Start Me Up—Browns at Steelers

Third-stringer Thad Lewis gets the start at QB for the
Browns today, making this game look a lot like
2008 and 2010. 

Here we are yet again—week 17 versus Pittsburgh in a Browns head coach's Swan Song. The organization has been in this position now three times in the last six years—2008 with Romeo Crenel, 2010 with Eric Mangini, and now 2012 with Pat Shurmur.

The thing about these games is that everyone knows the ax is coming. And usually Pittsburgh is fighting for a playoff spot.

The other thing about these games is that they're started by the Browns' third-string quarterback due to injuries. We watched Bruce Gradkowski muddle his way around the field in 2008 en route to a 31-0 thumping, in which the Browns only had eight first downs. Colt McCoy did a little bit better in 2010 since he put up some points, but the Browns still lost 41-9.

In terms of the game we're about to see today, Pittsburgh may not be going to the playoffs, but it'll still probably resemble that shutout in 2008. The aftermath should look similar too, as the Plain Dealer reports both Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert will be fired, much like Crenel and then-GM Phil Savage.

What do you watch for today? Well, if you're excited for Thad Lewis, you probably haven't seen him in practice. I know Shurmur loves the guy for some reason and likes to keep him around, but Lewis has a worse arm than McCoy, and the Steelers have the No. 1 pass defense for a reason. Remember those bounce passes Colt threw last week? Well get ready for more of those, and a few dying quails.

On a more positive note, Montario Hardesty has a chance to go out and maybe show that he was worth trading up in the second round to get him. The Browns offensive line has been pretty steady this year, with its only replacement coming because left guard Jason Pinkston had a blood clot. John Greco has done a pretty nice job filling in, and with all that continuity, the Browns have a much better chance of putting together a decent run game than anything else today.

Defensively, the Browns do have their work cut out for them. With a secondary ravaged by injuries—and the release of Dmitri Patterson—Ben Roethilsberger could have a very nice day passing the ball. It's probably also fair to expect that the Browns won't force the same number of fumbles they did against the Steelers in week 12.

And I'd really like to see Travis Benjamin get a chance to return the ball today. I know it's Josh Cribbs' "job," but what kind of team has a player make a record punt return and then never lets him return the ball again? It's truly absurd.

Really, though, it's sort of hard to imagine the kind emotions going through Shurmur as he goes through his normal gameday progressions. You've got to imagine he and Heckert have to be at the very least annoyed the news broke that they'll be fired—even if everybody did know. How that affects a pregame speech, I have no idea.

At this point, the players and coaches have just got to be thinking that they want this season to be over so that the chips can just fall where they may. But there's still a game to play, and thus a prediction to make.

The Prediction: Steelers 30 - Browns 9

Phil Dawson gets three field goals as the Steelers roll to an easy victory. Let's hope they won't be his last in an orange helmet.

I'll be back with more throughout the week as the Browns will probably make their moves to forward the organization very quickly.

~MAS

Could Josh McDaniels be the solution?

Josh McDaniels actually might not be such a bad
HC candidate, if you think about it. 

Why hello there, and yes it most certainly has been a while. Was this Browns season one worth blogging about? That's debatable, but there are still two games left and now that I'm all done with a busy semester at Columbia there might be time for some good ol' Sunday blogging packages.

One thing I can guarantee you, though, is that we'll be talking about some Browns coaching candidates as December turns into January. 

Speaking of those coaching candidates, ESPNCleveland.com's Tony Grossi published this story the other day, saying that a Mike Lombardi-Josh McDaniels GM-head coach duo is the "most realistic" possibility to be coming to Cleveland. 

Now, I was on record a couple years ago as saying I thought McDaniels would be a great hire for offensive coordinator to replace Brian Daboll so that the Browns could keep former HC Eric Mangini in place. Obviously that didn't happen as Holmgren hired Pat Shurmur and...well, you know the rest.

But here we are now two years later and McDaniels has once again put together a sterling Patriots attack as offensive coordinator. The numbers are eye-popping, to say the least. New England ranks first in total yardage (6054, 432.4 per game), and points (506, 36.1 per game). That's just under 30 yards per game more than second-ranked Detroit, and 97 points more than second-ranked Denver.

Like I said, eye-popping.

And it's not the first time this has happened with a New England offense with McDaniels at the helm. In 2007 when the Patriots went 18-1, losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl, they scored 589 points, which was 134 points more than second-ranked Dallas. That's what happens when Tom Brady throws for 50 touchdowns.

So yes, when he's been in New England with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick—two future first-ballot Hall of Famers—McDaniels has been wildly successful. But if you look at what he's done in other places, well...not so much.

Keeping in mind that former No. 1 pick Sam Bradford played just 10 of 16 games last season in St. Louis, the Rams ranked 31st in total yardage, 30th in passing, 23 in rushing, and 32nd in points in 2011. Other than rushing yards, McDaniels' offense ranked worse than the Browns in all of those categories. And—as I'm sure you remember—the Browns offense was arguably the worst it's been since 1999 last year.

The numbers are marginally better if you look at McDaniels' only full season as head coach of the Broncos in 2009. Denver ranked 15th in yards, 13th in passing, 18th in rushing, and 20th in points. It's important to remember, though, that this Broncos team started out winning its first six games, but then lost four in a row and ended up 8-8.

I think part of McDaniels' problem in Denver was that he was so young and had way too much power. He was only 33 at the time of his hiring, and that kind of youth brings with it a feeling of needing to compensate by being a control freak. That came through with his trading of Jay Cutler, as the two had some kind of personality clash and apparently couldn't make a coach-player relationship work.

But now that McDaniels has had that experience as a head coach, and he's proving once again that he knows how to create a successful offense, should the Browns take a chance with him?

Well, if they want to, then they've already made up their mind about it. If you take a look at the transcript from Browns CEO Joe Banner and new President Alec Scheiner's conference call on Tuesday, Banner said something that's made me change the way I think about the whole process for the Browns and the way Jimmy Haslam is going to put together the front office and coaching staff.

"Alec and I started talking last June, when it became public that I was looking for a new opportunity, about possibly joining each other," Banner said. "We had a series of meetings and then Jimmy, Alec, and I had a series of meetings together and just felt like it was a great fit."

Last June. June! That's two months before Jimmy Haslam was officially named the next owner of the Browns, and these guys were already talking about joining forces.

