Cleveland Browns Revived!!

What a great weekend.

I don't even know where to start. How about Troy Tulowitzki's one man triple play for the Rockies, or Matt Holliday's walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th in the same game?

Or the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic being eliminated from the NBA playoffs before the Nuggets and Spurs even play their 3rd game.

Or Manchester United winning 4-2 while 2nd place Chelsea sputters to a draw to fall even further back in the Premiership.

Or....The BROWNS having the best draft ever!!

Lets put it this way. Before the draft started, the Cleveland fanbase had pinned the debate down to Adrian Peterson vs Brady Quinn as our selection with the 3rd pick. Phil Savage, Browns General Manager, had said it was down to 5 guys, the two previously mentioned and JaMarcuss Russell, Calvin Johnson and Joe Thomas.

So basically the best 5 guys in the draft. The only guy that didn't play a "skill" position was Joe Thomas, the Offensive Lineman, a.k.a. not the "sexy" pick.

By the time the draft started on Sat. morning i was all setup, without cable at our apt. i was at the pc with dual monitors running ESPN's draftcast, the Browns Board chatroom (the Tavern) and the radio on ESPN 1600. I had decided after the Raiders took Russell and the Lions took Johnson, that we'd take Quinn, our future franchise qb, but no...

Joe Thomas, OT

I was devastated

so was Browns Nation

And for the next 2 hours we all cried together, until...

Brady Quinn was passed up by the Dolphins at 9, and nobody

after that needed a qb. There was hope, maybe we could trade up.

Trade up we did, to 23 and grabbed Quinn there! instead of getting one great player, we got 2.

Not to mention the rest of our draft was pretty solid.

This day will go down in history in a good way for once for the Browns.

Where do i get my Brady Quinn jersey??

Thanks Sam Mitchell

You probably thought this was going to be a post about the first Coach of the Year honor to go to the coach of the Toronto Raptors, but no, its not.

Nor is it about race and how this league needs more blacks athletes or that league is the most diverse league blah blah.

nope

I am thankful that the media finally went against the grain and voted a good coach with a super young team as the Coach of the Year, and helped me win $100

Lets just say i like to bet on sports on occasion, not a nightly type bet on games, but more on Futures. So around January i decided to see what Futures were available for the NBA on my betting website of choice, BetUS.com.

The Futures/Props included MVP, Rookie of the Year, COY, and everything else. At the time i had already thought that Mitchell was going to win the award, and to my surprise, he wasn't on the list of COY candidates that included Avery Johnson, Don Nelson, Jeff Van Gundy, George Karl and a few others. But there was another option of Rest of Field, with the best odds. I took it with $10 and BAM, payday.

Now I'm rooting for the Madden Curse, because if VYoung plays less than half of the games this year, i get $200 from my $5 bet.

Break a leg Vince.

Barry Bonds: I want to be that pitcher!

So, as the debut drags on about whether or not we should all be happy or upset with Barry Bonds and the inevitable fact that he's going to break the home run record, i have a different question.

First let me squeeze this in; I'm totally excited about Bonds and the mark! Its happening during my lifetime, i got to see a lot of Bonds' career and years down the road people will speculate, but i got to see it with my own eyes. I think it's great, steroids or not, Bonds is one of the best 5 players of all time, period!

So here's my question. Rumors are flying around about pitchers starting to walk Bonds, but would you want to be the pitcher when he breaks the record?

Say you're some no-name pitcher, like anyone on the Rockies staff for example, Josh Fogg, and Bonds has already tied the home-run mark. Now he's looking to break it. Most people would say "not on my watch" but i think that any publicity is good publicity.

Think about it, you'd be enshrined as the pitcher who gave up the record breaking home run. you wouldn't be banished or anything, heck, he's homered off like 400 different pitchers or something (including 8 homers off of Maddux, Smoltz, Mullholand, and Schilling respectively).

But your name would be forever attached to the record, in the books, in the articles, your picture in the paper.

