Thanks LeBron for Bringing me Back to Blogging…aka My Two Cents on "The Decision"

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

I am sick and tired of hearing about LeBron James! Please stop it already. “The Decision” was days ago, which means the World News and CNN no longer need to mention it, yet they still do. I haven’t blogged in forever, but my annoyance has finally reached a boiling point and I need some where to vent.

If you have ever read my blog before, then you know that I am a fan of the Cavs, not LeBron. I vaguely remember watching Mark Price on television. My favorite Cavalier of all time is and always has been Bobby Sura (even though he started going by Bob Sura after he left the Cavs). I loved Bobby Sura. I have never watched more Cav games then when Bobby was playing for us. Don’t get me wrong, I watch the Cavs randomly during the season, and I definitely try to watch most of their playoff games, but I haven’t been madly in love with them since Sura left. I rarely missed watching a game when Sura was playing. I’d miss my favorite tv show (because this was pre-DVR) just to watch the Cavs.

This is not a knock against LeBron, I’m just making the point that everyone is acting like all Clevelanders worshipped the man and I for one, did not. Did I appreciate his talents? Of course! Was I happy that my home team had the person who everyone was calling the best basketball player in the world? Uh, yeah! Did I ever buy a LeBron jersey or a Witness t-shirt or poster? Hell no! All that garbage is a waste of money. Would I have accepted a LeBron jersey or a Witness t-shirt if it was given to me? Of course, who doesn’t love free stuff? But I probably wouldn’t have worn it in public. I’m just not in to that kind of stuff. I do have some Cavs gear though. I have an old Cavs t-shirt from the Bobby Sura era that I wear from time to time. I have more Indians t-shirts than anything and a couple of Browns shirts that I rarely ever wear.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic. I started this to say that everyone in Cleveland is not pissed at LeBron. I’m the first to admit that I thought his one-hour special was classless, but I wasn’t surprised. It’s what I expected from him. Some people in Cleveland had too much faith in him and obviously haven’t been listening to him over the years. These people thought there was no way in hell he would go on national television, with a special named, “The Decision,” and not pick his hometown. What kind of heartless bastard does that?

I tried to warn people. I thought he was leaving all summer, but I really started to believe it as we got closer to “The Decision.” The biggest hint that every Cleveland fan should have gotten was the location of the special. I heard it was in Greenwich and I knew I was right that he was gone. I warned people that he was doing it there because he wasn’t staying. Everyone likes to point out that he is a home town boy. That was why he didn’t do it here. He knew some idiotic fans would lose control of themselves and he would be in danger. He knew that if he made the announcement here, it would take police in riot gear to hold back the angry fans who wanted a piece of him as he was trying to leave. Getting out of dodge was the only smart thing about the set up for the Decision.

The next big hint was when it was announced that Bosh had agreed to go to Miami with Wade. For me, the writing was on the wall and it was in all caps: LEBRON JAMES IS LEAVING THE CAVALIERS. I still say LeBron’s camp released the “rumor” that he was going to Miami to kind of soften the blow for Cleveland fans. We spent all day knowing he was gone, then he said it and it was official. I am not upset with him for leaving. He didn’t want to play for Cleveland, he probably never did. He said what the fans wanted to hear so that he could get paid and be loved by the city. “I know the city’s history.” “I’m going to bring a championship to this city.” “This is my family.” Lol. Funny, because I just saw footage of him saying the exact same thing to the Miami fans.

I hope he gets his ring but I seriously doubt that Miami will get a ring for each of the next six years. These three guys just challenged the manhood of all the other NBA Players. They have essentially said that because the three of them are on the same team, they are unbeatable. Um, I bet there are a lot of players itching to prove them wrong. Of course they will be hard to beat depending on how they round out the team, but no team is unbeatable, or better yet, if they are unbeatable, another owner is just going to clear his roster and find three superstars to sign on with his team. Either way, it won’t be a six year free pass.

While I’m ranting, there’s something else I want to address. Many of the Cavs players who are “overpaid” are overpaid because LeBron didn’t want them gone so Gilbert spent whatever he had to in order to keep them. If you live in Cleveland then you know it’s true because you’ve seen it play out. Gilbert wrote that venomous email because LeBron messed with his money. I’m not naïve enough to believe Gilbert did it because he felt the pain of the Championship drought in Cleveland. I know he was pissed off because LeBron didn’t give him the heads up (and sorry LeBron fans, but having one of your boys call your former boss and tell him your decision a few minutes into your hour long special, is not giving someone the heads up).

