A little (long) blurb about sports

*Caution - this will be long*

Sports used to be important to me.

I used to watch all the games. I used to post about them on social media quite frequently. If it involved the Indians, Cavs, Browns, or Buckeyes, I was all over it.

This was a deep-rooted thing within me, something that had been instilled in me at a very young age. I was raised on Cleveland and Ohio State sports and that has never gone away.

But it isn't significant anymore.

I still pay attention and still occasionally watch games, but rarely do I go out of my way to watch. I'm more likely to glance at the score on my phone and see what people are saying on Twitter than to actually watch. I've been transitioning in this regard since 2016.

Prior to that though? I watched all the games. I was invested in them. I hung on every last play, watched until the inevitable heartbreak occurred.

It occurred often.

The tragedy of Cleveland sports has been played over and over again. At least, it used to be. It's kind of died down since June of 2016. At least it seems that way to me. Maybe the sports montages still play, but because I'm not watching much anymore, I don't see them.

It's just funny when I think about how invested I used to be, how angry and upset these games would make me. I see others reacting that way now and I just can't let myself get that way anymore. It consumed me at times, sometimes to the point of breaking me when the inevitable bad thing would happen.

Consider this: I'm not quite old enough to remember Red Right 88 (I wasn't out in this world just yet), but "The Drive," The Fumble," and "The Shot" are all things I remember vividly. I was jumping up and down when it appeared Ernest Byner was running into the end zone when he fumbled. I didn't even know he fumbled until I saw the Denver Broncos players celebrating, at which point it hit me like a bag of bricks: they were going to lose and fall short of the Super Bowl again.

I lost it. I was just a kid, but it stung. It stung bad.

The Drive didn't feel good either, but I don't think I was as emotionally invested at that point because I was maybe 5?

The Shot, when Michael Jordan hit a game winning jumper in game five against the Cavs, was also painful. The Cavs were great that year and Jordan wasn't quite, well, Jordan at that point. This was the moment that catapulted him to the stardom that he eventually achieved, all while dooming the Cavs to being second fiddle in the East while the Bulls took the mantle from the Detroit Pistons.

It was unfortunate really. Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, and company were good. They played beautiful basketball and could've had a run of dominance, but that Jordan fellow instead blew up into one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and the Cavs truly didn't have an actual window again until the first Lebron era.

The Indians during this stretch of the late 80's and early 90's were straight trash, more likely to lose 100 games than make the playoffs. I still remember going to a bunch of games (including Nolan Ryan's last appearance in Cleveland), but there was nothing memorable about them. The season was often over by June and it was time to look forward to the Browns and Cavs.

The Browns were my team though. Bernie Kosar, Byner, Kevin Mack, Webster Slaughter, Reggie Langhorne, Michael Dean Perry, Clay Matthews, Frank Minifield, Hanford Dixon, and so on were the toast of the town for a few years. They were good, they were fun, they were constantly in the mix for the playoffs. They had 3 AFC Championship game appearances, all against the Broncos, all losses. It always felt like they were right there, but couldn't quite get over the hump.

Like the Cavs.

Kosar was my favorite player on the Browns, Price was who I emulated when I played basketball. The Indians? Well, they always had Cory Snyder, right?

Then things shifted. The Browns started to struggle a bit, Kosar was benched, and eventually the team was moved to Baltimore because Art Modell somehow couldn't make money with the most profitable franchise in the city and was also mad because his team didn't get a new stadium first. Bill Belichick, who was the coach at the time of the move, was let go by the newly christened Ravens. We know how that story turned out. We also know how the Ravens became the dominant defensive team of the 2000's and won a Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Cavs fell into mediocrity under Mike Fratello and became mostly forgotten until Lebron James came around. The Indians though, well, they took advantage of the situation and became a powerhouse for several years.

This was the next stage of sports depression though. The Indians made the World Series in 1995, but couldn't handle the pitching of the Atlanta Braves and fell short, losing in six games. It felt like they'd be back though as the core of the team was set to return in 1996.

But baseball is funny and sometimes things take weird turns and the Orioles bouncing the Indians in the opening round in 1996 was not fun. It felt like the Indians thought they'd just show up and advance, and the Orioles took advantage and outplayed them.

They took advantage of a weak division in 1997 and made the playoffs again, but no one expected them to do much. Yet they made it to the World Series again and this time, they were in prime position to win it all. There are stories of how the champagne was already getting set up in the locker room when Jose Mesa infamously blew the most important save of his career, giving up the lead in the bottom on the ninth in game 7. The then Florida Marlins went on to win in extra innings.

That one perhaps stung the most. The Indians were right there. They had it won. The celebration was going to happen. Then it was ripped away in an unfortunate moment. I know a lot of the fan base was mad at Mesa, but the guy had been one of the best closers in baseball for a while. It sucked, but the sports gods didn't think it was Cleveland's time again.

The Indians never got back to the World Series with that group and wouldn't see the fall classic again until 2016. They had some good teams and some interesting runs, but the team of the mid-nineties never managed to pull it off.

The Browns leaving in 1995 was one of the most insane things I ever witnessed as a sports fan. It felt like it was impossible that it could happen, but there was Modell, gleefully displaying how happy he was to move the team to Baltimore. A football town had its team ripped away from them in the most unthinkable way imaginable. 

The void left was strange and while the Indians managed to capture the attention of most of the fans, the Cavs weren't great during this time. The announcement of the Browns returning was great news, but the fact that they were being rushed back for 1999 made me nervous. It felt like a real short period of time to try and put things together.

Sure enough, opening night 1999 against the Pittsburgh Steelers confirmed this as the Browns were rolled and the plan to bring Tim Couch along slowly was tossed out the window. He was the first in a long line of quarterbacks ruined by the Browns, and perhaps, the most talented. I still feel like he could've been a good NFL quarterback, but the first few years really ruined him.

The Browns though. How bad have they been since they came back in 1999? One playoff appearance, two winning seasons, and one infamous winless season. Nevermind the incredible list of quarterbacks and head coaches that have come through. Every time there is a glimmer of hope, that hope is then destroyed by all sorts of calamities.

Even last year's season of hope has been followed up with a train wreck, but more on this current season later.

The Browns have been horrific though. While most other teams at least show occasional glimpses of competence, the Browns muddle about, not in mediocrity, but in mostly despair. They have been historically bad at times and most of the season is spent wondering who they'll draft the following spring.

Thankfully, the Ohio State Buckeyes came through on the championship front, winning it all in 2002 against the Miami Hurricanes, a game that most thought the Buckeyes would get destroyed in. Instead, they played solid on both sides of the football, and with a little help, managed to pull off the upset. It was fun, but it didn't feel as significant as it would have if a Cleveland team had won something. It was still fun.

Then, in 2003, the Cavs started to give us hope with the arrival of Lebron James. He was the superstar that we had never really experienced, a player who even at a young age, felt like a generational player. He was easily the most gifted athlete the city had seen in several years, and he was our own. If anyone was going to bring a championship to the city, it was him, right?

Kind of.

They did make it to the NBA Finals in 2007. It was the first appearance for the franchise and it felt like an indication of things to come.

