It really is amazing that it is May 14^th and the Cleveland Indians are in 1st place of the AL Central.  It’s hard to get your arms around exactly why no one cares at all about the Indians being in 1st place after six weeks of games No one is talking about it. No one is going to the games. And what is even more amazing is that all anyone wants to talk about in local sports is the Browns and the draft.

Sports talk radio hosts with call-in shows literally beg to talk about anything else but the Browns on-air. No dice. Jim from Garfield Heights wants to talk about why the Browns should have taken some guy you never heard of from North Texas St. in the Sixth Round instead of some other guy you never heard of before he was drafted three weeks ago.

It is well documented I think the Browns will suck forever. This is because there is a proven track record of failure with this team that even gives the Arizona Cardinals a chuckle.  The Browns front office appears disengaged.  The owner is a soccer fan and doesn’t even pretend to care anymore.  It is impossible to sign quality free agents here because guys that play in the league know You Cannot Win Here.  Yet, here we are in Mid May and it’s still all about the Browns…

Why does anyone care?  Why does anyone think anything will ever change? Which it won’t by the way. Ever. If you think about it, Browns fans aren’t really “football fans”.  Being a football fan would connotate having an interest in on field matchups and strategy for beating other rival teams.  The Browns are out of it by the time the leaves change colors.  Let’s be honest.  Browns fans have a much different schedule of events every year then any other NFL city.  Here’s what a Browns fan does every year:

January-April 26:  Speculate about draft

April 26-Aug 1:  Breakdown the pros and cons of the draft

Aug 1-Sept 9:  Discuss the play of the new draft picks in the pre season scrimmages

Sept 9-Sept 30:  Watch team’s new players fail to contribute on way to 1-3 start and fall out of contention

Oct 1- Dec 31:  Speculate about next season’s draft while absorbing dull weekly losses

When you really look at this thing clearly, Browns fans aren’t really football fans per se, but are Draft Fans.  Mel Kiper is their Overlord.  Jon Gruden their oracle.  It’s never going to be Next Year, but it’s fun to talk about it.  Well, more fun than watching the actual subpar team that has been assembled.  That I understand.

There will be plenty of time to watch the Browns go 5-11.  That will happen just as surely as Richardson suffering a horrifying injury in training camp, Wheedon being a bust, and the never ending continuation of The Search For The Franchise QB.  Let it happen.  Until then, take a look around Browns Fan.  The Indians are hanging in there.  It’s worth a look.

-Greg Miller

Read more insensitive stuff written by Greg Miller at http://nursethehate.blogspot.com/

When the Browns selected with the 22nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft 28 year old quarterback Brandon Weeden, host Mike James couldn’t help but ponder upon the unique path Weeden took to becoming the oldest player ever selected in the 1st Round. It’s a story that pretty much was the story on Brandon going into the Draft, guy gets drafted early in the 2002 MLB Draft right out of high school and takes the money to go chase the dream of being a pitcher in the Big’s, and after 4 years of driving around on a bus full of dudes through the hot summer of the South to play in the middle of nowhere to hardly any fans in the lowest level of the Minor’s, decides one day that’s it, I’m going back to College and play football. We all have heard this story by now, and even more so the debate most borne of this story of whether or not a player selected so old benefits from his age and maturity, or, giving to really the sole reason why he was selected 22nd and not in the top 3, rather that being an old rookie quarterback is seen mostly as a negative. But the story that most intrigued the DC Show was that Brandon went to College as a man, became the All Conference star quarterback of a top ranked team with National Titles in their sights… with all these young College girls running around. Needless to say, you should listen here to this bit fans of the show are already calling a classic. Enjoy~

This excerpt aired live on WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland and streamed live at wruw.org on April 30th, 2012. Be sure to check out wruw.org for all the great programming this great Cleveland FM station carries.

