Thoughts From the Chair

They're not that good

2011-09-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Tradition is very important in pro football. From the Packers and the Bears to the modern traditions of the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers always playing on Thanksgiving day. What happens though when tradition blinds current reality? The result is mind numbing. The Cleveland Browns have great tradition. After all, they were the winningest team in the 1950's. Clevelanders seem to believe though that the past somehow overrides the modern day actuality of their franchise. This past Sunday's 17-16 victory over the Miami Dolphins was their second in as many weeks. This victory comes off the heels of a 27-19 victory over a Peyton Manningless Indianapolis Colts. Due to the 2-1 start compiled by the Browns, those in Cleveland are probably singing the praises of people like the coach Pat Schurmer, the czar of the club, Mike Holmgren, and starting quarterback, Colt McCoy. I feel it's my duty as an impartial sports blogger to zap you Cleveland Brown dawg lovers back to reality. Here's the truth: The Cleveland Browns aren't that good. Honestly Browns fans. Let's look at your 2 wins objectively. Now before we begin, know that I have not watched a single entire Browns game. Even though they are out of the race, my focus has been on the Cleveland Indians and their mission to improve their ball club going into 2012. Therefore, I'm probably not the best authority regarding the Cleveland Browns but hey, I'll try my best. The first victory Cleveland had was against a team that was not prepared for Peyton Manning to be out of action with a neck injury. To make an attempt to replace him, the Colts call on.... Drum roll please.... KERRY COLLINS. Yeah, that Kerry Collins. The quarterback that this past summer was sitting on his couch enjoying retired life. The Colts bring him in, he has an atrocious QB rating in Week 1 and Cleveland fans are happy and pleased with their week 2 victory over those Colts. Would you be equally happy if they brought back Johnny Unitus and the Browns beat him? If you think about it, the situation is really the same thing in both situations. An old, washed up veteran who can't play anymore comes in to try and help a struggling organization trying to salvage a hopeless season. Let's look beyond that and go to this past week. You talk about quarterback issues. The Miami Dolphins have not had a consistent man under center since the days of Dan Marino. Yet, Cleveland Browns fans are happy that they defeated these two teams. I would use the term "Beat" instead of defeated, but I don't think that would be accurate since they barely won both of their games. The fact is that until the Browns defeat the elite teams such as the Ravens, Steelers or Patriots, they have absolutely no room to showboat or celebrate. Sadly though, if they don't win against those teams, they will revert right back to the old rebuilding excuse and yes, it is an excuse (See the Buffalo Bills amazing 3-0 start under new head coach Chan Gailey). Once the Browns win against those teams, then we'll talk.

Why I Love Hockey

2011-09-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

"It's too violent."' "'It's boring." "I can't see the puck." These are just some of the reasons many extra space before reasons people don't like hockey. These are the same reasons, unfortunately, that hockey has not become very popular in America. This is a sad fact for many different reasons. One of the main reasons is due to the fact that in 2004, the National Hockey League (NHL) locked out due to labor issues. The 2004 lock out put a dent in the sport that they are trying to repair even today. Even with making drastic rule changes; the sport is still trying to be rectified. However, despite these issues, the NHL is a sport that I love for many different reasons. First off, I feel that hockey is the most difficult sport in the world to play. I've had a few debates with people who would say that baseball would be the most difficult sport to play. That argument could be very valid for many reasons. After all, hitting a round ball with a wooden bat coming at you at over 90 MPH sometimes could make that debate an open and shut case for baseball. However, here is my defense to why I feel hockey is the most difficult sport to play. You have 5 guys with pieces of wood that the hold called a hockey stick. Now do you think they have a big basketball or beach ball to slap around? No! They have a little black circle made of rubber that they have to make sure they don't let go too far ahead of them. Now they are not running, no, no, no. They are skating as fast as they can ON ICE! Finally, once they get to their destination, this is not like football where you run into the end zone to score. Once you get to the point where the goal is, you have a person whose main goal in life and why he can put food on the table for his family is to stop you from getting that little rubber puck past him. Now, with all due respect, tell me that's not a difficult ability to here too before after respect master. Most of all, the reason I love hockey is for the off-season antics or lack thereof. Again, let's think about this logically. In football, you have Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg and being convicted of a felony. In baseball, you have Roger Clemens and his steroid debacle (Remember, Andy Pettite "Mis-remembered"). Also, in basketball, you have Ron Artest picking fights before you against innocent fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills in the Pistons/Pacers game. On top of all of this, in college football, you have absolutely deplorable recruiting violations. Things so awful that I'm sure Woody Hayes is spinning in his grave. Now that we know all this, name me a scandal in hockey. Guess what. YOU CAN'T. The reason I love hockey is that for the most part, there are no scandals. Now, as I've written before, I'm not saying that things in hockey don't happen. However, when it comes to hockey, one of 3 things happen in regards to scandals. One, scandals don't happen. Two, if they do happen, the players aren't charged (Example would be Sean Avery who shoved a police officer but was not charged.) or three, when scandals do happen, it is often taken care of either in the team's locker room or by the commissioner of the NHL. For these reasons, I feel that hockey should be revered rather than being a back page story on your local sports page or the final highlight on a slow news day on SportsCenter. That will never be though, because the fact is hockey is too clean cut of a sport. So for me, here's to hockey, the last real sport in the world.