Again, kind of.

The first Lebron era was weird. It had that peak in 2007, then kind of disintegrated. The last two years he was here the first time around, the Cavs were great in the regular season, but bowed out of the playoffs early. Each time, it felt more and more likely that something very Cleveland-like was going to happen.

In 2010, it happened. The Decision, as it was called, which was when LeBron announced he was going to Miami. It was for most, crushing, but for me, it didn't feel like much. I had expected it, and while it sucked the way he delivered the news, it wasn't the jarring experience. I certainly didn't burn any jerseys, but hated that people went to that extreme (seriously, why burn things like that?).

That was a lean time in Cleveland. The Indians weren't very good (I believe these were the Manny Acta years, but I'm not researching it; I just know they were bad), the Cavs were awful (even after Kyrie Irving was drafted), and the Browns were finding new ways to make the fans miserable. Even the Buckeyes hit a rough patch for a bit there before Urban Meyer became the coach and righted the ship.

While the Browns have continued to Browns over the last several years, last year excluded somewhat, the Indians started showing signs of life in 2013. They drafted well and managed to build up some nice, young talent that got them on a run that was pretty good until this last season.

The real turning point though was the Cavs getting LeBron back for his second stint to go along with Irving and the newly acquired Kevin Love. That team was fun, if not a bit melodramatic. It began a string of 4 consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, something that was unheard of in previous years.

The first one was a strange one to me. Love had been lost to injury in the first round, then Irving went down in overtime of game one of the Finals, leaving the team severely depleted. Despite that, they went up 2-1 before the Golden State Warriors realized Matthew Dellavedova shouldn't be causing them fits and won the next three games. Most fans lamented on what could have been if Love and Irving had been healthy. The team had been dominant in the second half of the season and the Warriors weren't quite the juggernaut they were about to become yet.

The following season, David Blatt was fired as coach after a 30 point beating by the Warriors, handing the job to Ty Lue, who did a nice job refocusing the team. They mostly coasted to the Finals, only losing twice to the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals before pretty much demolishing them in the final two games.

The stage was set for an epic rematch with the Warriors in the Finals again.

Then they lost by 30 in game one. Then they got destroyed in game two. Irving and Love were pretty bad and it suddenly seemed like we were caught in the midst of another juggernaut. Remember, this was the year the Warriors were 73-9 and virtually unstoppable. I didn't feel good about it and was resigning myself to the fate that was coming.

Then the Cavs won by 30 at home. It was a complete role reversal. Everyone played well and it seemed like the Cavs had found something that worked against the Warriors.

At least until the second half of game three when the Warriors countered and managed to come from behind to win. However, Draymond Green couldn't keep his feet to himself and attempted a crotch shot on LeBron that ended up getting him suspended. Warriors fans will try to convince you that Green was innocent and didn't deserve a suspension, but the NBA had warned him about his flailing feet after some shenanigans against Steven Adams of the Thunder in the previous round.

The Warriors and their fans had all kinds of jokes and comments about the suspension and LeBron and seemed to think that the series was pretty much over since it was back at Oracle Arena, where the Warriors had been difficult to beat. But the Cavs, more specifically, LeBron and Kyrie, weren't interested in the story ending there.

They both scored 41 points and LeBron followed that up with another 41 in game six as the Cavs won both games to force a game seven. I felt content as a fan at this point. They had battled back, made the series interesting, and had shown they weren't going to give up. It was perhaps the most pride shown by a team that I could remember, which made it easier to deal with game seven.

I didn't really watch much of it. I instead kept watching Twitter and the score on my phone. The ebb and flow of the game was tremendous, but I couldn't watch it. I refused to watch what could've been a celebration by the Warriors. The only way I was going to turn that TV on was if it was certain the Cavs were going to pull it off.

The game went by and the back and forth was incredible. Neither team could really separate and a series that had been defined by blowouts was as close as could be in the deciding game. Then LeBron had the block, Irving made the game-changing three pointer, and Love forced Steph Curry into a bad shot. They were right there, with the ball, and a chance to seal the deal.

It was nearly spectacular. I turned it on right as LeBron attempted to destroy Green with a dunk, only to get fouled. His first free throw was short, and the nervousness started to creep in. This is how things fall apart. Missed free throws leave the door open to the greatest three point shooting teams ever, and they never miss in those situations. Yet LeBron made the second free throw.

The game was essentially over.

Yes, weird stuff could happen, but the Cavs were careful. They defended, but didn't foul until about 6 seconds left, which was okay because it wasn't a shooting foul. The Warriors were down four with 6 seconds to go, something that they couldn't even overcome. Curry's three was off, Mo Speights missed his shot, the horn sounded, the city celebrated.

Why detail all these moments? Because this is when everything changed on how I viewed sports. I had watched the Cavs win it all. The misery was no more for me.

I suddenly didn't care as much.

Sure, I followed as the Indians went on their own surprise run to the World Series, falling just short again, but it didn't sting like it did in 1997. Sports just weren't as important anymore suddenly.

Which leads me to the state of the current Browns. I'm indifferent to it. I go on social media and see people angry, frustrated, sad, and complaining about the team. I just shrug my shoulders and go back to what I was doing.

I can't get worked up by it anymore. Disappointing Indians season? I have Destiny 2 to play. Browns looking like poo with all the talent they have? I have a kid who wants to play Stardew Valley with me. Cavs? They're bad but kind of fun, so eff it.

The point is, sports just aren't the same to me anymore. Sure, they're fun to watch and I still root for my teams, but the emotional impact isn't the same. I just enjoy watching sports in general and appreciate good teams.

I think most get too worked up by sports, but I can't blame you if you're one of them. I was once that person. I'm not anymore.

Sports used to be very important. Now I just relax and enjoy things for what they are.

On the Browns and finally losing patience

I'm not one to portray doom and gloom with the sports franchises that I root for. I simply do not take them so seriously that my life is ruined because of sports.

They're still not, but boy are the Cleveland Browns doing their best to try and drive the loyal fans away.

This past game against the Arizona Cardinals was perhaps the most frustrating game to watch, and that's saying a lot given the games that us fans have suffered through since the team's rebirth in 1999.

Yet it was a symbol of what we've come to expect from the Browns. Play competitively for a while, then fall into an abyss as the opponent makes adjustments and the Browns fail to counter.

You could feel it coming really with about 5 minutes left to go in the first half. The Browns had just taken a 20-7 lead on Josh McCown's third touchdown pass of the first half (missed the extra point) and the stadium was buzzing. The Browns were relatively competent on offense and the defense had done a nice job of forcing some turnovers.

Yet you could feel the change was going to come. The Browns defense has been notorious for giving up points before the half, squashing all momentum that they had built up.

Sure enough, Carson Palmer had the Cardinals in position to at least get a field goal, if not a touchdown, and a completion to Larry Fitzgerald seemed to confirm my own belief that the score was coming. Then K'Waun Williams forced Fitzgerald to fumble, thus seemingly preventing that end of the half score.