The NFL draft is in 7 days, and you just know the Browns are going to do something to piss off the fan base.  It’s what they do.  They just can’t help themselves.  Now I would like to insert here that they might make the best football decision.  It’s not likely, but it is possible.  However, I have no doubt in my mind that whatever they do will get hardcore fans upset.  The organizations’ disconnect from their customer base and their on field football product is maybe my favorite thing about the Cleveland Browns.  They take their fans for granted, and history has shown that there is no reason not to do so.  The Rubes will be back next year, just like always.

Personally, I think they should trade down and get as many decent players as they can.  They have so many holes to fill, they would be better off getting a bunch of B+ players rather than an A or two.   If they have to use that #4 pick, they should take Richardson.  Why Richardson?  You have to be able to run the ball to win in the AFC North.  The weather sucks the second half of the year, and the QB situation is shaky at best.  If you can land a stud running back that can carry a team on his shoulders for a few years, then the pressure is taken off the shitty QB.  I bet Colt McCoy will look a lot better on second and three than he does second and nine.  There hasn’t been a back that has received as much pre-draft praise as Richardson since Peterson went to Minnesota.  A good running back like that can make plays on his own.

The “big play wide receiver” is a proposition fraught with peril my friends.  When Calvin Johnson came out, it was obvious he was going to be awesome.  That guy is a beast.  Blackmon?  Eh, I’m not so sure.  I’m not sold on those Big 12 guys.  Those wide open spread offenses inflate stats and are often an illusion.  And aside from that, how many wide receiver flameouts have there been in the top picks over the last decade, in general?  How about Darrius Heyward-Bay, Michael Crabtree, Tedd Ginn Jr., Troy Williamson and Mike Williams?  David Terrell, Peter Warrick?  Braylon Edwards? I can go on if you want…  The Browns need receivers, and their unwillingness to chase even b-level free agents is perplexing.  Even guys like Eddie Royal and Early Doucet are a big upgrade for this team.  I just don’t see the risk/reward making sense to draft a receiver at #4 though.

Many “experts” predict the Browns will draft LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne despite his scoring a 4 on the Wonderlic.  Now, I don’t think you need to be a genius to play in the NFL, but a 4 on the Wonderlic should be a cause for concern. I’ve taken that test, and the questions are like this:  A man has three chickens and two ducks in his red pickup truck.  What color is his truck?  A) Red B) Eleven C) Both”.

While I can’t help but wonder how that young man attended classes at LSU and remained eligible, others wonder how he would pair with party boy Joe Haden.  While the fans would hate this selection, it’s probably not awful if the guy can play and understand what is being asked of him on defense.  However, we are talking about the #4 pick overall.  Even if you have some kind of learning disability that skews your test scores, we are talking about a four.  That means you got your name right and 2+2.  Hell, if you randomly guessed, you could probably get a 12.  Unless you are 100% confident that this guy will shut down the opposing team’s #1 receiver, you have to pass on him as the benefit of a playmaker on offense is much larger than an upgrade at corner.

There is still much speculation and posturing to be done prior to Draft Day.  If you are a Browns fan, the one good thing is that no matter who they take, it should be an upgrade.  The one down thing is that you know whoever they draft will tear his knee up in mini camp, or be arrested in a nightclub with ten pounds of cocaine and a transvestite hooker named “Miss Crystal”.  We’ll just have to see which one of those outcomes it is, won’t we?

Go Browns.

-Greg Miller

Read more insensitive stuff written by Greg Miller at http://nursethehate.blogspot.com/

What’s the biggest problem with the Indians?  You could argue having no power on the corners, and that is a pretty legitimate argument.  Hannahan, Kotchman, and Duncan aren’t going to get it done.  You could argue having subpar starting pitching with unreliable veterans, and mediocre prospects on the mound every night.  Not everyone can be the Phillies or Giants, and pitching is always a need.  So what is their biggest problem?

In my opinion, this team just isn’t interesting.  The Indians have not been able to create a captivating storyline to make fans compelled to come out to Progressive Field and watch them play.  You really couldn’t ask for a better market situation to try and sell tickets.  The Cavaliers are awful, and their players of interest are injured and out for the rest of the season.  The weather has been unseasonably warm, and dry for the most part.  Tickets are affordable.  The ballpark is nice.  Yet, there is an ocean of empty seats at Progressive Field.

