Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Tribe time

It's probably because it's 70 degrees now in Cleveland, but I'm starting to get excited for this baseball season. By all accounts, the Indians should not be good; but I can't help but get excited about the success the team is having in Arizona.

Ok, i know. Spring Training means nothing. But having success for a young (sort of) ball club can be contagious. The offense seems to be hitting the lights out of the ball this spring, and it would be so nice if Hafner can maintain this kind of hitting throughout the season.

I know the pitching is suspect, and the team will go through a rough spot. But I am at least holding out hope that the Indians can be one of those teams that scores 900 runs in the season but finishes with a .500 record. That would happen because our pitching is bad...but at least that would make for an interesting and fun season to watch. That's about all we can ask for at this point.

March Madness

Will it soon be 96 teams instead of the now 64/65..? It could be - the Ben Ten guy says so:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/2010/news/story?id=5043254

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Wrestlemania

First Match: Tag Team Titles - Big Show and Miz defend against John Morrison and R-Truth.

These four are fighting each other for no reason that I know of. Show punched Morrison and got the pin in like 4 minutes. *1/2.

Triple Threat: Randy Orton against Ted DiBiase against Cody Rhodes.

So these guys all used to be friends, then DiBiase and Rhodes got sick of Orton and Orton thought DiBiase and Rhodes were jackoffs. So Rhodes and DiBiase attack Orton week after week, and this Triple Threat match is made for 'Mania. It was Rhodes and DiBiase beating on Orton for about five minutes, then they fight over who gets to actually beat Orton. So Orton kicks their asses, then he pins DiBiase after an RKO. **1/2.

Money in the Bank: Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Evan Bourne vs. MVP vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Matt Hardy vs. Kane.

So there's ten guys, all with nothing else to do on this show, and a briefcase hanging from the roof. The object is to use a ladder to grab the briefcase. Inside the briefcase is a guaranteed Championship match for whenever you want. Literally. Former winners have cashed this thing in after the current Champion is beaten to a pulp, laying in the middle of the ring.

Anyways, after complete madness, Jack Swagger managed to grab the briefcase for the win. It was about 10-15 minutes long and all hell broke loose. ***1/2.

HHH vs. Sheamus

They went a good ten minutes, HHH made Sheamus look good, then HHH outsmarted him at the end with the Bret Hart: "act hurt, then explode" strategy. HHH with the pedegree for the win. **1/2.

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk

Now the idea with CM Punk is he's a guy who preaches the "straight edge" lifestyle. So he goes around saying you shouldn't smoke, drink, do blow, drop acid, etc. So naturally this makes him a bad guy. And what he has are two followers; this girl named Serena, and this big mofo named Gallows. And the stipulation of this match is if Rey Mysterio loses, he has to join CM Punk's group.

After about 10 minutes of fast, solid action, Mysterio got the win and kept his freedom. This implies that Rey Mysterio is a drug addict, I suppose, but they never touched on this. ***.

No Holds Barred: Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart

So google "Bret Vince Montreal" for the story leading up to this match. What happened here was Vince comes out with all of the surviving members of the Hart family, saying they're going to surround the ring for this match, and Bret's brother Bruce is going to be the referee. The idea is Vince paid off the entire Hart family in another attempt to screw Bret.

Bret knew that Vince would do this however, so he told the Harts to take Vince's money and play along up to the start of the match. Vince, realizing that he's surrounded by about 15 people who want to rip his head off, shits himself. Bret attacks, beats the holy hell out of Vince (slowly, and understandably), hits him with a steel chair about 16-17 times, lets his family all take shots at him, then puts him in the sharpshooter for the win and finally closing the door on a 13 year unresolved feud. Match-wise though, only about *.

Heavyweight Title: Chris Jericho defends against Edge.

Edge and Jericho were partners, Edge got hurt, Jericho picked a new partner and trash talked Edge the entire time. Edge came back, pissed off, and won the Royal Rumble, giving him a title match at 'Mania. He naturally picked Jericho as his opponent.

Match went about 15 minutes and was again, solid. After some heel tactics, Jericho hit Edge with the championship belt, then nailed his finisher, The Code Breaker, for the win. ****.

Then the Divas had a match. I didn't really pay attention.

WWE Championship: John Cena challenges Batista.

Cena and Batista have good matches with each other. They trained together and have mastered this new overall style the WWE has. The new style is that whole "high impact, yet safe; trade finishers until one guy has nothing left;" as opposed to the old style of "brawl through the crowd for five minutes, heel controls inside the ring for five minutes, face controls for five minutes, then a finishing sequence." This was the Steve Austin Main Event. Now we have the John Cena Main Event. And Batista is his best opponent because they can perfectly trade the impact moves back and forth.

So they go about fifteen minutes, hit each other with everything they've got, until Batista had to tap out to the STF. Cena wins the WWE Championship, ****.

Then Cena found a group of people in the front row, all with "I Hate Cena" T-shirts and he went and posed with them. I laughed.

