Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland Cavaliers”

20 Jan 2011

Was it something someone said?

The Browns continue to have trouble filling the openings for the team’s offensive and defensive coordinators.

The Browns have failed to land Mike McCoy, who chose to stay in Denver, and Bill Musgrave, who chose the Vikings instead, where he will work with Tavaris Jackson, Patrick Ramsey and Joe Webb at quarterback.

The team is now reportedly looking at former Steelers quarterbacks coach and Miami Hurricanes offensive coordinator Mark Whipple.

We have to wonder how much new coach Pat Shurmur’s stated desire to continue calling the offensive plays on game day is factoring into the search. That didn’t sound like a very good idea when Shurmur talked about it during his introductory press conference; if it is hindering the team’s ability to hire someone for the position then it sounds even worse.

On the defensive side, the Browns interviewed Philadelphia secondary coach Dick Jauron, but Jauron may be inclined to stay in Philly now that Jim Mora has said he’s not coaching this year.

The Browns are also interviewing Arizona defensive coordinator Bill Davis, who also has former ties to the Steelers, having worked their as linebacker coach under Bill Cowher. That sounds promising, but this year the Cardinals gave up the most points in the NFL under Davis.

Why does all of this seem harder than it should be?

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We’re enjoying the ads on the NFL Network for the upcoming senior bowl, where players reminisce about their experience in the game. But we have to wonder: what happened to the Charlie Frye commerical?

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Two One Six Sports takes a look at What Went Wrong with the Cavs

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Rex Ryan has made considerable changes to the Jets roster since taking over in 2009 and has the Jets in the AFC Championship game for the second year in a row.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, NFL, Rex Ryan, Senior Bowl | Leave a comment
12 Jan 2011

"This, by far, is the bottom."

After losing by a franchise-record 55 points to the Lakers on Tuesday night, Cavs forward Antawn Jamison spoke for Cleveland fans everywhere.

“It can’t get any worse than this,” Jamison said in published reports. “If it is, y’all going to have to help me. I don’t know how much of this I can take. This, by far, is the bottom.”

The loss, and Jamison’s comments, got us thinking about a question we saw posted on Twitter last week asking if this is the worst all three Cleveland teams have been at the same time.

At first we thought that couldn’t be possible. There were some bad Indians, Cavs and Browns teams in the ’70s and ’80s, but after looking into it, this may truly be the darkest time in Cleveland sports in the past 40 years.

While there have been times when two of the three local teams have been bad – 1983 for example, where the Cavs finished up the ’82-’83 season 29-53 and the Tribe lost 92 games that summer – the Browns were respectable, going 9-7 that fall.

We found two examples that rival what we are going through right now:

  • The ’90-’91 Cavs went 33-49, the ’91 Indians lost 105 games and the Browns went 6-10 that fall.
  • That was topped in ’03 when the Cavs were finishing off a 17-65 season, the Indians spent the summer losing 94 games and the Browns went 5-11 in the fall.

But it sure seems worse now. The Indians are coming off a 93-loss season and playing in a league without a salary cap and no hope of competing with teams that can spend $5 or $6 for every $1 the Tribe spends.

The Cavs are injury-riddled and currently are surrounding Jamison and Mo Williams with a roster of D-League bench warmers. In a superstar-driven league, the Cavs don’t have one and their 8-30 record proves it.

The Browns are coming off consecutive 5-11 seasons and are currently searching for their fifth head coach since 1999. (Although they may be closing in on Rams offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur).

We have to believe there is something better out there, that things can’t stay the way they are. After all, we’re not Bengal fans.

But right now it sure is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, futility | Leave a comment
11 Jan 2011

Finally Some Good News in Browns Town

Jon Gruden saved the Browns from potentially making a horrible mistake when he announced late Monday that he will not be coaching in 2011 and will return to the network booth as a football analyst.

Fans all across Brownstown thank you for this Jon. Now we don’t have to fear that team president Mike Holmgren will lose his mind and bring in a coach who is inexplicably linked to every job opening despite having a 45-51 record in six years in Tampa after he won a Super Bowl with Tony Dungy’s players.

Seriously, did we really want this to be the face of the franchise?

And there was more good news as wide receivers coach George McDonald is leaving the team.

