So THIS is what it feels like....

...to have hope for one's football team for the coming season.

Free agency started on Saturday, and already the Browns addressed some HUGE holes from a 6-win team:

LeCharles Bentley - Pro Bowl center
No more will we not be able to pick up 3rd and fucking 1's! This moves Jeff Faine either to guard, or to depth. I'm fine with either, as long as Bentley is playing somewhere in the middle of our line. What's more, he's a Cleveland native, and *gets* what it means to be a Browns fan. When he appeared at his press conference and whipped open his suit coat to show off his Browns 00 jersey (I hope he wins his league petition to wear that number!)... man... goosebumps. He wants to play here. Wow, what a concept!

Kevin Shaffer - Left Tackle
Not the best left tackle ever, but a two-year starter on a team that notoriously runs the ball very well. See above. Supposedly he has trouble with speed rushers (i.e., Dwight Freeney), but who doesn't? At 26, he has promising upside, a mean streak, and a notable work ethic. Browns senior vice president and general manager Phil Savage said he feels, at this point, Shaffer is an upgrade at left tackle over last year's starter, L.J. Shelton. He probably cost less, too.

Ted (Mount) Washington - Nose Tackle
This guy redefines "mammoth." He's listed at 6'5", 365 pounds, but I suspect he hasn't sniffed 365 in the last decade. He's easily 380-390. Weakness #1 on the Browns defense last year was at nose tackle. Our nose tackle consistently got driven off the ball at the snap. By the time anyone could make a play on a running back, he had already gained 6-7 yards. No more. Washington COMMANDS a double-team each play. Sitting him next to newly re-signed Orpheus Roye should free up our middle linebackers to actually play the run, instead of trying to shed the guards that blew past the nose tackle and blocked them. Washington is old (37), but he's a 4-time Pro Bowler, which is more than the entire FRANCHISE of the new Browns can say (seven seasons, exactly 1 Pro Bowler).

Joe Jurivicius - Wide Receiver
This guy is not a prototypical #1 receiver, but what he is is consistent and excited to play in Cleveland (his hometown, see Bentley, LeCharles above). He's a true professional, and has played in 3 Super Bowls in the last six seasons. Surely some of that veteran leadership will rub off on a guy like Braylon Edwards. When these two line up together with Northcutt in the slot, this team will have three dangerous receivers, all of them different types of receivers. Put Kellen Winslow in the mix, and look the fuck out.

Dave Zastudil - Punter
Our punter last year was ho-hum with some stretches of HORRIBLE. This kid is young, had a 43+ net punting average, and ALSO is a Cleveland native who loves the Browns and the weather up on Lake Erie. Since this team lost at least two (maybe three) games with its previous two punters that involved kicks of less than 20 yards, this can only help. For a team that needs to play field position to be successful, this can only help. For a team that needs to educate its players about the plight of Browns fans, bringing in as many guys who were die-hard Browns fans and have been dreaming of playing for the Browns can only help.


It's been rumored that they may go for Kalimba Edwards next. He's a smaller defensive end from Detroit. He would not be able to play every-down defensive end in the Browns 3-4 scheme, but that doesn't matter. The Browns would play him at outside linebacker. He's a pass-rushing specialist. The outside 'backer in a 3-4's main job is to rush the passer and to be a down lineman (defensive end) on third down passing situations. The Browns had a deplorable pass rush last season. As Pee Wee Herman used to say, "Connect the dots! Lala Lala La!"


So, let's review:
Cleveland in 2005: 6-10
Holes in Cleveland's team: run defense, pass rush, offensive line depth, receiving depth, field position
Aquisitions: nose tackle, two good offensive linemen, punter, wide receiver (and possibly a pass-rushing specialist line backer)

Is it unreasonable to think that this team could go 10-6 or 11-5? Who knows. Is it unreasonable to expect that they will have a chance to win every game they play this season? Absolutely not.

Color me: excited.