Good For Him

2011-09-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

Throughout his tenure, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been criticized for various things. Fining players for hits and suspending other players for seemingly frivolous incidents just to name a few. However, a few days before the NFL Supplemental Draft, Commissioner Goodell did something that should really be commended. He suspended former OSU Quarterback Terrelle Pryor for the first 5 games for his involvement in a tattoo scandal at Ohio State where Pryor traded his trophies and other memorabilia in exchange for tattoos. When the University caught wind of Pryor's actions, they suspended him for 5 games. Due to this, I imagine it was Terrelle 's brilliant idea to try and get out of serving the suspension by fleeing to the NFL. There, he could immediately play on the greatest stage of all, the National Football League. Great idea, right? Not on Roger Goodell's watch. Commisioner Goodell basically said yes, you can play in our league, but you still have to serve the 5 game suspension. To this I say good for the Commissioner. It's about time someone stood up to these overhyped college players and not let them get away with what they did in college. If the commissioner didn't suspend Pryor, you are basically sending a message to all the collegiate athletes that no matter what you do in college, no matter how many laws you may break, it's all ok because if you're talented enough, you can just leave the world of academics and go pro. Of course, due to his ruling, the commissioner is getting criticism like he has always gotten. Charlie Batch of the Pittsburgh Steelers was one who said that Goodell's ruling was "Just wrong" when asked about it. Just wrong? What's so wrong with enforcing someone else's rules? What Roger Goodell did should be applauded for once. For once, he should not be called things like "The Devil" as Pittsburgh Steelers defensive player Jerome Harrison so candidly called him. Roger Goodell may not have done a lot of good things as commissioner of the NFL. He may be considered "The Devil" in many people's eyes. However, to me, for him to do what he did to Terrelle Pryor, he is looking like a Saint. Indeed crime doesn't pay. Hopefully, Terrelle Pryor knows that now. There's a new Sheriff in town and his name is Roger Goodell.

Sexy For All The Wrong Reasons

2011-08-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

Cue the cheesy soap opera organ. :When we last left our famous and informative blogger, he was about to tell us why football is so popular. What does he know that so few people know? Why is football so popular despite its shady background? How will this blog affect how people view sports? All this and more will be revealed in this episode of "Thoughts from the chair!" Dun dun dun!!!!!!!!: OK, enough of that nonsense. Last time I wrote, I explained that the NFL is way too popular of a sport. Why though? Why is pro football the most popular sport in the world with college football being arguably second and the NBA being third? The reason may shock and surprise some but not others. The reason is that all 3 sports mentioned above are all sexy sports. Sexy in the sense that all 3 have dirty laundry attached to them. From Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg, to recruiting scandals in College Football, to rappers spewing abrasive lyrics and it being accepted and condoned in the NBA. This dirty laundry stems from another somewhat morbid truth that needs to be addressed. This truth may not be heard by many. I may be severely scolded for even suggesting the idea of the truth. That truth is deep down inside we Americans love bad news. I realize it's extremely difficult to digest, but once you really think about it, you'll know it to be true. Do people honestly believe that there's not a correlation between the popularity in sports and the controversies that elude the most popular sports in America? A great example of my theory would be hockey. During its season, if you're lucky, you will see one to two highlights of Hockey games on SportsCenter. Some people may believe that this is because hockey is boring. After all, who in their right mind would want to watch grown men run up and down on ice for 3 hours give or take? However, I take the lack of popularity of hockey from a different angle. Here's a question to ponder regarding my view. When is the last time you heard of a scandal in the NHL? When was the last time you heard or read a hockey player getting shot? When is the last time you heard of a hockey player having multiple kids with multiple women? The fact is that you don't hear of anything like that. The biggest scandals in hockey are comprised of DUI's and that's about it. Now I'm not saying awful things don't happen in hockey. That would probably be far from accurate. What I am saying though is that if these things do happen in that sport, teams are able to police themselves and keep things in house. That's more than I can say about the other 4 most popular sports. Baseball, football, basketball and college football all have scandals. These scandals fuel the media and their popularity in American culture. Based on these truths, if this is where American sports are headed, I'll be glad to join my Canadian brothers and move to Canada. Not a bad idea, eh?

