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.

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.

Has it really been 6 months?

Yes, yes it has.

Apologies are in order, but there just hasn't been a lot of time to sit down and write anything at all.

Let's recap things though.

My girlfriend was pregnant, but no more as my first child was born on May 19th. Kylie Brooke is growing by the day and is quite rowdy in the morning, much to our chagrin. Overall she's a lot of fun and it's been amazing watching her personality start to really show. Even if she is a fiery red-head.

Speaking of Rachel, we just passed our 2 year anniversary last month (June 11th to be exact). I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend and mother of my child. Payton drives me crazy sometimes, but when she's not being bad (and she's been something else of late), she's a lot of fun as well.

We moved last week from our old apartment into a much bigger one, which has been a blessing since the extra space seems to have calmed our rowdy dog Ogimaa down quite a bit. Both dogs seem to enjoy the extra space and it's made things somewhat easier.

BTW, moving stinks.

A lot has happened in the sports world as well. The Indians signed Michael Bourne and Nick Swisher as well as traded for Drew Stubbs to bolster the offense. They added depth with Mike Avilas and Ryan Raburn, and if the bullpen hadn't been shaky, they'd probably still be in first place.

The Miami Heat won their second straight title last month, which probably shouldn't have happened given the San Antonio Spurs had a 3-2 lead in the series at one point.

Which is what I want to get into. The Cavs have made some moves this off-season in the draft and in free agency. Obviously the Andrew Bynum signing is the big story, but the bigger story that won't go away is the possible return of LeBron James via free agency next year. Many find it hard to believe that Dan Gilbert would go for resigning LeBron after how he left the franchise dangling, but some think if he wants to come back, you go for it.

I personally would rather see the Cavs try to continue to build around Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, but ultimately it's not up to us as fans to determine what they decide to do. They may very well be preparing themselves to take a shot at LeBron, but they may also be looking at some of the other big free agents getting set to hit the market next year as well.

The LeBron thing is frankly over done. He left three years ago. He's won two titles, lost one, and won two Finals MVP awards. On the court, he very well could go down as the best player to ever play the game. His game continues to evolve and he seems to be driven by the way he's perceived nationally.

Of course, ESPN is in love with the idea of LeBron courting the Cavs. Then again, ESPN seems to revel in our misery, often taking every chance they get to remind us of our worst sports moments. They've already put up projected lineups if LeBron signed back with the Cavs.

While many Clevelanders were wondering why the Sports Gods continued to torture us by letting our most hated villians continue to win, I shrugged it all off. Sure, I wanted the Heat to lose. I find the way they built that team to be atrocious and completely wrong. I'm almost certain there was an agreement made to put that team together to form a super team. I'm just as appalled that other teams tried to follow the same path.

In the end, LeBron is a two-time champion. We as fans don't have to like it, but it's happened. If the Heat stay as they are, they'll probably win at least two more, if not more. It is what it is. My hatred towards LeBron is almost non-existent at this point as there's no point to it anymore. I'd rather pay attention to what Chris Grant is attempting to build at the moment and think about all the potential that this group could have.

I'd rather look at the Indians, who while wildly streaky, have been a ton of fun to watch so far. Jason Kipnis has recovered from his early season troubles to put together a solid first half and Danny Salazar put on a tantalizing performance yesterday in his Major League debut.

Hell, even the Browns are intriguing with the moves they made (if you ignore all that legal trouble Jimmy Haslam is in right now). New coaches, new staff, new players, and a new system could make things interesting.

But LeBron? Talk to me after he's decided where he's playing next off-season.

Quick Hits

The signing of Bynum is a risk/reward type of scenario. If he's healthy and plays, the Cavs are likely a playoff team and a dangerous one at that. He'd also be in line for a HUGE payout, one I doubt the Cavs would pursue. If he's not, they're only out $6 million but likely miss the postseason again. I'm not a fan of Bynum, but this is such a low-risk move that I can't complain about it.

If Vinnie Pestano isn't healthy, he's not helping the team with how he's performed. He came out recently and said he's been trying too hard to miss bats, rather than trust his pitches, but the guy has clearly been off much of this season. If it's mental, it may never go away and given the situation with Chris Perez and the overall uncertainty of the bullpen, that spells big trouble.

Miguel Cabrera is one of the best hitters in the game, but he's awful whiny for my tastes. It seems he's another one of those players who believes you aren't allowed to pitch him inside and whenever something happens he disagrees with, he begins chirping away. Cabrera is a special talent, but his mouth sometimes overshadows his bat and that's a bad thing.

