Green, Warren allowed to seek trades?

ESPN is reporting that Browns running back William Green and defensive tackle Gerard Warren have permission to seek trades to other teams. These were Butch Davis's first two first round picks. And we're looking to get rid of both of them. Awesome. I think that sums up the Davis era nicely.

I don't really care if we get rid of these two or not. I heard that the Colts may want Warren, and he could do well, with Freeny getting all the double teams. Now about Warrens work ethic...

I've been a William Green guy since the Browns drafted him. Lately Davis has gotten a lot of shit for not drafting Clinton Portis instead of Green. He had Portis at Miami they say, he should have known. But come on, the only RBs slated for the first round were Green and TJ Duckett, so it would have been a reach to take Potis so high.

As for other free agents out there, I don't want any of them, not Desmond Mason or Rolle, no one. The Browns are so far away from contending its funny. We don't need to be breaking the back for older players, we need to stockpile picks and DRAFT SMARTLY.

NBA Trades Roundup

Well, the Cavs didn't get Redd, and the Bucks did clear some cap space (are they pulling a Boozer with Redd??), but we did get a shooter. And following in the tradition of John Smiley, gets hurt his first game. Amazing.

Obviously, like the rest of you, I think the Sixers made out the best by snagging Webber for basically nothing. The Knicks continue to amaze me, and other basketball fans, you can't say it better than Simmons:

When Isiah called the Spurs and said, "We'll give you Nazr Mohammed, you give us Malik Rose and a crap No. 1, and we don't care about the $20 million difference in salaries," do you think Gregg Popovich said, "Lemme call you right back," then pretended he was deliberating about it for 30 seconds before speed-dialing Isiah back? Was there laughter in the Spurs offices? High-fiving? Was Popovich the guy who called Isiah under the "Maybe Isiah will be dumb enough to give us a center" premise? How did this go down?

I like how the Warriors look, getting Baron Davis for a little more than nothing, but they have no cap space either, and I wonder how those guys will play together. From my angle it looks like Warriors GM was missing the good ol days and decided to bring back the days of Run TMC (Tim Hardaway. Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin) with Baron Davis, Jason Richardson and Troy Murphy. Am I reaching here?

I'm back

and I'm older, 22 years baby. Alright, to some stories. We all know Maurice Clarett's story. The accusations, the showing up at the Combine overweight and out of shape last year. So he's had two years preparing for this moment and he runs a.......

4.8 and 4.72.

Wow.

I hope the kid does well actually, he was a big part (the big part?) of OSU's National Championship team. True, he screwed us (and himself) over, and he keeps telling stories about OSU's academic standards and the like, but I could care less. OSU football will continue on and Clarett has really just damaged himself.

Although, I'm not gonna lie, I do kinda smirk when I hear about him screwing up again.

sorry about lack of updates

i'll have a flurry of updates in a little bit, after i'm done with class today (around 4) this week has been hell

Parents mellow about drugs

According to an article on CNN:

While today's parents were more likely to have used drugs than in previous
generations, they see less risk in drug experimentation and are less likely to
speak with their children about it, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Our two most recent Presidents have used drugs. So did Al Gore. Bush admits it in the new audio tapes released. So what? I'm all for drug legalization- legalize it, then tax the fuck out of it. We already have a ton of 'sin taxes' anyway. Drug use will go up, but then we can stup drug dealers (cause if its legal, why would you buy from a dealer) and we can stop putting non violent criminals in jail.
The report shows that only half of parents would be upset if their child experiemented with pot. Come on, just legalize it already. And hey, ask any kid who smoked cigs underage, once you turn 18, they stop being fun.

Skip Bayless is Dumb

Skip Bayless is stupid. The man who has a negative view on everything is now saying he lost a little respect because LeBron didn't do the dunk contest and that LeBron let the league down.

LeBron let the league down. The LeBron that played in the rookie game on Friday (after they made it mandatory, even if you made the real all star game), skipped the dunk contest on Saturday, and played a ton (I'm gonna guess not Paul Silas's plan) on minutes on Sunday in the game. Oh yea, the league also scheduled him on Wednesday and Thursday before the All-Star weekend. Geez, you could think LeBron was nuts for not wanting to go 5 days straight, it's like his team is in a playoff hunt or something.

I would've loved it James had participated in the dunk contest. But I also would've loved it if Kobe, Vince, McGrady, Melo, Richardson or Wade would've competed. It's not like LeBron is the only big gun not to show up. But losing respect for a 20 year old kid because he doesn't compete in the dunk contest is absurd.

