I took almost a week off,although it wasn't planned that way.
It's been a slow news week with not as much to write about and I was in the middle of taking care of various run of the mill issues that we all deal with in day to day life.
Trips to the parents,oil changes,dealing with my friends at Strat O Matic and Posey's trip to the dog groomers all added up to a busy week.
Take that with the slow news week and I've been less than motivated.
I have a podcast planned for the weekend and the Browns cut two players yesterday,so things are getting better as far as topics go....
On the workfront,I'm still working lots of overtime and trying to plan the summer for time off.
I'm sure I'll do some sort of week in August,I have an Ohio trip in late May,a Bowling Green football game in September and Ryan's wedding in October,so the work off requests are flying...
In any event,I'm hoping to have more ideas.
As we near our 9th anniversary,on occasion,I just don't have much to say.
That is usually a short term issue and usually after some downtime,the ideas come flying...
The Cleveland Cavaliers attempted to add another weapon to the offense and yet shed salary as well as the team worked a three way trade to add Channing Frye from the Orlando Magic.
The cost to gain Frye and drop a contract was sending the Wild Thing-Anderson Varejao and their 2018 first rounder to Portland and Jared Cunningham to the Magic.
First,let's talk about the departures.
I always liked Anderson Varejao,his always happy attitude and the effort/hustle that came with his frenetic play.
Varejao wasn't afraid to do the dirty work and would be fearless in hitting the floor for loose balls.
However,he was extremely overpaid and still had two more years on the extension that he signed.
Considering that and the constant questions of could Varejao stay healthy for an entire season and it's easy to see why Cleveland selected Varejao to be the player that was moved.
It's sad when you consider all that the Brazilian had done for the franchise,but in the end-it is a business and the trade makes sense even if it was just done for the financial reasons,which it wasn't.
I also liked Cunningham in his limited action,which had dwindled to next to nothing over the last month or so,but there are always the guys on the lower end of the pay scale that make these deals work with the salary cap.
As for Channing Frye,he brings a unique set of skills and I was surprised to see that he is 32 and in his tenth year in the league.
I figured he was 28 and maybe six or seven years played,but it's true,..
Frye is under a reasonable contract at under eight million for each of the next two seasons and can play the four or five (although you might want to carefully spot his time at center) defensively.
The description most seen yesterday of Frye was of being a "Stretch 4",which basically means that he is a finesse' player that has effective shooting range out past the three point line.
The 6'11 Frye is shooting over 39% from behind that line,so he clearly is effective there and brings the Cavaliers yet another offensive weapon to their cache'.
One can argue that the Cavaliers still lack a true bruiser other than Timofey Mozgov and I'd agree.
The Cavaliers clearly are attempting to build a roster filled with players with varied offensive skills with a plan of attacking whatever team comes out of the West with a barrage of offense.
Channing Frye brings something unique and in adding this piece,Cleveland dropped salary.
It makes good sense on the floor and off the floor,although I'm sad to see the Wild Thing go after 12 years.
I plan on being back later with a brief description of where I've been over the last week....
I told you that there was a large amount of items in the inbox and here we are for part two with more of a non-sports slant.
Another Apollo astronaut has passed away with Apollo 14's Edgar Mitchell being the latest.
Mitchell,who was best known for his personal experiment with ESP while on the mission,started the Institute of Noetic Sciences to better study the paranormal.
Mitchell was 85 and leaves the living Apollo astronauts numbering just seven,The Atlantic memorializes Mitchell here.
A man that was part of my life almost on a daily basis for years passed at the age of 88 as Sam Spence died on Saturday.
Who was Sam Spence?
Spence was the composer and the man behind all of the great scene setting music for NFL Films and their iconic soundtracks to football that made so many fans from the 1970's on.
Spence might not have been the name that came to mind when you were humming some of those sounds that meshed so perfectly with the highlights,but clearly he had a huge impact...
The Blood-Horse may be a magazine about horse racing and that may be a sport,but the article Taking Shergar is about more than the horse.
The great Irish racehorse Shergar was kidnapped in 1983 and was never seen or heard from again as the most famous cold case in Irish history.
The article discusses the various theories on how and why this happened (The IRA is a huge suspect) from an insider perspective with one of the main detectives on the case...
Some volunteers in Miami spent time restoring the Ferdinand Magellan,the famous railway car that was used by Presidents to get around before airplanes became commonplace.
The car was the main mode of transport for Presidents Roosevelt,Truman and Eisenhower before being retired in 1954.
The car has been in Miami since 1959 and didn't need a ton of structural work,but had a few dings taken out and some paint touchups to keep rust away!
Here is a list of great restaurants that didn't survive the 1980's.
I ate at all but three on the list,but four hit home for personal reasons.
Burger Chef was my first job,Gino's was a favorite stop of my dad's on the way home from Orioles or Bullets games,Howard Johnson's was a staple of the Pennsylvania and Ohio travel areas when we visited Ohio and Bob's Big Boy?
