Red Right 88

23 May 2011

Is there help out there for Browns D-line?

While the Browns went a long way to addressing their defensive line needs in the draft by selecting defensive tackle Phil Taylor and defensive end Jabaal Sheard, there is still work to be done.

When (if? someday?) the NFL lockout ends, how good would defensive end Ray Edwards look in Orange & Brown?

Edwards, 26, recorded 16.5 sacks over the past two seasons in Minnesota. Of course, opposing offensives also had to worry about defensive end Jared Allen, but that’s still an impressive number.

The Vikings tendered a one-year qualifying offer to Edwards in March, so depending on how the labor situation works out, the Browns might have to pay some sort of compensation to the Vikings if they were interested and signed Edwards.

They did the same in 2010 with a first-round tender, so it seems reasonable that they would have done the same this year, which means the Browns would have to give up a first-round pick if they offered Edwards a contract that Minnesota declined to match.

Of course, the Browns do hold two first-round picks for next year …

While Edwards is certainly someone to keep an eye on, we’ll take a pass on bust Vernon Gholston. If Rex Ryan, who knows something about defense and motivating players, couldn’t get anything out of Gholston the past two years, it seems unlikely anyone can.

***

Saturday is the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona.

United’s Nemanja Vidic is ready for the match after United celebrated its 19th league title on Sunday.

“We have to come down after this excitement,” the Man U captain told the Daily Mail. “We have to prepare as best as we can for Barcelona. We are celebrating but everyone is thinking about the next game. It is the biggest game of the whole year. We know what it feels like to go to the final and lose. It was one of the saddest moments of my career.”

Of course, Barcelona has to get to Wembley first, as a volcanic ash cloud could disrupt the team’s travel plans.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola ruled out the possibility of UEFA postponing the game against Manchester United at Wembley, insisting the club will do what the experts advise – even if that means flying on Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule.

“We hope the volcano stays asleep for a few more days and allows our fans to get there,” Guardiola told The Guardian. “We will do what [the experts] tell us to do. If that means travelling on Wednesday or even tomorrow then so be it. If not, we will travel on Thursday as originally planned. If they say don’t worry, we’ll relax; if they say get a move on, we will. What they say we will do, we will do. We will try to plan as far ahead as possible.”

And we thought the Indians getting rained out was a pain.

Posted in Champions League, Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment

23 May 2011

Manny being Manny a winner

It’s easy to love this Indians team.

They have the best record in baseball at 29-15. The largest division lead by far in baseball – seven games. What’s not to like?

But it is more than that.

It’s the team never quitting, especially at home.

It’s a different player coming through seemingly every night.

If it’s not Travis Hafner hitting a game-winning home run against Seattle, it’s Travis Buck hitting a late-game homer against the Reds or Asdrubal Cabrera going 5-for-5 on Sunday to lead a sweep of Cincinnati.

It’s a starting rotation that has 19 wins against only 10 losses. And a bullpen that is the best in the American League.

And it’s manager Manny Acta.

We admit we were neutral when the Indians hired Acta last year. We don’t follow the National League – their snootiness about pitchers hitting and over-exaggeration on the “nuances of the double-switch” make us ill – and Acta had managed in Washington so we didn’t know much about him.

But we like his approach to the game. He takes things day to day – not in the soul-less “grind it out” way of Eric Wedge – but more of a “let’s take care of today” mentality. He worries about what he can control and deals with the rest when he has to.

The injuries to the pitching staff are a perfect example. While some were worried about what the team would do when Mitch Talbot was ready to come off the disabled list, Acta knew things would work out.

It’s unfortunate that the decision was made for the team as Alex White is now out for the next three months, but the fact that Acta kept the team focused on each day’s game – just worrying about what they can control – fills us with confidence that the Indians have the right guy in charge.

Just another reason to like Manny being Manny.

***

The Premier League season came to an end on Sunday, with Blackpool and Birmingham joining West Ham in being relegated in the closest race in league history.