Another thing that has shocked me is that some Cleveland fans seem genuinely surprised by the size of LeBron’s ego. I wasn’t surprised at all when he started saying “I, I, I” that’s what he normally does and just like normal, towards the end of the interview he thought about what he had been saying and how condescending it might have sounded and he added in “myself and my teammates” with the hope that would be the snippet people used when discussing his comments about Cleveland. People should have gotten the hint after he stormed out when he lost to Orlando and later defended his actions by saying, “I’m a winner,” um, okay.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not upset with LeBron. I wish him all the best, but I can’t cheer for him anymore because I’m a Cavs fan and he is now on a different team. I don’t think the Cavs are as bad as everyone is saying they are. If each player steps up and plays to their potential, I think we still have a decent team. The thing I’m looking forward to the most is that the other guys will no longer be able to take breaks from the game and stand around and watch LeBron: they have to create their own plays now. I remember a time when Detroit’s team was rather successful without a true superstar on the roster so I have my fingers crossed that we can at least be respectable. The good news is that I will no longer have to watch LeBron stand at the top of the key and hold the ball for a long time before finally taking a shot. The people of Miami will now get that privilege. Unlike Gilbert, I’m not promising a highly unlikely championship. Though it would be funny as hell if we got one before LeBron, I can’t bring myself to actually see that happening. I just want us to be competitive.

Go Cavs!

Rascal Flatts Rocks My World

I always think it’s weird when you think of a song and then you turn the radio on and that song is playing. If you’re like me then you sometimes start singing a song and then hear it. I’m on this tangent, because Tuesday night, I was listening to one of my favorite Rascal Flatts’ songs when I started singing one of their other songs and decided to listen to that song instead. I listened to it a couple of times Tuesday and a little bit obsessively on Wednesday. Wednesday night, I was checking the guide and saw that Rascal Flatts was going to be on Conan O’Brien. I decided to try to turn for the last couple of minutes so I could see which song Rascal Flatts performed. I love most of their songs, so I knew I would enjoy it, no matter which song it was. And of course, you know where this is leading. They performed the song I had been listening to all day long. It really is a sad song. I wondered why they decided to sing that depressing song on Conan, but I was more fascinated by the kismet of it all. I rarely check to see what is on Conan. I hardly ever watch Conan anymore. Yet there I was, on that night, flipping through the guide and finding Rascal Flatts and there they were, singing that song. I guess it was just one of those things. Anyway, here’s the song I kept playing yesterday:




Status: Hoping everyone knows that life is worth the fight.

No Homo. Again.

Have you ever pointed something out and then days later someone else says it and you have no way of proving that you noticed it first? It seems more people have finally taken notice of the term “no homo.” It certainly took long enough! The beauty of having a blog is that that I can say I brought up the term months ago and I have the blog to prove it. I blogged about it way back in January.

I do not like the term. I find it both offensive and ignorant. No homo? Really? If you have to specify to your friends “no homo” then newsflash: they’re not really your friend! I wish I would tell my friend, “I love you. No homo.” WTF? Are you serious? Anyway, I’m back on this topic because I saw this video about it:


Source: current.com

I saw the video and thought: it’s about time other people noticed this trend. Anyway, I just wanted to share it.

Status: Smiling to myself.

DA 1.0 versus that Other Guy

The Browns finally almost won a game! Yay! They lost in overtime, so my only complaint is that they didn’t win. The game itself was far better than the previous three games. Derek Anderson looked better and closer to Derek Anderson 1.0 (the one who was actually decent) and less like Derek Anderson 2.0 (the one who led us all last season and the one who bombed in the second half of game three). Welcome back DA 1.0, please stick around for a few games.

In honor of the Browns not completely sucking, I am unleashing the finger:

The Finger

There are no winners or losers
Just people and places
Bets and doubts
Fans and
Games.

Status: In a good mood. Imagine how psyched I’ll be if we actually win a game.