Main Event: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

So the deal here is that Undertaker has never lost at Wrestlemania. He's 17-0. Last year, he beat Shawn Michaels. Shawn became obsessed with the idea of being the first guy to beat Undertaker at Wrestlemania, so he kept trying over and over to get the match, and Undertaker said no. So last month, Shawn causes Undertaker to lose the Heavyweight Title to Jericho, leading to Undertaker finally accepting Shawn's challenge. However - Undertaker makes Shawn put his career on the line. So we've got Career vs. Streak.

Last year, these two had a match that was ***** and probably the best WWE match this decade. They had essentially the same match, but it was still phenomenal. Undertaker hit the tombstone, Shawn kicked out. Undertaker stood over Shawn, told him to stay down, Shawn got up, told Undertaker to finish it, then he slapped him. Undertaker then hit a GIANT Tombstone and put Shawn down for good. ****1/2.

Shawn waved to the fans and walked off for possibly the last time, ending about a 25 year career. If this really was his last match, he went out with a great one.

Overall, this was probably a top five Wrestlemania. Tomorrow at work I'll amend this to figure out where it belongs.

Friday, March 26, 2010

New Cleveland QB, Bob Wiley

Enough about the old QBs

The Broncos sent two draft picks and fullback Peyton Hillis to Cleveland for Brady Quinn and a free subscription of Men's Health magazine. - profootballtalk.com

I know that the thing to do in Cleveland is sit around a grill and talk about how good a player became with another team, or why we shouldn't have traded someone.

But really, how many times in the last ten years have the Browns gotten rid of someone that turned out to burn them? The fact is, in the last ten years, the Browns have had horrible talent and nobody went on to bigger and better things. So forget about Quinn and Anderson, and lets move forward with the hopes of trading away some more bad players.

The Indians are a completely different story..we won't go there.

So for now, I'll remain an optimist and say that our QB situation is a little better than last year. And as Dr. Leo Marvin said, "Baby Steps".

Speaking of Overtime...





New Gus Johnson Classic.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Madden 010

So.. it's the off-season. I see that Dallas Clark is a free agent. I need a good tight end on my team.

I notice that "Edit Player" is an option for players that are free agents..

I select that on Dallas Clark and I change him to a Nose Tackle. He goes from 91 overall to 32 overall.

I sign him as a 32 overall DT for the league minimum.

Once he's on my team, with that contract, I change him back to Tight End, where he becomes a 91 overall again.

Madden loopholes are fantastic.

Ben Rapistberger

So.....the Security camera footage was "taped over" on the club's DVR system.

I'm sure.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Resting Starters

Here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8171ff2f&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

This is a rule change I could go with.. Playing the division games at the end of the season! Keep the starters in! Keep teams from tanking at the end of the year for higher draft picks! This makes perfect sense to me..

Only negative to this is its going to be harder to win the two North divisions...

Good thing we've got Jerome Harrison to hand the ball off to each play.

Other Leagues Overtime

NFL- weird new sudden death taking much credibility away from the kickers
MLB - a full inning, if still tied, another full inning...etc..
NBA - 5 minute overtime period. If still tied, another overtime period.
NHL - Sudden death overtime period. If still tied, shootout.
MLS/all soccer - 2 15 minute overtime periods. Not sudden death (i don't think). Shootout if still tied
College Football - each team starts at opposing 25 yd line. Each gets an opportunity to score.
College Basketball - 5 minute overtime period...still tied, another overtime.

So NFL and NHL are the only ones that use sudden death. I get it, they are a contact sport and injury risks are there. But really, how many injuries happen in overtime? Seems like the most universally accepted option is another full 'period' and then consider sudden death.

NFL Overtime

New NFL Overtime rules (post season only so far):
1. Winner of the coin toss receives and scores a TD. Game over.
2. Winner of coin toss receives and scores a FG. Opponent gets opportunity to tie or win with TD.
3. Winner of coin toss receives and Defense scores a TD or Safety. Game over.
4. Neither team scores during 15 minute overtime. Game ends in a tie. Don't know what happens in the post season after that.

NFL Draft

Will the Lions trade down so they can draft Dez Bryant...? The countdown starts now.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Indians fast start

Don't get overly excited if the Indians jump out to a fast start. They have the second best record in the Cactus League right now, but statistics have proven that spring training records mean nothing.

I'm not saying their won't be exciting moments with the young team they bring up. But even if they start strong, (and I actually suspect they will because the young players will be hungry to prove themselves) always remember 2002. The Tribe started 11-1 in a 'rebuilding year'; but couldn't get out of April with a winning record. (13-13)

Fausto, Masterson, and Westbrook look good; but I can't see the rotation holding up over the long season. If Westbrook looks anything like he did right before he got hurt in 2008, the team will trade him faster than Tiger on a .... ok, you get the point.

I just don't want to hear/read stuff about the Indians if they start off doing well. Just be quite and let finish the year under the radar, and likely under .500.

(Happy Birthday Steve!!)

NFL OVERTIME RULES

Sudden Death, no punting or field goals, regular four down rules. Problem solved.

If this is the case, are you sure you want to receive after winning the coin toss..? This keeps the sudden death aspect, which is great, but eliminates the scenario that happens 90% of the time where a team gets the ball, gets a good return, gets 2 first downs, then runs three times and kicks a field goal for the win. No more of that.