And the draft is still seven weeks away. This team is a good 3-4 DE and a draft of Bobby Carpenter away from being a defensive juggernaut. OK, maybe not. But, still, maybe so.


In other news, the Tribe is having a great Spring Training, which means that their farm system's depth is better than most other teams' farm system depth.

And, as my colleague Lars pointed out today, Time Warner will be picking up the Tribe's home games in HD. I think I might have just passed out.

The Large Elephant in the Room

Wow. I just got done reading an article that basically confirmed everything I basically already knew, but wow. This book is going to make this year's baseball season very interesting. Especially if the Giants win the NL West as many think they will.

Morally Reprehensible: A Sliding Scale

As some of you probably noted yesteday, my esteemed colleague Justin Neme deftly switched out my Built to Spill mp3 file that was streaming with a note about how distribution of copyrighted materials without permission is morally reprehensible.

While I don't disagree that there is some merit to this claim, I think we should keep this in perspective. My take is that, since only 10 (if I'm lucky) people actually read this blog, and since I'm not actually providing a link and encouraging people to download and steal music but instead am simply embedding a file into my code to allow someone to listen to a tune whilst reading my blog, I'm not exactly "distributing" copyrighted material. I think of myself more like a one-song-per-week radio station with a listening area of ten people on the web.

What I DO find morally reprehensible is how our Chimp in Chief can consistently lie to the Ameircan public, and moreso how a chunk of that same public continually buys into the shit that he says simply because of the fact that he's scared them silly or because of some religious belief he claims to practice.

With the possible exception of Harry Truman, I can't think of another president with more innocent blood on his hands than this one. And Truman gets an asterisk because of the whole WWII thing.

As Lars points out here, so many people seem to forget why we sent troops to the Middle East to begin with. For the president to gloat about how the most wanted man in our country's history being still at large helped his re-election bid makes me want to do a combination of cry, vomit, and punch a lot of people in the face.

Now, THAT'S morally reprehensible.

Ten Random

Based on an idea I've read in some other blogs, I turned on my iTunes here at work, went to the complete library (3850 songs), and played it on shuffle. The object is to document the first ten songs that play and, if other blogs have taught me anything, attempt to come up with some witty banter about each. Here goes...

1. "Candy Man" by Vertical Horizon
One of the worst songs off of their otherwise very good album "Running on Ice," this song feels like filler on the album, with Keith Kane doing his "I wish I was David Gray" vocal stylings, instead of the more-soothing Matt Scannell. The harmonies and great acoustic guitar work are still there, however.

2. "Drag Me Down" by God Lives Underwater
Ahh, yes. Two teenagers in 1993 with a Power Mac created a six-song EP of quasi-industrial/electronic music about 5-7 years before recording everything onto a computer/Pro Tools became the norm. Very washed out and crunchy-sounding. Not quite the best thing they ever did, but not quite the worst either.

3. "Heaven Beside You" by Alice in Chains
My best college friend Tyler and I used to argue about whether or not this was a good album/song, with no resolution ever really coming. I was more firmly entrenched in the "Dirt" AiC camp, and he in the "Jar of Flies" camp. That said, we still played a lot of Super Mario Kart (the original, head-to-head, Ghost Valley 1, over and over) and drank a shit-load of beer.

4. "Depends" by Blink-182
Wow. This is ooooooold. From their first ever album "Cheshire Cat" which was when they were actually a real punk band. The thrust of this song is that they truly can't control their bladders/colons, and the chorus is:
voice 1: "Well, I guess it all depends"
beat
voice 2: "Undergarments!"
The song itself is only about 90 seconds long, followed by 70 seconds of banter, including Mark Hoppus doing a version of the jive-talkers from "Airplane!" and ends with the phrase: "Who taught you how to throw the dick down the stairs?" Good times. No wait, bad times. I'm not sure.

5. "Renholder" by A Perfect Circle
Mysterious sounding acoustic riff with eastern-feeling vocals over it, from their first album "Mer de Noms." A great album from top to bottom. Everything Maynard James Keenan touches turns to gold.