After the performance of the receivers this year, this move is clearly a classic case of addition by subtraction.

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It’s never to early to start thinking Browns draft picks.

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The Cavaliers are on pace to be the worst defenders of the three-point shot in league history.

Somewhere, someone is trying to figure out a way to blame this on Mike Brown.

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Twenty-four years ago today this happened. You’ll excuse us if we go and bury our head in a bucket of Maker’s Mark right now.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Jon Gruden, NFL | Leave a comment
10 Jan 2011
2 Comments

What if the Browns had hired Rex Ryan?

While watching this weekend’s playoff games we decided to put on our Hindsight Hat and wonder:

What if the Browns had hired Rex Ryan as coach in 2009? Would it have made a difference?

After Saturday’s victory against Indianapolis, Ryan has now led the Jets to three road playoff wins in two seasons. By comparison, the Browns have won two road playoff games in franchise history: the 1955 NFL Championship game against the Rams and a 1969 playoff game against Dallas.

That’s it.

The Jets have also won 20 games over the past two seasons. The Browns haven’t won 20 games in a two-season span since the 1987 and 1988 seasons.

There’s no doubt his personality would have fit in here; just look at his brother Rob, the Browns defensive coordinator. And the two Ryans working together on the Browns defense certainly would have produced positive results.

Rex Ryan talks a big game and he gets his players to back it up.

But would the Browns be in a better situation than they are right now? That’s hard to say. We still would have liked to see Mangini come back for another year of working with Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert.

Even if the Browns had hired Ryan over Mangini, the team would still have had to hire a general manager. Would that have been Tom Heckert? Seems doubtful and we like what we’ve seen of his work so far.

Same with Mike Holmgren. If the Browns had played better in ’09 then owner Randy Lerner may not have felt pressure to bring in someone like Holmgren.

And they would still have needed a quarterback, wide receivers, etc. The situation was still one that couldn’t be fixed over night.

That’s the thing when you play the “what if” game, there are so many variables involved that there is really no way to come up with a definitive answer.

There’s one thing we are sure of, though: things would be a lot more interesting. Of course, not everyone would agree.

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ESPN continues its campaign to dump on Cleveland as much as possible.

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First came the news that Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the Cavs season with a torn tendon in his foot; then today word comes down that Christian Eyenga is in a walking boot.

No word, though, on if Eyenga picked up one of the Browns spare boots for his injury.

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Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell is in town to interview on Tuesday for the Browns coaching job.

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King Kenny brings hope to Liverpool even in defeat. Dude, we could use a big shot of hope around here right about now.

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Athletes and Twitter are always good for a laugh.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool, NFL, Rex Ryan, Ryan Babel
31 Dec 2010
1 Comment

A Look Back at 2010

It was certainly interesting around here in 2010.

After earning the top seed in the playoffs for the second consecutive year, the Cavs became the first team in NBA history to post back-to-back 60-win seasons and not win an NBA title.

The early exit led to major changes, as owner Dan Gilbert fired coach Mike Brown and GM Danny Ferry decided not to remain with the team.

The biggest change, of course, was LeBron James’ decision to leave the team in free agency, which left the Cavs scrambling to decide how to rebuild the franchise.

The Indians have become the Indians of the 1970s again, and there seems to be little hope that they will be able to fix things.

The World Cup helped take our mind off the Cavs and filled in the gap until the Browns started training camp. Judging by the TV ratings, we weren’t the only ones entertained.

The U.S. team provided some great moments, starting with its opening tie against England, to its last-minute win on Landon Donovan’s goal against Algeria. The fun came to an end, though, in extra time against Ghana. And Spain came through in the end, just as we predicted.

We learned Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard is the anti-LeBron and finally saw Tom Hicks and George Gillett exit Anfield, leaving the team in pieces.

Then there were the Browns.

Owner Randy Lerner finally put together a qualified management team in president Mike Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert and coach Eric Mangini. With all three having clearly defined roles, the team is finally set up for success.

After nailing their first draft, the Browns prepared for a season that would ultimately have them playing one of the toughest schedules in the NFL.

That schedule has certainly contributed to the team’s struggles this year, but clear progress has been made as wins against the Saints and Patriots show.