Popularity should not equal obsession

2011-08-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I'm back from vacation and have a lot of things on my mind, so let's get right to it:

While I was on vacation, the NFL lockout ended. Oh joy. Can you sense my sarcasm there? I sure hope so because those 2 words were filled with sarcasm. Now I realize that the National Football League is the number one sport in the United States. I for one feel it shouldn't be that way. I think there's a thin line between popularity and obsession and the media is on the brink of crossing that line if it hasn't already done so. Case in point is Mike and Mike in the Morning. While getting ready to leave for the day, I tuned into their show just to see what was going on in the sports world. The lockout was just about to end. Due to these events, Mike and Mike had Adam Schefter on their show. Now they were supposed to have C.C Sabathia on at that time but due to technical difficulties, that didn't happen. That's OK though because Mike Greenberg proclaimed "This is a football day." Really? Did he just say that? You just admitted that because football has some activity, no other sport matters. I don't get irritated too often, but this subject really gets to me. Another point that proved how obsessed America is with football happened the day after the Major League Baseball All-Star game. Now the day after the game, you would think the results and highlights would be the top story, right? Wrong. Turns out that a Steelers defensive player ran his mouth to a national men's magazine ranting and raving about commissioner Roger Goodell among other things. Which story made the top headlines? That's right, the NFL story. The last example I will make about our obsession with football happened the day that the owners agreed to the collective bargaining agreement. I admit that was a big story. ESPN apparently thought it was a bigger story when they covered it FOR 3 STRAIGHT HOURS! Obsessed, are we? I believe so. Covering that story for one hour would have been fine. Covering it for 3 hours makes me truly believe that we as a nation have a problem. A problem that, due to the new collective bargaining agreement, will not be cured for the next ten years. Furthermore, you all may think I'm joking, but if a MLB team won the World Series and on that same day, Peyton Manning threw for 8 touchdown passes, I really don't know what would be the top story. Why is this? Why is football taking over as the most popular sport in America? Tune in next time to find out the real reason.

Let It Count

2011-07-13T18:31:00.001-07:00

As I was watching the afternoon recap show of Mike and Mike In The Morning, I saw something very troublesome. Mike Gohlic and Buster Onley, who was filling in for Mike Greenberg that day, were both in agreement that the MLB All-Star Game should NOT count towards deciding who gets home field advantage in the World Series. What was more disturbing is that players such as Braves catcher Brian McCann were in agreement with the two hosts on this philosophy. I feel that this thinking is inaccurate and sort of unhealthy in my estimation. Their thinking is that the game should be nothing more than an exhibition game. This would be similar to the other All-Star Games in the NBA, NHL and NFL. Having the MLB All-Star Game be an exhibition game? Are you kidding me? Do people not remember the debacle that was the 2002 All-Star Game? It started out well with Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a home run by leaping over the right field wall and catching the ball. After that though, the game went downhill from there. The decline started with Tommy Lasorda coaching third base. Tommy may have been a great manager in his day, but there's absolutely no way Major League Baseball should put him in harm's way by putting him in charge of third base. In fact, in that game, Tommy was put in danger when a bat shattered due to a pitched ball. The bat flew Lasorda's way and caused him to fall right on his behind. Of course the announcers just laughed it off as some funny joke. It looked like something out of a Benny Hill skit. Things got progressively worse as the night went on. I will never forget seeing Rudy Giuliani in one of the dugouts and thinking to myself "What is he doing in the dugout?" Then came the ultimate sign of disrespect to the mid-summer classic. Going into the 11th inning, the score was tied at 7 apiece. Due to the absurd rule that every player should play in the game, by the time the 11th rolled around, neither team had anyone left on their bench. Nobody scored that inning so what did the commissioner do? After deliberating with the umpires, he decided to declare the game a tie. Really? Do people really want to go back to those shenanigans? I know I don't. I want to go back to the days of Ray Fosse being tackled by Pete Rose like in the 1980 game. Perhaps the game shouldn't count as home field advantage in the World Series. To say that the game should mean nothing though is also inaccurate I believe. Let the game count for something. That way, the game will be more enjoyable for the fans, the players and for the game as a whole.