This team of Haslam and Banner know what they're going to do, and they're going to do it. That's why Heckert started getting his resume ready in August, and I hope Pat Shurmur did too—they're both out the door. If you spend $1 billion on something, you're going to hire the people you want to work with. And if that's McDaniels then he could very well be on his way here.

I honestly think that might not be such a bad thing—provided McDaniels has the right people around him for support. I'm not completely sold on Brandon Weeden, but I think he could be more successful in a vertical-style passing offense like McDaniels runs than he's been in Shurmur's dink-and-dunk West Coast offense. Greg Little and Josh Gordon are getting better at the receiver position, and if he's healthy, Trent Richardson has the potential to be a very good running back in the NFL. And who wouldn't want to see Josh Cooper become the next Wes Welker? I really feel the talent is here for McDaniels' offensive system to work.

But, like I said, the Browns would need to have the right people around him in order for McDaniels to succeed. They should either keep Dick Jauron as defensive coordinator or bring in someone who still runs the 4-3. Heckert has done a very nice job transitioning the personnel to that system, and going back to a 3-4 at this point would set the team's front-seven back two to three years.

They'd also need a GM to handle all those personnel matters, because McDaniels was incredibly unsuccessful at it in Denver. I mean, come on, the guy drafted Tim freaking Tebow in the first round with pick 25. Tebow can't even beat out Mark Sanchez to play in New York. What does that tell you about McDaniels' drafting skills?

So do I want McDaniels to be the next head coach of the Browns? The more I write about it, the more I'm intrigued by it and think it might not be such a bad idea. He has experience as a head coach, he's won with the best in the business, and his offensive schemes play to the strengths of the Browns current personnel.

If he's hired, he'd be the third former Belichick coordinator out of the last four Browns head coaches—Romeo Crenel and Eric Mangini being the others.

Maybe the third time's the charm?

~MAS

Why should I still be an Indians fan?

Manny Acta, scapegoat for the
2012 Cleveland Indians.
Photo Courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons 

Seriously, why?

Where should my motivation come from to continue to support this team?

The 90s? A period of time I barely remember because I've only been living for 21 years.

The promise of Jason Kipnis and...who else on this current roster?

Certainly not Justin Masterson—not after he's going to finish the year with an ERA hovering around 5.00. Not Chris Perez either—if they almost designated him for assignment after he criticized the Dolans for not spending money in August, you can bet your fanny they'll trade him this offseason. Not Asdrubal Cabrera either—he can't stay healthy through a second half.

Vinnie Pestano perhaps? Sure let's get behind a guy who's an unproven closer.

Or maybe Carlos Santana? He can sure hit a garbage time home run.

Ah, I know—Sandy Alomar. Of course, the Indians current interm manager (who'll probably lose that "interm" tag sooner than later) will keep my fandom because this season's historic collapse was all Manny Acta's fault. That's it.

Give me a freaking break.

I don't know that I've ever been so mad at a Cleveland sports team in my life. It's not that I thought Acta should keep his job—I certainly didn't. Any team that goes through a month with a record of 5-24 deserves to have its leader canned. No doubt Acta knew this, and was prepared for it.

But what I don't understand—and what I'll perhaps never understand—is how General Manager Chris Antonetti is going to keep his job. His horrendous offseason last winter cost the Indians a chance to contend this year. And his poor talent evaluation has cost the Indians mightily in both the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades.

It doesn't matter how many people were clamoring for Matt LaPorta. He's been a nothing short of a collosal failure, and that blame has to lie somewhere.

Oh, and by the way, not that it directly falls on him, but the team can't draft players either. Or sign them in Asia and Latin America for that matter.

Antonetti said it himself in today's press conference, "We all share in the responsibility of how things turned out this year—myself, the players, Manny and the coaches."

But when it comes down to it, who put together this roster that lost 24 games in August and has lost 91 so far with six games left to go?

I wrote about this in August, and it's more apparent to me today than ever before—the Dolans care far more about loyalty than results.

I'm not going to sit here and write that they don't care about winning. I believe that they do. But facts are facts. This regime of Mark Shapiro and Antonetti have combined for two playoff appearances since 2001. We can make it sound worse and say one playoff appearance in the last 10 years. And yes, I know the '05 team could've made the playoffs this year with this weak division, but the bottom line is it didn't happen. That team flamed out in the last week of the season instead of winning the Wild Card.

92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter pointed this out today and I think it's the strongest argument I have for just giving up on this team.

With Shapiro & Antonetti in charge, #Indians are 849-927 (.478);2 winning seasons over that span. 0 since 2007; Yep Acta was the problem

— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 27, 2012

By keeping Shapiro & Antonetti, ownership is telling an already angry fan base that .478 baseball is OK w/ them

— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) September 27, 2012

A winning percentage under .500. No winning seasons since the year the team probably should've won the world series. What am I suposed to hang on to?

And I don't want to hear, "Well, the Royals and the Pirates haven't had a winning season in 20 years!" Does Cleveland look like Kansas City or Pukesburgh? Are we supposed to lower our standards just because someone else isn't good?

Neither of those places are my city. I don't follow those teams. I don't care about their standards for winning, or not winning. And if you think I'm going to sit here and be complacent after this team fires its manager for losing 90+ games in a year during the, "Window of Contention" then you're out of your mind.

Where are the Indians going? What's the plan? Rince, ring out, repeat? Is the front office really going to try to put together another team with shoe strings and gum and then tell me it's going to contend?

Really?

I've written it before, but apparently I've got to write it again:

Blow it up.

Everything.

Perez, Masterson, Asdrubal, Joe Smith—anyone with any kind of value should be traded this winter. The cupbords are bare. There are literally no prospects in the upper echelons of the minors. The best you can hope for with the team as its currently built is .500. And I feel the need to emphasize this, that's at best.

If the Indians front office honestly thinks the team can reload or retool with some free agents, a new manager (if you honestly think Terry Francona is going to come here, you're lost), and maybe a trade, all its members need to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves, how?

I understand wanting to keep this front office together, but at some point, results have to start to matter more to the Dolans. Winning has to start being the #1 priority.

And until that happens, I just don't know if there's any reason for me to be an Indians fan.

~MAS

Start Me Up: Browns @ Bengals

Let's hope Brandon Weeden will have a better
rating than 5.1 today.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday—the second Browns Sunday in the 2012 season.

Straight up, I'm having a very hard time finding positive reasons that the Browns will win this one.

