cpafrank's Blog

The similarities between BCS football and a great looking lady are unreal.

The Pursuit:

With football you have all week to build up to Saturday.  With the lady you dance around wondering if she will actually go out with you.

The Night Before:

It is Friday night and tommorow is game day!  It is Friday night and tommorow is date night.

The Date:

At the stadium everyone shows up in team colors, the band is playing and its showtime.  The hot chick shows up in a sexy black dress, hair all done and its out to dinner.

After Party:

You win the game an its celebration time, lets go to the bar.  If your lucky, she has a good time and it extends into the evening.

The Next Day:

The BCS has a playoff system that stinks, so at the end of the day, you still don't know if they have the #1 team in the county.  Your date is over and you wonder if she will ever go out with you again or if you just got lucky.

The parallel is amazing!

Lets see, first we have a coach that can't, a quarterback with no confidence, a defense with aging spare parts, a coach with no emotion who looks like he's doing a math problem in his head on the sidelines, a general manager who travels four days a week, a malcontent in Kellen Winslow, a public relations department that lies, staph infections galore, a coach who can't coach, players quitting, a GM who bothers to send an f-bomb to a fan, and a rookie quarterback who has more poise than any of them.

What a mess!

As a child growing up, all I remember is listening to bad Indians teams night after night and enjoying it.  Long before cable and the superstations, there only were about 25 games a year on television.  It was a treat to be on a nationally televised game.

I would come back every night to here the broadcast.  As play by play men changed, for 34 years years, Herb never changed.  He was always the same.  Some fans may have complained about his delivery or his mistakes, but he was genuine and was one of us.  He was a hard working Clevelander, working to support his family and provide the public with some entertainment.

Nothing is better than hearing, it's a long drive to left, back he goes, the shortstop makes the catch in short left field.  This is not a knock on Herb, he was human, just as we all are.  He could have been very bitter about his playing career.  He chose to embrace the sport that provided for his family.

Herb was always active in the community.  His work with Our Lady of the Wayside often could go unnoticed because he did not seek recognition. 

Here is to a person who was fine player, a fine broadcaster and a fine man!

When will the Browns coaching staff finally get rid of the 3-4.  To play a 3-4 defense you need Lawrence Taylor, Zach Thomas in his prime, a healthy Chris Spielman.

You do not need Andre davis, D'qwell Jackson, an aging Willie McGinnist or Kameron Wimbley.

You also need a pass rush which we do not have.  Poor Brandon McDonald was lit up like a Christmas tree last night, but did you notice Jay Cutler could have set up an had dinner back in the pocket.  No one was near him.

It is time to clean out Romeo and the famed 3-4 defense and go back to a traditional 4-3.

God 3-4, 4-3, I wish our record was that good.

PS - Brady Quinn showed what good decision making looks like and with a little help, he would have had his first win in a short week, with no practice.  The kid can play!

Kellen Winslow is a very good football player who should be playing on another team.  His latest cry baby act is getting old.  My general manager didn't give me a phone call (wah, wah).

He came out of Miami with an attitude and it has gotten bigger ever since.  It was a freak accident when he broke his ankle his rookie season.  It was an accident by a freak when he crashed his motorcycle in a Westlake parking lot.

The Browns were very accomidating when the renegotiated his contract to add more years so he could earn back the money he lost.  I do agree with him that the team needs to get the staph infection problem under control, but grow up and be a man.  You are paid very well to play a kids game, don't act like a kid.

Winslow has his highest value as a player right now.  Phil Savage would be better off trading him while he can still walk than to put up with his crap.  He as one player alone will not make this or any other team a winner by himself.  K2 it was nice knowing you!

How nice is it to see Charlie Manuel in the World Series.  When the Phillies beat the Dodgers last night, one of the nicest men in baseball made it to the big show.  Charlie was railroaded out of Cleveland.  He took over a team from Mike Hargrove that had more ego's left on it than players.  He helped build us back into a playoff team despite some serious health problems and was fired.  Louis Issac was recently rewarded the same way for his 40+ years of service to the team.

Charlie would never be confused for a Rhodes scholar and was often laughed at by the media for his "down home" presentation skills, but I think he has shown that he can relate to players well and that is why he is paid.

Here's hoping Charlie Manuel comes out a winner.

I have now had two weeks to watch the replay of that stupid touchdown celebration of Braylon Edwards playing the air guitar with a Pete Townsend windmill stroke.

What was he celebrating, that he actually caught a pass.  A wise old coach once told me that when you do something good on the field, make it look like you have done it before.  His display looked like that of a third grader.

After averaging one touchdown a game last season, he is now on pace to have four.  I know it is not all his fault, however he does proclaim to be a leader.  The best leaders lead by example.  They do not fight with their quarterback on the sidelines.

Grow up Braylon.

The Cavs seem to have a more mature group of players this season.  The addition of Mo Williams will spread the court a little more.  Shasha Pavlovich is actually in shape and I think the Olympic experience and being with Coach K will really help Lebron.

I also like their power foreward draft choice who should be groomed to replace the "Wild Thing" when he opts out of his contract at the end of the season.  If Mike Brown can get these guys to clamp down and play some fundemental defense, it might be a fun season for the Cavs.

Anything short of a deep run into the playoffs will be a dissapointment to this fan.