Well,that one was my favorite Aunt Becky's favorite and myself and Cherie went there with them when Cherie was carrying Ryan in one of the craziest days of our lives!
This is a sports story from Hardball Times,but it's more about how the Topps company got into selling baseball cards as a business and the decisions behind it.
Topps is celebrating its 65th year with baseball cards and it's a good read even if you don't collect cards...
That just about cleans things up for a while,so hopefully you found something interesting worth linking to!!!
The inbox is literally over the top with items and I'm going to break it up into two or maybe even three of these before its finally cleaned up.
The Pittsburgh Pirates obtained pitcher Jesse Biddle from the Phillies in the type of decision that I like-a mild risk for a big reward down the road.
Pittsburgh sent Yoervis Medina to the Phillies,who was picked up over the winter after splitting 2015 with the Mariners and Cubs and should be part of the Phillies bullpen for Biddle.
Biddle was looked at as the Phillies top lefthanded pitching prospect for years,but underwent elbow surgery and will miss the 2016 season.
You are never sure in what a year off will do to a pitcher,but when your cost is a free agent journeyman reliever for a player of Biddle's upside-the proactive GM does the trade.
During our recent podcast with Carling Coffing Nolan,we referred to 18 holes with Jimmy Hanlan hiring a replacement for Carling in LPGA star Natalie Gulbis.
Here is an article on Gulbis being hired with Crain's Cleveland Business Journal.
I look forward to Natalie's version of the show,but I'll miss Carling and the birdie dance!
A blog that I never heard of in Exile on Trumbull Street covers in eight well written parts where all the bodies are buried in the move of the Hartford Whalers to Carolina.
Here is the link to part one,you can find the remaining parts off to the side.
It is not a short read,but it is an interesting one as you wind through the political and business maneuvers of moving a team....
Best wishes to long time favorite of ours as Bret "the Hitman" Hart as he is in a battle with prostate cancer.
The Hitman is 58 and has had quite a few medical problems over the years.....
We wrote a little while back about the passing of Ken Stabler and his health issues.
Stabler has been in the news twice this week with the best of the news being his finally entering the pro football hall of fame.
I'm glad Stabler made it,but once again it happened too late for the player to see it.
Stabler should have been in long ago...
Stabler also was discovered to have CTE,a brain condition that is becoming all too common in the lives of former football players.
The New York Times discusses Stabler and his condition in detail,so if you were a fan of the Snake or interested in the issues involving CTE,I think you'll find this interesting...
I just found out about the passing of former Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill in November from Lou Gehrig's disease,but McNeill was the first former NFLer to be diagnosed with CTE while still alive.
Back in 2013,a UCLA study showed McNeill to have CTE and that was a step forward in being able to make huge progress in concussion research,
The Showdown discusses this and more about the former Vikings first rounder that was an underrated player on those later 1970's Vikings teams....
McNeill might be best remembered as the first player to block hall of famer Ray Guy's punt in the Minnesota 32-14 super bowl loss to Oakland.
Back then,many said that Guy's punts were unblockable-McNeill showed differently.
McNeill's block takes place around 3;07 on the below video.
SABR (I allowed my membership to lapse) has many pages on many different baseball players and there is a new updated player page/article on Sandy Koufax.
It's detailed and scan the free part of the SABR files as the articles are on more than just the great ones....
The New Jersey Devils retired the number of the greatest goaltender in the history of the game last night before the Devils 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
I missed the third period (and Reid Boucher's game winning goal) due to going to work a little early and the game starting late due to the ceremony,bur I was able to see the important part of the evening and say goodbye to our greatest star.
Martin Brodeur holds just about every record there is to hold in goaltending,but never seemed to get the accolades that he deserved in most of his career.
What isn't often remembered about the "Marty's Better" chant is that it started way back in the Stanley Cup Finals against Dallas when the hockey media continued to push another goalie as the best in Dallas netminder Ed Belfour.
I can see the argument (although I disagree with it) for Patrick Roy as the best,but no one else and certainly not Belfour and the Devils fans used the chant to tweak those that overlooked "our" Marty.
My first memory of Marty came without seeing him play.
My friend Joe Plum was a semi-season ticket holder for the Baltimore Skipjacks,who then played in the AHL and I would ask him about the Devils players for the AHL Devils-then located in Utica.
I asked Joe about this first round goalie and should I make sure I get a bunch of his rookie cards as the sports card bubble was still the rage.
Joe's response was one that I've never let him forget- "Ahh,I watched that guy play against the Skipjacks,he sucks,you guys have nothing to get excited about there".
I only bought a few (Not that they are worth a ton,too many made) and I remind Joe often about his scouting skills!!!
Marty's style was not exactly new wave,in fact-it was more old school than cutting edge.
He eschewed the butterfly for a hybrid and used his Spiderman like anticipation to make uncanny saves that most others would be trapped into guarding corners could not.....
Considering that the butterfly style has taken over not just professional hockey,but the amateurs and juniors as well,Marty's career may never be duplicated,but his brand of goaltending may not either.