Share The Blame

2011-07-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

"Horrible trade" "Awful deal." "What is Shapiro thinking?" These are some of the comments I used to hear whenever Mark Shapiro made a trade that people didn't like. I feel people ridiculing him started from day one of him becoming the General Manager of the Cleveland Indians. I can personally remember Shapiro sitting in the front row during one of the Indians games and someone I know saying "He looks like a spoiled little rich kid that bought a baseball team." Now these comments, albeit very cruel, are somewhat justified. After all, during his tenure as the GM, Shapiro traded not just one but two Cy Young award winners in C.C Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Furthermore Matt LaPorta, who we received for Sabathia, has not really panned out as of yet. Shapiro's thinking is to trade players with large contracts for future stars instead of paying them money that the players are asking for. Now this is just my opinion and I have no hard evidence to back this up. However, when you see some of the moves the former GM has made, you are more likely to see some trends. Plus, when you hear Shapiro use terms like "Market value", you begin to draw your own conclusions. Can Shapiro be blamed for it all though? My answer is no and here's why. Ever since he purchased the team, Larry Dolan has a reputation for being very careful with his money. I believe that Mr. Dolan is also looking for opportunities to make money whenever possible. A great example of this fact is when Progressive Field introduced "Snow Days" in December. Wouldn't you think turning a ballpark into a winter wonderland would be free? Not for good ol' Larry Dolan's Cleveland Indians organization it wasn't. You had to pay to ride the toboggans, sleds down the bleachers, etc. Based on that, you can clearly see how Larry Dolan enjoys cashing in on his investment whenever possible. Knowing these facts, the correlation between Mark Shapiro and Larry Dolan is clearly evident. Larry Dolan wants to save money. To do this, he tells Mark Shapiro to cut the payroll at whatever the cost. Shapiro then trades talent in order to apise his boss, Mr. Dolan. Now people may still want to blame Shapiro for the trades he has made. Let's look at this logically though. In the real world, if your boss told you, the employee, to cut the budget of his company in any way possible, wouldn't you do it? If you didn't, do you honestly think you would still have a job with that company? No, you wouldn't. The truth is all Mark Shapiro was doing when he was the GM of the Indians is listen to his boss. Plus, the trades Shapiro has made aren't that bad. We acquired Shin soo-Choo for Russell Branyan. We also got Justin Masterson, arguably our Ace right now, for Victor Martinez. On top of all that is one of my favorite trades ever. While it was not straight up, during the Mark Shapiro era, we received Grady Sizemore for Bartolo Colon. No, Mark Shapiro was not the greatest General Manager ever. However, have you ever heard the saying don't hate the player, hate the game? Well in this case, don't hate the General Manager. Hate the owner.