And after putting on such a strong run since Kenny Dalglish took over in January, Liverpool lost its last two games of the season to miss out on European play for the first time since 1999.

“The end of the season has come at a good time for us,” Dalslish told the Daily Mail. “I’m proud of the players and the way they turned it round. It’s been a long time since this club hasn’t been in Europe but we have to get used to it. This club didn’t build its history and tradition on losing games. We don’t want that to be a habit.”

If the team can add a few more players and pick up next season where they left off this one, that shouldn’t be a problem.

“The squad only needs tinkering,” Dalglish said. “If people want to see the best players and assets of the football club wearing a red shirt, that’s what we want to try and provide. We want to get the highest quality of player in that we can. That’s what position we have been put into, and that’s what we will try to do.”

Sounds good to us.

***

Had some quiet time this morning at Red Right 88 headquarters, so we put on the DVD of the Browns 1989 opener against Pittsburgh and a couple of things stood out to us.

The Browns starting backfield was Tim Manoa and Keith Jones. No wonder the Browns drafted Eric Metcalf for that season.

Who didn’t love the Bubby Brister era in Pittsburgh? In that game, Bubby was 4-of-8 in the first half for seven yards and two interceptions. Even Derek Anderson mocks those numbers.

We forgot how much fun it was to watch Webster Slaughter, Brian Brennan and Reggie Langhorne abuse the over-rated Rod Woodson twice a year.

The Browns defense, at least that first year under Bud Carson, was really good. Guys swarmed to the ball, hit people and made things happen. We haven’t seen that around here for a while now.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool, Manny Acta | Leave a comment

21 May 2011

Just another night at the ballpark

It was a normal night on Friday at Progressive Field – at least for the Indians.

The Tribe won its sixth consecutive home game in their last at-bat, beating the Reds, 5-4.

There seems to be no obstacle the team can’t overcome right now, especially at home.

The opposing pitcher is throwing a no-hitter into the sixth inning and you are losing 4-0? No problem.

A couple of hits, a hit batter, a few walks, a sacrifice fly and the score is tied.

“These guys are not going to give up,” manager Manny Acta said in published reports. “We’ve done that a few times now. They do feel they are never out of it and that’s a good feeling to have.”

Runner on third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth? No problem.

Just send rookie Ezequiel Carrera to the plate and have him bunt for his first major-league hit, driving in Shin-Soo Choo with what would turn out to be the winning run.

“It was a perfect spot for Carrera,” Acta said. “We needed a hit. We didn’t need an extra-base hit. Even if he hits a ground ball, he might beat it out.”

Need the bullpen to shut down the opposition so you can get back into the game? No problem.

Joe Smith, Tony Sipp, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez combined for four innings of shutout ball.

Just another night of the Tribe being the Tribe.

The Indians have baseball’s best record at 27-15, and lead the Central Division by six games over Detroit and Kansas City.

Acta has the players believing anything is possible. With more than 30,000 in attendance Friday night and a sellout in place for today’s game, the fans are starting to believe as well.

After Friday night’s win, is there any reason to doubt?

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Manny Acta, Tribe Time | Leave a comment

20 May 2011

Magic number is 50 for the Tribe

The Indians were never going to win every game the rest of the season.

So while it’s disappointing they lost both games to the White Sox this week, the bigger picture says they are still OK.

On May 1 the Tribe lead second-place Kansas City by 4.5 games. Now, almost three weeks later, they lead second-place Detroit by five games heading into a weekend series with Cincinnati.

While Fausto Carmona’s outing was ugly, he’s been fine as long as he doesn’t face the White Sox. On the season, Carmona has a 2.56 ERA against teams not from the south side of Chicago (56.1 innings pitched, 16 earned runs, four home runs allowed). In two starts against the White Sox, his ERA is 20.25 (18 earned runs and three home runs in just eight innings of work).