With over a minute in the half, the Browns could conceivably try to get down the field and possibly put some points up before the half, but of course, the coaching staff went conservative and the Browns were forced to punt with 36 seconds left in the half.

A false start pushed the Cardinals back, but then Palmer hit Michael Floyd for 28 yards to the Browns' 27, thus putting the Cardinals in field goal range. Palmer then hit Fitzgerald for 19 yards, and after spiking the ball the Cardinals had 2nd and goal from the 8. There were offsetting penalties on the following play, which allowed the Cardinals to kick that field goal at the end of the half to make it 20-10.

Now, with the Browns having the ball at the start of the second half, you wouldn't be too bothered by all this, except the Browns have been putrid to start the second half at times. This game was no different as the Browns lost 2 yards in 3 plays before punting. Joe Haden was beaten again by Floyd for a long touchdown, thus finishing the shift in momentum. Cardinals were down 20-17, but you knew that wouldn't last and the train wreck continued.

The Browns punted on their next 3 possessions and allowed the Cardinals to take the lead at 24-20. The Browns forced two turnovers, but didn't get anything out of those turnovers, punting after intercepting Palmer, then McCown threw an interception in Cardinal territory after the Browns defense had forced a fumble.

Of course the Cardinals responded by adding another touchdown, and finished the scoring with a field goal to win 34-20.

Remember, the Browns led 20-7 at one point. They gave up 27 unanswered points from the end of the first half going through the 4th quarter. McCown could barely stand, yet Mike Pettine refused to remove him from the game. The offensive line, which had done an admirable job in the first half, couldn't block anyone in the second.

The run defense, which had also done an admirable job in the first half, parted wide open in the second half.

Haden and Tramon Williams couldn't cover anyone. Donte Whitner hit a player so hard he knocked himself out the game. 

It was an utter catastrophe in the second half from every angle. There is not one positive you can gleam from that second half.

Nothing.

Listen, this team is now making me angry. Us as fans devote 3+ hours to watch this and no, I don't know why we do this to ourselves. Especially those of you who go down to that stadium every Sunday, paying exorbitant prices on tickets, parking, and concessions, just so you have the privilege of saying you were there when Brian Hartline dropped 4 passes, or watched Dwayne Bowe stand there on the sideline.

Why are you paying Bowe a ton of money if you aren't going to play him? Why has he been inactive so much this year even though he's healthy? Why did anyone think picking up Robert Turbin was a good idea? Why can't this "premiere" offensive line block anyone or open up any running lanes?

Why can't they stop the run? Why can't two of the best cover corners cover anyone? Why can't these guys stop getting concussed? Why is McCown out there when he can barely stand up?

I could go on, and I will because Ray Farmer, the genius himself, took to the podium today to talk about the team. You know, the guy who was trying to trade Joe Thomas anyway he could for some god-forsaken reason. You know, the guy who didn't believe in going out and getting a play-making receiver, who instead threw money at Bowe to stand on the sidelines.

Farmer contended that the team was close, that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. He claimed he wasn't on the hot seat (but very visibly needed to wipe his ENTIRE HEAD OFF WITH A TOWEL), that the hot seat was just something outsiders say.

Farmer is now an internet meme and that's not a good thing.

Look, we could spend hours dissecting what's wrong with this team. Jimmy Haslam is the second coming of Jerry Jones, but without the football knowledge. Pettine, well, he's in a rough spot. He knows his job is on the line and needs to win now, but this team really needs to be developing the younger players, which costs you wins (not that the vets are doing a bang-up job).

The defense, which was supposed to be the strength, gets gashed on a regular basis both on the ground and through the air.

Are the players trying? I believe so, but I feel most aren't being used properly or being put in the best position to succeed. Best example? Paul Kruger, brought into to rush the passer, is being dropped into coverage a lot more than he should be.

One final thing before I switch into a more positive tone, this team needs to stop being jerks to the few good players it has. Tashaun Gipson is one of the best young safeties in the league, yet the team will likely refuse to pay him, much like Buster Skrine (who admittedly wasn't great, but was still serviceable) and TJ Ward (who they replaced with past his prime Donte Whitner).

There's so much more I could get into, but I'm not going to do this to myself. Yes, I want the Browns to become a great franchise, but I doubt they'll do it with the current regime in place. I HATE saying that because I hate constantly changing the faces, but this is possibly the worst I've seen outside of the Pat Shurmer debacle.

Hopefully they figure it out, but expect more painful moments before they do.

Some final thoughts:

• Haden has become more about talking about his game then actually playing like a ProBowl corner. He's been beaten multiple times by average receivers, then is magically hurt afterwards. Please don't be that guy Joe. We want to love you.
• Alex Mack is still not right. Before his injury last year, he was one of the best centers in the league. Now he is getting pushed all over the place and part of why the rushing attack just can't get going.
• Why are the linebackers constantly running up the backs of the linemen in front of them? Shouldn't they be shooting the gaps?
• Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel, Cam Erving, and Danny Shelton are your high profile draft picks. Let that soak in.
• Brandon Marshall was had for a fifth round draft pick. The Browns CUT their fourth round receiver.
• If nothing else, I'd like to see the Browns become better so we stop getting the worst announcing crews. Seriously, some of these guys clearly didn't pay attention to who they were going to be covering.
• NFL officials continue to be the worst. In last night's Colts/Panthers game, they made a few errors that helped the Colts in their comeback attempt. The worst was on an a pass play where the receiver was ruled out of bounds even though he was clearly tackled in-bounds, thus saving the Colts several valuable seconds.

Cavalier Caveats

I love the Cavs.

One, they're not the Browns. Dan Gilbert has made it clear he wants to win, he wants to win now, and he'll do what he can to make it happen. Of course, it helps having LeBron James, Kevin Love, and eventually Kyrie Irving, but Gilbert has shown he will give the greenlight on just about any roster decision that helps the team win.

Last nights game was a dud early on though. The 76ers came out with energy and took it to the Cavs early on, but the Cavs started to get back into the game late in the first half, closing what had been a 15 point lead down to 5 at 54-49. They continued the assault in the second half, taking the lead at 56-54 just minutes into the half.

They never looked back. Mo Williams was hitting jumpers, Love was posting up on the block, James was catching alley-oops from Matthew Dellavedova, and the defense tightened up considerably. They stretched the lead to 21 at one point before David Blatt turned it over to the bench, who allowed the lead to dwindle, but not completely disappear.

James passed 25,000 points for his career last night and did so as the youngest ever. The only downside was JR Smith having to leave with a knee injury. He'll be out at least two games, but at least it wasn't serious.

I just want to point out that Love appears to be 150% more comfortable with the team this year than last. He has a bounce in his step (he's health), but he's more assertive. He's calling for the ball and the Cavs are getting it to him where he can be successful. He's no longer just drifting outside the three point line, waiting to shoot a jumper. He's active, he's vocal, and he's being aggressive.

Finally, it's really great to see Mo back with the Cavs. He was a favorite of mine his first time with the team and has done exactly what they need him to do until Irving comes back.

Oh wow, that's right, they're playing pretty well without Irving and Iman Shumpert.

This is going to be fun.