Now we’re just left to wait out stupid time until Holmgren makes the announcement that Mangini is obviously returning next season.

One more thing: we finally learned the real reason Brady Quinn failed as quarterback of the Browns.

Finally, we launched this site in 2010.

While we had to deal with a few bumps at first with some people who think the Internet is run like a playground and they can call “firsties,” things have gone pretty well.

The guys at Waiting for Next Year have been good to us, as has Cleveland Frowns. And we are grateful for that.

We’ve also had the opportunity to meet a few new fans online, including jimkanicki, chris from Two One Six Sports, Malcolm Mathers, Believelander and others who have all helped expand our knowledge base and made us think before we post.

We’re still working to find our voice and figure out exactly what we want to be as a site, but overall it has been a positive experience. We’re looking forward to what 2011 has in store for us and for Cleveland fans everywhere.

Happy New Year everyone.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Liverpool, NFL, World Cup
02 Dec 2010

What Should We Do?

Much has been written and spoken over the past few days, weeks and months about LeBron James returning to Cleveland tonight. The key question in all the discussions has been how will/should Cleveland fans react?

Some are expecting a scene reminiscent of 10-cent beer night at the old Stadium, which would play into the hands of the national media who have portrayed Cleveland as a wasteland filled with roving mobs of angry fans.

Others have called for chants, songs and other forms of disapproval vented at LeBron. There’s little doubt that will occur tonight at the Q.

What should we do?

The best way for the fans in attendance to treat LeBron is to show him what he gave up when he left town: a passionate fan base that supports their teams through (infrequent) good times and bad times.

Cheer for the Cavs, reward them for the past few years when they turned the Q into a nightly showcase for exciting NBA basketball and made Cleveland relevant again in the NBA. Remind LeBron what the cheering sounds like when it is authentic and from the heart, rather than the result of a team’s marketing plan.

Cleveland fans, for the most part, are a solid bunch. You still have your hoople heads who are easily influenced by what passes for sports talk radio in this town, but overall we know what we’re talking about.

And most importantly we care about our teams. And for those of us born after 1964, we all carry the same fear that we will never see a championship in Cleveland in our lifetimes.

But we are still there, game after game, season after season. Boston fans cried over the Red Sox while watching the Celtics and Patriots win titles. Chicago fans whine about the Cubs, forgetting the titles the Bulls and Bears won.

Cleveland fans have no such reprieve, but we persevere. Tonight offers a perfect opportunity to show ESPN, TNT, CNN and the rest of the national media watching just what a Cleveland fan really is: dedicated, passionate and educated.

Ultimately tonight’s game will have little bearing on how the Cavs and Heat finish the season. Win or lose, the Cavs will probably finish the season out of the playoffs; while the Heat will be trying to fight its way through Boston and Orlando.

But for one night we can show the world that, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

Let’s rise up one more time Cleveland.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, hoople heads, NBA | Leave a comment
01 Dec 2010

So … there’s some big game on Thursday?

Did you know the Cavs have some kind of big game on Thursday?

We kid. Obviously LeBron James returning home for the first time since stabbing Cleveland in the back on national TV is a big deal. The game offers fans the opportunity to:

  • Vent their anger
  • Finally have some closure
  • Embarrass themselves and Cleveland on national TV
  • All of the above

In some ways, we’ve been through this before as fans, especially with the exodus of players from the Indians following the late ’90s.

But in reality this is more akin to when the Browns left in 1995. LeBron was more than just a player on one of the local sports teams, we all bought into the notion that he was one of us. And when it turned out he was just like every other athlete it cut deeper than when Albert Belle or Jim Thome, for example, walked away from the Indians in free agency.

LeBron’s leaving tore a hole in the soul of Cleveland sports and everyone is recovering from that in their own way. Thursday night’s game should help with that recovery as LeBron only comes back to Cleveland for the first time once.

After tomorrow, home games against the Heat become just another game.

And, hopefully, Cleveland fans still looking for closure can find it.

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No surprise that there are multiple stories coming out as we draw closer to the actual game:

Well, you get the picture.

No matter what happens Thursday night, it should be another night to remember in Cleveland sports.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA | Leave a comment
26 Nov 2010

Welcome to Thunderdome at the Q

We’re still a week away from LeBron James making his first visit back to Cleveland with the Miami Heat and the national media is already gearing up with the anti-Cleveland propaganda.