Let me explain. Obviously, the Browns offense still isn't very good. Brandon Weeden is a rookie, and he's going to need some time to adjust to the NFL. I think the game speed overwhelmed him last week—something that isn't entirely unexpected since he only played five quarters in the preseason. Trent Richardson also played too much last week, as even head coach Pat Shurmur admitted he played probably 10-12 more snaps than he was prepared for. But irrespective of the snaps, you can't convince me Richardson should've had 19 carries after not taking a live snap since the National Championship Game in January.

Okay, yes I do expect Richardson to be better this week after getting his feet wet against the Eagles, but who knows what to expect from Weeden? Even if he stinks again, they have to keep him in there. He's a first round pick. If you think he should be taken out in favor of McCoy, you're lost.

I have more confidence in the other side of the ball, but not much. Joe Haden's immaturity got the best of him and now the Browns won't have him for four pretty key games. The other starting cornerback, Sheldon Brown, is reportedly going to play, but won't be at 100 percent after sustaining a shoulder injury last week. With an elite caliber receiver in AJ Green on the Bengals offense, how will Dimitri Patterson, Buster Skrine, and 2012 7th round pick Trevin Wade do against the pass?

Also, lost in the shuffle last week was that the Browns allowed 110 yards on 20 carries to LeSean McCoy. That's 5.5 yards a carry. Why Andy Reid had Michael Vick throw the ball 56 times when he had a running game that effective will always be a mystery to me, but the Browns are going to have to do a better job against the run if they want to win today. Despite getting demolished by Baltimore last week, Bengals RB Benjarvus Green-Ellis rushed the ball 18 times for 91 yards—that's 5.1 yards a carry.

I'm not really a betting man, but if I were I'd put money on the Bengals pounding the run today with the Law Firm and trying to play ball control offense.

But despite all of that negativity surrounding the Browns this week, let's think about what we know about the Bengals. They always have these flash-in-the-pan years, and then go back down to earth. It's happened plenty of times before—they won the AFC North in 2005, then went 8-8 in 2006. Then they won the division again in 2009, and went 4-12 in 2010. They really weren't even competitive against Baltimore on Monday night, and with the short week who knows how they'll look today?

So what's going to happen in this game? Honestly, I have no clue. I think it'll once again be a low scoring affair, with Dick Jauron once again doing a bang up job with the "Bend but don't break" defense. I think both teams will try to establish a solid running game early and often. And I think the Browns will probably struggle trying to cover AJ Green.

But without further ado...

The Prediction: Bengals 20 - Browns 17

It'll be close, the Browns will once again be winning in the fourth quarter because the defense has kept the team in the game, but a tired D will once again lead to a heart breaking loss.

Can you really see this one playing out any other way?

Well, no matter what happens, I'll see you after.
~MAS

The Final Word: Only in Cleveland

It would've been more surprising had they actually held on to win the game.

That's what I thought to myself as I sat watching the Eagles offense take a knee after Brandon Weeden threw his fourth interception of the day to seal a 17-16 victory.

Ah yes, Weeden's fourth interception.

Wow.

This morning, I prepared myself to sit down and write a post defending the 28-year-old quarterback if his debut didn't exactly go well. But now...

I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. Shield your children's eyes: 12/35 for 118 yards. 3.4 yards per completion. Four interceptions. And—the kicker—a horrific 5.1 quarterback rating.

Now we can all talk about how bad Weeden was, how Colt McCoy is better and should be playing, and to be honest, I really can't make an argument to counter that other than let's give Weeden a few more games. But to me, the bigger concern was the Browns startling lack of a running game.

I wrote in the Start Me Up today that Trent Richardson really is the key to all the Browns offensive hopes and dreams, and if you look at his numbers from today you can easily see why the good guys lost.

Richardson carried the ball 19 times for just 39 yards. His longest run was just nine yards, and it came on the play to the right were he truck sticked an Eagles defender into next week.

Obviously 2.1 yards per carry is not ever going to get the job done. And on a team that traded up to draft Richardson 3rd overall, 39 yards on 19 carries in an entire game is simply unacceptable.

To be honest, however, I really wasn't expecting Richardson to get the ball so much. I'm not sure why Pat Shurmur didn't spell him a little bit with Brandon Jackson for some carries. Yes, Jackson did make a key catch for a first down, but Richardson hadn't taken a handoff in a live game since the National Championship Game in January when he was still playing for Alabama. You can't tell me he was prepared to go 19 carries in his first NFL action.

That being said, the Browns were embarrassing on short yardage run situations. Yes, Philly loaded up the box constantly when it was 2nd or 3rd and 1, but with a RB like Richardson, you must get to the point where you know, I know, the defense knows—everybody in the NFL knows he's going to get the ball on 3rd and short and he makes it anyway. That's what a dominant running game looks like.

That's what the Browns need to strive for.

I'll kill Shurmur for many things over the course of this season, but I can't be too mad about not going for 2 after D'Qwell Jackson's pick-six. After the touchdown, there was 13:59 left to go in the game. That's a whole lot of time. And honestly, the way the Browns offense was going, was there really a realistic chance that they'd make it? At least because they kicked the extra point, two field goals would've just tied the game, instead of winning it.

Not that it really matters.

In the end, we're stuck with yet another gut wrenching loss. I long for the days when we'll be happy after games like this instead of stuck feeling the same old way game after game, week after week, year after freaking year.

Until next week...
~MAS

Start Me Up: 2012 Cleveland Browns Season

If you ask me, the Browns season hopes are tied
to how well this guy can run the ball.

The return of Start Me Up posts can only mean one thing...

The Browns are back, baby!

This 2012 season is obviously going to be a big one for four men: Jimmy Haslam, Mike Holmgren, Tom Heckert, and Pat Shurmur.

As someone who just bought a franchise for a billion dollas, Haslam has earned the right to do whatever he wants with the Browns. And based on everything I've learned about him in the last month or so, I think he's going to do what it takes to win football games here in Cleveland. Not only is he an extreme lover of football, he's a shrewd businessman. The Browns will be a hobby for him. It's not that owning an NFL franchise won't make him richer, but it also won't be his only source of income.

That's the way I want an owner to operate.

Still, though, this season could—and probably should—be defining for Holmgren, Heckert, and Shurmur's careers in Cleveland. Holmgren is already expected to be packing his bags for Seattle as former Philadelphia Eagles President Joe Banner is presumably going to fill that same role in Cleveland once the sale is finally approved in October.