Unlike that Browns team.

The Sports Mixer - For the love of Kevin

Before I get too far in to this, let me say that there are a couple of articles out there that get into far more detail on the subject of Kevin Love than I ever could wish to, but I do want to add my two cents worth at some point.

The first article is by Thomas Pestak and does an outstanding job of detailing how well Kevin Love has actually fit in with the Cavs overall. You can read it here.

The second is by Russ Bengtson and is an actual interview with Love that covers a number of topics, starting with how happy he is. You can read that one here and it's pretty outstanding as well.

Now then, on to what I actually wanted to write about the Cavs last game and the Kevin Love media parade yesterday.

On Sunday, the Cavs played against the Milwaukee Bucks in what could be a future playoff matchup depending on where the Bucks finish (then again, with the bottom of the East an absolute mess, who knows what team will actually finish opposite the Cavs). It was an odd start time and the Cavs got off to a really slow start against the Bucks, who seemed overly energized.

The Cavs seemed slow and almost disinterested on most defensive possessions, and eventually fell behind by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before LeBron James decided enough was enough. They woke up on both ends of the floor, turning that 11 point deficit into a 2 point lead at the end of the third, highlighted by two dunks by James and a basket at the buzzer by Iman Shumpert.

They continued the onslaught in the fourth as JR Smith hit a trio of triples, James hit a three, Smith hit James with an exceptional alley-oop, and the suddenly overwhelmed Bucks completely folded. The Cavs ended up winning by a score of 108-90, which was not anywhere close to indicative of how well the Bucks played for 2 and 1/2 quarters.

David Blatt rode a lineup of Matthew Dellavedova, Smith, Shumpert, James, and Tristan Thompson through the entire fourth quarter, which meant that Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and Timofey Mozgov never saw the floor in that quarter. Oddly enough, Love was the only person people seemed to wonder about (again, more on this later and in the previously mentioned articles above).  Simply put the five on the court were blitzing the Bucks and there was never a need to bring anyone back in as the game quickly got out of hand.

It made the Cavs 27-7 since January 15th and left their overall record at 46-26 and firmly in control of the second spot in the Eastern Conference.

Cavalier Caveats

• This was the rare game where Delly came in and made a huge difference defensively for the Cavs. For the most part, Irving's defense has been much better, but in this game he was having issues, as was Mozgov. Delly, along with Shumpert, Smith, James, and Thompson, took complete control of this game and made it a laugher in a matter of minutes.
• Of course, someone always has to ask Blatt about his rotations, but in this game it was pretty simple why Irving and Love stayed put on the bench. The group that was out there was dominating the Bucks. Why make a change just because?
• One area of concern is that the Cavs are starting to allow more dribble penetration again, something that they had been cutting off relatively well after the trade for Mozgov. Obviously, the vast improvement on defense was going to ebb and flow some, but you'd like to see them shore up some of the issues they've been having lately on that end.
• Offensively, this team is unbeatable when they move the ball and get the ball up the floor quickly, which is why I find it aggravating when they slowly walk the ball up and dribble off the shot clock until it's down to 7 seconds. Iso ball needs to go and it needs to stay away. As we've seen against better defensive teams, it doesn't typically end well for the Cavs, even if hero ball has saved them a few times.
• Much continues to be made about Kevin Love and his level of happiness with the team, his future, and his role on the floor. As I mentioned earlier, the two links provided provide excellent articles discussing Love and I'm not going to get too involved in it because it's simply overbearing and stupid.

I just can't stand the fact that ESPN and others HAVE to have some kind of narrative to talk about with this team. Yes, Love sometimes looks lost on offense, but I don't necessarily think that he's as lost as some of us want to think.

Love himself has talked about how he's trying to get in the post more, but from what I've seen, he's getting mauled down there and isn't exactly getting a lot of fouls called, which makes going in the post a lost cause. The Cavs as a team have been on the receiving end of some interesting calls and non-calls, but then again, officiating across all levels and sports has been getting worse over the years.

The fact is, when you have a team with James and Irving on it, Love being in the post actually allows an extra defender to be in the vicinity of the paint, thus cutting off some of the driving lanes that those two could take. Love and Smith being outside the 3 point line gives them that room to operate better. Sure, they should run more plays for Love in the post, but they don't and for what it's worth, Love isn't complaining much.

Another issue to keep in mind is that it has appeared that Love's back has been an issue for much of the season. Couple that with the large number of blowouts the Cavs have had, there's no reason to drag him back into a large number of the games they've had.

The thing that I've learned, and obviously Love has learned this as well, is that the media microscope is on the Cavs this year and anything that's said and done are being scrutinized to death.

Is it fair? No.

Comments about who should win MVP are getting blown out of proportion, as is the speculation about whether Love and James are friends. It's ridiculous really.  But it's what happens when James is on your team and you have a rising star in Irving as well.

Don't expect it to stop either.

After all, we still have the playoffs to deal with.

Thanks for reading everyone!

TBT - The Sports Mixer Edition

At the beginning of November 2014, I wrote this little piece about the Cleveland Cavaliers and their struggles through the first 3 games. Yes, I was that proactive about it because I had seen so many disturbing things, but things I believed could be fixed.

I also added a bit about the Browns, but we know that season ultimately turned out and while the Thursday Night game with Cincinnati may have been the highlight of the season, it was ultimately the last time the team looked great on the field last year.

Much like my post about awaiting the arrival of Kylie Brooke that went up recently, I'm going to select some items that I wrote about and see how things have played out since this post. As of now, the Cavs are 44-26 and in the 2nd seed, so they've recovered pretty well.

In fact, the low point for this team came well after I wrote this when they fell to 19-20 and seemed completely in disarray.

Here now are my thoughts on what I wrote, followed by some thoughts on the team as it currently stands. As in the previous post like this, statements from the original post will be in italics, while updated thoughts will be in bold.

How many of you thought it was going to be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Go on, raise your hands. Plenty of you were out there before the season started.

LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and the rest were just going to seamlessly blend under the guidance of David Blatt and become the greatest team in the history of the NBA. They were going to win more than 70 games and walk to the first championship in Cleveland since 1964. Every game was going to be a party and they were going to win by more than 20 every night.

If only it were that easy.

Three games in and the Cavs are far from a finished product. Blatt has no idea yet who to play together and when, and the overall effort from select players has been questionable at times. James looks like he's either irritated with the team, or in considerable discomfort from his back being worse than we're being led to believe.

Most everyone who watched James KNEW something was amiss with him from a health standpoint. He was either slowing down (or losing his hops as some tried to say), or he was bothered by some sort of injury that we weren't being informed of fully. Well, he ended up sitting for a couple weeks at one point in the season and the LeBron we've seen since his return is pretty much what we had expected.

The effort from other players was a different story. It took a while for many on this team to buy into Blatt and it took a while for Blatt to find a group of players he could rely on to fill out his rotation.

An opening night loss to the New York Knicks was followed up by a gritty overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. Then last night, after playing even with the Portland Trailblazers through the first quarter, the Cavs were completely blasted the rest of the way, losing 101-82. James was clearly disappointed in the effort put forth by some of his teammates, and probably himself as he didn't appear completely engaged.