Ramblings of a Cleveland Browns Fan mixed with a WTF Eric Wedge

Cleveland is a crazy town. Live here long enough and you’ll learn that. We will sing your praises on Monday and ask for your head on Tuesday. It’s the way we work. Give us instant results or go back to the bench. I remember a lot of fans were calling for Brady Quinn to be the starting quarterback. “It was his time.” “This would be his year.” Funny how, some of those same fans wanted him to be benched after his first two games and he was benched during the third game. Even funnier is that Derek Anderson, the former starting quarterback, came in the game and screwed up a little worse than Brady. I mean come on people. Derek Anderson should have been hungry to get his position back. He should have left his heart and soul out on that field so he could walk off and give Brady a smug “How’d you like that?” look. Instead, the best he could muster was to simply show up and be in position. When DA walked off the field he should have looked at Brady and shook his head, like “yeah, I know, we both suck.” There was one point during the game when DA was in and the cameraman panned to Brady and Brady had a slight laugh that he tried to mask as a grin. I couldn’t tell if the laugh was from watching the mockery that was the Browns team as a whole, or if the laugh was because DA had just screwed up. Either way, it was well deserved. The Browns stunk up the field on offense and defense for a third straight game. The best part for me was when DA slipped and fell all on his own. It really summed up the kind of game it was.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew going in to the game that the Browns didn’t stand a chance of beating the Baltimore Ravens. That’s why I barely watched the game. I turned periodically to check the score and maybe watch a minute or two of action, but nothing major. I thought for the longest time that we would finish the game with 0 points, but fortunately we were able to squeeze out three. I was happy about that. As a Browns fan, I have to take the small victories as they come, and the way they played, three points was an undeserved miracle.

It’s been announced that DA will start the next game, because he is obviously the better quarterback (yes that statement is dripping with sarcasm and no that statement is not meant to imply that Brady is any better. I think they equally suck.). I remember two years ago when DA was decent, but he hasn’t been the same since. In truth, it was his offensive line that was good combined with the fact that the players actually caught the ball. But back to the quarterback controversy: some fans are calling it a season and saying that we might as well leave Brady in so he can get experience this season and hopefully do better next year. I know it’s sad that we’re only three games in to the season and a lot of Cleveland fans have already thrown in the towel, but I can explain. Last season, we sucked, but not nearly as bad as we have sucked in these first three games. Anyway, I’m going to be a disloyal fan, as I can be sometimes, and say why not throw Brett Ratliff (our third string quarterback) in and see what he can do. What’s the worst that could happen? We lose. Haha. I say if we don’t beat Cincinnati, then DA should be benched again, and Ratliff should start. If he loses then we can take the league by surprise and get Josh Cribbs to try being a quarterback again (he was a quarterback in college). Our expectations won’t be very high. Just score a freaking touchdown and you get to be the starter for the next game. Now that I think of it, why not rotate the quarterbacks until one of them scores a touchdown. Brady does the first half, DA does the second; next game: Ratliff does the first half, Brady does the second; next game: DA does the first half, Ratliff does the second, etc. If you score a touchdown you get to stay in the whole game. I think that’s fair. I’m not really worried about our quarterbacks developing a rhythm, that hasn’t worked for us yet. I say focus on scoring.

I’m not quite ready to forfeit the season yet, but if push comes to shove and we lose a couple more games in equally horrible fashions, then I say decide who you want to be the starter for next year and let him play out the rest of this season.

On a different note, I find it absolutely hilarious that Wedge, and his entire coaching staff, have been fired but are going to coach the last 6 games for the Indians. Hmm. Why not wait until after the last game and then fire them? If Wedge actually does show up for the games then he is a better man than me. If you publicly announce that I’ve been fired, you don’t have to worry about seeing my face again. I’ll flash you the peace sign and be out.

Status: Thinking I need to take a break from watching sports.

For the Love of McDean

For some reason, I was thinking about my boys from Hollyoaks. I haven’t seen the show since Craig and John Paul left. Maybe I’m thinking about them because Craig came back in September of last year. I don’t know. Either way, long live McDean (that’s John Paul McQueen and Craig Dean for those of you who are not in the know)! And in honor of them, here is my favorite McDean scene of all time.

John Paul et Craig
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Just about every version of this video on YouTube didn’t allow embedding. Thank God for Dailymotion! I don’t know what took me so long to find Dailymotion but I sure am glad I did.

Status: Thinking that I’ll always love McDean.

Lessons Learned

I get bored sometimes and I post poems. Today is one of those times. Here’s another poem I wrote:

Lessons Learned

He finds things and reshapes them
Laughs when they don’t turn out right
He escapes with a smile
Just before everything collapses
It’s a talent, not a curse.

He’ll tell you where he’s been
And outline where he’s going
He likes to reminisce and then forget
Leaving the bad memories to gather rust
It’s a talent, not a curse.

He’s prone to stops and false starts
Sometimes quitting without trying
He says he gives everything his all
But admits he could give more
It’s a talent, not a curse.

He sees what he’s done wrong
But he won’t apologize for his mistakes
He learns as he fails
And self-corrects when he tries again
It’s a talent, not a curse.

Status: Wasting valuable time.