Too Much Power

2011-06-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

The All-Star game has always provided many memorable moments, no matter what sport it's in. From Michael Jordan's final shot in an All-Star game as a Washington Wizard in the NBA, to Wayne Gretzky's final bow in his last NHL All-Star game, to countless memories in both the NFL and MLB All-Star games as well. One memory this writer will never forget is seeing Sandy Alomar, Jr. of the Cleveland Indians hitting what turned out to be the game winning home run in the 1997 mid-summer classic. In spite of all these timeless pieces of time, the All-Star games in all 4 major sports have one major flaw in them. The flaw is that the fans are able to vote for the players they want to see in the game. Now I'm all for Democracy in sports. However, it bugs me just a little when I see guys like Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols as leading vote getters despite what they do on the field. I'm not saying that either one of those players aren't good ballplayers. When players like that are struggling to hit .300 and are still considered All-Stars, something needs to change and fast. I hate to say it, but it's gotten to the point where even American Idol has more validly in their voting process then any All-Star game. At least American Idol is actually based on talent. What it comes down to is that the All-Star game is nothing more than a popularity contest. If you want proof, look at the current leading vote getters for MLB's version this year. The players and teams that they represent are all from big market teams. Last time I checked, in the American League, the Yankees have three players represented just in the infield. I wasn't sure if they were showing the vote leaders in the All-Star game or the next Yankee game. In the National League, you always have Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols represented despite the numbers they produce on the field. Especially this year since, as of this writing, Pujols is on the Disabled List. In spite of this, Albert will probably be named the starter of the game. This will be in spite of the fact that he will not be able to play in the game. I feel this takes away the true meaning of the game which is to put the players with the best numbers in the game. This rings true especially now since the winner of the All-Star game has home field advantage to begin the World Series. What needs to happen is all four sports need to take the voting out of the fans hands slightly. I would have the fans vote make up for 50% of the overall vote. Have the other 50% be a collection of the fellow players and Major League Baseball officials. To make it even more interesting, have the umpires weigh in on who gets to go to the game. Yes, the various All-Star games do provide lasting memories. Unless we fix the way the players go to that game, the game as a whole will be a forgotten memory.

Misguided Anger

2011-06-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest. I don't like the NBA. Ever since the lockout happened in the 98-99 season, I feel the game has lost some of its luster. I'm more of a MLB guy. I love anything and everything about the Cleveland Indians. In fact, the one year, my Uncle was shocked at my loyalty when I told him I listened to the first game of Spring Training that year on the radio. With all that being said, when a city acts out of line without merit, I'm the type of person that will call them out on it. I feel certain cities need to be called out on this whole LeBron James issue. New York, Chicago and Cleveland all got their wish. LeBron James lost the NBA Finals last Sunday to the Dallas Mavericks. Joy in mudville. The joy is justified, right? WRONG! Let me give you a little scenario. Guy meets girl. Both fall in love with each other. Couple stays together for 6 years. Everything's great within the relationship. One day, guy sees another girl somewhere. He starts talking to her. Finds out she has everything her current relationship is lacking and more. After weighing the pros and cons, guy breaks up with long time girlfriend to pursue what he feels is a better relationship. Girl is devastated. What does she do? She nitpicks everything that he does every time she sees him or hears of him being happy or having a good time. This nitpicking is even though when they were together, she thought everything he did was cute no matter how immoral or classless it is. Then, when she finds out something bad happens to him, she says things like "Good for him." He deserves it." Meanwhile, she's still single and is now jaded and bitter. Sound familiar? EXACTLY. This is exactly how the Bulls, Cavs and Knicks are acting. They are all bitter because LeBron James did more this past NBA season. Now again, if you have read my previous posts, you know that I am not a LeBron sympathizer. I think it's horrible what he did to the city of Cleveland. The fact is that if LeBron did this in any other city, that city would think nothing of his antics. If Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and LeBron would have had that pre-season celebration in any of those three other cities, that city would have been excited and would have celebrated right along with them. If Wade would have coughed during the Finals while playing for Cleveland, Cavs fans would have thought it was cute. Guaranteed. All this comes down to is nothing more than misguided anger. The cities that James snubbed on July 8th, 2010 are simply angry because the "Big 3" aren't doing these childish antics in their town. Conversely, if they were doing these things in any of the other cities, Miami would be just as angry as the other cities are now, if not more. If people wanted to root against LeBron, they should have done it from day 1 when ESPN was foaming at the mouth over him in the St. Vincent St. Mary's gymnasium. Now it's simply too late. Don't boo him now. Don't root against him now. Simply try and make your team better to keep these 3 superstars out of the Finals. That and only that will be the best revenge possible. Now since that topic is laid to rest, I simply have one question. Are you in the Tribe?