Carmona went 6-0 against the White Sox from 2008 to 2010. This year? It’s just one of those things that make sports weird and interesting. But his history against Chicago gives us confidence he’ll be OK the next time he faces the White Sox.

Justin Masterson was more than solid in his start against Chicago. Even though he took the loss Wednesday night, Masterson threw a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking two in his first complete game of the season.

Injuries are starting to creep up on the team, however. Grady Sizemore is on the disabled list, Travis Hafner joined him Friday because of an abdominal injury, and Travis Buck has turf toe.

So while the offense may struggle for a bit until everyone gets healthy again, the pitching and defense are still there and the Tribe has reached the quarter mark of the season in first place.

More importantly, they are closing in the 50-game mark, which is when the contenders are separated from the pretenders.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, much of the drama of the baseball season is pretty much over by June 1. By then, about one-third of the teams are out of it; another half dozen will join them if they don’t get hot quickly.

The article found that, since 1996, just 9 percent of teams with a losing record on June 1 wound up with 90 wins, the number teams usually shoot for to make the playoffs, according to data crunched by The Wall Street Journal and Ben Alamar, founder of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports. During that early season period, the average correlation between a team’s win percentage on June 1 and its final winning percentage is 0.76. Statisticians consider that to be a very high correlation.

The best explanation for why 50-games is all it takes to sort out the winners from the losers has to do with a combination of mathematics, psychology and the secrets of winning baseball games. While any bad team can have a good week or month, excelling for a 50-game stretch without very good players is virtually impossible.

Hang in there Tribe fans, another couple of weeks and we should have an even better read on the team.

And no matter what, it’s shaping up to be a fun summer.

***

Now that he’s taken care of Bin Laden, President Obama probably has some time on his hands. Maybe he should take a crack at ending this ridiculous NFL lockout.

***

The Brew Kettle in Strongsville won eight awards its their beers, including Best in Show, at the recent International Beer Fest at the I-X Center.

We’ll drink to that.

Posted in Cleveland Indians, craft beer, Travis Hafner | Leave a comment

19 May 2011

Browns feeling lockout’s pinch?

How much is the ongoing NFL lockout impacting the Browns?

Well, it’s certainly not helping.

Josh Cribbs told ESPN’s First Take the Browns are hurting because they can’t work with the coaches to install the new offensive and defensive systems.

“It does hurt us because at a time when there’s not a lockout, teams who have new coaches are allowed a certain amount of time to prepare,” Cribbs said. “And because of this lockout, we’re not.”

If this was a normal year, the Browns would be allowed to hold an extra minicamp because they have a new coach in Pat Shurmur.

Now? They have to be content with Camp Colt.

“Colt has been rounding up the troops and planning short minicamps to get the playbook down pat as much as we can, to get the plays down pat,” Cribbs said. “We’re really limited on the amount of things we can do because of the amount of information that we have.

“But at the same time, the minicamps that we’re having are beneficial. We’re getting our throwing down pat and the timing with the quarterback. It’s really beneficial … but we are set back a little bit because of the lockout.”

Speaking of McCoy, can he be the quarterback that helps the Browns close the gap on Pittsburgh and Baltimore?

“It’s horrible; there’s nothing good about [inexperienced quarterbacks] facing the Ravens and Steelers,” said Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. “They’re not carbon copies of each other, but their philosophy is pretty similar. They’re going to take away your running game, and you’re not going to outwork them in the trenches or move them. Then you’re one-dimensional, and then you’re in trouble.

“I really worry about the guy’s arm strength. I just can’t get around that. When the weather gets bad, he’s not going to be able to complete passes in Cleveland. I think he’s a real good fit in the West Coast offense. I think he has some moxie to him and I like the way he plays. But when it’s December and the Steelers and Ravens are in town, you better be able to complete a deep out.”

It’s getting a little old hearing about McCoy’s alleged lack of arm strength. You know who else had “average arm strength”? Brian Sipe. It’s not always how hard you throw the ball, but when and where you throw it that counts.