6. "Faces in Disguise" by Sunny Day Real Estate
Wow, I'd forgotten how much I used to fucking LOVE this song. The F-major/D-minor/A-major chord progression on the keyboard to begin it just melts me. I used to tell my friend Rob that if I was ever a movie director, this is the song I would use for any and all love-making scenes, because it has the ambiance and also the chorus "Faces in disguise / not a trace of desire" in it. Perfect movie sex scene music, I'd say. In a totally un-related matter, I believe I was single at the time I hatched this theory. Creepy overtures aside, it's still a bad ass song, especially when Jeremy Enigk's super-falsetto kicks in about the 2:45 mark. And, when listening to the album, it leads right into "The Rising Tide," which is the best ending to an album I've ever heard in recent memory. Well, except for the Blink-182 "dick down the stairs" thing I mentioned above.

7. "Big-Eyed Fish" by Dave Matthews Band
Classic "careful what you wish for" song about the grass being greener on the other side of the fence. Except that, in true Dave fashion, once on the other side of the fence, all of his subjects die. "Oh God, under the weight of life / things seem so much brighter on the other side." Indeed. From the "meh"-inspiring "Busted Stuff" album, this is one of those songs that has its moments, but on the whole pales in comparison to what we've come to love about DMB. The live version on "Live at Folsom Field" is a little better, if only because of the extended pan flute solo and the adaptation of the monkey story in which Dave relates to us that "every monkey should know / stay up in your fucking tree." Indeed, Dave. Another second-to-last song on an album that moves seamlessly into "Bartender," which is actually a song I do enjoy from the BS album.

8. "High Hopes" by Pink Floyd
Wow, iTunes must know I'm doing something special with this listening session. When this album came out in the spring of my junior year of high school, I put this song on so many mix tapes for so many people. And, interestingly enough, it continues with the DMB theme of "grass is greener" (although much more explicit). This song is about Pink Floyd's break up, so you can imagine the mix-tape-power I wielded with this song as a 16-17 year old teen-angst sufferer convinced that no girl would ever like/understand me. But, the true Pink Floyd guitar solo at the end always gave me hope. Maybe that's the point of the song.

9. "Best of What's Around" by Dave Matthews Band
It figures that even with 3850 songs, 2 DMB songs would show up. I guess that's what happens when 234 of those songs are DMB songs. This is a good tune, and leads in to one of the best albums of the 90's, in my opinion. It was just the perfect time for DMB to break big when they did, and this album is the reason. There isn't a bad song on the record. And, for once, Dave has a seemingly uplifting message: your friends are important; no matter how much shit comes around, you can make the best of it with the right people. So not about weed, Jesus, sex, or death. So NOT DMB.

10. "Another Know It All" by Chevelle
Finally, something heavy. One has to remember that I listened to a lot of heavy, heavy music as a younger man (I won't say metal, because I can't claim to like the serious metal). This isn't the best Chevelle song ever, but it is on an album ("This Type of Thinking [Could Do Us In]")that has some political overtones here and there, which I dig. Not quite as good a song as "Breach Birth" on the same album, but a nice way to wrap up my 10 Random.


Anyone else want to give it a go?

Be there. Or I will hunt you down.

If you're in Columbus tonight and are not at Scarlet and Grey Cafe to see my show, change your address and phone number. I will hunt you down.

Blogger finishes book; reaches out and hugs own dog

So, I just finished reading Marley & Me by John Grogan. I'd been plugging along through it until last week when I got to the point where the dog started to get older. I had a pretty rough week last week, so I really wasn't ready to go there.

Last night I finished the book, and it made me reach down to the end of the bed and hug my own pooch.

I recommend this book to anyone who is a dog-lover, has had (or currently has) a dog that was (is) the world to them, or really anyone who has a pet in general. It's a beautifully written book that perfectly illustrates how something as small and seemingly unimportant as a pet can really impact your life and really become part of the fabric of a family.

