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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland Browns”

04 Aug 2013

From the editor’s notebook …

Michael Bourn, Mike Aviles, Jason KipnisA look at a few items that warrant attention but not necessarily a full post …

The Indians make it out of Miami in one piece.

The Tribe closed out Miami on Sunday to take two-out-of-three against the Marlins and finish 6-1 in their recent stretch against the dregs of Major League Baseball.

The Tribe has now won 10-of-11 and return home, where they have the best record in the majors, to take on Detroit in a four-game series.

The Indians enter the series – the biggest the team has played since probably 2007 – three games behind the Tigers for first place in the A.L. Central Division. They also currently hold the second wild card position.

This is the series the Indians have waited for all year. They have spent the entire season trying to convince themselves, the American League and their fans that they are more than just second-class citizens in what is a Browns town. If they are serious about being contenders for the playoffs, this is the series to show it.

Read more…

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02 Aug 2013
4 Comments

The fan experience is different for every fan

2013_07_browns_game_dayWe have to say we were a bit surprised by the push back from fans over the announcement that the Cleveland Browns are working to try and improve the game day experience at home games.

We know (hope?) some of it was general snark, but we read and head enough that it makes us wonder, with the biggest complaint being, of course, that the Browns should “just win more games.”

Like any right-minded Cleveland fan, we have fond memories of going to Browns games in the late-1970s through the early 1990s at Municipal Stadium, even though we knew it was a dump. We also enjoy seeing highlights from games during that time period even though we still know the stadium was a dump.

But those memories are embedded in us because we were watching a winning football team (for the most part), not because the experience at the stadium was wonderful. So, on a basic level, we can understand the “just win more games” argument. But that is taking too simplistic of an approach.

While we understand what the Browns are trying to do, they are missing an opportunity here, which we explain further over at The Cleveland Fan.

Posted in Cleveland Browns and tagged
26 Jul 2013

Browns training camp preview: Ray Horton wants your QB

Browns Minicamp FootballThe Cleveland Browns opened training camp on Thursday with new personnel and a new outlook on the defensive side of the ball.

While there will be plenty of new faces on defense this year, the most important addition may be defensive coordinator Ray Horton.

“We teach legal punishment of the quarterback,” Horton has said in published reports. “You have to get after him.”

We could probably stop this preview right now as those words are enough to warm any Browns fans on a cold Northeast Ohio winter night.

But there is more to look at as we focus on the defense in Part 2 of our training camp preview at The Cleveland Fan.

(Photo by ClevelandBrowns.com)

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25 Jul 2013

Browns training camp preview Part 1: In Norv We Trust

Norv TurnerThe Cleveland Browns open training camp today in Berea with a new outlook on the offensive side of the ball.

But unlike the defense, the changes on offense come not from an influx of new players but from one key area – offensive coordinator Norv Turner.

We’ve been intrigued to see what Turner will bring to the field ever since the Browns hired him. Even before the team has played a single game or held a real training camp practice, Turner is clearly the best offensive coordinator the Browns have employed since … well, probably Lindy Infante. From Maurice Carthon, who hasn’t had an offensive coordinator position since being fired in Cleveland; to Brian Daboll, who has had head coaches fired in Cleveland, Miami and Kansas City; to Pat Shumur, who is now getting coffee and sandwiches (allegedly) for Chip Kelly in Philadelphia, Browns fans have been witness to some of the worst offensive minds in the NFL over the years.

We take a look at what Turner could mean to the Browns offense in 2013 in Part 1 of our training camp preview at The Cleveland Fan.

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10 Jul 2013

Jimmy Haslam missing out on a prime chance to go global

haslam weedenEveryone wondered what was going on when Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam announced that the family was putting the Tennessee Smokies minor league baseball team up for sale.

We thought we had found the answer when we saw the headline that owner Mohamed Al Fayed was planning to sell Premier League-side Fulham to an American investor – one that currently owns an NFL franchise.

Haslam had to be the guy, right? It made perfect sense. After all, we have experience here in Cleveland with a Browns owner also owning a Premier League team and that worked out all right for everyone, yes? (Wait, don’t answer that).

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26 Jun 2013

Browns release player no one knew was on the roster

ausar-walcott-charged-murderThe Cleveland Browns released linebacker Ausar Walcott on Wednesday after it was announced that Walcott is facing charges of attempted murder for allegedly punching a man in the head outside of The Palace Gentlemen’s Club* in New Jersey.