It's not like you let the ball through your legs and cost your team and championship. This would be a midseason game, meaningless for the most part, and if you're a middle reliever, what do you have to lose?

think about it

I'd serve it up with a smile, here ya go Mr. Bonds. enjoy it. thanks for putting me on the map. thanks for leaving your coat tails in reach.

then I'd write a book about how it ruined my confidence, and how i have to go to counseling. tough life.

Duncan vs. Crawford

So in case you missed, this past weeks clash between the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks brought to light a rising problem in the NBA. The refs.

No other league has referees that are so visible. You might be able to recall a few of the refs in the NFL but only because they have speaking parts, they aren't that visible during the gameplay. You surely don't know any umpires in baseball or hockey. If you're a true soccer fan, than you probably know a few refs that are both good and bad, but, how many of you actually follow soccer, and lets keep it to American sports.

Anyway, Joey Crawford, a name that any NBA enthusiast knows, among other NBA refs, is a terrible ref, with a very short temper. He once gave four technical fouls out in the first 10 minutes of a game, and his name pops up when you talk about the Lakers, and their amazing free throw differential in playoffs (one that sunk the Kings every year). He's a character, he thinks people are paying money to watch him...but he's wrong.

Its time for the NBA to step up and realize that the refs aren't policemen. The fans are paying money to see the players, Duncan vs Nowitzki, not Crawford.

Here's to Joey Crawford and retirement.

Sports Update

Just a quick update of the teams in my life, my brain is fried from no sleep

Cleveland Browns: Not signing Trent Green, still tryin to figure out who to draft between Brady Quinn, Adrian Peterson, Jamarcus Russell and Joe Thomas. Everyday i change my stance too.

Colorado Rockies: Lost 3 super close games in LA. They need some serious run support, i mean, they scored 0 runs one game. At least the pitching looks great!

Denver Nuggets: I thought they'd tank a little and try to settle in the 7 spot so they'd get the Suns in the first round, but no, they're apparently shell-shocked from doing that last year. So they're just beating everybody including the Lakers, Jazz and Mavericks. They'll have the Spurs in the first round, so at least the playoffs will be short

Manchester United: Stunning destruction of Roma on wednesday for the 2nd leg of the quater-finals in the Champions League 7-1. Now they have AC Milan to get to the finals, shouldn't be too much of a problem. Also, Christiano Ronaldo ended all the speculation and re-signed with the Reds through 2012, best player on earth.

Colorado Rapids: 1-0 for the first time ever. Game this sunday and we should get to see a little more of Pablo Masteroni.

Out Of The Playoffs For the First Time This Decade: Avalanche and Sacramento Kings. Seriously disappointing seasons for these two clubs.

Denver is Sportsville!

Don't deny you Denverite's. This is the Mecca of sports! i knew there was a reason i was moved to transfer to Denver from Sacramento back in my high school days.

Lets take a look at why if you're a sports fan, this is the place to be.

What makes a city a "Sports" city? Well first it would have to be teams. So the Denver area (we're not even going to include the whole state) has the following teams: Broncos (NFL), Nuggets (NBA), Rockies (MLB), Avalanche (NHL), Rapids (MLS), Crush (AFL) and the Mammoth (NILL). So those are the big guns. See, it's not only important to have teams, but competitive teams.

So how many playoff games/series do we have between these teams since, oh, 1995 (the year i started High School). I know the Broncos are in the playoffs almost every year, and they even won the Superbowl a few times around the turn of the century right? The Avalanche just missed the playoffs this season for the first time in 12 seasons. The Nuggets have been in the playoffs the last 3-4 seasons after being terrible for awhile. The Crush won the Arena Football Championship, and the Mammoth also won the Championship for indoor Lacrosse while also having the best all time player, Gary Gait on their roster. The Rapids are always in the MLS playoffs and even went to the semi-finals 2 years ago. That leaves the Rockies as the only under achieving team, but i think that might change this season.

So not only does Denver have a team in every sport, they're all very competitive.

Great teams bring great players, and Denver has seen its icons; John Elway, Terelle Davis, Rod Smith, Ed McCaffery, Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsbery, Pablo Masteroni, Joe Cannon, Marcelo Balboa, Todd Helton, Andres Galaraga, Larry Walker, Shannon Sharpe, John Lynch, Champ Bailey, Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Dikembe Mutombo, George Karl....