Not good times. Bad times.

Thanks, Sony. Way to get my hopes up and then dash them.

Blogger Stumbles Across Best Blog Ever

Thanks to my friend Rob who writes so maniacally well for the East Bay Express for posting this in one of his articles.

I give you, the best blog ever.

(Takk...) About Excited...

So, we are going to see Sigur Ros tonight here in Columbus at the (formerly known as Promowest) Pavilion. Having never seen them before, I could not be more excited, as I've heard they are simply mind-blowing live. Melissa and I plan to meet up with some guys from my band, and make an evening out of the whole thing. From everything I've heard and read, this should be an amazing evening.

In the meantime, enjoy a little snippet.

A Win and a "Lost"

I believe the Curse of the Blog has been lifted! After giving up a goal 35 seconds into the game, and being down 3-1 at the end of the first period, it looked as though Lars was right: my blog had again cursed a hot sports team. They were headed for a second straight loss.

Five unanswered goals later, the Jackets again emerged victorious. This time, they didn't give the other team the freebie point for the shootout loss. And, they got two points from the team in the 8th playoff spot. They're now 17 points back with two games in hand above the Kings, who are reeling. For the sake of any playoff argument, you have to assume the Jackets win those two games in hand, and thus for all intents and purposes can be 13 points back. That's doable over a two-month span.

We also learned on "Lost" last night that Sawyer, despite all of his experiences with all of the people on the island, is still at his root a bad mothaf-shut yo mouth. Just talkin' bout Sawyer.

Then we can dig it.

And, even though my previous Lost post bashed the Charlie episode, last nights ep at least shed some light on why it was there.

There's a new sheriff in town!

Say hello to hockey, the other white meat!

Seriously, I love hockey, and I love to follow the Blue Jackets. But, until Christmas, they looked content to just roll over and die and have one of the worst seasons ever. But then, my boy Rick Nash (above) came back, and essentially the whole, original roster finally got healthy. Since Christmas, they've played 19 games and have gone 13-5-1 (equalling 27 points in 19 games... not bad for at that time the second worst team in hockey). They've gone from 19 points to 46 points in a little over a month.

Columbus is finally getting behind their team again, and the way the Jackets are playing, they have a legitimate shot at making a run at the #8 spot in the playoffs (and thus, the right to get smoked by Detroit in the first round).

But, I think it was Shakespeare who said, "It's better to get smoked in the first round of the playoffs than never to have been in the playoffs at all." Or something like that.

At any rate, this team is on fire. 8-2 in their last 10, including a 5-game winning streak (4 of which were against playoff teams, the last 2 on the road).

Stay tuned.

Our Big Break + State of the Union Scorecard

So, tonight could be the biggest show my band has ever played. We are again headlining Little Brother's which we first did back in December. That night, we probably had 70 people there.

Well, for the show tonight, we've passed out almost 2000 free tickets all across campus and other parts of the city. Our estimate was that maybe 1 in 10 tickets would show up at the door. Even at that rate, that's at least 200 people, which in this town for a Wednesday night show, is pretty damn good.

Some semi-important people (from some bigger bands in C-bus, one of which is signed I believe), are rumored to be at this show. Godspeed, House of Cards.

On to more pressing matters:

State of the Union Address Scorecard

Number of Minutes Actually Watched: ZERO. That's right. I can't stand to watch that man speak. It makes my blood pressure rise. My wife and I consider ourselves to be steeped in traditional moral values, but I believe at one point she said, "I hate that man with every fiber of my being." And I couldn't agree more.

Best Analysis: Tim Russert. Seriously, I love Tim Russert when it comes to things like this. He seems to be the only reporter these days who doesn't lob softballs at interviewees, and his assessment last night of what will actually be done in Congress in the coming year was fair, and probably accurate. I wish Tim was in the daily White House Press Corps sometimes, because you know he wouldn't let Scott McClellan get away with a quarter of the douchey dodging answers he gives essentially every day.