Rumors continue to swirl that Haslam might have to sell the Browns, but I continue to wonder how the NFL missed him being investigated by the FBI. This seems like something that should've come up at some point, but recent reports have come out that former owner Art Modell at some points barely had full ownership of the Browns and had to scramble much more often to keep the team than most of us previously knew.

With the trading deadline looming and no real big names being made available, this could be one of the less spectacular deadlines in MLB history, although that can change in a hurry. I just don't see anything real big happening at this point in time. Too many teams are in contention and the ones that aren't don't exactly have the most appealing pieces to offer. Let's see if someone gets desperate.

Several Cavs players are in Las Vegas getting work in even though they aren't playing in the summer league and that's highly encouraging. Even more encouraging is new Cavalier Jarrett Jack heading out there as well the same day he officially signed his contract. Jack has often been underappreciated where he's been at but could be a very key piece to this year's team. The influence he could have on Irving and Waiters is just as important as the way he plays.

Finally, for those of you who still don't know, I play a game called Minecraft and record it. I then put the videos up on  YouTube for all to enjoy. My channel is at http://www.youtube.com/user/kreald1980 You should check it out. Rachel and I are also participating in the Warrior Dash again. We'll be raising money for St. Jude so go to http://www.stjudewarriors.org/dkreal1980 and donate.

Hopefully it doesn't take 6 months to write again.... 

 

A night with the Tribe

Imagine how much fun we would've had if the Cleveland Indians would've won last night?

In what was an uninspiring offensive performance (0 runs on 2 hits), the Indians fell to the Oakland Athletics 3-0.

I had a feeling about what kind of night it was going to be when we sat down in our seats, I saw Fausto/Roberto Carmona/Hernandez pitching, runners on base, and no idea who was at shortstop, third base, or left field.  Also, the sight of Matt LaPorta at first base led to a mini-game of nicknames involving his last name (LaStrikeout, LaPopout, LaCaughtlookingagain) later in the game as he came up with runners on base.

I also knew what kind of night it was going to be when the A's hitters were putting Hernandez's pitches in the air, a bad sign for a sinkerball pitcher.  Oh, and the home run in the second inning.  That was a bad sign too.

Seriously, the game itself was a trainwreck.  Hernandez was gone in the third inning (still have no clue what happened, but that's mostly because I wasn't paying attention at the time and have yet to read about it) and his relief pitched a whole lot better than he did.

Then I figured out Jason Donald was at third base, Brent Lillibridge was at short, and Shelly Duncan was in left field.  That did NOT ease my concerns about the offense in the least.

While the A's were putting runners on base for the first few innings, the Indians were trying to see how quickly they could get back into the field.  There were so many 3 and 4 pitch at-bats that it was becoming contagious almost.  As if it were the only way it could end, Michael Brantley (aka Milton Bradley) struckout looking at three straight fastballs in the ninth with two runners on base.

This was our second game this year and the two games couldn't have been more different.  The first game against the Mariners the Indians put up 10 runs off of Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners on Puppypalooza night.  It was fun, the atmosphere was great, and the fans were into the game.  Last night?  Mostly empty, fans were bored, and even Rachel and I were entertaining ourselves for the most part.

Some random moments from the game included Rachel guessing pinch hitter when she meant switch hitter, confusing Milton Bradley and Michael Brantley, me saying the bathead when farther than the bat when I meant to say farther than the ball, her looking up a player she thought played for the Indians and telling me he made $48,000, I mean $408,000, I mean $480,000 this season.

We still had fun at the game, which is pretty much how things go when we go out into public.  The game was dull, but we made it entertaining for ourselves more than most ever could've.

I don't know if we're going to make it to anymore games this season.  I don't want to rule it out, but at this stage, I'd rather save the money and try to get to a Browns game instead.  I mean, sure they're probably going to stink again (lots of rookies and young players on both sides, plus injuries), but we didn't get to go last year and we both love the Browns.

As for the Indians, I can't begin to understand how two years in a row they go from first place to being the bottom of the barrel in baseball.  This year's collapse is even worse than last year's since they supposedly had learned from last year.

So instead, I will focus on the upcoming Browns and Buckeyes football seasons since, well, it's almost football season and nothing says American like grown men smashing into each other in front of replacement officials.