He's Still Winning

2011-06-11T17:47:00.001-07:00

Based on the title of this entry, some people may think this is somehow a column about Charlie Sheen. A title that sates "He's still winning." often makes people think of the outrageous, out of his mind actor. This entry is not about him. This entry is about LeBron James and Cleveland's desperate and sometimes pitiful attempt of quick revenge at any and all costs. You see, as of this writing, the Miami Heat are down 3 games to 2 in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Due to what happened on July 8th, 2010 when LeBron James "Took his talents to South Beach" to play for the Miami Heat, many people, especially Cleveland fans, were happy with Miami's 112-103 loss to Dallas on Thursday night. To me though, that jubilation on the part of Cleveland fans is not only annoying, but it's also unwise and slightly immature. I'm in no way condoning what LeBron did on any level. The "Decision process" that James orchestrated last summer was wrong on so many levels. Plus, the party they had afterwards at Miami's American Airlines arena looked like something out of a Kiss concert. I didn't know if the big 3 of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James were going to announce their arrival or if they were going to belt out a couple of lyrics to "Detroit Rock City". With that being said, I believe it's equally or worse to actually be happy when James loses, especially with the state of the Cavs right now. Due to our horrid 2010-2011 win loss record, the Cavs now have the #1 pick in the 2011 NBA draft. With the way the NBA Lottery works, you have to be one of the worst teams in the league to even get a chance at that pick. The NBA puts ping pong balls in a hopper to pick the teams. Almost like you're going to win something. When Cleveland won the first pick, you would have thought THEY were the ones playing the Mavericks and actually beating them. The combination of how the draft is constructed and the way Cleveland was celebrating, they were basically telling the world "Hooray, we stink and here's the proof." Meanwhile, Cleveland's former hero, LeBron James, was doing something the Cavs have never done. WINNING FINALS GAMES. Does that sound like the city of Cleveland is actually winning? If it does, maybe we need to re-write the definition of the word "Winning" in the dictionary. The fact is that until the Cleveland Cavaliers has a better record than the Miami Heat, LeBron will ALWAYS be the one winning this battle between he and the Cavs. Until Dan Gilbert fulfills his prophesy that he made on the night James made his "Decision" that the Cavs will win a championship before LeBron will, LeBron will ALWAYS be winning. Let's not forget, the Cavs willingly gave LeBron the maximum $50 million that he was guaranteed only if he stayed in Cleveland. Knowing all these facts, let's recap here. As of this writing, LeBron James is 2 wins away from an NBA Championship. He was paid the maximum amount of money he was allowed to have with a new contract. Even though they had one of the worst records in the NBA, Dan Gilbert still says the Cavs will win a championship before the talented Miami Heat. Cleveland celebrates a #1 overall pick in the draft which proves they're a bad team. Yeah and Charlie Sheen is the crazy one.

is Winning Blind?

2011-06-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

Everyone has heard the saying "Love is blind". On Memorial Day, I found out that winning is blind as well. On that day, Jim Tressel resigned from the Ohio State University. Tressell resigned amidst controversy filled with lies and cover ups. Now some people say that the source of this controversy is Terrelle Pryor. Pryor was caught selling his memorabilia in exchange for discounts on tattoos among many other things. However, what very few people realize is that Tressell was caught in the fires of trouble when he was the head coach at Youngstown State University. Even with all this shady activity, Jim Tressell still has many followers that support him. For a while, I wondered how anyone could support a man with such a bad reputation. Then, after overcoming my bewilderment, I discovered an awful truth that is very disturbing. The state of Ohio is so obsessed and desperate for a championship that we are willing to look the other way as long as a coach or player can bring us a championship. Want proof? I will gladly give it to you. When LeBron James played in Cleveland, he could literally do no wrong. From when the purchasing of his Hummer was in question, to him having multiple kids out of wedlock, all of the responses from avid Cleveland fans were all the same. "Leave him alone. He's a good man". Then, once he took his talents to Miami, he was public enemy number one in Cleveland. This is a classic case of Ohio fans being blinded for no other reason than they want any kind of championship we can get. Now, that blindness is happening again for Jim Tressell. This man withheld information from investigators. He made a fool out of the university and a mockery out of College Football. Yet, due to the magical year of 2002-2003 when they won the National Championship, people still have the guts and audacity to support Tressell like he has done nothing wrong all because he hoisted the crystal trophy on that fateful January night. To further illustrate my point, I have 2 simple words for you. John Cooper. If this filth with Tressell happened with John Cooper, everyone in the Ohio State community would have ostracized him to the high Heavens. Why? It's simply because he did not reach the brass ring that is a National Championship. What we need to do is open our eyes as a state as a whole. When any person in our beloved sports does something wrong, we as a state need to call them out on it and say simply "This is wrong." Apparently, because of our past "Heroes", winning is blind. However, it doesn't have to be.