The Cavs had several more of these games as the weeks went by. They'd get off to fast starts, then the bench would come in and the lead would get obliterated. It simply took time, and few key moves, for Blatt to find a system that worked for him and his players.

What does it all mean?

According to Twitter, it means that this team is destined to fail, James is going back to Miami next year, Blatt will be fired by mid-season, and Dion Waiters will be traded in the next two weeks as he clearly can't exist on this team.

There's something funny to me about this paragraph. I mean, all of it was said in jest, but I had NO idea that Waiters would just continue to struggle on this team and would actually end up traded. Turns out Waiters not fitting in was what may have saved this season. The LeBron back to Miami conversation really came to a boil on Christmas Day when the Cavs faced the Heat in Miami and LeBron seemed way too happy to see his former teammate Dwayne Wade. Turns out they are just really that close as friends.

As for Blatt, his confidence as an NBA coach never wavered, and may have actually become stronger once players started buying in and accepting what he was preaching. Some ESPN people still think LeBron is going to force the Cavs to fire Blatt, but you know how accurate ESPN is when it comes to James, right?

It's easy to overreact though. It's easy to watch the game and see all the things that are wrong with this team. It's easy to forget that many of them are playing together on an NBA team for the first time.

In other words, it's not going to look great right away.

It's a bit of a cop-out, but the best example is to look at the Miami Heat from 2010-2011 when James first joined that team. It was a disjointed effort through the first 17 games as the Heat were 9-8 and many wondered if this "superteam" was a bad idea. Then they ripped off 10 straight wins and 20 out of 21 to silence the critics.

While the Cavs did rip off an 8 game winning streak at one point, the worst struggles were still to come actually.

Will the Cavs do the same? I doubt it. This team has multiple players (Love, Irving, and Waiters) that are deficient defensively, and while you can hope for some improvement, Irving and Waiters in particular showed some of their bad habits last night. Waiters in particular seemed lazy on the defensive side and while Irving has shown some effort, it seems when his man starts to score on him, he shrinks defensively. Damion Lillard had struggled from the floor his first few games, but last night couldn't miss and often Irving failed to even attempt to close out on the shot.

Love and Irving have both improved their defense just by showing better effort. Irving in particular went through a stretch where opposing point guards played pretty poorly against the Cavs. I'm trying to think of what made such a big difference though...

All you need to know about Waiters before he was shipped to OKC was Joe Harris was playing the fourth quarter of games early on while Waiters sat on the bench. Ultimately, the trades that brought Timofey Mozgov, JR Smith, and Iman Shumpert saved the season and certainly improved the Cavs defensively.

Mozgov being in the middle has made it easier for Irving to decide how to defend his opponent, often forcing them right at Mozgov while simultaneously eliminating the ability of said player to outlet to Mozgov's cover. Teams have adjusted some since, but the trade for Mozgov was huge. Literally and figuratively.

The team overall is still occasionally lazy, but Smith has been a far better defender than we were led to believe and Shumpert has done what he does best: get in the passing lane, keep his man in front of him, and contest everything.

Yet they may only need to make small strides defensively if the gel on offense. Right now, players still aren't sure where they need to be on the floor. More than once, we've seen a pass made to a player that's either vacated the spot, or failed to move to where the pass was intended. These type of errors will disappear as they become comfortable with one another.

Defensive rotations have improved significantly since this point in the season. There are far fewer moments trying to figure out who blew their assignment. 

The more disappointing thing from last night was that the ball movement screeched to a halt once the team faced adversity. It turned into 2013 all over again with Irving and Waiters taking turns dribbling the ball into oblivion, then hoisting a last second shot. Compounding things was the fact that they both shot the ball poorly. Waiters overall is only shooting 30% on the young season, and while there's still the likely possibility that he'll get it turned around, he clearly is out of whack.

Waiters was the one that worried me, as well as most everyone else. He has the potential to be a borderline all-star, or completely flame out depending on how he fits in, or doesn't fit in. The point that can't be overstated is he needs to show more consistent effort on the defensive end. I truly believe he could be a top 10 defender if he tries, but more often than not, he fails to do so.

On offense, he needs to find where he fits in on this team. He seems undecided whether he's going to pull up and shoot the jumper, or drive to the rim. On the few drives he's made, he seems more concerned with drawing contact than actually trying to make the shot. He's not getting the calls, he's getting frustrated (as is James on his drives), and then fails to get back defensively.

Maybe he does need to come off the bench. I don't know, and he doesn't seem to know either. This is just one of the pieces that Blatt has to figure out going forward.

Oh Dion. There was so much promise, so much potential for you, so many opportunities to show what you could do. Waiters just could never consistently provide the Cavs with any offense or defense. Even now in OKC, his effort level is wildly inconsistent and he can't hit the open jumper.

Many thought trading him and receiving JR Smith was equivalent to getting an older Waiters. But Smith has completely bought into this team and the coaching staff, something I never thought I'd say about him. He's taken mostly smart shots, passed when necessary, has rebounded exceptionally well, and has played very solid defense.

Blatt also needs to figure out a consistent bench rotation. This is another trial and error thing that the team is going to struggle with initially. Remember, most of these guys haven't played with each other. It's going to take time. Blatt not only has to find the right mix of guys on the floor, but they have to figure each other out as well.

Then, once you think you're starting to figure things out, you lose Anderson Varejao for the year and a bunch of trades are made while your best player is resting his sore knee and back for a few weeks.

Yeah, Blatt has made rookie mistakes, but he's had a lot thrown at him in his first year as an NBA coach. Overall, I think he's done a very nice job of staying the course, mixing new players in, and making adjustments in the game.

I also really enjoy how he goes back at the media, who more and more anymore, act like they know everything. I particularly enjoy when members of the media start whining about how Blatt fires back at them. 

You could make the argument that's what training camp and the preseason is for, but the reality is that until you're playing the games, you'll have no idea how it's going to go. Teams are very vanilla in preseason, so how you were defended then is vastly different from how you'll be defended come the regular season.

The important thing to constantly remember is that it's going to take time. If after 30-40 games they still haven't come together at all, I'd be concerned then. Right now? I'm looking to see how the team responds to adversity, not just in the game, but from one game to the next. Tonight I'm going to want to see how they respond to last night's game when they play the Utah Jazz.

After 40 games, they were 20-20 and found their groove at that point in the season. The new players fit in perfectly, James came back healthy and full of energy, and Irving unleashed holy hell on opponents on more than one occasion. While it hasn't always been pretty, they've been more consistent on both ends of the floor.

I don't think they'll ever be a defensive juggernaut, but I do think by the end of the season, they will have figured it out and will be a lot of fun to watch.

It just takes a little bit of patience.

But we all know how much patience people have. 

We saw it most of the first half of the season. Many fans took to social media with #fireblatt and declared that James was leaving, Love was going to go to the Lakers or Knicks, and Irving was probably only trying to play for his own numbers.