GO CAVS!

Indians manager Eric Wedge turned in what was a better managerial performance this season than when he won manager of the year last year.  It is always easy to manage when things are going good.  A true leader comes through when times are tough.

Wedge was given a team of underachievers.  His key players were injured.  The front office traded three key free agents.  He had no bullpen.  He was forced to develop players for the future.

I give Eric Wedge an above average passing grade for the 2008 season.  I like the progress made by Ben Francisco and Shin Soo Choo.  I like the leadership of Grady Sizemore.  I like the punishment of Asdrubal Cabrera by sending him to Buffalo.  I like the development of Kelly Shoppach.

The Indians are not that far away from being in contention for 2009.  With a stronger bullpen, we would have been right there in 2008.

All you Wedge bashers, please don't bash him out of town.  He is no worse than any of the available retread managers across MLB.

Cincinnati has come and gone and nothing has changed.  Had Carson Palmer, not been a game time scratch, the Browns would have lost and Brady Quinn would be the quarterback today.  Instead we have the same old mediocrity.

We have two weeks to prepare for the super bowl champs and look like a football team.  Anybody know how to kidnap Eli Manning?  Derek Anderson still looks like a deer in the headlights.  It is obvious he was shaken by the concussion he received and needs some time to build his confidence back.  A win over Cincinnati is not likely to do that.

Romeo Crennel will play out the string and some time this season (the 2nd half of the Giants game), Quinn will be the quarterback.  The constant player bickering on the sidelines against Cincinnati shows he has lost control of this team.  Romeo is a great guy, but he is not a head coach.  Ted Williams, the greatest hitter baseball ever had was a lousy manager.  It doesn't always work.

Go Cavs!

10 reasons to not like the Browns this season.

10. Derek Anderson is playing like a college quarterback, so you might as well play Brady Quinn.

9. The team has to many injuries due to a poorly run training camp and we have no quality depth on defense.

8. Braylon Edwards is to worried about his outside football activities instead of catching the football.

7. After the first three and out, the running game and game plan are scrapped.

6. Romeo Crennel kicks field goals when we need touchdowns.

5. The offensive line is very offensive.

4. We are on prime time five times, which means we will be ridiculed five times by national broadcasters.

3. Our coaching staff has no killer instinct.  They are to nice.

2. We have no wide receivers who can catch the ball or run crisp patterns.

1. Rob Chudzinski looks like he has a leash around his neck and is not allowed to call a good game.

We will be 0-4 going into the bye week and if all goes well we can say bye-bye to a few coaches.  Romeo must go and Chud should be the coach and open up the offense.

Oh well, as always in Cleveland, wait for next year.

I have said this to anyone who will listen.

Everyone always says to me that players play and that coaches don't win games, so blame the players.  I disagree.

I hate to say week 3 is a must game, but if the Browns do not win the next two division games the season is over and Romeo should be over during the bye week!

Much is always made about LeBron James and that NY Yankees hat.  If you notice in the rap and hip hop communities, it is not unusual for many of the artists to be wearing various colors of Yankees hats.  I don't think that automatically means LeBron is going to New York.  He has been very loyal to Northeast Ohio ever since he proclaimed on draft day that he was going to light up Cleveland like Las Vegas.

If fans would realize that this is a business and you must root for the team, the colors and the tradition and not for the players who are now businessmen, no fan would ever be let down.

It is amazing that the Indians are in line to have Cy Young winners in back to back seasons.  I am going on record right now.  If Cliff Lee does not win the Al Cy Young award, I may boycott basball.  The man is in another world this season when it comes to pitching.  Sending him to Buffalo may be the biggest favor that Mark Shapiro and the Indians did for him last season.  It gave him his edge back and he is pitching with a chip on his shoulder.  That is something a few other players should have had a little earlier this season, some attitude. 

This will however set us Indians fans up for another dissapointment.  When his contract is coming near, I am sure he as many other MLB players do, will test the free agent market.  The Dolan family has given management an adequate budget for a middle market team, but unless revenue sharing is established, no middle market team will ever keep their good free agents.  The key for a middle market team is a strong farm system.  The Dolan's have spent good money re-establishing the farm system as our player development tool.

All I can say about the 2008 season is thank you Cliff Lee.

Well we opened the season with a victory against another meaningless team.  Ohio State has made a commitment to play the other Ohio schools in Columbus.  It is a great payday for Youngstown and Ohio University this season.  Bowling Green, Akron, Kent State, and Miami have all received large payday's in past seasons.  The problem is it does nothing for Ohio State except inflate their ego.

These games against no competition every year do nothing to get O-State in shape for the real games.  Even the Big 10 has been weak the past few years.  This has proven itself in the two BCS Championship games that Ohio State has been run off the field.

Ohio State has a great football program.  Year in and year out it is going to win games on raw abaility.  Ohio State continues to populate the NFL with good above average players.  Every year they will continue to lose the games that matter as long as they continue to play the little sisters of the poor. 

The third week test of USC this year will be a true test of this year's team.  It may also open up the weeknesses of the team going into Big 10 play.  Why do you think everyone is so worried about the new coaching staff in Michigan.  I know they lost the opener to Utah, but it was a lot better than pounding Youngstown State.

With all that said, Michigan still sucks!