Game ends on the first touchdown, and no punting allowed. If you dont get the fourth down conversion, turnover on downs. Simple as that.

None of this complicated, a touchdown ends it, but if you get a field goal, you have a chance to make your own field goal to make it sudden death, or you can go for a touchdown for the win... That's just as much of a mess. Sudden death, no punting or field goals. That would be fun.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Shaun Rogers

I'm also getting word that Shaun Rogers will be our starting QB in the fall:

Browns and Tebow

I still can't figure out this Kamerion Wimbley thing.. Holmgren put a 2nd round tender on Jason Trusnik, then traded away Wimbley for a 3rd round pick. ?? I can only assume that for whatever reason, they didn't want to pay Wimbley. I have no idea what he was making, but it looks like his contract was up next year and they were not going to resign him. That only means they wanted to get something in return for him instead of releasing him. But....why release him?? Wimbley, Fujita, Jackson, The Jets, King Kong, Roth.. We've got a lot of Linebackers, but why get rid of one of the top three? Are they really thinking that we don't need Wimbley anymore because we have King Kong Bernard and David Bowens..?

Tim Tebow or Colt McCoy in the third round. Tebow because I think he set every QB record possible and won every award possible and he has the power of God in him. (This won Kurt Warner a Superbowl. The same year we could have taken Kurt Warner in the expansion draft. We were set with Ty Detmer) McCoy because he has the most bad ass name in the history of QBs. It's exactly the opposite of Spergon Wynn. Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden think Tebow will make a fantastic QB. Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden have each won Superbowls. Dungy can also hopefully recognize a good QB when he sees one.

Tebow had four ridiculously good years at Florida. Kiper thinks Tebow will only be as good as Pat White.. Tebow had much higher numbers than White did. He had much much higher numbers than Troy Smith.. He has way better numbers than Jamarcus Russell. Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy each have broken arms. Then there's Jimmy Clausen who has worse numbers than ANY of these players, and his teams had worse records. Yet he's one of the top two QBs. I don't get this. Clausen's numbers are also worse than Quinn's numbers.

Mel Kiper doesn't think Tebow will be a good QB. There's a reason you cant find any Kiper Top 25 List Archives easily. The first one I found was 2005. Look at these future superstars: WR Mike Williams, RB Cadillac Williams, DE Erasmus James, RB Ronnie Brown, NT Dan Cody, RB Cedric Benson, CB Antrel Rolle, LB Derrick Johnson, WR Braylon Edwards, WR Mark Clayton.

So.. In 2005 Kiper went 1 & 1/2 for 10. That's 15%. Fail. 1 = Ronnie Brown, 1/2 = Antrel Rolle.

Now, so you can see how good Kiper is at evaluating talent, note the absence of Shawne Merriman, DeMarcus Ware, Aaron Rodgers, Roddy White, Heath Miller, Frank Gore, Justin Tuck, Kirk Morrison, Ellis Hobbs, Marion Barber III, and JOSH CRIBBS. Although to be fair, nobody saw Cribbs coming. We'll also give him the benefit of the doubt and say he correctly left off Derek Anderson and Charlie Frye.

There's a reason Kiper's Top 25 lists are NOT archived.

Holmgren is also making sure to get Tebow in here for a workout sooner or later, and his track record = Montana, Favre, and Hasselbeck, so he also seems to know what he's doing.

I forgot where I was going with any of this, but I think the Browns need their new Superman on defense with the first pick, Maybe someone for the right side of the O-Line with the second, and then hopefully the rest of the league is retarded so we can grab Tebow with our first Third Round pick. And if some other franchise outsmarts that plan, maybe McCoy will be available.

Either way, let's get ready for a year of Jake Delhomme. I'm actually excited. It just feels overall like Amateur hour is over.

Let's hope we're not in for this:

Cleveland Title

I might be the only one in Cleveland that feels this way, but probably not.

I'll be exceptionally happy if the Cavs win the Championship this year; however, I do believe that the celebration will be milder than if the Browns or even Indians won a title first. It will be a huge celebration, and I'll probably be involved. But I just think the history is deeper with the other franchises and it would mean a lot more to the city if one of the other franchises won first.

Now, that being said. I also came to the realization that our situation could be like Boston. Boston is a baseball town, always has been, always will be. (slight Bret Hart reference) Boston won many titles in basketball and a few in football before the Red Sox won the World Series in '04. But the celebration in '04 was much bigger than the Celtics or Patriots had. The Red Sox meant more to the city and their sports psyche than did the other teams.

So even if the Cavs win this year (and I hope they do), the celebration should not take away from the celebration if the Browns or Indians ever win a title in my lifetime.

Friday, March 19, 2010

New Sports Blog

Alright - I think I did this right.. Anyways, so this will be where The Scout Team, the next great sports blog site, starts. And hopefully it doesn't look like this for long and whenever I figure out this whole Layout thing (seems easy enough) we'll make it look better and include some pretty pictures.

I'm James.. joining me will be Mike.. and this is where our opinions will be shared. These opinions should be mostly about sports and not just Cleveland sports. But we'll see what happens.

I'm not proofreading this.