorbing what was happening, rather than just harvesting vitriol in their minds, they would have seen that there was a passing game present that was absolutely ineffective (Cleveland and Derrick Anderson were 2-17… that’s TWO of 17, for 23 yards.  23 yards passing.  In a game;  a full game.  Two completions.  On the flip side, that running game that “always goes up the middle” produced 171 yards.  And the amazing thing is it did so because it attacked the weak spots on the Buffalo defensive line – the ends. Yet, all of this somehow goes completely unnoticed because the fans don’t see what they want to see.

You see, what constitutes success is largely determined by the fans of any sports program;  I get that. But you are really asking for it when the uninformed, ignorant and depressed are the ones setting the standard.  When every run that doesn’t get 4 or more yards is seen as “running it up the middle” or when passing attempts that are not completed are not counted as passing plays, you’re talking about fans who just don’t understand the game.  If those that don’t understand are setting the standard, it makes for a nightmare.  And that’s exactly what Cleveland has on it’s hands in the Browns.  Where are the good fans?  If you’re out there, let your voices be heard!  Drown out these buffoons who make a trip to Cleveland Browns Stadium such a predictable and unsatisfying venture.

My last item, here:  Supposedly, only Braylon Edwards dropped passes while he was on the Browns’ roster.  And, to be clear, he supposedly dropped everything thrown to him and all of the footballs thrown at him were perfect passes.  Yet, on Sunday, different Browns receivers dropped at least 5 balls that I remember – interesting.  I also seem to remember all but 1 of those passes from Derrick Anderson being in a terrible position for the receiver to make a play on the ball – provacative.  Learn the game, Cleveland Browns fans.  Start with the rules of the game and the penalties/infractions that are often called during it (focus on the illegal contact and pass interference penalties, since they get you so upset all the time).  There’s enough research to get done there that it should keep you guys quiet for a few games.

Braylon Edwards Traded By Cleveland To New York Jets

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Posted on 8th October 2009 by Ben Krasner in Sports Commentary

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The Cleveland Browns trade Braylon Edwards to the New York Jets

Finally… a Michigan Man gets out of Cleveland.  Hard to believe this didn’t happen before the season as it was pretty apparent the fans of Cleveland had given up on him and he had likely also given up on Cleveland (and not necessarily in that order).  This is a good move for both teams.  Cleveland needed to get something out of Braylon and this was the best way to do that in both the short and long term, I feel.  Clearly his head wasn’t focused 100% and clearly he was fighting everything around him rather than just focusing and trying to keep things in balance.  This seems to have been the case ever since his knee injury, but that’s just my opinion.  Braylon, who was last heard from tussling with some tiny, 130lb light-weight from Lebron James’ posse at 2:30am outside a night club in Cleveland, definitely needed a fresh start and a bigger stage… but really he just needed to go to an organization that knows what the hell its doing and has goals a lot loftier than just getting into the endzone at least once a game this season.

Cleveland gets two players who can help the team a little over the next two years, plus two draft picks from the Jets for some depth or specialists down the road.  And the Jets get a receiver who has the ability to be a top big receiver target both in the middle of the field and out wide.  Adding that to the speedsters already on the roster and you’re all of a sudden looking at a potentially loaded lineup for the next 2-3 seasons, assuming Braylon re-signs with New York following his contract expiration after the season. Funny enough, now the only thing missing from the Jets roster is a dangerous tight end… I say funny enough because it is the Jets’ fans’ reaction to the team drafting tight ends in the 90’s that is one of my more rock solid images of New York Jets football history and now they really could use an upgrade there.  Imagine if Cleveland had traded both of the players they had given up on to the Jets; Braylon Edwards AND, don’t forget, Kellen Winslow (26 catches ad 4 TDs so far down in Tampa Bay) was also given up on following his motor cycle incident which, again, led to the city turning against him… wow.

If you see a repetitive pattern, here, you’re not alone.  This city has burned through more talent than it knows about, and a good deal of it has left Cleveland to find solid success elsewhere – it’s just bizarre.  The fans are just waiting for every draft pick to say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, drop the wrong pass, swing at the wrong pitch, take the wrong shot, get on a motor cycle during the off-season… something… anything … so that they have “cause” for their cyclical depression and Cleveland [enter team moniker here] fan requisite ire.  This city flat out got off on Braylon Edwards dropping passes, and somehow believed that the two QBs playing quarterback carousel behind the line of scrimmage were both Pro-bowlers in waiting.  Never mind that Derrick Anderson only got to the Pro Bowl because of the bind that the duo of Braylon and Kellen put defenses in on every play and the fact that the Browns finally put together a good offensive line.  Other than that year, DA has looked well south of average and an ever-changing coaching situation hasn’t helped him improve.  And Brady Quinn, being the other Pro Bowl arm on the roster, has obviously shown that he has the goods, right?  I mean, he wasn’t ever able to unseat a below-average DA, and when he got his shot his passes were late, inaccurate and often a result of bad blitz reads (a trait he was known for at Notre Dame, by the way).  Somehow, though, Braylon and Kellen are the bad guys.  Somehow, dropping a ball that he has to pull back from out of bounds territory, or dropping a pass that was threaded blindly through traffic, or dropping a pass that was only reached by long-arm and high-jump miracle makes the receiver the source of all evil?  Cleveland fans and the organization are likely going to hear about this trade for a while and it will be deserved.

There’s no excuse for bad behavior – please don’t think that’s what I’m saying.  Getting into a fight at a night club at 2:30am (People, does anything GOOD happen at 2:30am?  Why… WHY?), or running your mouth about the state of Ohio, or just being overly-sensitive to buckeye fans who are riding you a bit because of your history at Michigan… no excuses.  When you’re in the spotlight, how you treat your mailman counts.  So he better get his head on straight in New York or that town will eat him up like a two-for-one appetizer special.  I think this fresh start will allow him the opportunity to do just that.

A win-win-win trade, everyone makes out – at least on paper.  It’s hard to think anyone makes out as well as Braylon did, however.  Maybe it wasn’t the best way to go about getting it done, but Braylon gets out of Cleveland, goes to New York, and gets to play for a contender in a contract year and probably carries a tad lower expectations into the new assignment after tough times as a Brown.  That should all add up nicely for him.

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