Brightest Political Future: Barrack Obama. He was only on NBC for about 45 seconds to a minute after the speech, but in that minute he said more of substance than most politicos can do. "He talked about the things that I think need to be talked about. Health care, education, energy independence, but there wasn't any beef there. There didn't seem to be any serious proposals that would call America to action." No spin. Thank heavens. I think it's too early in 2008 for any Presidential aspirations, but good God, they need to get him involved in that campaign.

Number of Times I Would Punch Bill Frist in the Face, Were it Legal: Cannot be Measured by Existing Technology. Seriously. He couldn't even properly recite the bullet points on NBC's post-speech coverage without messing up.

Most Unexpected Democratic Response: Tim Kaine of Virginia. Dude's been governor for all of a month, and he's the choice for Democratic response? At first I was like, "Wha?" but then I came to like the decision. Fresh blood. That's what the Dems need. They need to parade guys like Kaine (who, as Lt. Governor of Virginia has worked with a lot of actual bipartisanship to accomplish good things in that Republican state, and who has connected with white, rural, middle-class America) and Obama (who connects with people unlike any politician I've seen other than Bill Clinton) around early and often going into the 2006 and 2008 elections. To quote Agent Smith from The Matrix: "You've had your time. It's... OUR time... now."

Best Sarcastic Canned Response: The Democrats Giving a Standing-O to Bush's Caustic Remark about Not Passing His Social Security Privatization. Seriously. Brilliant. Hearing about that makes me almost wish I'd watched the speech.

Thing I Missed Most about Not Watching the SotU Address: Ted Kennedy's Eye-Rolling. Ted's always good for at least one big sigh and one big eye-roll while on camera when Bush says something he doesn't like. Melissa and I agreed: that's the only reason we would have watched the actual speech.

All in all, I really don't know exactly what the President said, as admittedly, I didn't watch his speech. But, much like David Letterman, I have a feeling that at least 60% of what he said is crap.

Crisp-for-Marte: The Re-Redux

So, this story just keeps getting better and better. Apparently, because Guillermo Mota's shoulder looked sketchy, the Tribe has asked Boston for *another* player. This one, while still technically a "prospect," has the potential to help the Indians this year. This would make the deal a little easier for me to swallow, in truth.

Boston is balking at this deal, which makes me think that if it happens, it can't be all bad. They'd be giving us three of the top young players in their organization for Coco Crisp. THAT sounds like a trade worth making, especially when one of them (Manny Delcarmen) could help us this season. Plus, it means that with this deal and then the impending deal with the Phillies, we're now swapping players straight up: back-up catcher for back-up catcher, middle relievers for middle relievers, and outfield for outfield. We then get Marte on top of everything. If he pans out like Lars thinks he will, seems like the Tribe wins on this deal, and basically a comparable team takes the field this year to the one that won 93 games last year. I can live with that.

Don't get me wrong: I still don't think I want these deals to go down, but if they do, I could live with it in THIS format better than I could when it was just Marte and Mota that we would be getting (in addition to Michaels, of course).


New Lost last night. Have to say that it left me a bit disappointed. I found it to grind any momentum that the show built (from last week's revelation of Zeke to Jack wanting to plan an army) to a screaching halt. So, you're telling me that all of this stuff happened, and Jack is too busy chatting it up with Ana Lucia about whether or not he's "hitting" Kate to even mention anything about his plans for an army, or the fact that they now have made contact with at least one faction of "Others?" No, instead we get some Charlie backstory time, and a teaser of Sun being kidnapped.

I guess I just didn't like being teased. It's like in the Simpsons, when Poochie made his debut on the Itchy and Scratchy show... they were driving down a road to a fireworks factory, and the signs kept telling of its impending arrival. Then they stop and pick up Poochie and he does his awful, awful thing. Milhouse exclaims, "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?!?"