“It takes a while, but you make the cold and the wind your asset,” Sipe said in Terry Pluto’s book, Things I’ve Learned from Watching the Browns. “You learn to play in it by practicing in it. Then, when the other teams come to the lakefront, they aren’t ready for it.

“You should embrace the cold. It helps you as a quarterback because it slows the game down. You can see things better. Playing in that weather is part of what made us a tough team mentally.”

McCoy has the skills needed for a West Coast offense, which the Browns are now planning to run. He’ll be fine.

***

In the world of a different kind of football, the Premier League’s 20 clubs collectively lost close to half a billion pounds last year despite making record income, a Guardian analysis of their most recent accounts has revealed.

In the 2009-10 financial year, the clubs currently in the Premier League made total revenues of £2.1 billion (that’s billion with a b), principally from their billion-pound TV deals and the world’s most expensive tickets. Yet 16 of the 20 clubs made losses, totalling a record £484 million, and the same number relied on funding from their wealthy owners.

Aston Villa lost £38 million as the club’s owner, Randy Lerner, struggles to compete with clubs whose commercial income and potential is much greater than Villa’s.

According to the report, “these are sobering figures … signalling why reality bit for Randy Lerner’s ‘good American’ takeover at Villa Park. Lerner has problems to address despite £206 million invested. Their turnover of £91 million at the 42,582-capacity Villa Park is the Premier League’s seventh highest, but is so far behind Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal they risk becoming a seller of players to the top clubs.”

So in addition to the NFL lockout, Lerner has that on his plate to worry about.

***

Lost in all the hoopla about Jake Peavy’s performance against the Tribe on Wednesday night was that Justin Masterson was just as good.

Even though he took the loss, Masterson threw a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking two in his first complete game of the season.

Masterson went 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in his first five starts of the season. In his last four starts, he’s 0-2 with a 2.78 ERA. In three of those games, he’s allowed two or fewer earned runs.

He keeps that up and we’re sure everything will be just fine.

***

Kyrie Irving plans to only have medical tests at the NBA combine, and will skip the on-court tests and drills.

“I’m just going doing medical here,” said Irving, the presumed No. 1 pick. “There’s no particular reason. I’m still working out around here (privately) but I’m not doing anything at the combine.”

No need to wear yourself out kid. Just focus on getting ready for Byron Scott’s training camp this fall.

***

Finally, check out the latest from Fresh Brewed Tees.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Josh Cribbs, Kyrie Irving, NFL lockout, Randy Lerner | Leave a comment

18 May 2011

What a difference a year makes for Cavs

What a long, strange year its been for the Cavs.

A year ago, we were waiting to see if owner Dan Gilbert would fire the most successful coach in franchise history. Once Gilbert made Mike Brown the scapegoat for the team’s playoff failings, we spent time dreading that Gilbert would hire Tom Izzo before wiser heads prevailed and the team hired Byron Scott.

General manager Danny Ferry left when his contract expired.

We all witnessed the debacle at the Boys and Girls Club in Greenwich, Conn.

Then there was the season filled with injuries, a 26-game losing streak and a nagging feeling that the Cavs were becoming irrelevant in the NBA.

But last night’s NBA Draft lottery wiped the slate clean.

”Shocking events took place last summer and it was a slow, long, painful haul to get through it,” Gilbert said in published reports after the lottery. ”Maybe this will be the final straw in getting over the hump, getting to the other side and having a lot of hope for the future. That’s what we need.

”Above all, it means hope, and this is a lot of hope for one night. When you combine this with everything else going on, optimistic days are ahead.”

The Cavs now hold the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in the upcoming NBA Draft, giving them an opportunity to continue the rebuilding process.

The last time the Cavs found themselves in this position was 1986 and their are similarities to that draft and this one.

The key lies with the front office.