But for Heckert and Shurmur, things could be different. If the team plays well and shows that what they've begun building over the last few years is making tangible progress, I believe there's a very good chance that both could stay. I can't give a number for wins on that, but if they go 6-10, I think there's more than a reasonable argument that progress has been made.

If they go 1-15 as some "experts" have been predicting...well, let's not even go down that road.

When you think about it, though, the keys to the season pretty much rest in the hands of the supremely young Browns offense.

Obviously the Browns hope Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden can become stable backfield fixtures in Cleveland for the foreseeable future, but if the season goes south only one of those guys realistically has a chance to be here when a new regime takes over. And his name isn't Brandon Weeden.

To me, if Richardson is healthy and productive, the Browns will have a realistic shot at winning each and every game they play. Yes, I know the NFL has little by little shifted into a passing league, but a running back with speed, power, and agility still has a place in the league—just ask the Texans. I'm not going to pretend it's all about the running back—since I firmly believe Houston lost to the Ravens in the divisional round last year because they were playing their third quarterback in TJ Yates—but if you have a top-notch running game and can control the ball and the clock, you will have a chance to win.

Plus, now opposing defenses have at least one guy that they must gameplan to stop. You literally could not say that about one Browns offensive player last year. As weeks go on, we might even prove to have two or three guys like that—Greg Little has reportedly made some strides, and Josh Gordon is just a supreme physical talent. Hell, maybe even Weeden will progress enough to scare some defenses as well.

For now, we all have to hope that Holmgren's bold prediction that the team will take a "big jump" this year holds true. Will it? I'm not sure. There are just so many unknowns on this team. The lack of depth at the linebacker position scares me—and it should scare you too. At some point, Joe Haden might be out for four games, and that would be terrible. And losing Phil Taylor for half the season at one of the DT spots certainly isn't that good either...

But when it comes down to it, who cares? It's football season yet again, and as of this writing the Browns are undefeated!

And because this is a Start Me Up post, of course we have some predictions to make...

The Season Prediction: 5-11, Fourth Place, AFC North.

I just don't see how the Browns are going to win more than five games with their schedule. I want to be wrong—meaning I want them to win more games—but there are just too many question marks. Like I said, if Richardson is healthy and productive, the Browns will have the ability to be in every game. It's just going to be a matter of making sure those games turn into Ws, and I'm just not sure they have the ability to do it.

And now for today...

The Prediction: Eagles 28 - Browns 17

Okay, here's a bold prediction—the Browns will come out and score a touchdown on their first drive of the season. Trent Richardson will surprise us all and come out looking like a man on a mission, allowing the Browns to run the ball down Philly's throat while Weeden comes up with some big time throws. And then the Eagles will remember that they're playing a worthy opponent, and all the wind will be sucked out of the Browns sails. But I really don't think it's going to be as bad as it looked like it could be in that preseason game just a couple of weeks ago.

For all of you loyal blog followers out there, unfortunately there won't be any halftime blurb today as I've got too many meetings to go to, so I probably won't even see most of the game. But at some point, I'll do what I can to see what I can and there will be a Final Word. So all three of you, don't you worry about a thing.

Enjoy the day, Browns fans!
~MAS

How I'll Remember Art Modell

I’m not going to cheer for Art Modell’s death.

But I’m also not going to pretend like it should be a sad day in Cleveland.

I’ve heard a whole lot in the last 24 hours about how great of a guy Modell was, and how much he loved to laugh, and how he did so much for the game of the NFL, and the city of Cleveland. And I just don’t care.

Yes, he was a human being, and he has died. And I wish his family nothing but peace.

But I can’t sit here and act like every Browns fan should be mourning Modell’s death.

Conversely, I can’t begrudge any Baltimore Ravens fan or any member of that organization for mourning him either. That city and fan base had their team ripped from them as well when the Colts moved to Indianapolis. Modell gave them football again, and did it with a great, stable, storied franchise. With all that, of course they should celebrate his life.

But that doesn’t mean I have to. 

Multiple times Wednesday night, I saw tweets that said “Art Modell was the last one to win a Championship in Cleveland in 1964.”

That means absolutely nothing to me. I wasn’t even a thought in the back of my mother’s mind in 1964, let alone alive to see the city celebrate the win. Hell, I don’t even remember the Browns ever winning a playoff game and I was alive in 1994—yet hardly cognizant of what was going on.  

As far as I’m concerned, Modell stole Cleveland’s football team for no good reason. He took it away from us. He took our franchise, one with a rich winning history, and moved it to Baltimore.

And then he won a Super Bowl.

Modell said that in the end, he had “no choice” but to move the team. I simply don’t see how that’s true.

He could have sold it.

But as former Browns GM Earnie Accorsi said on 92.3 The Fan today with Bull & Fox, Modell “wasn’t going to sell it” because the team was “the love of his life.”

To me, anyone that says the situation “was more complicated than portrayed” is choosing to ignore the fact that the Browns could have been sold. I’ve heard plenty of times that Modell was broke and needed the money. If he loved Cleveland as much as he claimed to, he would’ve sold the team and to someone who would have kept our storied franchise where it belonged. 

Yes, I know we still technically have all those records and colors and whatever else here in Cleveland, but as far as I’m concerned, the Ravens are the old Browns. All our tradition, stability, and everything else we loved about that franchise is in Baltimore. It starts with their front office, as Ozzie Newsome is their General Manager.

Ozzie Newsome is a Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame Tight End. He’s on the Cleveland Browns Stadium Ring of Honor. There’s no good reason he should be the GM of the freaking Baltimore Ravens. The principle of the matter drives me up the wall every time I think about it.

I recently watched this video on YouTube of the NBC telecast of the last Browns game in Cleveland in 1996. To me, that was the day the franchise died. And at the time, even color analyst Mike Ditka said, “If Modell had any sort of sense of dignity, he would have sold the team.”

You know why? Cleveland supported that team through thick and thin. I’m not going to claim I remember Municipal Stadium because I don’t, but I’ve heard enough people say that it was a s— hole, but it was our s— hole. And, from what I understand (do correct me if I’m wrong on this), the city had voted to build a new stadium for Modell and the Browns. With all that, I don’t think I’ll ever understand why Modell chose to move the team instead of just sell it.

And for everyone who says that Modell is such a great guy who was misunderstood, that’s all well and good. But don’t expect me to feel sympathy for someone who was so selfish he claimed he had “no choice” but to move the team just so he could keep his precious NFL franchise. I won’t do it.   