NBA trade rumors

From SI.com's Truth and Rumors (but really NY Daily News):

For LeBron James to join the ranks of immortals, the Cavaliers better find a way to import some better teammates or risk losing him to a big-market team when he can leave.
-- New York Daily News

Which big market team would he be going to exactly? New York? The Knicks fan wet dream, but does anyone think they will have the cap space to pay for LeBron James? Or maybe the Cavs would do a sign and trade for some of the Knicks crap. What other "Big Market" teams are out there? Lakers? Have fun paying Kobe, Brian Grant, Odom AND LeBron. Riiiight.
I see these articles every now and then, how LeBron is going to leave Cleveland for a bigger market. All I want to know which market he's heading to. The Nets? Knicks? Lakers? Clippers? Bulls? Because the Cavs don't have the talent that these teams have? Come on, how many All Stars did the Cavs have this weekend: 2. Combined All Stars from the Big Market Teams: 2. Get the Cavs some more players like the Big Market Teams, we need Chris Mihm back! Tim Thomas! Kurt Thomas! Isiah Thomas? Last time I checked the Cavs have a better record than the Big Markets.

I can't really see the Cavs letting James head elsehwhere (plus, if he did, every Cleveland sports fan head would explode). The Boozer-gate debacle has actually worked out (though it looked (well, still looks) really bad/dumb). But they compensated with Varejao and Gooden, and it looks like the Jazz aren't too happy with Boozer in Utah. Gee, you think you overpaid? LeBron may be the next Jordan/Magic/Bird/Jesus but Boozer certainly wasn't the next Karl Malone.

Despite no mention in SI's Truth and Rumors, look for the Cavs to make a run at Michael Redd this week (trade deadline is Thursday), and if the Bucks don't ask for Anderson Varejao (but a combination of draft picks, cash, Wagner, Diop, Jackson, Newble and Sasha) I wouldn't be surprised to see a deal. But I think it's more likely the Cavs will pursue him hard in the offseason (when they give up nothing).

Steroid Immunity

An interesting culumn from Buster Olney on what it would be like to give everyone immunity; see what kind of answers theyd give. It's a pretty interesting take on the situation, and he gave hypothetical answers from Selig, Giambi and Donal Fehr, but he seemed to leave out Barry Bonds in favor of the pitcher String Bean. I do think if players got away from lawyers and agents, we would see much more honest answers. But good luck with all that.

Sports Guy Reader Mail

The Sports Guy has a new mailbag today and, as always, it is hilarious. In the tradition of his Dr. Jack breakdowns of Seinfeld vs Cheers and Deniro vs Pacino, he breaks down the OC vs 90210. And he also has this little snippet:

Q: You made a comment in your Ramblings about letting Isiah Thomas
run different things into the ground. Well, we're living through just that right now. It's called "The Life of George W. Bush". Running multiple oil companies into the ground? No problem. Trading Sammy Sosa when he ran the Texas Rangers? No problem. Running the U.S. economy into the ground? No problem. And I didn't even touch the whole Iraq thing. Quite a resume he has -- much more impressive
than Isiah, don't you think?-- Kevin B., Phoenix
SG: I'm not sure I see the comparison. For one thing, Isiah doesn't owe much of his career to his father; people keep giving him chances over and over again, for no reason at all, really. But more important, I think he would have one-upped Dubya as
president by being able to hunt down Bin Laden ... it's just that Isiah would
have immediately offered him a six-year, $70 million contract and screwed up
America's salary cap for the next five years.

Bloggerman

After Keith Olberman left ESPN he was forgotten by me, and I'm assuming most of the ESPN audience. But he works at MSNBC and he's got a blog on MSN.com. It's usually pretty entertaining, his most recent post (as of 2-18-05) deals with the whole Gannon/Guckert situation at the White House, and the one before that talks about the Canseco-steroid issue.

Overall, a pretty good read.

Cavs got 2 stars and a quasar

Rich Bucher just released his All-Quasar team (players who are very valuable to their playoff contending team, but have no chance of making the all star game)

The Cavs Robert Traylor made the list, as did former Cavs Chris Mihm and Bob Sura. I guess you could count Brenden Haywood as a former Cavalier, but we traded him in about 5 seconds on draft night for Michael Doleac. Nice

I've been a big fan of Traylor all season and he has turned into a fan favorite (I always say, fans love fat players). He rebounds extremely well and he always brings energy on the floor. I must say, Tractor has impressed me with his passing, I never realized how good of a passer he is, watch a game sometime, he makes at least 3-4 good/great passes a game.

It's good to see Sura and Mihm getting some love, sometimes just getting on the right team and really help a players career. In his rookie year, after Z went down (again), Mihm averaged something like 18 and 8 when he started, but he then hurt his back. After that he could never get regular minutes because Iggy was healthy from there on out.