Oy.

The Sports Mixer: The Penn State debacle and the state of our teams

I've thought an awful lot about the Penn State mess.

If you somehow don't know what I'm talking about, please go Google it or go to ESPN.com and read about what happened.  It's too much to rehash and quite frankly, the details of the punishment aren't important to me at this point.

What I will talk about is how this affects the current student athletes who play football there.

Yes, there are other people affected by the actions of Jerry Sandusky besides the kids whose lives he completely ruined when they were children.  There's more to this than what Joe Paterno did or didn't know, what it did to his legacy, and how much it tarnished a previously squeaky-clean university.

That said, what did happen was horrific.  No child should ever have to endure abuse of any sort.  No child should have to live with it.  No person should ever try to cover up what he/she or anyone else did.  That might be the worst thing in all of this; that people at the school knew something was amiss and did nothing to stop it all to protect their glorious football program.

Believe me.  It makes me sick.

The school should be punished.  Paterno's statue should've been removed as they did.  All these people crying out about Paterno's legacy need to stuff a sock in it.  All evidence points towards him hiding what was going on.  I don't care how many national champions a coach wins, how many games he wins, how many NFL players his school produced, you hide child abuse of any kind, you don't deserve any of your accolades.

I agree with the $60 million fine.  I agree that Paterno loses the victories earned during the years the abuse was going on.

That's about all I agree with.

The players who played those years should still be able to hold onto those wins, their accomplishments.  The players on the team now should be able to experience the victories they earn and if they earn a bowl berth, should be allowed to participate in one.

I get the bowl ban.  I do.  It's designed to punish the school by making it less desirable to play there.  Same with the scholarship bans.  It's to discourage people from playing there, thus hurting the football team.  I do get it.

I just don't agree with it.

You want to hurt the football program and those who helped cover this up?  Fine.  Go after them.  Don't hurt the kids who want to play there.  For some, Penn State is the only place they ever wanted to go to.  You've now taken away any chance for them to look back and say "hey, I won a title," or "hey, I played in that bowl game and we were awesome!"

I think the bowl ban should be lifted.  Let Penn State play in a bowl game if they earn it.  Make them have to earn an extra win if you want.  We all know the bowl games are money machines, so if you want to hurt Penn State, let them play in the bowl game but don't let them have the money that would normally be given to them.  Instead, have it donated to sexual abuse programs and things along those lines.  The coaches don't get paid for the bowl game either.

You want to reduce scholarships?  Fine.  Just don't reduce it by so many.  20 is a big number in the long run and hurts the depth.  Make it 10 and at least the kids have some depth behind them.

Remember, this isn't just about the adults running the school and the program, this is also about the current students and anyone who's dreamed of playing there.  Don't take that away from them.

Sure, you can argue they can transfer anywhere they want with no penalty, but it's July 31st.  The chances of them latching on elsewhere and learning a new playbook are just not very good at all.

I'm not saying Penn State shouldn't have been hit hard, I just think the NCAA needs to be a little more thoughtful with how it punishes schools.

The local scene

I really don't even want to talk about the Indians right now.  It seems like a carbon copy of last year.  Fight and fight til the All-Star break, then fall apart in the second half.

*sigh*

They take 2 out of 3 from the Detroit Tigers, including a stunning four-run rally in the seventh inning against Justin Verlander.  They follow that up how?  By getting swept by the last place Minnesota Twins?

Not only that, they were completely dismantled in the series on both sides of the field.  They couldn't pitch, they couldn't hit, and they couldn't field.  Just sloppy.

I keep holding out hope that they're going to get hot and make a run, but it seems like they're going the other way.  I don't know what to say really.  I'm still going to watch, but it's just hard to imagine them passing both the Tigers and the Chicago White Sox by the end of the season.

The Cavs have been quiet since the Summer League ended with them absolutely blowing the New York Knicks away.  There were some trade rumors for a while involving the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic where the Cavs would get Andrew Bynum, but that really never took off as it has become clear neither Bynum or Dwight Howard are interested in signing extensions, something the receiving teams are asking before they make any trade.

Bynum would be an interesting addition if they were able to nab him, but his character is always in question, as is his durability.  I would wonder what he would be like taken out of a major market and dropped into Cleveland without the same level of talent around him in Lakerland.  Sure, Kyrie Irving would make the transition easier, but I remember what happened when Shawn Kemp came to Cleveland several years prior to the LeBron era.