In 1986, the Cavs were able to trade Roy Hinson and cash to Philadelphia for the 76ers No. 1 pick – the first overall – so they could select Brad Daugherty. They then used their own lottery pick – No. 7 – to select Ron Harper. Finally, the Cavs traded a future second-round pick to Dallas for Mark Price.

How’s that for a day’s work?

The current front office deserves credit for making a trade similar to the Daugherty trade, as they were able to turn Mo Williams and Jamario Moon into Baron Davis and the Clippers’ No. 1 pick – the very pick that turned into the top selection in this year’s draft.

Well played.

”This gives us two good, very young players to add to our core and keep growing,” said Cavs General Manager Chris Grant in published reports. ”It’s not a process that happens in one night. It’s a process that takes some time. . . . Regardless of the outcome, we were going to get two good players and we were excited about that. This makes it a little bit sweeter.”

Grant and the scouts now need to do their work to ensure the Cavs really do walk away with two good players – at the least. If they can do that, the Cavs will be that much closer to returning to their winning ways.

Of course it will take time. Don’t forget, the ’86 Cavs went 31-51 in their first year together – it wasn’t until their third season that the team had its breakout 57-win season.

But, while the team would be better if LeBron James was still on the roster, the Cavs are better off than they were when they won the lottery in 2003. That fall, James joined a roster that included Kevin Ollie, Ricky Davis, Dajuan Wagner, Ira Newble, DeSagana Diop and Tony Battie, to name a few.

Now the Cavs will add two potential impact players to a roster that includes Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, Baron Davis, J.J. Hickson, Ramon Sessions and Boobie Gibson.

Not a powerhouse by any stretch, but certainly better than the group from ’03.

And what’s not to like about that?

***

At every good party someone has to play the fool and last night it was Minnesota general manager David Kahn.

“This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” Kahn said after the Cavs won the first pick. “Last year it was Abe Pollin’s widow and this year it was a 14-year-old boy and the only thing we have in common is we have both been bar mitzvahed. We were done. I told Kevin: ‘We’re toast.’ This is not happening for us and I was right.”

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kahn was at the center of this. He’s the same GM who drafted three point guards in the first round in 2009 (of the three, only Johnny Flynn has played for the Timberwolves), called Darko Milicic “Manna from Heaven” and blamed Michael Beasley’s trial and tribulations on “smoking too much weed.”

***

Here’s one man’s vote for the Cavs to take Kyrie Irving with the No. 1 pick.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, Kyrie Irving, NBA draft | Leave a comment

18 May 2011

Cavs hit jackpot in draft lottery

The Cavs hit the jackpot in Tuesday night’s NBA Draft lottery, taking home the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in the upcoming draft.

Things broke right for the Cavs as their pick fell into the No. 4 slot while the pick they received from the Clippers in the Baron Davis deal landed them the No. 1 pick.

Maybe the draft lottery was karma from last summer and the injury-plagued season the team just endured? In any event, the Cavs now have a very real opportunity to accelerate the rebuilding process.

The Cavs should be able to walk away with two solid picks in what “experts” are calling a weak draft class. If it turns out to be true that this draft is thin, having two of the first four picks is definitely the way to go.

The gold standard for the Cavs is obviously the 1986 draft, when the team selected Brad Daugherty and Ron Harper in the first round and traded for Mark Price, a second-round pick by Dallas.

But since then it’s been more miss than hit for the Cavs when it comes to the draft lottery as they have only hit on four picks – Kevin Johnson, Terrell Brandon, Andre Miller and LeBron James.

And just look at some of the draft misses – it’s not pretty: Vitaly Potapenko, Derek Anderson, Trajan Langdon, DeSagna Diop, Dajuan Wagner and Luke Jackson.

But that’s ancient history. It’s a new day in Cleveland basketball.

Wake up and smell the coffee.

***

How bad was Vin Mazzaro’s performance Monday night against the Indians?