I like Sura, even though I'm pretty sure he fake bakes. He's a good passer and a steady influence on the floor. When he was here Fratello never let the team run the ball even though they did have some atheletes (Sura, Terrell Brandon, Bobby Phills), but Sura just never found a right (winning) team. Some guys can never get on the right roster (I'm convinced Brevin Knight could help a contender if given the chance), but then others, Robert Horry, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper and (in my opinion) the best at picking his teams, Danny Ainge (Boston, Portland, Pheonix). Ainge always seemed to be in the playoffs.

NHL Season cancled

you're kidding me, the season is done for? I don't believe. No one seems to care. Including me.http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1993007

newest lantern article

My newest lantern column here

Garcia vs Harringon Battle

Hey, the Lions could be interested in Jeff Garcia. Old coach, good offensive weapons, start out as a back up and take Joey Harringtons spot. I recomended this to Nick last year sometime.

Miller

Sorry for not updating in about a week, but heres a nice article on Reggie Miller.

I like Miller, he always made a playoff game that much more interesting.

Cavs got 2 All Stars?

We all knew Lebron was gonna be there, but Z too? Some may bitch about his whining (he does whine a lot, but he also gets fouled a lot and doesn't get any calls) or his defense, but he HAS worke extremely hard to come back from those foot injuries, and he deserves a couple all-star appearences.

Daniel Erb

I saw Daniel Erb this past Friday open up for Toothpick at Oldfields (and Oval Opus, but I jetted after Pick's show to get back to our party) and I have to say I enjoyed his set. Erb was real good with the crowd (I think he had some friends there, he's from Columbus) and he was pretty funny . He played some sweet covers (Wonderwall, Remix to Ignition) and some nice origionals (Columbus).

He's going to be at the Newport on Feb. 12th and it's only 7 bucks, I might head over there and I'd recomend you go too.

Canseco

Jose Canseco has a new tell all book where he talks about baseball and steroids. He alleges that he introduced McGwire and Giambi to them, and that the A's locker room was a steroid heaven.

Some of this I actually do believe, people vilify Barry Bonds, but McGwire is in the same situation and no one seems to talk about it. Lets say Bonds used THG (and I believe that he did), it wasn't illegal at the time, but we're still all (correctly) mad that Bonds cheated. Andro wasn't illegal when McGwire used it, but it is now, it's a banned substance. So why aren't we so mad at McGwire? Conseco says is on race, and I do think that could play a part of it, but I think McGwire was also better with people than Bonds is.

Does Consecos book have to be taken with a grain of salt? Hell yes. He says 80% of players are on the juice. And he also says that he gave roids to Palmero, Juan Gone and Pudge. Now I don't know about that (Gonzalez and Palmero do have pretty sweet swings) and 80% is a bit high. But I do think at least some of his allegations could be taken seriously.

Weekend update

Sorry for the lack of updates, if you haven't heard The Crew had a pretty big (and expensive) weekend, so I've been a bit busy.

Terry Pluto has a nice column on the Cavs lack of defense, and he's the first person (at least that I've seen) that has taken Jeff McInnis to task for sucking on defense. He's part of the reason why Z has 9,000 fouls this year.

Oh, and by the way my prediction tonight for the Super Bowl is a New England beat down with a Rodney-Harrison-caused-Terrell Owens injury.

TO and the super bowl

I don't think TO will be a factor (besides FOX having a camera on him at all times) in the Super Bowl. If he does play, do you really think the Pats will just him run around? With Rodney Harrison back there? I don't think so. He's gonna be jammed and hit hard all game. Good luck with all that

newest column

here's my newest lantern column

Rudy T done?

All the reports are that Lakers Coach Rudy Tomjanovich will resign soon. He left the Rockets (the only organization he was ever with) 2 years ago due to bladder cancer. The report is he's not leaving due to the cancer, so I wonder what it could be. Can't take LA? Kobe? Just the wear and tear that a NBA head coach takes? It's too bad, Rudy T is a great coach and a great guy to have around the game.

Henry Bekkering Video

You have got to check out this video

Maurice Clarett

Clarett has pulled out of the college football all star skills challenge:

"Unfortunately Maurice is carrying forward his tradition of not honoring commitments and being very unpredictable," said Dan Jones, vice president of Intersport, the company producing the show. "We were excited about giving him an opportunity to change the public perception, and unfortunately he has done the exact opposite and reinforced it."

This was his agents idea, and I'm not too surprised, I don't think Maurice has made his own decsions since he lied to the police. I actually wanted to see him in the challenge, I wanted to see if he actually got in shape and how he looked after 2 years away. Oh well...