ESPN was particularly brutal towards the Cavs. Chris Broussard and company insinuated that James was playing poorly so that the Cavs would fire Blatt. Much was made of Irving having 30+ points against but no assists in a game in Utah early in the season. Of course, they failed to note the number of misses shots off of passes by Irving, but ESPN more and more has its own agenda to look after, one that doesn't always revolve around facts.

Some fans even speculated that the Cavs should consider trading Love away since there was no way he was going to return next year to play on this team.

It was insane, it was absurd, and it was all based out of panic.

Since a loss in Phoenix in James' return to the lineup, the Cavs are 25-6, which is the best record in that span. Their average margin of victory is over 10 points a game. While defensively they've slipped of late, the effort and results have been much, much better. Offensively, they still have hero ball moments, but the ball movement has improved and more players are involved than early on.

Last night the Cavs had 32 assists against the Nets after having just 17 against the Miami Heat in a loss that concluded an otherwise successful 4 game road trip.

There were a few of us rational fans who said have patience with this team, but it's hard for Cleveland sports fans to have any. It's been so long since we've had a championship that we don't want to wait for a process, we want instant results.

It was even worse with James coming back to the Cavs. Teamed up with Irving and Love, it was going to be our own super team.

All the negativity early on aside, this team has been scary good for the last couple of months. Irving has continued to improve within the offense, Love has slowly found his way into being more involved (and not just jacking up 3 point shots), and the new additions have been more than any of us thought they'd be.

Now the key for the Cavs is to hold on to that second spot, stay healthy, and see how far they can go in the playoffs. While I'd like to believe that Irving will be fine, you just simply don't know until each individual player is facing those bright lights.

What I do know is this team seems to be extremely close, which bodes well for the future.

Cavalier Caveats

• I won't pretend that I watched last night's game, because I didn't. I was busy playing with the girls and just checked Twitter every now and then to see how the game was progressing (btw, you can always tell how the team is doing by how frequently people are tweeting; the complaints come much faster than the compliments). It became pretty clear that after a slow start, the Cavs woke up and pretty much dismantled the Nets.

• One thing that people seem to really enjoy doing is try to figure out Kevin Love's body language. It seems every day someone has some new theory as to what his body language is saying. Most every media member outside of Cleveland firmly believes that Love is not returning, and the Knicks and Lakers typically are mentioned as top destinations. It's borderline insanity that so many people spend so much time trying to figure out what a player is going to do next, but it's become too much when it comes to K-Love. While he has said repeatedly that he's here for the long-term, until he signs a new deal with the Cavs, the rumors will persist.
  
• The Knicks and Lakers just don't make sense though. Why would Love, after getting his first taste of playoff basketball, go to either of those franchises? The Lakers are hoping to hit it big in the lottery and get one more year out of Kobe, while the Knicks are just a mess overall. If Love wants to win, going to either of those teams makes little sense. Yet all we hear is that's where he's going to go.
  
• Kyrie Irving is finally starting to get some national respect after torching the Spurs single-handedly, then followed that up with a efficient performance against the Magic. Irving has quietly become more efficient with his shots, better with his passes, and much improved on defense. In fact, he's looked better defensively than Matthew Dellavedova, something we didn't say last year ever.  Irving just seems to know when to pick his spots and Blatt has given him ample opportunities to go out and attack the opposing defense as he sees fit.
  
• Speaking of Delly, I love the guy, but the more I watch him this year, the more I think he's a guy who looks better as the team around him gets worse. Last year you'd see him come in and be the solid defender that Irving wasn't and occasionally make a shot or two. This year, his defense seems to revolve around fouling players as they run by him. He has been particularly exposed when Irving has missed games with injury. Again, I love what Delly brings, but his value has definitely decreased.
  
• Tristan Thompson may not wow you with numbers, but he never stops. He still resembles a baby giraffe attempting to walk for the first time at times, but he is one of the best offensive rebounders and can handle defensive switches onto smaller players, which is primarily why he's in the game late instead of Mozgov.
  
• LeBron James is still good people. Enjoy and appreciate what you get to watch from him night in and night. But also enjoy that he has perhaps his best running mate in Irving. Dwayne Wade was still good when James joined the Heat, but was definitely on the downswing. Irving is only 22. The next few years could be crazy fun with the two of them running around out there.
  
• I'm going to try and do these things more frequently, but I make no promises. Thanks for reading.

Moving Forward

Now that I've covered life changes in the previous entry, perhaps we can get back to blogging as normal.

I've typically reserved this blog to talk about sports because, well, I like sports. I like them a lot. They're much more fun when the teams I root for are good, but sometimes more entertaining when they're not.

For instance, after LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team was a train wreck, but it sometimes amusing to see how poorly they'd play. Kyrie Irving made things more interesting, but the team was still bad. It became more interesting when Dion Waiters joined the team, but all in all, this team was pretty awful for the most part. Last season was perhaps once of the weirdest seasons in recent memory, drawing some entertaining commentary from social media.

Well, James is back, the team started slowly but has become a powerhouse again, and they are generally fun to watch just because when the team is clicking, they are almost unbeatable.

I also follow the Indians and the Browns, but I tend not to talk as much about them for a few reasons. With the Indians, it's such a long season and there are so many who get much more in-depth with their discussions that it never seems like I should really try to discuss them much. Baseball is probably my favorite sport to attend live, but I don't get too excited writing about it.

The Browns have just been a trainwreck since 1999, so it's been really challenging to find motivation to discuss them. Look at this past season. The team was 7-4 and looked to be on the cusp of something big, yet fell completely apart and resumed being a laughingstock again. I won't even get into all the disasters that befell this franchise, but needless to say, most of it was ugly.

Blogging used to be my way of blowing off steam, my way of dealing with the issues that I had to deal with over the course of a day, week, month, and so on. I've gotten away from that in a lot of manners, but part of me feels I need to occasionally get back into that groove. It was a great way to vent and get things off my chest.

I also have my gaming hobby that I could occasionally discuss, but I've been reluctant to bring them up simply because I'm far too casual of a gamer to feel justified in writing about anything about them. It's another situation where I feel many more people write and talk about games far more competently than I ever could, even though my knowledge of games, consoles, and PC hardware/software has grown tremendously.

So chances are pretty good that 60-75% of the content in here will still be about sports, but I'm going to try and sprinkle more random things in here. I may even occasionally put short entries detailing things that the kids of said/done since it can be pretty wild and entertaining at times.

One of the problems I am trying to tell myself to overcome is the need to write longer entries to justify the act of writing. I've never been big on putting short, concise posts up, but I think I'm getting to the point where I think putting something short and sweet up a few times a week is far better than refusing to write unless it turns into a 34 paragraph essay filled with intense and deep thoughts.

I've also considered when I do Vlogs, putting a post up with a link to that Vlog so people can check it out (especially if I'm able to embed it into the entry itself).

I feel there's so much more I can do to express myself, whether it's via blog or my channel on YouTube, but like I mentioned in my last entry, so much of it comes down to time. It's why I haven't really gone crazy promoting my channel.