As is, the Cavs are probably going to be quiet the rest of the summer.  I just don't see them making a huge, splashy move.

The Browns have been all over the news since the draft.  First it was the selection of Brandon Weeden in the first round that caused people to nearly riot.  Then there was the supplemental selection of Josh Gordon, whose previous incidents at both Baylor and Utah have caused some scrutiny, although many believe he was a risk worth taking, especially given the state of their receiving corps.

Then came the usual optimism.  Weeden's arm looked lively.  Greg Little was catching the ball.  MoMass looked sharp.  Gordon has looked good.  Trent Richardson is running everyone over.  The defense is demolishing the offense in the drills despite all that.

What?

I've never understood training camp talk.  We hear how great everyone looks on one side of the ball, then the reporters are talking about how much better the other side was looking.  Look, the defense is ahead of the offense.  Always is.  Jabaal Sheard should be running circles around rookie offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz.  Joe Haden should be able to read where Weeden is going with the ball.  These aren't surprising things (especially since both are outstanding defensive players).  What's encouraging is Haden is telling his rookie QB that he's staring his receivers down, giving the defensive backs a chance to jump the route.

Oh, and then there was the story of Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner Jimmy Haslam in talks to buy a majority stake in the Browns from current owner Randy Lerner (last rumor was Lerner keeps 30% of ownership).  Nothing creates talk of stability like bringing in a new owner right at the start of training camp.  No distraction there.

The hope is that the new owner, if the sale is approved, decides to keep things intact since most would say the Browns are finally building a pretty decent team on both sides of the ball.  Tom Heckert said it was a 5 year plan in we're entering year 3 of that and progress is being made.

The last thing the team needs is for the entire thing to be torn down again.  Fans might not be able to take another rebuild.

The Sports Mixer: Where are the Indians fans; LeBron not only issue in Miami

Last night at Progressive Field, it was Puppypalooza, an event that allows you to bring your dog to the game.

It felt like there were almost as many dogs as there were actual fans, and given the 12,000+ attendance number, it wasn't as far from the truth as you might think.

The thing that I find interesting is the Indians are claiming there's a 4.5% increase in attendance this year, which isn't that impressive when you realize that they fail to draw 20,000 most nights even with that increase.  The other sad part to this equation is that this is the second straight year they've had a reasonably strong start to the season.

No, it's not the 30-15 start they had last year, but 21-16 and first place is nothing to sneeze at either.  The team plays hard, plays together, and has been in most ballgames even when they have lost.

In short, it's a good product to watch.

Last night against the Seattle Mariners, you had the pleasure of watching Carlos Santana score from second base on a pair of throwing errors, going airborne as he slid in safely ahead of the throw to Felix Hernandez.

Speaking of Hernandez, in his previous 10 starts against the Indians, he had gone at least 6 innings and allowed 3 runs or less each time.  In his only prior start this year, he went 8 dominant innings in a no decision.

Needless to say, it was grim news learning he was pitching.  Adding to the pot the news that it was Ubaldo Jimenez pitching for the Indians, and you didn't know what you were going to get.  Was it going to be good Ubaldo, who shut out the Texas Rangers? Or bad Ubaldo, who was rocked by the Boston Red Sox?

In the first inning, Ubaldo allowed consecutive singles to start, threw a wild pitch, and allowed a run on a groundout.  Then he shut the door on the inning, and in fact pitched a perfect second inning.  Meanwhile, the Indians picked up 4 runs thanks in part to the Mariners deciding that they wanted to throw the ball everywhere except where it needed to be.

Then in the third inning, Jimenez reverted back to bad Ubaldo, allowing a two-run homerun.  Luckily for Indians fans, that was the last run Jimenez, and the Indians for that matter, would allow.  He ended up pitching six very good innings while the bullpen cleaned up after him.

In the meantime, the Indians offense cranked it up a notch in the fourth inning.  Shin-Soo Choo singled, Jason Kipnis doubled, Travis Hafner doubled, Carlos Santana doubled, and Michael Brantley singled.  In the end, four runs scored and the Indians had knocked Hernandez out of the game.

Hafner added a solo homerun later to give the Indians the final margin of victory at 9-3 as fans and dogs went home happy.

Which brings me to the main point of contention.

What is everyone's problem with the Indians?  Why is a first place team (for the second year in a row) only drawing 14,000 fans on average?

