Monday, December 18, 2006

Random Thoughts from the Weekend

1. This just in: Greg Oden is good.

2. He missed the first shot he took for OSU and he missed his last one. But he made the 17 in between. That is ri-god-damn-diculous.

3. OSU plays Florida on December 23rd... are you kidding me? With the BCS Championship and Oden vs Noah? Damn, that's gonna be fun.

4. WTF?

5. Pluto on Romeo: I just don't know.

6. 1-11 within the division is no way to go through life, Romeo.

7. Do you fire Crennel? Maybe, if there's a guy you really want out there. But 2 years isn't exactly a lot of time to build a team. But part of Romeo's problem is that his guys have looked unprepared (especially around the holidays- think last Christmas eve vs Pittsburgh and this past Thanksgiving vs Cincinnati). It's true, they've suffered some injuries and have had some bad luck, but they've just played bad.

8. Just make sure: I'm not advocating either the Jim Tressel idea or the Bill Cowher idea. I'm not sure who the Browns should replace Romeo with, but please not either of those two.

9. Start Derek Anderson for the rest of the year. I like Frye, but starting Anderson won't hurt anything. Bring 'em both into camp next year and let them compete for the job. Also, bring in a veteran.

10. Can the Browns play Travis Wilson? If you're going to keep drafting receivers on the first day, you might as well play them.

11. From the current issue of Sports Illustrated, Peter King's early top 10 mock draft:

1. Lions - Brady Quinn - QB - Notre Dame
2. Raiders - Troy Smith - QB - Ohio State
3. Cardinals - Joe Thomas - T- Wisconsin
4. Buccaneers - Calvin Johnson* - WR - Georgia Tech
5. Browns - Ted Ginn Jr.* - WR - Ohio State
6. Texans - Alan Branch* - DT - Michigan
7. Packers - Gaines Adams - DE - Clemson
8. Redskins - Leon Hall - CD - Michigan
9. Rams - LaRon Landry - S - LSU
10. Vikings - Levi Brown - T - Penn State
* Juniors projected to declare for the draft

12. First: Troy Smith at 2?! Don't get me wrong, I love Smith and I think he should be a first round pick (though I hope he's a 2nd round pick so the Browns can take him there).

13. If the first four picks work out that way, fine. I'm okay with that. That'll mean that the Browns can draft Adrian Peterson at number 5 (a guy King mistakenly left out of the top 10).

14. If the Browns take Ted Ginn Jr in the top 10 I'll be done with the franchise. Done. The Browns have a ton of holes on this team, but wideout/KR/PR is not exactly one of 'em. There would be no reason why the Browns should draft Ginn. None.

15. King has two tackles going in the top 10 and if that's the case, then I fully expect the Browns to take one of them. The outcry is too great, if they neglect the line yet again this draft, the fans may riot. Hell, I may riot. I'll burn a couch in the middle of downtown Hudson just to make my point.

16. I really hope the Browns don't win out. I really do. For a couple reasons. 1) At this point, it would really help 'em out to get a better draft pick. The higher the better. For a lineman, for the trading down possibility (if someone wants Quinn) and for general draft positioning. 2) If they end the year on a high note, all it will do is get the Browns fans hopes up for next season. "Hey, 6-10, we're not that far away". Yes you are. The Browns are far away from actually contending. They need a lot. A 6-10 season doesn't do anyone a bit of good.

16. As I mentioned in my little post yesterday, Saturday Night Live was amazing this week. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, I've never been a huge fan of Justin Timberlake (the host) but he did a great (I repeat: great) job. I even enjoyed the music. There. I said it.

17. Yes, I still watch SNL every week. I'm not really sure why; I keep hoping for it to bounce back and become culturally relevant again. I think it's slowly getting there.

18. This was the highlight of the night, by far:


19. Speaking of funny shows on NBC, all the lead comedic actors in their Thursday night lineup got nominated for Golden Globes. The Office and 30 Rock were especially good this week. Alec Baldwin's character was dating Condi Rice:


20. Speaking of not being funny.

21. The Cavs. Ugh.

22. Here's the sick thing about the Magic game: even though the Cavs only scored 8 points in the second quarter, they still had a shot to win this game. I'm not sure if I should be pleased with that fact or not.

23. Saturday night was the first time I can say I've thought to myself, "You know what? Maybe Larry Hughes isn't the guy" He kept missing jumpers (badly) and yet, he kept shooting them.