Let’s all agree that the 2012 Indians are not going to win anything.  They need at least three legitimate everyday players and probably two starters to contend.  Despite the plan that management had told the public that this was a year for contention, the Tigers and lack of key player development (calling Matt LaPorta and Lonnie Chisenhall!  Matt LaPorta and Lonnie Chisenhall!) has made this team one of the cannon fodder for the “real” teams of the American League.  Still, when you wake up every morning on the corner of Ontario and Carnegie, you have to sell some tickets.

The Doomsday Scenario that is unfolding is this.  The Public does not believe in the Dolans as owners.  The team has devoted limited resources to sign players, so they must field a team of young players and calculated gambles like Grady Sizemore and Ubaldo Jimenez.  Even if the team starts relatively hot, there is a lag time until there is public buy in.  If there is a slow start?  Look out below…  Nobody is buying tickets.  The team will face financial losses, and try to deal high salary players and potential free agents like Choo and Perez to try to get lucky with prospects.  The never ending “rebuilding process” starts again.

The Indians function like a business, not a team.  As a fan, you want a kooky zillionaire owner like the Tigers have to throw money at the team.  That guy just wants to win.  I believe the Dolans want to win too.  They just don’t want to lose money while they are doing it.  In MLB, that’s a real problem.  They call that, “The Pirates Model”.

The Indians need to come up with some sort of spark for the 2012 team.  “What If?” isn’t going to hold much water if they are well below .500 on May 1^st as I expect them to be.  The idea of “Blue Collar Guys Working Together” doesn’t sell tickets either.  They need to focus in on a few of these guys and sell them through.  In the “Good Old Days” of the Indians, everyone wanted to see Omar, Kenny, Thome, and Manny.  You knew these guys.  I don’t know if they need to have Michael Brantley get a face tattoo, Vinnie Pestano ride in from the bullpen on a llama, or Justin Masterson change his name to “Rex the Destroyer”.  You gotta do something though.  Casual baseball fans (i.e., almost every potential ticket buyer in NE Ohio) needs something to focus on besides Dollar Dog Night.  Otherwise the 2012 season will feel like a never ending root canal.

-Greg Miller

Read more insensitive stuff written by Greg Miller at http://nursethehate.blogspot.com/

Terry Pluto is a famed Cleveland sports writer whose research and effort he puts into his work and writings is something I’ve always admired him for, and not just because more often than not I find myself through my own research and effort landing upon a lot of the same conclusions (which I see most as my being on the right path a lot of the time more than anything). Considering how much great work Terry has produced covering Cleveland sports, it also makes it all the more an honor when he agreed to call into my show and talk Tribe with me for the DC Show’s “Big 2012 Tribe Season Preview”. Listen to the whole interview here and also be sure to check out Terry’s work daily for the Plain Dealer at cleveland.com, as well as his work as an author in having written 23 books on sports by visiting his website terrypluto.com.

This excerpt aired live on WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland and streamed live at wruw.org on April 2nd, 2012. Be sure to check out wruw.org for all the great programming this great Cleveland FM station carries.

“Wahoo’s on First” is a Cleveland Indians blog that the USA Today in their 2012 Baseball Season Preview magazine named the Best Indians Fan Blog, and one visit to the site makes it easy to see why such accolades have been afforded them. I’ve been a fan of the site for a while now and have frequently reposted their work on the Defend Cleveland Show as well as referenced it live on-air. This of course made it all the more exciting when Lewie Pollis, editor and contributing writer for WoF agreed to call into the show and go “Round the Bases” with me for the “Big 2012 Tribe Season Preview” show. Listen to the whole interview with Lewie here, and be sure to check out Wahoo’s on First and to make it apart of your daily Tribe fix. Also be sure to check out the Wof’s newest feature that fans of Sabermetrics cannot be more excited about, the Simple WAR Calculator. So simple, yet so great. Why can’t all complex things be made so easy?