Most use the cop-out that as long as the Dolans own the team, they won't show up because of the preconceived conception that the owners are too cheap and don't want to win.  They feel by not showing up (and instead watching the Indians-owned STO to watch the game), they send the message they aren't going to take this anymore.

Some claim it's too expensive, which is a reasonable argument in some cases.  Yes, baseball is much, much cheaper than going to a Browns or Cavaliers game, but the concessions are still expensive and that can add up quickly.  Even so, you can get a good seat for under $30 so ticket prices being too high is a poor argument.

Granted, Cleveland has always been a football town first; how else does a team that perpetually loses in grandiose style sometimes still manage to sell-out year after year?  The Cavs generated some excitement with the play of Kyrie Irving, so I can understand how they were able to draw decent crowds still, but people have always been lukewarm towards the Indians.

In 2005 and 2007, it took until after the All-Star break for fans to catch on. I remember this particularly well in 2007 as I had purchased a big bundle of tickets early in the year.  For the first several games, attendance was in the 15,000-20,000 range, but by the end of the season, the games were nearly sold-out.  Of course, having bought the tickets early on, I had good seats, but if I could tell the difference between a half-empty ballpark and a full one, you can bet the players can tell too.

It's just sad that fans fail to embrace the Indians when they're playing well.

Rachel and I aren't rolling in the money, but we still have managed to find our way to a few games last season and last night.  How many we go to depends on how things play out, but for now, we're enjoying the early success of the team and hoping it stays that way through the summer.

LeBron not only reason for Heat struggles

I'm going to say something now that some might not like.

LeBron James is a great basketball player.  He won a third MVP trophy this past season for a reason after all.

That said, he's still a despicable person for how he left Cleveland and how he's carried himself since.  He has often disappeared at the end of close games going back the last few years, thus giving him the label of being a player that shrinks in the moment.  He has certainly earned much of the criticism that he's received over the last two seasons for his play late in the game, but there's a part of me that feels it's just easy to dump on him when the Heat lose.

In game two against the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat were down two with James on the free throw line.  He promptly missed both free throws, a problem he's had since he was a rookie in the NBA.  He wasn't the only player to miss a free throw in that fourth quarter, nor was he the worst player on his team.  In fact, he played better than his partner, Dwayne Wade, and the Heat bench didn't do the team any favors either, yet headlines in Cleveland were only mentioning LeBron failing in crunch time again.

Now, I'm not a fan of him anymore.  But I'm not going to pile on a guy just because he's there, especially since he wasn't the only reason the Heat lost (perhaps the Pacers just played better this time?), and as one national writer pointed out, he isn't the only reason the Heat win or lose a game.  Keep in mind, Chris Bosh is out indefinitely with an injury, which put even more of a burden on James and Wade.

So while some of the criticism is fair, some of it isn't.

That all said, go Pacers!

idolizing can be dangerous

I hope everyone had a happy holiday.

I wasn't going to write right away, but came across a story about a book written about Walter Payton that made me stop and think.  In it, it talked about how like so many other athletes, a false sense of who he was was put out there for the public and the public ate it up, unaware to the things going on in his personal life.

It made me think about how I used to idolize certain professional players as a kid and in many cases, emulated the way they played when I would play a sport.  In football, I was Bernie Kosar.  In basketball, I was Mark Price.  In baseball, well, I grew up with some pretty poor Indians teams but I always liked Cory Snyder and Brook Jacoby.

I would even emulate the broadcasters of the time, Nev Chandler for the Browns and Joe Tait for the Cavs.  I loved the players on the Cavs and Browns from the late 80's into the 90's.

I stopped idolizing players years ago though.

Sure, there are players that come around that I latch onto.  Usually they're the guys that no one else really roots for or thinks will succeed because I'm a sucker for the underdog.  When the Indians were tearing up baseball in the mid-90's, my favorite players were Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr, and Charles Nagy.  More recently, I was one of the first to mention an idea that Jason Kipnis could become something special and made sure to watch his development.

With the Browns, some of my previous favorite players were Eric Turner, Steve Everitt, Kevin Johnson, Ernest Byner, Kevin Mack, Ozzie Newsome, and Eric Metcalf.  More recently, I've counted Mike Adams, Joe Haden, and TJ Ward as some of my favorites.

But I don't idolize them.  The one thing I've seen time and time again is that professional sports may entail a game, but they are run as business first and foremost.  This means if a player isn't performing or doesn't like where he's playing, he's gone.  That player you spent seven seasons idolizing is now playing somewhere else.