Indeed, Milhouse. When are we going to get to that fireworks factory, Lost?

No! Not 'Nice Guy Eddie' Too!

I can't believe Chris Penn died. He was only 40. While not the picture of health given his weight and what-not, this is still somewhat surprising.

Who can forget the image of him learning to "dance" from Kevin Bacon in Footloose, or, quite simply,

If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he'll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire, now that don't necessarily make it fucking so!

Hopefully we don't come to find out it was drugs. Selah.

Bob McKenzie: "Take off, eh! He's signin' my jersey!"

Is it me, or does Jhonny Peralta have a gigantic head?

At any rate, the Tribe press junket here in Columbus was fun. Got my jersey signed by Peralta, Ryan Garko, and Fernando Cabrera. For $5 to charity, I'd say it was money well spent.

And, incidentally, he's laughing because I asked him a stupid question.

More on Coco Crisp-for-Andy Marte

Some good debate happening in my comments section, which isn't something I ever thought I'd see on this blog. Wow!

For me, regardless of what Marte does on the field, I think Kokotan's statement sums up why I was/am so pissed about this potential trade:

"So we are planning on taking that final step in 2007 or will Marte need 77 games followed by a year in the minors to adjust (like jhonny) meaning we are planning for 08 or 09? After a season with 90 some wins? What players are we going to have to dump for salary reasons next year so we can plan for 2008? Unless this team plans on keeping some of its good players then they aren't going to compete every year, they will always be planning on next year."

And, while Marte's numbers may track well, unless the Boston GM is pulling a "Giles for Rincon" trade because they feel like CF/leadoff is that huge a deal to their offense, I'm skeptical that someone this good could be traded twice in the same off-season without a red-flag being there. And now on top of Crisp, we have to give up two MORE major-league (or at least AAAA) players to get this kid, when all he was worth to them was Edgar Renteria, who they were obviously so enamored with that they traded him and are willing to replace him with Alex Gonzalez.

In addition, the fact that we're not actually strengthening our bullpen now (if Riske--for Marte--and then Rhodes--for Michaels--go, only to be replaced by Mota, who *might* be injured), when it was the one area of a 93-win team to already take a huge hit in free-agency, I have to question exactly what the fuck Shapiro is doing if he claims he's not taking a step backward and planning for the future.

Fernando Cabrera for a whole year will be nice, but he doesn't replace both of your set-up men. Matt Miller *might* be back to pre-injury form, but he's been nothing if not inconsistent his entire Indians tenure. Mota *could* be good, but his numbers last year were abysmal when compared with his 2004 numbers. And, leaving a bullpen with only one lefthander (Scott Sauerbeck, who CANNOT get right handed hitters out) is not a smart thing. We tried that in 2004, and it was an awful experiment (Scott Stewart anyone?).


I guess I just can't believe the balls Shapiro has. After all the heat he took in 2002 for trading Colon and then to tell everyone, "Wait until 2005. You'll see," to have the balls now after 2005 to pull that shit again...

What do you do for an encore? Do you, like, anally rape my mother while pouring sugar in my gas tank?

Bitter much?

I guess I should be "proud" that a team from my division is going to the Super Bowl, but fuck that. Really. I know this is going to be entirely sour grapes on my part, but Fuck the Steelers. Seriously. In the pooper, if need be.

I'm so tired of the Steelers. Of Jerome Bettis. Of Fucking Big Ben. Of Bill Cowher's chin. I hate the Steelers so much I actually rooted for the Broncos this weekend! And that's saying something.

Now, I know that deep down, the Steelers are a well-run organization with great fans. They're the one team that didn't vote for Art Modell's plan to move the Browns. They wore patches for the Browns fans when we lost our team. They've done everything to reignite the Browns/Steelers rivalry (including pounding the shit out of us ad nauseum). They run a clean organization. You don't tend to hear about their players on police blotters.

That said, fuck them. Go Seattle.