Again, don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying that we should celebrate Modell’s death. That’s both inhumane and absurd. As 92.3 The Fan’s Ken Carman tweeted, “Modell was a poor sports owner. Not a terrorist, child molester, murder. Death is a part of life, and there’s no way I’d cheer for it.”

Carman’s right. It’s not something to celebrate.

But Clevelanders, that doesn’t mean we should ever forget what that man did to our city, our franchise, and us. We went three years without football in a town that lives for it. We love our Browns with a passion that is unmatched by most other fan bases in the NFL. And to take that away, and leave us with what has been a pathetic excuse for an NFL franchise…

To me, at the very least that’s unforgettable. And for many, it’s probably unforgiveable.

So I’ll leave you with this. I know I’m going to remember Art Modell for the villain he was. I don’t care what good he did for the NFL. I don’t care that he was the last owner to win a Championship in Cleveland.

I never lived through any of that.

My only impression of him is the bastard that took the Browns away.

And no matter what anyone might say to try and convince me, I’ll never, ever forget that. 

"Did you even have a plan?!"

Johnny Damon was just one of the Indians Front Office's
mistakes in personnel "upgrades" for this season.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

How did it come to this?

That's what I found myself thinking as I watched the Yankees beat the Indians 4-2 on a sunny Sunday afternoon in a Progressive Field full of the visiting team's fans.

How in the wide world of sports did the Indians go from a team on the brink of contention to one that's on the road to 90 losses?

You can say players have underperformed, and you'd be right. But the real problem was that this team was not built to win a World Series in the first place.

Before the Indians game Friday night, general maneger Chris Antonetti spoke to reporters and some of his comments speak volumes about the way the 2012 Indians were put together, along with how the front office thought the team could be able to contend.

"Our plan was to try to win as many games as we could," Antonetti said. "That was our focus, to try to maximize the resources we had to win as many games as we could. Obviously, it hasn’t been a successful year to date." 

Maximize the resources we had. What an interesting phrase. I don't want to read into it too much because these weren't planned, written, thought out remarks, but what other team would say "maximize the resources we had" in their plan to contend? The Rays, maybe? But when you talk about resources, that kind of sounds like a money problem—which would more than implicate the Dolans in this disaster. 

But, of course, that wasn't Antonetti's only curious remark. 

"We talked about this at the start of the season, in order for us to have the year we wanted to have, we needed a lot of things to go our way," he said. "We needed to stay healthy. We needed to have our best players perform. We needed to have our young players take the next step in their development. And we needed to get key contributions from some of the veteran guys we brought in to have bounce back years. And I think you can go through that list and a number of those things didn’t happen—certainly not at the level that we needed them to for us to be the team we wanted to be."

That's a laundry list of four variables that the Indians were depending on in order to contend. And sure, the Rays, A's, and Pirates might say the same about three of those four, but if you look at teams that contend year in and year out, they're not depending on young guys and washed up veterans to "bounce back."

That's not even mentioning the fact that the Indians went into the season featuring an all-lefty lineup, and an all-righty rotation. I've asked this question before, but when was the last time anyone saw a World Series winner without a right handed hitter? And that's not even taking into account the fact that fans have been clamoring for a big right handed bat since 2005.

But because Antonetti talked about players needing to stay healthy, one reporter asked what the GM would say to fans who think the Indians wasted $5 million on Grady Sizemore. 

"In retrospect, obviously that’s certainly true," Antonetti said. "We were hopeful that Grady would be able to rebound and play, and obviously that has not happened. So we knew there was a risk obviously when we signed him, and it didn’t work out."

No, Chris, it didn't work out. Neither did any of the other moves you made in the offseason—Casey Kotchman, Derek Lowe, Jose Lopez, Kevin Slowey, and Johnny Damon (who was signed in season, but you get the point). 

I think everyone would agree that the front office severely failed in putting together a roster that would seriously contend for the division. Even when things were going "well," the Indians were either winning 4-2 or getting blown out—which is why they've almost always had a negative run differential this season. The high water mark for this team was May 24, when they beat Justin Verlander and the Tigers to get to eight games over .500 at 26-18. 

Immediately after that, they got swept by the White Sox and lost a series to both the Royals and Twins. 

Now I'm on record as saying the Dolans need to send a message to the fans that mediocrity isn't good enough by firing Antonetti, but at some point they also have to look long and hard in the mirror and ask why are they even in this business if they're not making money and all they do is lose? It can't be fun to be the whipping boy of every fan and sports radio host in Cleveland. 

But whatever happens, the entire Indians organization needs to realize that whatever the "plan" was to contend this year failed miserably. And they'd all be wise to never try to implement a plan like that again. 

~MAS

The Indians must suspend Chris Perez

Hey Chris Perez?
Stop.Talking.
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I wanted to write a post about the Indians falling into fourth place in the AL Central.

FOURTH PLACE, BEHIND THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS in a year during this absurd "Window of Contention."

I wanted to write about how the Dolans simply can't ignore this colossal failure much longer. I wanted to make a point about how firing Manny Acta won't solve all the problems, but it's going to be necessary when a new GM comes in to so he can hire his own manager. And I also wanted to ask the question, when will it be time for the Dolans to cut their losses and just sell the team, if they're losing so much money?

But then everyone's favorite closer had to open his big fat mouth yet again.

If you haven't watched this video of Chris Perez laying into an Oakland A's fan, it's cringe worthy.

You know what? It's actually a whole lot worse than that.

Let me say this--I know the guy who instigated the whole confrontation is a jackass, and I also have no idea what happened before the video started rolling. The guy could have been saying all kinds of nasty things about Perez, his family, the Indians team, his father, his wife--but it doesn't matter. They were both wrong.

Perez is a professional athlete, and--as I've written before--needs to start acting like one. And since Perez refuses to learn anything from his previous experiences with confronting fans, whether it's through the media or through Twitter, the Indians need to start hitting him where it hurts.

His paycheck.

The Indians should suspend Perez without pay effective immediately for six games. That means he doesn't play tonight in Seattle or for the rest of the week.

Tell him to go home to Tampa and think about how he's embarrassed his teammates, the front office, the organization as a whole, the fans, and the city of Cleveland. It's not like the Indians are playing meaningful baseball games anyway. If a save situation comes up, Vinnie Pestano or anyone else in that bullpen can be the closer--I don't care. This type of behavior is undeniably unacceptable, and it's time the organization stopped messing around with him and started sending a message.

Again, Perez is a professional athlete. Do you think this is the first time those fans have tried to heckle an opposing player? I guarantee you it wasn't. Those fans baited him, and Perez swallowed the worm whole.

