Red Right 88

Character still counts

We woke up this morning to the news that Miami wide receiver Brandon Marshall was in the hospital after being stabbed – allegedly by his wife.

This is not the first time Marshall has been in the news for off-field shenanigans:

• On March 1, 2009, Marshall and his wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, were both arrested and booked on disorderly conduct charges after two officers saw them kicking and punching each other outside Marshall’s Atlanta condominium. Disorderly conduct charges were later dismissed.
• The NFL suspended Marshall for three 2008 games under the league’s personal conduct policy, although no specific reason was given. He appealed, and the penalty was reduced to just one game.
• In May 2009 he was profiled in ESPN’s Outside the Lines about the couple’s abusive relationships. The 911 tapes and police reports documented his checkered past.
• He was arrested in November 2004 and charged with five misdemeanor counts of trespassing, resisting an officer without violence, refusal to obey an officer, disorderly conduct and assault on an officer. The charges were eventually dropped.
• In April 2005, he was arrested again in Orange County on a misdemeanor charge of retail or farm theft, but was never prosecuted.
• He made headlines in January 2007 when Broncos teammate and friend Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by shooting by gang members in downtown Denver. The shooting took place after an altercation at a nightclub between the gang members and other patrons, including Marshall.

The latest problems for Marshall, who signed a $50 million contract with the Dolphins last year, making him the highest paid wide-receiver in NFL history, remind us that character still counts when teams are looking at players.

When the Broncos were looking to deal Marshall, there were some who wanted the Browns to trade for him. There was also a segment of the fan base that wanted the Browns to draft Dez Bryant last year and some who couldn’t understand why the Browns did not trade for Randy Moss when the Patriots grew tired of his act.

Of course, Bryant is currently busy defending himself against lawsuits claiming he failed to pay $246,000 for jewelry and Moss lasted all of four games before the Vikings released him.

While any of the three would have helped the Browns anemic passing attack, we’re glad they are not on the team. We bag on Brian Robiskie and Mohamed Massaquoi from time to time because they’re not very good, but we’re confident we won’t wake up one day to a headline saying that they are in some off-field trouble.

It’s good, too, that the Browns are determined to shy away from troubled players.

“Those guys in the league that have had issues, those guys are going to be tough for us to mess around with,” general manager Tom Heckert has said in published reports.

So while it may not be true in other NFL cities, at least in Cleveland character still matters.

***

The bad Fausto Carmona showed up for the Indians on Saturday against Minnesota, giving up six runs, seven hits and four walks in just five innings of work as the Tribe fell, 10-3.

It was the first time this season the Twins scored more than five runs in a game (of course) as they entered the day with the lowest run totals in the majors.

But that didn’t matter as the Twins slapped around Carmona and then Chad Durbin (two innings of work, four runs, why is he still on the team?) to hand the Tribe its second consecutive loss.

But all is not lost as Carlos Carrasco will get the start on Sunday in an attempt to give the Indians a split of not only the series, but the six-game road trip. And that’s OK – when you are in first place all that matters is the teams behind you don’t make up ground.

The Tribe split with Kansas City and if they can earn a split with the Twins that’s six division games out of the way without letting the Royals and Twins gain anything.

And that’s not bad at all.

***

Maxi Rodriguez tallied a hat-trick, Dirk Kuyt and Joe Cole each added a goal, and Liverpool closed the gap on fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur with a 5-0 win on Saturday against Birmingham.

”Maxi is a very intelligent footballer. He’s not a direct replacement for Andy but he’s got more goals than him in that one performance,” Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said in published reports. ”Maxi has not played for a few weeks and came on and did a fantastic job for us.

”Joe also got his reward because he has trained well and he came on and got a goal. It won’t do Joe or Maxi any harm and the joy the players got from Maxi scoring his hat-trick and Joe scoring his goal reflects how close a group they are and that is great for the club.

”They are all playing for each other and the players are going to play better if they are confident and if they are happy going to work they will get better results.”

While the Spurs do have a game in hand, only three points separate the two teams. And Tottenham Hotspur still have to face Chelsea (2nd in the table) and Manchester City (4th) before the next-to-last game of the season against Liverpool against Anfield on May 15.

If the Reds can keep it close until then – they face Newcastle United (9th in the table) and Fulham (13th) – the game with Spurs should be the dogs bollocks.