It's time consuming and I just don't have the time or energy to do it on a consistent basis. Is it hurting the growth of my channel? Absolutely, just like not feeling I can commit to doing collaborations with other YouTubers is hurting the growth as well. The best I can hope for is to post the video links in here, push the videos on the sites that I do utilize, and see what happens.

In the end, I'm opinionated, but I've been keeping my opinions to myself more often than not lately.

It might be time to change that.

Anyway, thanks for being patient with me as I try to decide what's going to happen here, with my channel, and if I decide to build a web site for my "Kracker Gaming" brand.

The Sports Mixer - The Cavs Struggles and Browns Relevancy

How many of you thought it was going to be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and the rest were just going to seamlessly blend under the guidance of David Blatt and become the greatest team in the history of the NBA. They were going to win more than 70 games and walk to the first championship in Cleveland since 1964. Every game was going to be a party and they were going to win by more than 20 every night.

If only it were that easy.

Three games in and the Cavs are far from a finished product. Blatt has no idea yet who to play together and when, and the overall effort from select players has been questionable at times. James looks like he's either irritated with the team, or in considerable discomfort from his back being worse than we're being led to believe.

An opening night loss to the New York Knicks was followed up by a gritty overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. Then last night, after playing even with the Portland Trailblazers through the first quarter, the Cavs were completely blasted the rest of the way, losing 101-82. James was clearly disappointed in the effort put forth by some of his teammates, and probably himself as he didn't appear completely engaged.

What does it all mean?

According to Twitter, it means that this team is destined to fail, James is going back to Miami next year, Blatt will be fired by mid-season, and Dion Waiters will be traded in the next two weeks as he clearly can't exist on this team.

It's easy to overreact though. It's easy to watch the game and see all the things that are wrong with this team. It's easy to forget that many of them are playing together on an NBA team for the first time.

In other words, it's not going to look great right away.

It's a bit of a cop-out, but the best example is to look at the Miami Heat from 2010-2011 when James first joined that team. It was a disjointed effort through the first 17 games as the Heat were 9-8 and many wondered if this "superteam" was a bad idea. Then they ripped off 10 straight wins and 20 out of 21 to silence the critics.

Will the Cavs do the same? I doubt it. This team has multiple players (Love, Irving, and Waiters) that are deficient defensively, and while you can hope for some improvement, Irving and Waiters in particular showed some of their bad habits last night. Waiters in particular seemed lazy on the defensive side and while Irving has shown some effort, it seems when his man starts to score on him, he shrinks defensively. Damion Lillard had struggled from the floor his first few games, but last night couldn't miss and often Irving failed to even attempt to close out on the shot.

Yet they may only need to make small strides defensively if the gel on offense. Right now, players still aren't sure where they need to be on the floor. More than once, we've seen a pass made to a player that's either vacated the spot, or failed to move to where the pass was intended. These type of errors will disappear as they become comfortable with one another.

The more disappointing thing from last night was that the ball movement screeched to a halt once the team faced adversity. It turned into 2013 all over again with Irving and Waiters taking turns dribbling the ball into oblivion, then hoisting a last second shot. Compounding things was the fact that they both shot the ball poorly. Waiters overall is only shooting 30% on the young season, and while there's still the likely possibility that he'll get it turned around, he clearly is out of whack.

Waiters was the one that worried me, as well as most everyone else. He has the potential to be a borderline all-star, or completely flame out depending on how he fits in, or doesn't fit in. The point that can't be overstated is he needs to show more consistent effort on the defensive end. I truly believe he could be a top 10 defender if he tries, but more often than not, he fails to do so.

On offense, he needs to find where he fits in on this team. He seems undecided whether he's going to pull up and shoot the jumper, or drive to the rim. On the few drives he's made, he seems more concerned with drawing contact than actually trying to make the shot. He's not getting the calls, he's getting frustrated (as is James on his drives), and then fails to get back defensively.

Maybe he does need to come off the bench. I don't know, and he doesn't seem to know either. This is just one of the pieces that Blatt has to figure out going forward.

Blatt also needs to figure out a consistent bench rotation. This is another trial and error thing that the team is going to struggle with initially. Remember, most of these guys haven't played with each other. It's going to take time. Blatt not only has to find the right mix of guys on the floor, but they have to figure each other out as well.

You could make the argument that's what training camp and the preseason is for, but the reality is that until you're playing the games, you'll have no idea how it's going to go. Teams are very vanilla in preseason, so how you were defended then is vastly different from how you'll be defended come the regular season.

The important thing to constantly remember is that it's going to take time. If after 30-40 games they still haven't come together at all, I'd be concerned then. Right now? I'm looking to see how the team responds to adversity, not just in the game, but from one game to the next. Tonight I'm going to want to see how they respond to last night's game when they play the Utah Jazz.

I don't think they'll ever be a defensive juggernaut, but I do think by the end of the season, they will have figured it out and will be a lot of fun to watch.

It just takes a little bit of patience.

Brownie Bites

The Browns have been a fascinating team to follow this year. They probably have no business being 5-3, but yet that's where they're at going into tomorrow night's massive match-up with the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football. This game has divisional implications for both teams. Both teams are trying to keep pace with the suddenly surging Pittsburgh Steelers and the team that loses faces a dramatically more difficult path to the playoffs.

The Bengals, like the Browns, have been Jeckyll and Hyde type of team. They've looked great offensively at times, then at other times they've looked bad. They looked great on defense early on, but haven't been as good of late.  They have the advantage of being at home and facing a Browns team that has really struggled on offense of late.

I don't know what's going to happen with this game. Brian Hoyer has looked awful at times, yet when it comes down to crunch time, he's gotten the job done more often than he hasn't. He's 7-3 as a starter in games he's finished, yet he could easily be 5-5 or worse. But what-ifs aren't really valid points in an argument and the fact is, the team has won with him at quarterback.

It's been very disheartening to listen to certain local talk show hosts (Chuck Booms of 92.3 The Fan comes to mind) push and push for Johnny Manziel to start, and Booms argument that Hoyer has been terrible is slightly misguided at best. I find it odd that a guy who has largely been supportive of the local teams and players is so against the local product as quarterback, but Booms has had a strange love affair with Manziel from the start.

The problem with Hoyer is he has made some bad throws, making it harder to defend him at times. You could argue that more than few throws, if on point, would've led to easy touchdowns and you'd be correct. Yet some of those throws aren't as easy as the detractors want you to believe. The throw to Ben Tate against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a prime example of that. Hoyer had to wait for the route to develop, then had to make the throw right before being blasted by a defender. Could the throw have been better? Yes, but it certainly wasn't as easy as some have made it out to be.

You'd think from the critics that he had all day to set his feet and throw the ball and it just sailed on him. The disheartening thing is the talk makes it sound like the Browns have lost the last two weeks. Yes, the games have been ugly, but the bottom line is Hoyer has made enough plays to get the job done.

Do I think his performance warrants bringing him back next season? At this point, no. But it does allow Manziel time to learn as much as possible so that when it is his time, he's prepared. At the same time, if Hoyer suddenly catches fire and finishes the season strong, that changes the whole dynamic of the upcoming offseason.