Try historically bad.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mazzaro was:

the first pitcher in modern baseball history to allow 14 runs in less than three innings of work
the first reliever to allow 14 runs since Tommy Warren in 1944
the fifth reliever to allow 14 earned runs (he was the first to do it since Les McCrabb in 1942)

Oh, and he was sent down to the Royals’ AAA team after the game.

***

Say what you will about David Beckham – he certainly has his share of critics – but the dude still knows what to do with a free kick.

It’s ridiculous what he does here – and he knows it. Beckham tries to keep his cool after the goal, but he breaks into a smile pretty quickly.

Amazing.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, David Beckham, historically bad pitching, NBA draft | Leave a comment

16 May 2011

Grady Sizemore’s bad wheel

Apparently, since Portland is out of the NBA playoffs, Grady Sizemore borrowed Greg Oden’s knees.

Sizemore, who missed most of last season after having microfracture surgery on his left knee, hurt his right knee sliding into second base last week against Tampa Bay. Now he’s on the 15-day disabled list.

Of course he his.

”Grady has progressed the last five days, but not enough for us or for him to feel comfortable about his ability to play the outfield,” Indians trainer Lonnie Soloff told the Beacon Journal. ”We feel the most prudent course of action at this point is to place him on the 15-day DL to give him the time he needs to heal.”

”As of yesterday, he was hitting without symptoms, and he was running at about 75-80 percent with only mild symptoms.”

Sizemore started the season on the disabled list, but has been one of the Tribe’s best hitters since returning, batting .282 with 10 doubles, six home runs and 11 RBI.

Hopefully this is nothing more serious and it’s probably for the best that the Tribe is being cautious. He was swinging the bat well and, with Detroit creeping up in the standings, the Tribe needs all the offensive help they can get.

Plus the Indians start a 30-game stretch on Monday where they play at Kansas City, at the White Sox, Cincinnati, Boston, at Tampa Bay, at Toronto, Texas, Minnesota, at the Yankees and at Detroit.

That looks daunting at first, until you realize the Royals are fading; the White Sox stink; Boston,Toronto and Texas are .500 teams; Minnesota is in the Central Division basement; and the Yankees are falling apart as their players are crybabies who only care about themselves, not the team.

So things are set up well for the Tribe to make a nice run into June and come out of this next stretch of games in good shape.

And then things should get real interesting this summer.

***

You have to give credit where credit is due.

After seeing Manchester United claims its 19th league title – finally topping Liverpool as the most successful franchise in English soccer – United fans hung a banner at Anfield on Sunday saying MUFC 19 TIMES before Liverpool’s game with Tottenham Hotspur.

The fans who hung the banner made a quick getaway as they had cars waiting for them outside the stadium.

The banner was in response to one unfurled at Anfield in 1994 – when Sir Alex Ferguson won his first title as Manchester United’s manager – that said “Come back when you’ve won 18.”

Well, they came back, all right.

***

It’s not all bad news at Merseyside, however, as top-notch goalie Pepe Reina is buying what manager Kenny Dalglish is selling.

Reina is committed to staying at Liverpool thanks in part to the team’s climb up the table under Dalglish and because of the team’s transfer plans for the summer.

“In recent weeks I believe we are going in the right direction and we have to keep it like that,” the Spain international told The Daily Mail. “Next season it will be more positive and the quicker we react and improve the better it will be for the club.”

Posted in Cleveland Indians, Grady Sizemore, Liverpool, Manchester United, Pepe Reina | Leave a comment

15 May 2011

A real dog of a weekend

The weather and Tottenham Hotspur conspired to make it one crappy weekend in these parts.

After the Indians started a new home winning streak Friday night on Travis Hafner’s two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth – with more than 33,000 in attendance – the weather washed out games Saturday and Sunday.

”Now it feels like [Friday’s win] was ages ago,” manager Manny Acta said in published reports after Sunday’s rainout. ”We really wanted to use all that energy we got from that walk-off homer on [Saturday] and [Sunday]. It’s too bad that we couldn’t use all the energy we had built up. It feels like a long time ago when Travis hit that home run.”