Pessimism or Reality?

2011-05-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

If you ask anyone who knows me, they would say, for the most part, that I'm a pretty optimistic person. Even when it rains outside, I'm the kind of person that will say during the storm "Thank God the grass is getting nourishment." Beginning in late 2002, that optimism really became tested. There was this kid at St. Vincent St. Mary's High School named Lebron James that really tried at my optimism. In 2002, Lebron was a star in the making. Sports media outlets such as ESPN were praising the young Akron native as the next Michael Jordan. I was one of many that year that watched James as he tore up the court for his High School Alma matter. I also watched and thought to myself "This is nothing but trouble." As the pocket full of optimism as I am though, I kept my mouth shut. That June, the Cleveland Cavilers, coming off a horrid year, drafted Lebron with their number one pick. As everyone in our championship starved city rejoiced, I sat in my chair most of the time with a happy go lucky look on my face and thought "This guy isn't good." However, the love affair continued. Lebron had his own commercials, his face was on magazines. His pose was even on a building in downtown Cleveland with the words "We are all witnesses" below it and of course the famous Nike logo. As this infatuation by Cleveland fans continued, I simply sat back and said "This is not good." "This guy is overhyped."

Couple seasons go by and he wins a MVP crown. I didn't watch the trophy ceremony but I guess one of the first people he thanked were the priests at his high school. Now with country so starved and desperate for religion nowadays, he of course was congratulated for his praising. People continued to say "Gosh, he's such a nice person. He's so classy." I still sat there with the same smile and said to myself "No he's not." Time continued to pass. The Cleveland Cavilers continued to win games but yet, no championships. James continued to rack up the points and another MVP crown. At the second MVP presentation for the self proclaimed "King James", Lebron called up his entire team to the podium with him to help accept his award claiming "I wouldn't be here without these guys." "How wonderful" is the statement I continued to hear because of his supposed "Honorable" act that night. I again sat in my chair and said "No he's not. It's going to backfire on us." Then, the playoffs came that year and everyone was in hysteria. Going into the playoffs in 2010, the same year Lebron celebrated his second MVP award, the Cavs seemingly had it all. They had Lebron who of course was God's gift to Cleveland. They also had Shaquille O'Neal who, even though he was well past his prime, was still a very good asset to the team. They seemingly had all the intangibles needed to finally bring the city of Cleveland what it desperately wanted, a NBA Championship. Once again, everyone was praising Lebron and the team as a whole strongly proclaiming "This is our year." It was around this time that I began to be a little more vocal when I said "No it's not." Once more, the whole town was disappointed as the Cavs and most importantly our hero, Lebron James, stunk up the place as our beloved Cavs lost to the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. After that loss came the summer of 2010.

For over a year, the same media outlets that praised Lebron for his talents on the basketball court were calling those 3 months during the summer of 2010 "The biggest free agent class in NBA history." You had superstars such as Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade become free agents that summer. As the dominos fell and the free agents found their destinations, you still had Lebron James sitting out there also as a free agent. Just as in previous situations, all of Cleveland was being blindly optimistic. "I think he's staying" said people around me. I still sat in my wheelchair with a big grin on my face thinking "No, he's not." The night of July 8th, 2010 was labeled as "The Decision" by ESPN. Jim Gray had the fortunate (or unfortunate) task of interviewing Lebron on that summer night with the world watching. As Grey tried to stall for time by asking ridiculous questions such as "Who all knows about your decision?" I began to gain more and more confidence that he was indeed leaving Cleveland. Then came the most infamous words in Cleveland sports history and they were said by Lebron himself. "This fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and play for the Miami Heat." What's this? Did the prodigal son just betray his people? Most importantly, did my realistic views just outweigh the optimism of an entire city? I think so! Talk about role reversal. I being the optimistic one just became right even though I had pessimistic views. Now, Lebron James is in Miami still chasing that elusive NBA Championship with the help of his friends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. Meanwhile, Cleveland is still starved for a championship while Lebron might get a ring. Guess what. No he won't. :)