Remember LeBron James?

Did I enjoy watching him play when he was a Cav?  Absolutely.  Did he say all the right things while he was here to the media?  He sure did.  In fact, up until "The Decision," he was a marketing genius.  He had the city and it's fans eating out of the palm of his hand.

We all know how that turned out.

Now he's widely considered a villian, a player that other fans love to boo, not just because of him being on the opposing team, but because of how he went about leaving.  Now Orlando Magic fans are facing the prospect of Dwight Howard doing to them what LeBron did to Cleveland on the heels of what Carmelo Anthony did to Denver and Chris Paul did to the Clippers.  Some have already said to get rid of him if he doesn't want to play in their city.

Yet for those who've decided the guy is a bum and get rid of him, there are people who will be hurt by that athlete leaving.  I remember watching the news after LeBron left and one of the images was a woman crying.

Over a professional athlete.

Which is what leads me to what I'm getting at with this.  So many people invest way too much into sports.  They live on every game, pay attention to every stat, digest every interview as if it's their job.  They call into talk radio shows to tell anyone who will listen what they think the team/player should do.

If the team wins, they celebrate as if they were on the team.  When they lose, it ruins their day, week, month, and even year.  Next thing you know, someone's producing a video like the guy who did the "Factory of Sadness" thing.  No, I didn't watch it and I don't intend to.

From where I sit, there are far too many people who turn watching sports into an obsession.  Things like fantasy sports make this worse as in some cases, people don't even care of their team wins as long as the players they have on their fantasy team perform.  There are people who literally hang on every play as if the world is going to end.

I don't know how healthy that is.

I love sports.  I think there are few things better than sitting back and watching a game on tv or going to a sporting event.  It's even better when it's football or baseball because Rachel will watch with me.    Do I want to see the Cleveland teams win?  Absolutely.  But them losing doesn't ruin my day, crush my soul, or make me want to spend the next week spewing venom about them.

Maybe I'm a glass half-full kind of guy with sports, but I can still dig through a loss and see what the team did right rather than just dwell on the negative.  Hell, most people can't see the positive after a win, much less a loss.  I've heard way too many people call in after a WIN and point out everything the team did wrong.  This became especially prevalent when LeBron was putting on a show every night for Cavs fans.  They'd win by 30 and people would be calling in talking about how bad the defense was, or how this guy missed 3 shots he should've made, and so on.

It's become disgusting anymore.

The more dangerous people though are the ones who idolize athletes to the point of being obsessed with them.  You can have a favorite player and root for them.  But when it becomes all you can talk about, all you can think about, you may have a problem.  It's fine when you're eight and think that Joe Haden is the best player ever and you want to be like him.  It's another when you're 38 and still like that.

It becomes sad though when you find out that the person you root for isn't as on the up and up as you thought he was.  The story about Walter Payton talks about how he had a child out of wedlock right before his wife gave birth to their second child, then was worried that his wife and girlfriend would run into each other at his Hall of Fame induction speech.

This after he was named father of the year.

As the story points out, we live in an age where TMZ, the internet, and Twitter expose us to things we'd rarely hear about 30 years ago.  Now we find out about every last little incident the moment it happens.  If an athlete has an affair, gets caught with drugs or drinking and driving, or has any other kind of incident, they get put on trial with public first and foremost.

Certainly athletes are still on a pedestal, but it isn't like it used to be and it shouldn't be.  Take away all the glitz, glamor, and millions, and they are people just like you and me.  Athletes, and celebrities for that matter, are often held to a different standard and part of me wonders if it's because the people who adore them are jealous of them.  I really don't know.  I do know when people ask me about celebrities, I don't really know anything.  I don't pay attention to them and could care less about what they do.

As for athletes, sure I want Peyton Hillis to run for 200 yards, Greg Little to catch 3 touchdown passes from Colt McCoy, and Jabaal Sheard to sack the quarterback 5 times, but I could care less what they do outside of the game.  Even when Hillis was dealing with public scrutiny and seemed to be making off-field mistakes, I felt it was all being overblown.  Guys like Haden are lauded because he's out in the community, becoming part of Cleveland.  We shouldn't alienate players who avoid the limelight, stay in the shadows.

Not everyone wants the spotlight.

They just want to play the game they love to play.

So let them and when they're gone, remember them for what they did while with the team, not how they left.