Along with the pro teams you have semi-competitive college teams with the Colorado State Rams, University of Colorado Buffaloes, Air Force Falcons, Denver Univ. Pioneers and of course the Colorado Christian Univ. Cougars. The college hockey teams are always some of the best in the country.

Enough with the teams, what about the market?

Well, you have Stan Kroenke who has shown that he's serious about promoting his name and his teams with successfully bringing the NBA all star game here 2 years ago to the Pepsi Center. He also just finished building the biggest soccer complex in North America, which debuted on national TV this past weekend. Also with the Rapids he signed an agreement with European Powerhouse Arsenal as working partners.

You have 3 full time AM sports stations in ESPN 1600, Sportingnews 560, and the Fan 950. Plus 850 KOA is fully sports about 50% of the time. You have an ESPN Zone downtown. You have the second most sports bars per ca pita than anywhere in the nation and Denver is the #1 city when is comes to beer production per capita. You have minor league teams for the NBDL (NBA) and an NHL team (RAGE).

You have golf courses everywhere and until this year, a major PGA Golf event in Castle Rock, the Invitational.

This doesn't even begin to touch on the X-Games in the mountains (within 2 hours of Denver) like Aspen, Vail, Copper, and Keystone.

What else could you want. You have beautiful arenas in the Pepsi Center and Invesco @ Mile High. Coors Field (Rockies) is one of the most beautiful baseball parks I've ever seen, designed in a classic fashion with lots of brick and it's very open.

I love this city, good weather, 300+ days of sunshine and a fan base that supports all of their teams. 2 local sports stations, one (Altitude) dedicated just to the Avalanche and Nuggets.

So when are you moving out here?

Let's Talk Nuggz!

So everyone in Colorado is pissed with the Nuggets. What was supposed to be the best team ever after the Iverson trade has not transpired. But fear not, i think i have some insights.

The Nuggets are struggling right now, there's no question about that, but why? They have 2 25+ ppg. players, essentially 2 centers who are in the top 15 in the league and great role players with an experienced coach. what is the deal??

Well i think it starts with chemistry. I am a real stickler for this and i think people underestimate it. Iverson arrived halfway through a season, a season in the which the plan was designed around Carmelo. Speaking of this plan, it worked great until A) Melo got suspended and B) Iverson arrived.

Think about it, all summer, Karl was designing this team around Carmelo with no other real scoring threats. They start the season amazing and the Melo's gets suspended, they make the trade for Iverson and now you need a new plan, at the midpoint of the season.

People need to realize that this team will be great next season, with a full offseason to prep and find what works and what doesn't. Plus you add a "healthy" Kenyon Martin to the mix of Camby, Klieza, Blake, Najera and a reborn Nene. This sounds like good things to me.

As you noticed i left off JR Smith, the dude sucks, trade him, for another dude that shoots consistently from 3 pt land.

Another factor that really hurt this season was the scoring race and Carmelo. I really feel that he held this in high priority, taking away from the Team. Everyone should be relieved that Kobe has taken over the scoring title and hopefully he runs away with it. The Nuggets have too many options on offense to only go through Melo, especially with Iverson and the emergence of Linas and Nene.

This season has been so up and down for the Nuggets, you go into the season thinking you'll have KMart and you lose him instantly. You think you'll never have Nene and now he dominates. You think you're going to have no 3 point presence and Klieza steps up. You go from a total defensive liability in Boykins to a very good classic point guard in Blake. You actually have Camby playing night after night without injuries. These things combined make for a ton of adjustments, adjustments that can't be made on the fly, they need to be made and figured out in the offseason. And they will be.

Look for the Nuggets to move JR Smith, Reggie Evans, Sampson and those in the offseason, maybe pick up a defensive player and then a 3 pt shooter late in the 1st round of the draft.

People, stop acting like this is the only season we have, Iverson will play for at least 5 more seasons, Carmelo's only getting better, Nene is young so who knows, the rest of the West is only getting older and older.