I mean seriously, going over to those guys and talking about your salary? Saying f-- this and f-- that about eight different times? And then the kicker, "Get your d--k out of your mouth!"

Are you kidding me?

Yes, it's a free country and Perez has a right to defend himself and all that. But remember earlier this season when Miami Marlins Manager Ozzie Guillen opened his fat trap and said how much he loved Fidel Castro? The Marlins suspended him for five games, and with good reason.

To me, this situation is worse simply because of the language Perez used and the manner in which he used it. The precedent has already been set this year for organizations suspending its members for their words. It's high time the Indians followed it.

I've seen this point brought up a couple of different times today, and I think it's worth repeating. When Jackie Robinson broke MLB's color barrier in 1947, can you imagine the types of heinous remarks he had to endure? And how many times have you heard about him lashing out at those racist fans?


Very few, if any at all.

To bring it into a more contemporary time, I wrote a few weeks ago in my previous post about Chris Perez that Colt McCoy handles the hecklers incredibly well. He goes over to the crowds at training camp waiting for autographs, ignores the words of the ignorant, signs his name and says, "Thank you for your support."

I know Chris Perez is a fiery guy who is not afraid to express himself, but at a certain point, he's just got to be reigned in. With the video all around the internet through posts on Deadspin, Bleacher Report, and The Big Lead, the Indians organization has been publicly embarrassed--even more so than they had been with their abysmal 10-26 record since the All-Star break.

Now is not the time to be soft. Suspend Chris Perez.

Now.

~MAS

Why the Dolans Are Soft

What if...Indians ownership wasn't okay with
being mediocre?
Photo from brianpenzone of Flickr

Let me start out by saying that if you haven't read Terry Pluto's interview with Paul Dolan on Cleveland.com, read it now. It will give you all the context you need for everything I'm about to lay on the Dolans.

Perhaps I shouldn't say the "Dolans" though, since Pluto's interview was only with Paul. But my opinion still remains—the Indians ownership needs a serious attitude adjustment if it intends to make the organization one that can contend for World Series titles.

Let's start with the obvious. Pluto quotes the Indians payroll as $71 million, 26th out of the 30 teams. The average MLB payroll is $105 million. I'm not going to argue that the Indians payroll should be over 100 million, since that's just not going to happen, but there really is no reason in the world the Indians payroll can't be $80 million. I've been saying that since the last offseason, and I still believe it's true.

And yet, Dolan said to Pluto that "there is no expectation the payroll for next year will be substantially different from prior years."

I don't think anyone is asking for something unreasonable. Fans just want the payroll to be competitive with the rest of the league.

But what really, truly frustrates me is what Dolan said about the trio of Chris Antonetti, Mark Shapiro and Manny Acta. Keep in mind that this Indians team was supposed to compete for division titles in 2012 and 2013. The Antonetti-led front office made that clear by trading for Ubaldo Jimenez at the deadline last year.

Regardless, Pluto reports Dolan had this to say about the three amigos:

"We assess everyone at the end of every season...As painful as this has been, I don't want to get into some knee-jerk reactions."

Oh really? I think Scott Radinsky might disagree with you on that, Paul. Unless he doesn't count as "everyone."

Nevertheless, Dolan also had this to say specifically about Antonetti.

"It's not fair just to judge [Antonetti] on the last year or so...He has been with us for a long time [since 1999] and has been the architect of some deals that turned out very well—long before he became general manager."

You see, the way people in the Indians organization use the term "knee-jerk" makes me think that they don't exactly realize what it means. Does Dolan really think it's unfair to judge a GM over a body of work that extends past two years? I'm talking back into 2010, when it was announced Antonetti woud officially take over the GM role after the season, after being trained to do so for a few years.

Well fine then. Since Antonetti came to the organization in 1999, the Indians have made it to the playoffs twice. Two times in 13 seasons. And really, I don't think the 2001 playoff appearance should even count (the 1999 appearance most certainly doesn't, which is why I didn't even consider it). That was John Hart's team, and if anyone gets an assist it's Shapiro.

From 2000 and beyond, the Indians have a combined record of 1,017 - 1,039. That's a winning percentage of just .495. That, to me, paints a bold picture of mediocrity.

Is that what the Dolans want?

And if even if you don't just want to go from the last couple of years, let's take a look at what the team has done since it finished one game short of the World Series in 2007.

From 2008 and going into Friday's contest against Boston, the Indians have a record of 347 - 413. That's a winning percentage of just .456.

Why is this good enough?

When the GM puts together a team with nine left handed hitters and five right handed starters that he claims he "expects to contend" that ends up losing 11 games in a row, at some point you've got to think about a change.

This is not a "knee-jerk" reaction. A winning percentage below .500 since 2000 and significantly under  .500 since 2008 should not be acceptable. I don't care how many good trades he might have made, he undeniably blew the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades. In fact, an argument could be made that he blew the Victor Martinez trade as well.

And this gets me to why the Dolans are soft. Nancys. Sissies. Wussies. Or another word that you could probably guess, but I won't write it here.

To them, loyalty is more important than results. Loyalty to a team President in Mark Shapiro and a GM in Chris Antonetti that have had one playoff appearance since 2002.

What if...a winning percentage under .500 wasn't good enough?

What if...the Indians had an owner that wasn't satisfied with mediocrity?

If the team isn't for sale, then the Dolans are going to have to show that they actually want to win. Firing Antonetti—and perhaps Shapiro as well—would send a message to the fans that .500 isn't good enough.

And that's exactly the message this fan base wants to receive.

~MAS

"Come out and compete," they said. "It's a competition," they said.

Colt McCoy looking a little defeated. I'm sure "defeated"
is exactly how he felt on Monday

Even if your name is "Colt McCoy," you saw this coming from a mile away.

The first depth charts came out for the Cleveland Browns today, and as Pat Shurmur so eloquently put it, "Brandon Weeden will start the Detroit game, and he'll be our starter going forward here."

Like I said, even if you're McCoy himself, you knew this was coming. Anybody who has attended more than one training camp practice has surely noticed that McCoy doesn't take any snaps with the first team. And that was something the young quarterback seemed to think was important enough to specifically point out to the media as he spoke after practice this afternoon.

"I would like to say that I haven't taken any snaps in walk through or in practice with the first group," McCoy said.

That's right, bud, you sure haven't.

McCoy is a gentleman and a professional. Does he provide material that the media is going to salavate over so they (...we?) can write their (...our?) articles? No he does not.

But to me, that's just fine.

You see, today was the first time McCoy has even voiced any type of frustration to the media over what has happened to the quarterback situation in Cleveland. Okay, so that might have something to do with the fact that it was just the third time all camp he's spoken (when he saw the gathering waiting for him, he said, "You guys wanna talk, huh?"). But even so, McCoy didn't explicitly say he was ticked off because it was obvious he never had a chance.

"Well I thought coming in it would be a competition," he said at one point. And in response to a reporter saying he had a shot at the starting role he quipped, "I did?"

So, yes, he went as close as you can get without going over in terms of did he or didn't he say, "there was no quarterback competition." But he was adamant about the fact that he was still going out to compete and trying to get better everyday.

Unfortunately, the simple fact of the matter is that Brandon Weeden is just better than McCoy. Weeden is bigger and stronger than McCoy. He's been more accurate in practice than McCoy. He has a better ability to throw the ball downfield than McCoy.

And I don't want to sound too politically incorrect with this, but McCoy just looks slow on the field sometimes. When he goes through his reads it's as if someone is counting, "One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand..." instead of the "one, two, three, boom" you see when looking at Weeden. It's even apparent during 7-on-7 drills, where there aren't any linemen for McCoy to have to look over. He reads the defense slowly and then has no choice but to go with his checkdown. Watching him in practice has kind of explained the offense last year. McCoy is just slow on the uptake.

In some ways, it pains me to write this because I like McCoy a lot. He's exactly the kind of guy you'd like to date your sister. But that certainly doesn't make him a quality NFL quarterback.

The problem is that McCoy was supposed to be a developmental project. Think about it, when McCoy was originally picked in the third round of the 2010 draft, he was supposed to be the third quarterback behind Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace. He was to hold the clipboard and learn for a few years before potentially competing for the starting job.

Then Delhomme and Wallace both got high ankle sprains in 2010 and that plan got shot to hell.

We all know how the story has turned out for McCoy. Could he use a fresh start? Probably. Will he get that chance? I'm not sure. Both McCoy and Wallace have looked like backups in camp, and this team just isn't big enough for three real quarterbacks. (And if you think Thad Lewis counts, you obviously haven't seen him in practice.)

In the end, I do hope we're able to keep McCoy and send Wallace elsewhere. Heaven knows we could use a good backup for the next few years that's actually going to put the team first, and won't unnecessarily change a play at the end of the first half.

McCoy's a professional. He can be that guy.

~MAS

This Must Be Rock Bottom...Right?

Like the commercial says,
"What if...it never happened?"
Too bad this 0-9 road trip did happen...
Photo from brianpenzone of Flickr

What can you say after an 0-9 road trip?

What can you say about a team that got outscored 74-28 in those nine games?

What can you say when a team leaves home 3 1/2 games out of first in the AL Central and comes back 9 1/2 games out?

What can you say about a closer that continually runs his mouth, and then goes out and blows a three-run save in a game his team desperately needed him to win?

Surely, it can't get any worse than this.

Can it?

A week ago, I wrote that the Indians should consider trading Shin-Soo Choo. Anyone could see that the Indians had been struggling since the All-Star break and thus had turned from a contender to a team in baseball purgatory. Since then, we had no deadline deals either way, heard the same old, "The players here must play to their potential," garbage from GM Chris Antonetti, and we've seen this team just fall flat on its face.

You know what? I don't even know that "falling flat on its face" is harsh enough for this nine game losing streak.

Remember when they beat Verlander before the road trip started? Yeah, me neither.

Again, the Indians were outscored 74-28. That's an average of 8.2 runs a game versus 3.1 runs a game. That means the team wasn't pitching or hitting. And when you've got that combination...yikes.

A couple of nights ago, the Indians play-by-play voice Tom Hamilton said that you just don't see these kinds of losing streaks in the majors without seeing changes made in personnel. You can say that firing someone now would just be a scapegoat, and that might be true. But the fact still remains, when you have a losing streak like this, something has to change.

And that can't just be designating certain veterans for assignment. Derek Lowe and Johnny Damon are both gone—as they should have been at the very least a week or two ago—as is Jeremy Accardo, and there should be more changes to the roster. I understand that Ezequiel Carrera was hitting over .400 since the All-Star break, but does anyone think of him as more than a fourth outfielder? And how little faith does the front office have in Russ Canzler and Matt LaPorta that they still aren't up at the major league level?

I had a spirited debate with a colleague a couple of weeks ago that firing Manny Acta would be a bad idea. I now have to say that it probably isn't. I get that Acta is a cool, calm, collected guy, and he can only play the players he's been given, but something has got to give here.

The problem is, when you replace Acta with Sandy Alomar Jr, the results are going to be the same because Alomar will have the same crap team.

That's why I'm saying the front office needs to be cleaned out. President Mark Shapiro and Antonetti should both fear for their jobs at this point—and so should anybody else that is in their corner.

Have they made a living out of fleecing other teams out of their prospects for marginal players? Absolutely yes. That's how they acquired Asdrubal Cabrera (Eduardo Perez), Shin-Soo Choo (Ben Broussard), Carlos Santana (Casey Blake), Zach McAllister (Austin Kearns)—the list goes on.

But who do we have from the CC Sabathia, Victor Martinez, and Cliff Lee trades? Michael Brantley and Justin Masterson. Don't talk to me about any of those other players, because none of them have an impact.

If you look at the haul Kansas City received for Zack Grienke—Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Jake Odorizzi, and Jeremy Jeffers—two of those players have made an impact at the major league level, and the rest have at the very least been effective at AAA. That trade rebuilt the upper levels of the Royals farm system, which is one of the main reasons why that team really has a positive outlook for 2013.

What do the Indians have in their upper levels?

Nothing. Not one impact player whatsoever. Why do you think we're calling up 31 year old Vinny Rottino and 28 year old Chris Seddon?

The cupbord is bare and that must fall on the front office. And this is all before we even get into the fact of signing Grady Sizemore for $5 million, but passing on Josh Willingham because of a third year and concerns about his back.

It can't get much worse than this for the Indians and as Hamilton said, changes must be made. These players are trying. To use an Eric Wedge word, they're grinding out there. But they must be put in a position to succeed. Who does that fall on?

Mark Shapiro. Chris Antonetti. To some extent Manny Acta.

Get rid of 'em all. And Dolans, you can sell the team while you're at it.