Walcott was an undrafted free agent out of the University of Virginia that the Browns just signed in May. Until the news broke on Wednesday few, if anyone, outside of Browns headquarters in Berea even knew that Walcott was on the team.

But that didn’t stop some people from trying to portray this as the “same old Browns” making mistakes.

Really?

Read more…

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24 Jun 2013

T.J. Ward is, if nothing else, adaptable

TJ Ward new defenseHeading into the 2013 NFL season, Cleveland Browns safety T.J. Ward is getting ready to play under his third defensive coordinator in just his fourth season in the league.

If nothing else, Ward sounds highly adaptable.

Over the weekend, Ward talked about the changes that defensive coordinator Ray Horton is bringing to Berea.

“He’s always ramped up; he’s always ready,” Ward said on the team’s website. “He’s always here to pump you up. You hear him on the field, and he’s always giving out checks and calls, running around. Besides that, it’s the ferocity of his defense. It’s an attack style, all downhill. We’re really getting after the guys. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Of course, Ward embraced Dick Jauron’s defense two years ago when Jauron took over as defensive coordinator.

Read more…

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20 Jun 2013
2 Comments

Mike Lombardi busy playing to his strengths

ap-browns-lombardi-football-4_3_rx404_c534x401With NFL teams off until the start of training camp in late July, there is not much going on around the league (outside of New England, of course).

Which means it is the perfect time for Cleveland Browns general manager Mike Lombardi to do what he does best – get his friends in the media to make him look good.

First came this fan boy piece from Joe Fortenbaugh at National Football Post, who reminisces about all the notebooks that he has filled with all the wisdom that Lombardi has collected in his NFL career. Judging from his track record, it would seem like those are some pretty thin notebooks, but Fortenbaugh does let out the secret to winning football that Lombardi apparently has discovered, namely that if a team’s combined rushes and passes in a game are in the “high 40s” then you are watching a winning football team. (Fortenbaugh can probably forget about getting an invite to Berea on draft day after letting that cat out of its bag.)

Yep, it really is that simple (or so Lombardi would have us believe).

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Mike Lombardi and tagged ,
15 Jun 2013

How bad are things right now in Cleveland sports?

dejected-browns-youth-2012-apjpg-672b447b99a751acHow bad is it right now to be a Cleveland sports fan?

It’s bad, obviously, as to paraphrase one of Coughlin’s Laws, “everything in Cleveland sports ends badly, otherwise it wouldn’t be Cleveland.”

But just how bad is it compared to other historically bad times in Cleveland sports? (And, yes, we get that comparing poor eras is a very Cleveland thing to do.)

In a town where we know a lot about losing, it’s hard to think that right now is as bad as it has ever been, especially when you consider that the late 1970s through early 1980s seemed to be just as bad, if not worse, than the current streak we are witnessing from the Big 3 teams in town.

So how do the two eras compare?

To find out, head over to The Cleveland Fan.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland sports and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
14 Jun 2013
2 Comments

Tying up some loose ends on Josh Gordon’s suspension

josh gordon loose endsIt’s been a week now since the news broke that Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was going to miss the first two games of the 2013 season due to a suspension.

Because the NFL Players Association does not allow for the release of the details over player suspensions, fans have been left to speculate as to why, exactly, Gordon is in trouble. To review, Gordon’s official explanation was the following:

“In February, I was diagnosed with strep throat for which a doctor prescribed antibiotics and cough medicine. Apparently, the medicine I took contained codeine, which is prohibited by the NFL policy. The policy terms are strict about unintentional ingestion, but the NFL has not imposed the maximum punishment in light of the facts of my case. Therefore, I have chosen to be immediately accountable for the situation. I sincerely apologize for the impact on my team, coaches, and Browns fans. I look forward to working hard in training camp and pre-season, and contributing immediately when I return in week three.”

There has been much written in the aftermath of the news about the suspension, with two of the better pieces coming here from friend-of-the-program Kanciki and this one from Mike Krupka at Dawgs by Nature. They both dovetail nicely with what we wrote earlier in the week, as Kanicki looks futher into Gordon’s background, while Krupka takes a look at the NFL’s drug policy.

After reading Krupka’s article we went back over the NFL’s Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse document (some title, huh?) to see if we had missed something and what we found helps makes Gordon’s suspension a little clearer.

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Josh Gordon and tagged ,

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