Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the month “August, 2010”

06 Aug 2010

That Didn’t Take Long

It only took a few weeks, but the injury bug finally caught Cleveland catcher Carlos Santana, who is scheduled to have knee surgery today at the Cleveland Clinic.

“Carlos is expected to make a full recovery by the beginning of the 2011 championship season,” head trainer Lonnie Soloff said in published reports.

Let’s overlook the championship season phrasing for a minute and focus on the recovery time, which Soloff put at four to six months, which puts Santana up against the start of spring training. If he’s not ready for the start of spring training, that probably means he won’t be ready for the start of the regular season.

Here’s the best part from Sheldon Ocker’s story in the Beacon:

”This [injury] is rare in baseball, and it could have been much worse,” Soloff said in the article. ”But any time a catcher has surgery on his knee, it’s considered serious.”

Of course it is. Cleveland’s sports teams just can’t have normal injuries; they have to be rare injuries.

So begins another day in Cleveland sports paradise.

Posted in Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians, freak injuries | Leave a comment
04 Aug 2010

Mike Holmgren vs. the Hoopleheads

Browns GM Mike Holmgren delivered an overdue message to a certain segment of Browns fans who frequent Cleveland Browns Stadium on game days:

Grow up.

In an interview with The Plain Dealer earlier this week, Holmgren said the team will work to eliminate the hoopleheads that try to turn parts of the Stadium into Thunderdome:

“In the Mike Holmgren Era, which officially began this weekend with the opening of Browns training camp, fans will be enthusiastic and supportive.

“Not aggressive or obscene. Not spilling beers or vehemently taunting opposing fans. Not being obnoxious or offensive.

“After hearing too many stories of longtime season-ticket holders not renewing seats because they were disgusted with the behavior of out-of-hand fans at Browns Stadium, Holmgren is taking his first steps in overhauling the culture of the Browns organization by making a simple request: Please behave, Browns fans.

“Make Browns Stadium a difficult place for opponents to play, but don’t make it a place where some of Cleveland’s own fans won’t attend games because of disgust with your behavior.”

Now I took Holmgren’s comments to mean the team will enforce the existing rules on fan conduct; they’re not looking to turn the Stadium into a Gestapo-like police state. But not everyone agrees.

Taking a look at various sites that picked up on the story, and from the comments on the PD’s site, there’s a segment of Browns fans who think Holmgren is off his rocker. The opposition can be boiled down to “that’s the way we’ve always acted,” “that’s what Browns fan do” and “it’s my right to act that way because I bought a ticket.”

Thankfully, I haven’t come across anyone saying “that’s how we do it in the 216.”

Reading those comments make it all the more clear that Holmgren is on the right path here. “It’s always been that way” isn’t a good excuse. Just because you want to act like a feral animal doesn’t mean the rest of us want to go along. And buying a ticket only gives you the right to attend the game, not do anything you want once you pass through the gate.

If fans can’t police themselves in their behavior, then someone has to act as the adult in the room and, under Holmgren, that someone is going to be team security.

After all, we don’t want to be confused with Jets fans, do we?

In some ways, it’s refreshing that Holmgren has the time to deal with this issue. No contract holdouts, no silly quarterback battles, no horrific training camp injuries, staph infections, controversial bus rides or any other of the various nonsenses that have plagued the Browns over the past decade are present this year, and that’s so nice.

For some other viewpoints on the subject, be sure to visit Waiting For Next Year and Cleveland Frowns.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, hoopleheads, Mike Holmgren, obnoxious fan behavior | Leave a comment
01 Aug 2010
2 Comments

The True Heartbreak City

Some people just don’t get it.

In his latest ESPN column, Bill Simmons explains why he is bored by the Red Sox this season. He lays out some really good reasons, as always, but, as the national media is wont to do, he misses the mark when he compares Red Sox fans – and fans of other teams – with Cleveland fans.

His misstep comes when he talks about how, since the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and 2007, the games don’t take on the “life or death” aspect they used to (we’ll overlook the fact that sports are entertainment, not life or death) and only a few franchises still have that hunger for a championship, writing that:

“Nobody wanted to live a full life, then die, without seeing the Red Sox win a championship. Cubs fans know what I mean. So do Vikings fans, Indians fans, Maple Leafs fans … only the true sufferers know.

“In just the past decade, five franchises lost life-or-death status. Boston in 2004. The White Sox in 2005. St. Louis in 2006. Philly in 2008. And really, the Yankees in 2009 – since every Yankees fan was secretly having a heart attack about the fact that they were 0-for-the-century, the Red Sox/Yankees dynamic had flipped and A-Rod had become the Reverse Curse of the Bambino, so we have to count them.

That leaves San Francisco and the Cubs as the last remaining big-market, life-or-death teams … although you certainly can count Cleveland, Houston and Milwaukee as well, and maybe even Seattle, San Diego and Texas if you’re feeling magnanimous.)”

So we’re lumped in with Houston fans, Minnesota fans, San Francisco fans? Seattle? San Diego? Really?

Here’s where Simmons tripped up, just like almost every other national writer:

All those other fan bases? They only have to live with their misery for one season out of the year. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in more than 100 years? Well, those fans also get to root for the Bears and saw the Bulls win six titles over an eight-year period.

The Giants haven’t won a World Series since the team moved from NY? It must have been real hard after baseball season ended watching the 49ers win five Super Bowls.

Same with Boston. For all the “misery” and “why us” wailing from Red Sox fans, they still knew when baseball season ended the Patriots and their three Super Bowls or the Celtics and their 17 NBA titles would be there.

Cleveland? We live with our sports misery 365 days a year. The Indians (last championship in 1948) finishing another title less season rolls into the Browns (no championships since 1964) breaking our hearts which rolls into the Cavs (no titles ever) over and over, like the French distress signal playing on a loop on Lost.

Even when we get a taste of success, something always goes wrong. The Indians make it to the World Series in 1995 and become the only team to lose to the Braves. That’s followed up a few weeks later by the announcement that the Browns are moving to Baltimore.

Or consider 2007, collectively the greatest sports year in Cleveland in 40 years:

  • The Cavs make their first NBA Finals – where they are swept by San Antonio.
  • The Indians take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS – and lose the series to Boston.
  • The Browns finish with a 10-6 season – and miss the playoffs because of tiebreakers.

So you tell me, how can any other town even think they have suffered like we have? Simmons himself put all three Cleveland teams on his list of fully tortured sports fans, what does that tell you?

At least some people get it.

Posted in Cleveland sports, fans, heartbreak, misery

Post Navigation

Newer Entries →