There was always another goalie around that that was flashier (Henrik Lundquist) or more spectacular (Patrick Roy) and there were several flavors of the month through the years to get more credit than Marty and the reason that was often given for the lack of accolades through the years was that many thought that he was an above average goalie that was helped by the clamp down "Devils Trap" and tended face fewer shots than other goalies.
The lack of shots may hold a little water,but most of that is a myth-The Devils trap was successful in keeping shot totals down,but when a mistake was made,there was always number 30 waiting in the wings to erase that mistake.
Marty's stickhandling won't be seen for a while either-Think of the players that had a rule changed just because of their skills?
The infamous trapezoid was enacted just to control the puckhandling of Martin Brodeur and try to take away the "third defenseman" that the Devils so often played with.
The trapezoid did take away a little of Marty's "deep game" as he used to literally go into the corners to pass the puck up ice,but even with that eliminated-Brodeur was still the top passing goalie in the game.
Brodeur turned the position into not just a third defenseman,but as an additional part of the offensive unit with his passing skills.
Add to that his three career goals and you had a goaltender that could be considered a bonus part of the offense....
When you consider the players that play in the sport and consider the small number of players that reach the Hall of Fame or get a number retired by a franchise-that's a huge accomplishment.
Take that and look at how few get a statue and that shows the impact that Martin Brodeur had on this franchise.
The greatest goaltender of all time and we had him for his entire career with the exception of a few games at the end of his career (a cameo with the St.Louis Blues).
I often tell Rachel,how fortunate Devils fans were for years-we had the greatest goaltender ever,one of the hardest hitters ever (Scott Stevens),one of the best all around defensemen ever (Scott Niedermayer),a borderline genius for a long run (Lou Lamoriello) and one of the greatest announcers in the booth (Doc Emrick) calling all of our games.
It truly was a Camelot-like era and I'm not sure we can ever have that again.
Now with the official honoring of Marty,combined with the new (er) front office,coach and yes, goaltender.The era of glory is truly over and I hope to see a new generation of winning in the red and black,but last night was one final goodbye to our goalie-The best ever.
Thanks,Marty......
We return to the forgotten superstars' universe with one of the most controversial players of his time and for a brief two-year window was one of the most exciting backs to run the football in Duane Thomas.
Duane Thomas is remembered by most for a tenure that saw bizarre behavior such as refusing to speak.
As in at all.
We live in an age where athletes will at times refuse to speak to the media, but in the early 70s, such behavior was downright shocking.
Considering the shunning of the media and adding that Thomas refused to speak to his teammates or members of the coaching staff and that was likely the act of a heretic in 1971.
Thomas and his act wore out so quickly in Dallas that after his rookie of the year season in 1970, Thomas and two other players were traded to the Patriots for running back Carl Garrett and the Patriots' number one pick.
Pete Rozelle then made a decision that hasn't been made since- Thomas and Garrett were returned to back to their original teams because Thomas refused to talk to or acknowledge Patriots coach John Mazur!
New England got Garrett and their top pick but kept the other two players by sending Dallas their second and third-rounders.
Can you imagine a trade being voided for a reason like that today?
Thomas had rolled up over 800 yards in 1970, averaged 5.3 yards per carry, and accomplished these numbers despite only starting eight of the Cowboy's fourteen games.
Thomas returned to Dallas and rushed for just ten yards less than in 1971 despite playing in three fewer games (he carried the ball 24 more times though-finishing with a still good 4.5 YPC) and led the league with eleven rushing touchdowns.
Thomas should have been the Super Bowl MVP in the Dallas win over Miami and reportedly was the winner in the voting, but Sport Magazine, which then gave the award (and car) was supposedly concerned about how Thomas would behave if he even would show up for the ceremony and gave the award instead to Roger Staubach.
Thomas never played another game for Dallas as he was traded to San Diego, where he would dress for one pre-season game, didn't play, and would sit out the 1973 season.
San Diego traded him to Washington, where he put together two pedestrian seasons that were most noted for one Thanksgiving game against- you guessed it, the Cowboys where he scored two touchdowns and would have been the talk of the league had not Dallas won the game on the immortal Clint Longley's bomb to Drew Pearson to win the game with seconds to go 24-23.
Thomas would leave Washington to play the 1975 season with Honolulu of the World Football League, which would fold in the middle of the 1975 season.
It's too bad that Thomas is remembered more for his personality than his running because he was one beautiful runner to watch,
Thomas could run over people but had a way of gliding that made it seem like he was about to be tackled and suddenly turned a hip and moved away.
The closest thing I've seen to Thomas in style was Gale Sayers.
Barry Sanders had some similarities, but Thomas was so much bigger than Sanders.
Watching Thomas run made me think of watching the water roll over a waterfall and then flow around the rocks on the river floor.
Just an awesome runner to watch.
Check the YouTube at 12 minutes for some Thomas highlights.
Comets tend to burn brightly and then flame out quickly and the career of Duane Thomas was exactly that, but for those who watched him run (and still can through YouTube), he was a tough back to forget...
Welcome, Duane Thomas to the forgotten superstars' universe...