So instead of building on the enthusiasm of another late win, the Tribe sat around for two days and now heads back out on the road for four games.

Of course.

The NBA playoffs carry on, sans the Cavaliers.

Because of the owners, the NFL lockout drags on, so there are no rookie minicamps or OTAs to think about.

And with a chance to clinch a spot in Europe for next season, Liverpool lost – at home no less – to Tottenham Hotspur.

It probably shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise that, in a week where there was so much hoopla around Kenny Daglish being name permanent manager, the Reds would come out a bit flat. Of course, they were playing at home, so we may be going a little easy on them.

But there’s no question we could have done without Luis Suarez falling down every five minutes. Once it became obvious that referee Howard Webb was not going to be calling any touch fouls, Suarez needed to man up and start playing.

And Webb will receive some criticism over some of his calls, especially his foul call on John Flanagan that resulted in a penalty kick to Spurs.

But bottom line, Liverpool didn’t play well enough and didn’t deserve to win.

There is still an outside shot Liverpool could grab fifth place. If they beat Aston Villa on the road next week and Spurs lose at home to Birmingham, the Reds take fifth.

Maybe it’s for the better if they don’t, though. If Liverpool doesn’t have to worry about competing in the Europa tournament next year, they can focus solely on the league and shoot for something bigger than pool play with Levski Sofia and Club Brugge.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Liverpool, wasted weekend | Leave a comment

13 May 2011

Long live King Kenny

The king is dead. Long live the king.

In the same week that LeBron James tried to justify his decision to ride Dwyane Wade’s coattails in Miami, we found a new king to embrace at Red Right 88 headquarters.

Liverpool finally did the expected, signing Kenny Dalglish to a three-year contract to manage the team. King Kenny took over a dispirited club in January that was languishing in 12th place in the Premier League table and turned things around, with the Reds on the verge of clinching a spot in Europe for next season.

The night before, after Miami eliminated Boston in the second-round of the NBA playoffs, James “apologized” for kicking Cleveland in the collective yam bag last summer.

“I knew deep down in my heart, as much as I loved my teammates back in Cleveland and as much as I loved home, I knew I couldn’t do it by myself against that team,” James said. “The way it panned out with all the friends and family and the fans back home, I apologize for the way it happened. I knew this opportunity was once in a lifetime.”

What James doesn’t get – really what he never seemed to understand – is that he never had to do it alone. The owner, the team and the fans always had his back – probably more than any fan base in the history of sports. Think about it, who else ever was loved the way we once loved James?

Does he really think he’ll ever get a reaction like this from the fans disguised as empty seats in Miami?

Luckily, Dalglish has stepped up to take the sports throne that James so willingly abdicated last summer.

“It was obvious to us very early on that the atmosphere surrounding the club had been transformed by his presence,” Liverpool owner John W. Henry said. “No one else could have produced such a response.”

“Both John [W Henry] and Tom [Werner, chairman] have taken their time to assess what was best for the football club and bring in the people they wanted to take the club forward,” Dalglish told The Guardian. “They are both winners, but understand what the supporters want from a Liverpool side and the way that we should go about things. This is a unique football club and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to help build something special here again.”

“We’re not going to shout our mouths off and say, ‘we’re going to win this’ and ‘we’re going to finish here.’ We are just going to work and do the best we possibly can, because a lot of people care an awful lot about this club,” Dalglish told The Daily Mail. “We’ve got to prove we feel the same way.”

So instead of running from a challenge, Dalglish decided to stay on and build “something special.” Too bad he wasn’t around to talk to LeBron last summer before free agency hit.

On the day that Dalglish signed his contract, the first song that came up on our iPod shuffle at the gym was You’ll Never Walk Alone.

It’s too bad LeBron never heard that one – things may have worked out differently if he had.

Posted in Kenny Dalglish, LeBron James, Liverpool | Leave a comment