This excerpt aired live on WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland and streamed live at wruw.org on April 2nd, 2012. Be sure to check outwruw.org for all the great programming this great Cleveland FM station carries.

Do you realize that the Jets held a two and a half hour press conference with Tim Tebow yesterday?  Not only that, ESPN Radio nationally carried most of it live.  It’s incredible.  Here’s what actually happened.  A backup quarterback was traded for two low draft picks to a team that missed the playoffs and already has a crappy quarterback.  If you put a couple of other names on this deal, it wouldn’t even have made the back page.  For example, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded two low round draft picks for QB Byron Leftwich today despite signing Josh Freeman to an extended contract earlier in the month. This of course didn’t happen, but the point is, had it, would anyone care?

While this may sound ridiculous, it’s actually pretty close to what the Jets did.  Well, of course, there is the fact that Tebow is viewed as some sort of Christian Crusader and the Chosen Vessel of the Lord Almighty.  Oh, and the Jets appear to be overrun by Thy Fallen Men with every bad characteristic of man you can think of including greed, vanity, lust, sloth and pride.  Throw in that New York is the most decadent city on the planet (Sorry, Vegas), and you have maybe the most interesting human interest story the NFL has seen in decades.

Tebow’s charisma and misplaced importance of what he represents has led to a bizarre series of events where his shortcomings on the field have been totally ignored.  The guy completed 46% of his passes last year.  He makes some throws that are so bad, you ask yourself if you have ever seen a pass that poor in all your years of watching professional football.  However, he makes just enough good ones, and most importantly in high profile situations, that people just seem to forget all the other misplays.  No one has had as wide a berth or received as much forgiveness from fans as this guy.  It makes you think about Jay Cutler.

Jay Cutler is ten times the QB Tim Tebow is on a bad day.  Yet, as much charisma as Tebow has, Cutler has the opposite.  You just look at that guy and think, ‘What a douche”.  Is it the facial expression?  Body language?  I don’t know, but he has to be watching all this and thinking, “I got sacked 500 times last year, and still threw bullets between defenders all game long.  This guy completed a couple of ducks late in low scoring games, and he’s hailed as a revolutionary player.  What do I gotta do man?  This is bullshit.”

The Jets situation is going to be a complete circus.  Wait a minute.  They just had a three hour press conference in March for their new backup QB.  This already is a complete circus.  Wait til you throw in Santonio Holmes bad mouthing whatever QB can’t get him the ball, Rex Ryan MFing everyone, the New York media cursing Tebow’s inevitable bad play, and the poor performance of the team.  It has all the makings of how the Crusades started.  Mark my words, there will be caravans of Born Again Rednecks driving up from the Florida panhandle with shotguns trying to “civilize” the island of Manhattan by late November.  Headless corpses of Jet fans wearing Sanchez jerseys will be strung up on light posts as New York will be unable to stop the hordes.  Angry Crackers with “15” tattooed on their necks will make the Bible belt rise again, until our industrialized might will bear down on them in a decisive battle at Gettysburg… or Breezewood, since they will all probably hole up at that Cracker Barrel there.

Meanwhile, the Browns might draft a receiver again….

-Greg Miller

Read more insensitive stuff written by Greg Miller at http://nursethehate.blogspot.com/

It seems amazing that the Indians season is already off the rails on February 27^th.  How on earth can two key players already be hurt when they haven’t even done anything with live pitching yet?  Even more amazing is that one of them wasn’t named Travis Hafner.  Grady Sizemore hurt his back fielding ground balls last week.  Excuse me?  How does a guy that is paid to be in peak physical condition hurt his back doing a drill?  If you told me that story but substituted the name “Kurt Douglas” with “Grady Sizemore”, I would say, “Well of course Kurt Douglas hurt his back fielding grounders!  The man is 95 years old for Christ’s sake!”  Grady Sizemore is 29, and he has worse physical ailments than Joe Namath.