What if?
~MAS

Welcome to Cleveland, Jimmy Haslam

For those of you who read this blog often, you know that I'm a huge football fan.

And right now, my beloved Cleveland Browns are going through a period of transition and I couldn't be happier about it.

Maybe I'm being an impressionable and naïve fan, but from everything I've seen, read, and heard from Jimmy Haslam III, I think we're about to usher in a fantastic new era of football in Cleveland, Ohio.

Once the sale becomes official—either in October or a at a special NFL commissioned meeting—Haslam will become the fifth owner in Browns history. The first, obviously, was Paul Brown, followed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Al Lerner was awarded the expansion franchise that began playing in 1999, and once he passed away his son Randy took over.

And I've heard some people talk about this, but the way Randy Lerner just didn't seem to love owning a football team is somewhat baffling. I mean really, can you imagine owning anything better than a football team?

To me, that's one of the best things about Jimmy Haslam. He came out to practice today dressed in Browns t-shirt and shorts to see his team practice. And throughout the morning session, he talked with both President Mike Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert, asking questions about the way things are run on and off the field.

Isn't it a beautiful thing to see the owner actually taking an interest in the franchise?

And that's not to speak too ill of Randy Lerner, but everybody knows he was the epitome of an absentee owner. Mike Holmgren had been attending the NFL Owners Meetings for him for the past couple of years, so what does that tell you?

I will say this for Lerner, though—he was never afraid to spend money. He threw tens of millions of dollars at people so that they would just go away—Romeo Crenel, Eric Mangini, Carmen Policy, Phil Savage, the list goes on and on and on.

But now, the Haslam family from Tennessee is coming in and I believe we're going to see a new period of stability. If Holmgren is right and the team does take "A pretty big jump" this year, I don't see Haslam cleaning house as some have reported he will.

Seriously, if this team wins six games and looks good doing it, why in the world would you blow it up?

This team finally seems to have a direction. It finally seems to have a purpose. It has an offensive and defensive philosophy. We have a premier running back—seriously, if you haven't seen Trent Richardson in person in Berea, just wait until next Friday's first preseason game. The new quarterback might be older, but he looks like a winner as well.

Now you add an owner to this equation who is passionate, driven, and committed to making this team successful here in Cleveland—what's not to like?

I may have drank that Brown and Orange kool-aid too quickly, but man is Jimmy Haslam an impressive man.

And I'd be shocked if he didn't bring winning back to Cleveland.

Here we go Brownies, here we go!
~MAS

You're a Profesional Athlete—Act Like One

Does Chris Perez really understand what it means to be a
professional athlete? Probably. But does he act like it?
Not at all.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

By now, I'm sure you've all heard about Chris Perez's latest string of Tweets from Sunday night, in which he berated people for Tweeting him more when the Indians lose than when they win.

While Chris Perez has the right to do whatever he wants with his Twitter—including criticizing fans—I don't have to like it. I'm a huge fan of Chris Perez the baseball player. But Chris Perez the person? I'm not so sure.

Allow me to explain—and stay with me on this, I promise you'll see my logic.

A few years ago, I went from attending a Sports Camp to being a junior counselor at the same place in consecutive summers (again, stay with me, I promise it'll pay off). This may or may not have been the best thing in the world for me, but it did mean I knew all of the people I would be working with quite well.

Anyway, one of the Senior Counselors I worked with always had these sayings—like "Safety first, last, and always." Or when someone we didn't know would come on the camp grounds he'd say, "Challenge them!"

But the one saying he'd always bark that stuck with me came whenever I'd make a mistake. He'd say, "You're an All-American, now act like one!"

Now I've never been an All-American at anything in my life before, and I don't anticipate it happening anytime in the near future, but the principle of the mater has always resonated with me.

If you're a high-profile person—a role model, or someone who ought to command respect—then you better act like it. You can't just do whatever the hell you want and act like a jackass. There are standards  and practices you must uphold if you want to have the respect that comes with your high profile.

And when I think about those standards and practices, there's one person that comes to mind as the poster boy for proper conduct as a professional athlete.

Colt McCoy.

I was at Browns Training Camp the other day, and after the end of the morning practice McCoy came over to the fans to sign autographs. McCoy obviously had a roller coaster of an offseason, highlighted by Draft Night when he tweeted congratulations to Trent Richardson for being selected by the Browns, and then went silent after the 22nd pick. Wonder why.

But I digress. McCoy came over to the fans, where some were yelling words of encouragement, and others...well, let's just say they weren't so encouraging. I'm not saying that they were being pure unadulterated evil to the guy, but everybody and their grandmother knows McCoy's not going to be the starting quarterback and some fans were making that quite clear.

And yet, McCoy didn't bat an eye. He signed autograph after autograph for a good five to 10 minutes, and while he didn't address the haters, every time McCoy finished signing and fans would give him words of encouragement he'd give a simple, "Thank you, I appreciate your support."

He wasn't brash. He wasn't annoyed with anyone. He simply signed his autograph, expressed his appreciation, and went on his way.

And that is exactly how a professional athlete is supposed to act in my book.

Look, Chris Perez is obviously not the same kind of person as Colt McCoy. If you think Perez wouldn't complain until the cows came home if Vinnie Pestano replaced him as closer of the Indians, you're delusional. McCoy has been nothing but a paragon of class, despite the fact that his father and his brother have done things that really didn't sit so well with the Browns organization.

Oh yeah, and the Browns took a 28 year old to replace him at quarterback, and McCoy still hasn't said boo about it.

This is not to say that I want all professional athletes to just be silent, and only give the canned answers the PR reps train them to give. That's not it at all. I just don't think Perez understands what it means to be a professional athlete.

He doesn't seem to understand that it's just not a good idea to complain about fans when you just got swept by a last place team. He doesn't seme to get that saying "it's baseball" isn't an excuse for being swept when you're supposed to be a contending team. And most of all, he doesn't seem to understand that he's a professional athlete—he's making $4.5 million dollars. Why does it bother him so damn much that people are ticked off after a loss, and don't always praise him after a win?

Hey Don Draper, isn't there something that might make up for the lack of tweets?

Well how about that. I guess that $4.5 million is supposed to count for something.

So, again, Chris Perez the baseball player? Great. Chris Perez the person? I'm not sure I like him so much.

Cause hey, all those things I said he "doesn't understand?" It's way more likely that he understands them just fine and is a jackass about them anyway. And because of that, I don't know that he'll ever really be one of the professional athletes I look up to and admire.

~MAS