It's just sad that because some want to see Manziel play, they'll find anything on Hoyer to rip. He has a new center in front of him that was shoved to the ground on three different occasions, leading to negative plays. The run game has been non-existent for three straight weeks. Jordan Cameron has been out due to a concussion (that was improperly blamed on Hoyer by some).  Oh, and some guy by the name of Josh Gordon has not played at all this season due to his bogus suspension.

Yet Hoyer still has the team 5-3. Nitpick all you want, you can't argue with the overall result. Hoyer's play, while not always pretty, has been inspiring and he's continuing to soldier on despite the lack of a running game.

Lost in all the hoopla over Manziel vs. Hoyer is the defense playing much better the last few weeks. Granted, you have to consider the level of competition, but it's been nice to see the defensive backs make some plays and while the defense is still prone to getting gashed in the run game, they've been able to stem the tide when they need to.

Joe Haden has raised his level of play of late and you can't understate the importance of Donte Whitner and Tashaun Gipson in the back end. Buster Skrine has had his ups and downs and Justin Gilbert has still struggled some, but the unit overall has been better and should continue to get better.

Which leads us back to the game tomorrow night. It's a big one and if the Browns find a way to win, the fans will start thinking a division title is possible. If they lose, the cries for Manziel might get louder.

Hang on fans, it's going to get wild.

The Sports Mixer - New Cavs and Browns Win

As is often the case with me, it's been a while since I've written in here.

Sure, I've had a lot of thoughts about the Indians, Cavs, and Browns, but time has often been the biggest issue. Most of my free time has been spent playing with kids and doing work on my YouTube Channel, so it's taken a backseat, but I felt after watching a riveting display of football yesterday it was time to resume.

I'll try to get something on the Indians in the future, but there isn't much to say other than I feel like this year was a missed opportunity by the Tribe to really make a good push. The issues were many, and yet they still hung around until the last week of the season. Not great, but not horrible either.

Cavalier Caveats

I'll start with the Cavs since their most recent preseason game was a highly anticipated match-up against the Miami Heat from Brazil. It was LeBron James facing his new former team for the first time and it followed some interesting remarks from Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh that the media tried way too hard to make a story line.

This of course has been a dominant issue with the national media, who still can't seem to grasp that James is a Cavalier again. Remember, last time I wrote he hadn't decided his future and I was okay with the team either way.

I won't get too deep in how I think this team has been constructed, but it's been put together smartly by David Griffin and David Blatt seems like a good choice thus far to coach these players. Kevin Love committing beyond this season will be huge, but the Cavs did a nice job and I'm really interested to see how Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Kevin Love play with James.

Early preseason results have been promising offensively, as was expected. Obviously, this team is a liability defensively, especially with Love, but it may not matter when they can't be stopped at all on the other end.

The game from Rio was pretty fascinating as the starters pretty much had their way with the Heat, building up a 15 point halftime lead without James doing a lot of scoring. What he did though was provide 8 assists and allowed Love, Waiters, and Anderson Varejao to do the scoring. Tristan Thompson also had a nice game, showing that the Cavs are not going to struggle with offense and rebounding.

The game went to overtime, primarily because the reserves to the reserves let up and the Heat reserves tied the game, but the Cavs pulled it off in overtime 122-119.

The main thing I continue to take away from this team is the ball is going to move. No one stood and dribbled until AJ Price came in and started dribbling around the court. Everyone was involved offensively and the Cavs went to Varejao early and often to establish a post-up game. Varejao didn't disappoint his home crowd, dropping in hook shot after hook shot to the delight of the crowd.

Defensively, there are holes, but unless Love and Irving suddenly stop being turnstiles, there isn't much you can do there. The Heat were able to penetrate with ease in the first quarter, but that seemed to be corrected in the second quarter, when the Cavs took control.

What is clear about this team is that it isn't going to be James and/or Irving dribbling for 15 seconds before using a pick to try and make something happen. The ball is going to swing from side to side, inside back out, and fast breaks are going to be especially fun. I'm most interested to see how Waiters fits into all of this. He's been very good the first two preseason games and is showing interest on the defensive end of the floor, which is going to be huge.

I still don't know who's going to start, but it's going to be a fun year.

Brownie Bits

That was fun yesterday, wasn't it?

It didn't seem like it was going to start off well as the Pittsburgh Steelers marched right down the field, primarily running the ball, but the drive stalled and they settled for a field goal. Then the Browns went three and out again and once again the Steelers were marching down the field. Then luck turned to the Browns and the Steelers botched a field goal attempt.

A few plays later, the Browns were in the end zone and leading 7-3 thanks to a big play from Jordan Cameron from Brian Hoyer and a nice run from Isiah Crowell. The Browns held the Steelers on the next possession and once again the Browns struck with a big play, this time a 51-yard touchdown pass from Hoyer to Cameron on 3rd and 1. It was a perfect throw following a nice play-fake from Hoyer that completely fooled the Steelers defensive backs.

Little did we know at the time the route was on and the Browns went on to win 31-10, scoring at will in the second and third quarters before the Steelers finally got a late touchdown with under 4 minutes remaining in the game.  At that point, the outcome was not in doubt and the fans were celebrating in the stands, shooing away the yellow towels that usually inundate the stadium in the third and fourth quarters.

The first thing I'm going to take from that game is the Browns continued commitment to the run, but also ability to be aggressive when the opportunity knocks. Ben Tate didn't have a great game rushing, but he and Crowell kept the Steelers thinking about the run enough for Hoyer to hit his receivers down the field. Hoyer only completed 8 passes, but 7 went beyond 10 yards and kept the crowd ignited. Crowell busted a couple of larger runs, but came down with a case of the yips with some fumbling issues.

The defense, while not entirely stout, did what it had to do to keep the Steelers flustered on offense and avoided the big play, something that had bit them a few times. Buster Skrine in particular had a nice game, bouncing back from last week's disaster.

Special teams have completely cleaned up their act. There haven't been any big returns, but the tackling has been sure and the field goal issues have largely disappeared. They don't kick a lot of them though since Hoyer likes to score touchdowns as opposed to field goals.

The big downside is the injury bug hitting this team hard. Alex Mack was lost for the season most likely with a broken leg when he was caught under a pile of players. Armony Bryant is also done for the year with a torn ACL, further hampering a defensive line that was already missing several players.

They were still gashed pretty badly in the run game, but the defense held together at the right moments and were aided by the Steelers surprising decision to all but abandon the run game once the deficit grew. This is in contrast to the Browns, who have shown that they will run whether down by 3 or 23.

All in all, it's hard to complain and hard to find reasons for first round pick Johnny Manziel to even sniff the field at this stage. Hoyer has shown this is his team and he's not going to just give it up.

The next three games will be far bigger tests to me though. All three should be very winnable, albeit not entirely easy. First up is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were a blocked kick away from their first win. You also have games against a suddenly competitive Oakland Raiders team along with a seemingly demoralized Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. How they approach those games will show us how far they've truly come.

Yes, it's possible that the Browns will be 6-2 once they hit a big showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals, but they first need to focus on next week's game and carry this performance over.

Oh, and they might want to get healthy too.