Sure, Sizemore has had bad luck and more surgeries than Meg Ryan.  The really bad news is that we’re talking about his back here.  This isn’t tweaking a knee or hamstring.  This is one more thing on a laundry list of injuries that even an NFL player would wince at.  Here’s what I’m saying…  If you have back trouble in your twenties, I think we can all agree that you may not be well suited for the job of “professional athlete”, and may want to concentrate on something where you sit at a desk and walk down the hall to eat the occasional office birthday cake.  ”Insurance Adjuster” might be good for you.  Guys with back trouble should be saying things like “Well, I was going to get up the ladder and do the gutters this weekend, but with my back and all…”.  Guys with back trouble generally don’t say things like “I turned on Verlander’s fastball and took him to the opposite field.”

It is unbelievable how Sizemore’s body has failed him.  If he can’t get through early drills, how on earth is he going to play 125+ MLB games?  While it is nice to hope he will return to the fleet footed Wonder Boy of his early career here, that is not going to happen.  Players all have a shelf life, and it looks like his is up.  So now you have $5 million tied up in a guy that in a best case scenario will hit .240 in hopefully 150 at bats with little or no power.  Michael Brantley?  You’re up.  Let’s see what you’ve got.

The other killer is Chris Perez.  How does a guy hurt himself so badly in his first actual bullpen session that he’s out for a month and a half?  Gee, I don’t know…  Maybe he came to camp out of shape?  I don’t know if you caught this great back and forth between the Plain Dealer reporter and head trainer Lonnie Soloff.

Soloff said Perez was pushing himself too hard so early in camp.

“His body was clearly not ready for the intensity of that bullpen session,” said Soloff, who was asked if he meant Perez was not in shape.

“No,” he said. “I’m just saying he wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the bullpen session.”

Allow me to translate what Soloff was saying.  “Chris Perez came to camp out of shape, and blew out his oblique.  I’d love to go off about how a so called professional athlete can’t even keep himself in good enough condition in the offseason to throw a pitch, but if I do that his agent and the front office will have my ass for creating a fire storm.”

Allow me look into the future.  Perez will have this nagging lingering injury all year, and continue to re-tweak it as he comes back too soon.   Here’s a post game we’ll see in May 2012.  “Perez had difficulty locating his pitches, and the Royals seemed to be sitting on his fastball.  Last season Perez was routinely clocked at 97-98, but this year his velocity has remained in the 91-93 range.  Manager Manny Acta said, “Chris threw a lot of pitches out there and really battled.  This is a long season.  He’ll get it turned around.”  Said Perez on his three earned runs and blown save last night, “The oblique is fine.  I’m just a little behind right now missing all those reps at Spring Training, but I’ll be fine.  I feel good.”  Perez currently has a 8.45 ERA and has closed just 2 of 5 save opportunities thus far this season.”

This Indians team is not constructed to be able to absorb injuries to key players.  With a small payroll, they don’t even fill the starting positions with legitimate players.  The minors are thin, and it’s not as if there is a MLB quality closer and center fielder hanging out looking for a gig.  Toss in that Roberto Fausto Hernandez Carmona is out of the picture until he cuts through the red tape of a Visa violation, and the Indians are missing their #3 starter, their closer, and their centerfielder who was probably going to bat third.  Oh yeah, it’s not even March.

Uh-oh.

-Greg Miller

Read more insensitive stuff written by Greg Miller at http://nursethehate.blogspot.com/

This article was written for NewsNet5 and can be read here: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/sports/basketball/cavaliers/why-lebron-should-just-let-his-game-speak-for-him

Last week among rumors that Lebron would consider Cleveland as a free agent option and was wondering aloud if Cleveland fans and Gilbert would welcome him back, the DC Show was wondering why this recent PR stunt of his had fans asking anything other than for Lebron to just shut up and play.

- Fact is the guy is a great player and if he were to show an interest in coming back to Cleveland to win those sought after championships back here at home, the door should be open to him. We, like him, should be about winning championships and adding that to our image rather than more worried about our image and whether or not people like us.