And while we're on the subject of sports things that really piss me off, the Indians are trading one of their most popular players and an important cog in their young, potent lineup for a prospect. To Boston, of all teams (probably the one team in MLB that I hate more than the Yankees). For a prospect. A prospect. A prospect!

I've had some time to digest this, and despite the optimism of my Tribe colleague Lars, I still am not really happy about this move. And I'll endeavor to tell you why (and then wait for the comments from Lars that explain to all of you why I'm full of shit):

To me, the Indians from 2002-2005 had run a top-notch organization. They laid a plan in 2002 for the 2005-2006 time-frame. They set it up back in June and July of 2002 so that the future would be bright.

And now that the bright future is actually here (93-69, missing a playoff spot by 2 games in '05), they're taking a step backward to plan for the future again. To me, they apparently have no idea how to ride any momentum. They complained that they couldn't spend money until the fans came back. They put a great product on the field, and now the fans are coming back.

So, to reward the fans, they subject them to 162 games of Casey Motherfucking Blake in right field, and a possible platoon of Todd Fucking Hollandsworth and A Guy Who Likes to Get Into Fist-Fights with Cops (see link at bottom) in left field, all the while losing their .300 hitting #2 hitter, *JUST* on the prospect of a 22-year-old third baseman who *might* help them NEXT YEAR (i.e., IN 2007!).

Marte, 22, is the key to the deal for the Indians. They don't consider him a finished player and he'll probably open the season at Class AAA Buffalo. Aaron Boone is expected to open the season at third after the Indians picked up his 2006 option last year. Boone has a mutual option for 2007.

The Indians have a big hole at third base in the organization. They not only believe Marte can fill that hole, but that he could eventually be the right-handed, middle-of-the-order power hitter they've been unable to acquire over the past two years.

Marte hit .275 (107-for-389) with 20 homers and 74 RBI last season for Class AAA Richmond. He played 24 games for the Braves and hit .140 (8-for-57) with no homers and four RBI. (emphasis/itals mine)

Am I crazy, or are those numbers not all that great for "top-10 prospect" material at AAA-ball? And, not only are we sacrificing a .300 hitter in Crisp out of the 2006 lineup, but we still have to put up with Blake and Boone for another year.

I understand that the Tribe is making this deal contingent upon getting Jason Michaels from Philadelphia to fill Crisp's spot in the outfield, and that Andy Marte is ranked as one of the top-10 prospects in baseball, but come on. Alex Escobar (seriously, click the link and look at the gaudy MLB career numbers, including 301 total at-bats!) was once ranked as one of the top-10 prospects in baseball, too.

Furthermore, the pitcher we'd be getting from Boston is apparently worth so little to a free-agency-depleted bullpen that he's going to be turned around for Mr. Cinderella Man Cop Fighter with no recourse. And on top of that, we ALSO have to give Boston two minor league players??

So, to recap, we're going to trade a 26-year-old GOOD fielding outfielder with speed who hits .300 in the #2 hole behind Franchise McSizemore and in front of one of the best 3-6 lineups in baseball, BUT he's not worth more than a 22-year-old guy who hits .275 in AAA and a pitcher who is so worthless that we're going to turn him around for a career-fourth-outfielder who gets into fights with cops and may or may not have to platoon with an over-the-hill-possibly-never-was Todd Hollandsworth, AND we have to give up two minor league players just to get another minor leaguer from Boston? Am I missing something here?

I know Shapiro has made a lot of great trades over the past 3-4 years, and for that I should give him the benefit of the doubt (after all, he did get Crisp back in 2002 for Chuck "Please, Tawny, stop hitting me with your shoe and climb back onto David Coverdale's hood" Finley). But, this one leaves me scratching my head a little bit.

If it goes down, the 2006 Tribe better hit coming out of the gate MUCH better than the 2005 team did the first two months of last year, AND the 2007 Tribe had better run away and hide with the division.

Lest I get into a boxing stance and wrestle someone to the ground.