In the wake of the news that the Cavs are going to ban controversial signs and apparel for the game, ESPN’s Chris Broussard took that rather predictable news and ran it off in a ridiculous direction:

“… the Cavaliers and the NBA are doing all they can to make sure the emotional and hostile scene does not turn ugly,” Broussard wrote.

Hostile scene? The game hasn’t even taken place yet, what “hostile scene” are we talking about here? Are we no longer allowed to boo?

Broussard continues:

“The Cavaliers have been one of the few NBA teams to have metal detectors at every arena entrance since Dan Gilbert bought the club more than five years ago, but they will go beyond that on Dec. 2.”

Yes, let’s make sure to bring up that the Q has metal detectors. Has no relation, really, to the story, but it feeds Broussard’s preconceived desire to make attending a game in Cleveland akin to walking through a combat zone.

And as we learned during LeBron’s free agency, no Broussard story would be complete without an anonymous quote:

“Honestly, I’m a little bit afraid,” one member of the Cavs organization said. “Some people don’t care. Their mentality is ‘‘I’ve got to get this off my chest.’ There’s so much negative energy around this game. People aren’t excited about the game itself. They’re just like, ‘‘I can’t wait to do something.'”

Oh, c’mon. Since when did attending a game at the Q turn into an Italian soccer game?

Thankfully the Cavs have things under control:

“We don’t want to create a police state,” said Tad Carper, the Cavaliers’ senior vice president of communications. “We’ve always had a real energetic, super-charged home crowd and we want to encourage that for every game, including Dec. 2. We want people to enjoy themselves and express themselves, but we don’t want fans to cross the boundaries of decency. We’re not going to allow profanity and things like that. We’ll have no tolerance for anyone trying to cross those boundaries.”

We probably shouldn’t be surprised by this type of sensationalized garbage from ESPN,; after all they are the same group that brought us Rob Parker’s nonsense following the Browns-Jets game.

And the worst part is the game is still a week away.

Look, we’re Cleveland fans; we know how to handle this. We didn’t burn down Jacobs Field the first time Albert Belle came back with the White Sox. There wasn’t looting and rioting in the streets the first time the Ravens came to town after moving to Baltimore. We’ve been through this before.

Unfortunately the national media won’t recognize that no matter what happens next Thursday.

Posted in bad reporting, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA | Leave a comment
25 Nov 2010

What Year is This?

We tuned in to tonight’s Cavs game only to find a DirecTV logo where the HD broadcast should be. So we checked the Cavs website and found this:

CLEVELAND, OH – November 24, 2010 – SPECIAL FOX SPORTS OHIO TV UPDATE for Cavs fans watching tonight’s game in Cleveland at The Q vs. the Milwaukee Bucks and Friday’s game in Orlando vs. the Magic: While you can never get too much of a great thing like FS Ohio Cavs game broadcasts in High Definition (“HD”), we are very sorry to say that, due to some highly complex and very rare broadcast system limitations, tonight’s game against the Bucks and Friday night’s game vs. the Magic will be available ONLY in Full Screen Standard Definition (“SD” and that’s a full-screen 9×16 aspect ratio for all the techies out there). That’s the (sort of) bad news. The good news is that Cavaliers regular season games this season are broadcast in HD 78 out of 82 games! That is one of the highest totals in the NBA. That also means the only two other games broadcast in full screen standard definition will be the Cavaliers home games vs. Phoenix on January 19th and vs. Charlotte on April 5th.

Are they serious? What is this, 1955?

We blame LeBron.

Posted in bad progamming, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA | Leave a comment
11 Nov 2010

What Should the Cavs Do?

There was a lot of chatter when the NBA schedule was released about what the Cavs should do when the Miami Heat makes its first appearance in Cleveland on Dec. 2.

We have a suggestion, thanks to local filmmaker Dan Wantz. The Cavs should run a continuous loop of Wantz’ short video on the large video monitors outside the Q all day on Dec. 2.

The team should also show the video right before player introductions at the game.

We don’t know if the Cavs have the balls to do this, but it sure would be fun.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA | Leave a comment

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