- Bigger fact, Lebron would make any team better so anyone who just doesn’t want him back must have gotten stuck on one of the 5 steps of  coping with loss in the Kübler-Ross model. Most likely that big step in dealing with anger.

- But the biggest fact right now is that Lebron has at least 2 more years left before he can even be a free agent, and even though his newly hired PR man has clearly given him ideas, he’s best to just shut up and play for now.

- Mike James

Spring Training is when hope springs eternal and everyone is a contender.  OK, let’s cut the bullshit here.  Most teams have no chance whatsoever.  As the baseball season is 162 games, the cream always rises to the top.  It’s not like the NFL, where you can catch a lucky break or two and you find yourselves stumbling into the playoffs.  No way.  Baseball is a grind where luck has no place to hide over the course of a never ending season.  The good teams win and the bad teams lose.  That means that if you live in a city where the ownership has decided to spend their way into contention, you have a chance.

Detroit has all but assured themselves of winning the Central as they have wildly outspent everyone else, and they have managed to do so while Chicago is beginning a total rebuilding project.  That’s really good timing for them.  The Indians are probably the second best team in the Central.  But there is a heck of a gulf between one and two.  In the best case scenario, the Tigers will only edge Cleveland by 15 games.  That means the Indians should be out of it by just after the All Star break, and that’s only if they start strong.  If they come out flat in April?  Uh-oh.  Look for empty seats and lots of discounted fast food promotions.  “C’mon honey!  It’s dollar Sloppy Joe day at the Indians game.  It’ll be better than Corn Dog Night, I just know it!”

No matter what you hope will happen this season, the Tigers are going to win the Central.  I know this like I know that the Browns will bungle the draft.  It is a certainty like death, taxes, and LeBron James needing to be loved.  The Indians have only one chance.  They need Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera to car pool together in Spring Training and have those guys somehow manage to ram their car at high speed into Verlander’s car with everyone breaking their hips.  You’ll need to see a press conference where those three get wheeled out Hannibal Lechter style and words like “total reconstruction” and “massive damage” are thrown around.  It’s just the way it is.  Baseball is unfair, just like life.

The inherent inequality of baseball is a real drag.  For example, in the American League we know that the Yankees, Tigers, and Angels/Rangers are going to win playoff slots and it is February 21st.  We can also be reasonably assured that the Red Sox, Rays, and Angels/Rangers will contend for the remaining playoff berths.  That leaves Baltimore, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota, Kansas City, Seattle and Oakland as the Washington Generals for the season.  If you are a fan of these teams, you have the option of being a naïve optimist, or a pragmatist hoping for an unlikely combination of breakout years, lucky breaks, good health on your team, and horrible injuries to the contenders.

Here’s the worst part of this sad simple truth for Indians fans.  They are in the official “two year window of contention”.  The Indians decided to run the team like a business as opposed to a “team”.  It’s about dollars and cents for them, and it’s not exclusively about winning.  They’d like to win, sure, but only if they can stay in their budget.  They are the woman in front of you at the grocery store with a bunch of coupons and off brand items in their cart.  This type of business approach means they have decided to create an ebb and flow where they know they are going to totally blow for awhile followed by a year or two of having a chance to win something if the stars align and Allah smiles.  This is allegedly one of those years.

Yes Indian fan, welcome to what is going to be referred to as your “good times”.   You need to believe that guys like Lonnie Chisenhall, Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis and Matt LaPorta are all going to come into their own while Hafner/Choo/Sizemore stay healthy and productive.  Could that happen?  Probably not, but you never know.  Here’s the real problem though, unfortunately, the Indians “contention window” is also in the same window where the Tigers elderly owner is going all in to win a championship.  This guy is moving ahead with the idea of “Fuck it.  I’m eighty-two years old and I can’t take it with me.  I want to ride in a championship parade this October.  Let’s spend some money bitches!”   That’s tough to compete with if you are Cleveland.

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men…  Enjoy your Two Year Window of Contention while the Tigers roll out Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder.  Good times.

-Greg Miller

Read more insensitive stuff written by Greg Miller at http://nursethehate.blogspot.com/