Interesting Baseball HoF Fallout and/or Maurice Carthon is a Dumb-ass

Just got finished reading a great, great article by Bob Ryan on Albert Belle and his chances for the Hall of Fame. Any concerned Cleveland sports fans that happen to read this blog should check it out.


Also just read a great column by Terry Pluto in the ABJ about Maurice Carthon and his loose lips. Good luck with that, ass.

Alright, alright: count me in, too

From others, I have read of this "Game of Four" business. Here goes nothin':

• 4 jobs you've had in your life: Dance Cotillion Drummer, Grocery Packer, Contract Coordinator for a copier company, and Media Editor for a college textbook publisher


• 4 movies you could watch over and over: Shawshenk Redemption, The Godfather, Office Space, Dazed and Confused


• 4 places you've lived: Wooster OH, Vermilion OH (sort of), Alliance OH, Columbus and/or Dublin OH


• 4 TV shows you love to watch: Simpsons, The Daily Show, Lost, Grey's Anatomy (this list promises to grow in potential once our DVR is installed on Thursday)


• 4 places you've been on vacation: Fort Collins (and skiing in the Rockies) CO, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Baltimore MD, Lake Placid NY


• 4 websites you visit daily: Cleveland.com, CNN.com, my band's discussion forum, ESPN.com


• 4 of your favorite foods: pizza, wings from Winking Lizard, shrimp cocktail, cheese and many things made/associated with it (a total cop-out, I know)


• 4 places you'd rather be: a beach with my wife, a Cleveland-team professional sporting event, skiing down a large mountain, at an amazing concert


• 4 albums you can't live without: Dave Matthews Band: Listener Supported, Sigur Ròs: ( ), Tool: Lateralus, Grandaddy: The Sophtware Slump


• 4 people tagged next: like four people actually read this!

Vacation: Over

So, I was on vacation for a couple of weeks, and unlike many of my more dedicated colleagues in the blog-o-sphere, I chose not to do diddly shit on my blog while gone. Chalk part of that up due to travel, and part of it up due to laziness and enjoying time off with my wife.

At any rate, here I am. Back at work. Ugh. To update you:

• The band took some time off. We played our two shows December 14th-15th, and did really well. The Little Brother's show was off the fucking charts. We actually drew enough people to make money... at a big club. So much so, they have asked us back again on Wednesday, February 1st. We managed to get them to make that show a bit earlier in the evening, hopefully making it that much easier to get more asses on barstools. We're kicking off our 2006 with a show this Friday night at Scarlet and Grey Cafe, with some new material on top of it all. Hopefully it will be a good winter/spring for us and we can get some meathooks into some OSU kids before they leave.


• The Browns finished up at 6-10, which actually was a pleasant surprise. I went on record with my tailgating friends at 5-11, so they showed me what time it is. With John Collins being fired as president, and a full off-season from the new GM and head coach to come, not to mention getting Kellen Winslow and hopefully Braylon Edwards back, the Browns should be above .500 for the 2006 season. Which means, of course, that they will be 4-12 when it's all said and done with all of their playmakers on IR.


• The Tribe signed a bunch of scrubs. Just like they do every year. We shall see.


• We're getting our digital cable, DVR, and HD channels on Thursday. My next blog entry may be from a hospital bed after I pass out. Call me crazy, but I'm looking forward the most to Discovery HD Theater. I dig that nature-show shit, and to see it in 46 inches of high definition promises to be super sweet. Oh, and the NFL playoffs and March Madness in HD won't be too shabby either.


• Bill O'Reilly is a big, lying, splotchy lunatic. No big shocker there.


• Tom DeLay is out at House Majority Leader. About fucking time.


• This man will most likely doom us all.


• And now, for a truly un-Christian moment, of which I am ashamed (but not ashamed enough NOT to print it). Just die, already. Sorry about that.

I think that covers it for now. Thanks for hanging in, any and all of you that stuck around through my prolonged absence.