24. I've had this thought brewing since last year: The Cavs don't make very good in-game adjustments. A lot of times the Cavaliers will have a good game plan and jump out to an early lead. Then the other team will adjust their style and 'counter punch' the Cavaliers and get back into it. At that point, the Cavs are done. They can't adjust to the adjustments. They can't counter the counter punch.

25. Is that an indictment on Mike Brown? I guess. Now, I've had my beef with Brown (starting David Wesley? Why would you do this to us?) but I still say he's A) a good coach and B) he should stick around for at least another full season. Give the man three years to get his system in place.

26. Of course, hiring a veteran offensive assistant wouldn't hurt either.

27. Anderson Varejao: The Brazilian Rodman or the Brazilian Mark Madsen?

28. You're kidding.

29. Some thoughts on The Brawl:

a) Obviously, the Nuggets shouldn't have still been playing their starters, so I'm not exactly surprised at the hard foul

b) That being said, if Isiah 'ordered' the foul (which at this point seems, if not exactly likely, a distinct possibility), that's a big no-no.

c) Nuggets coach George Karl is a good friend of Larry Brown (who if you may have heard, had some disagreements with Thomas during his time as Knicks coach). Was Karl running up the score because of the Knicks/Isiah's treatment of Brown?

d) My first though: man, that sucks for the league. They were just getting past that last brawl.

e) My second thought: Nate Robinson, what the hell were you doing?

f) Third thought: Carmelo... dammit. You're going to be crucified for that punch.

g) There were a couple comments from the TrueHoop brawl post that voiced some opinions I share and have been trying to put into words for awhile:
Regarding the racial remarks that are probably going to come from this, it's a reason why I tend to bristle when I hear characterizations of NBA players as "overpaid, primadonnas." It might be because I don't pay as much attention to football as I do to basketball, but I don't hear similar characterizations of the NFL as a whole when a particular player does something in the way that I hear about the NBA as a whole when a particular player does something. Joey Porter is a good example. He regularly says retarded things but the criticism is always localized to Joey Porter. It seems to me that an individual NBA player's actions are more often generalized to apply to the entire NBA. I am not trying to advocate the painting of the NFL as a league of savages because a small portion of the league gets in trouble with the law, I just feel that the problems with particular players in the NBA should not be expanded into a universal problem with the NBA.
and:
There is a double standard against basketball players when it comes to fighing. All other North American sports have their brawls, and in hockey, football, and baseball, these brawls are always more dangerous because of the objects the players have to use in a fight (sticks/pucks, helmets/cleats, and baseballs/bats). But in these sports fighting is either celebrated (hockey), forgotten (football) or laughed at (baseball). Why are tall black guys treated differently? Fighting in the NBA is a blemish and tarnishes what I believe to be probably the most gentlemanly game in the world. But, this over the top reaction to a Saturday night fight is ridiculous and, possibly, racist.
h) Stern's response:
* Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony has been suspended for 15 games.
* Knicks guard Nate Robinson has been suspended for 10 games.
* Nuggets guard J.R. Smith has been suspended for 10 games
* Knicks guard Mardy Collins has been suspended for six games.
* Knicks forward Jared Jeffries has been suspended for four games.
* Knicks center Jerome James has been suspended for one game for leaving the bench during an on-court altercation.
* Nuggets forward Nene has been suspended one game for leaving the bench during an on-court altercation.
i) You think that the NBA doesn't want that Iverson trade done today. Get Iverson at the top of Sports Center. Get the talking heads discussing the deal, not the fight

j) Keep me away from Around the Horn. The last thing I want to see is pompous ass Bill Plaschke bemoaning the horror of this fight and asking us to "think of the children".

30. Surprising, sorta. Though, I'm not sure I like where Edwards plans to announce it. Seems cheap. (Personally, I'd love to see Gore throw his hat in, but that looks less and less likely).

31. Be on the lookout for some kind of "Top Albums of 2006" post in the somewhat near future.

32. In case you were wondering, I'm not a fan of this whole "surge" idea. I'm not exactly alone.

33. I don't really get Harry Reid either.

34. Growing up, I read a lot of Michael Crichton and I enjoyed his books for what they were. His last book? The one where he tries to "Da Vinci Code" global warming... alright story wise, but he took some personal shots (Martin Sheen especially) and a lot of his explanations didn't pass the smell test. His new one hasn't gotten stellar reviews, but I'll probably read it. However, this is just disappointing and classless (reg. required, but free).

35. Another one of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card, has written a new book about 'the next civil war' between liberals and conservatives. Now, I love Card's writing (the Ender series especially), but we don't exactly see eye to eye politically. Judging by the Amazon reviews, I'm not sure I'd care to read it (however, I probably will anyways).

No comments: