Cleaning out the Inbox

  The inbox is overdue for a cleaning, so I'll do so here!

Apparently, whether you want to blame it on climate change or a natural coincidence, the range for animals continues to stretch, and when that happens, new breeds can intermix with each other.

Weather.com writes of the new hybrid species, the "Grue Jay," which is a breed comprised of a Blue Jay and a Green Jay.

The Green Jay, a warm-weather bird, has moved a few hundred miles north from its previous northern border along the Texas/Mexico border.

The Blue Jay has extended its range westward, and now the two have started interbreeding, producing birds with mixed characteristics.

NHL.com shares the inspirational story of Seattle Kraken reporter Piper Shaw, who has overcome a challenging childhood to achieve her goal of working in media. 

Shaw's story has to be read to be believed that she survived such awful treatment, and I'd recommend that you do so!

The Athletic offers "Trouble with the Snap, which discusses the tenth anniversary of the Michigan-Michigan State game that saw the Spartans win on the final play of the game when Michigan's punter fumbled the snap, and Michigan State recovered and scored for the victory.

The article also digs into the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, which is often overshadowed by the Ohio State-Michigan wars but is almost as heated between the two schools.

Cleveland Magazine writes about the retro Pizza Hut restaurants that pop up around the country, yet the chain doesn't actually acknowledge they exist.

The Pizza Huts are decorated and designed exactly as they looked in the 1980s!!

The redesigns were offered for a limited time and aren't available after a change in management.

Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings: Non-Sports Edition

      It's the non-sports edition of tributes from a few notable people who have recently left our world.

Goodbye to Ace Frehley at the age of 74.

The long-time guitarist for KISS, Frehley, was with the band from 1972-1982 before going on his own. 

Frehley returned to the band from 1996-2002, but eventually left on bad terms with band members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.

When KISS's four members released solo albums in 1978 under the KISS banner, it was Frehley who had the only hit with "New York Groove," which reached the top twenty.

Goodbye to Sonny Curtis at the age of 88.

Curtis played guitar with Buddy Holly and the Crickets and, after Holly's death, moved into the lead vocals position with the group.

Curtis was more famous as a songwriter, penning such songs as "I Fought The Law", "Walk Right Back", "More Than I Can Say", and the theme song of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Love Is All Around.

" Love Is All Around" was a hit ten years apart for Curtis, with the theme hitting in 1970 (sung by Curtis) and again in 1980 with a slower, country-style ballad by Curtis.

Goodbye to Steve Cropper at the age of 84.

"The Colonel" was the guitarist in the 1979 film classic "The Blues Brothers" for the band, but was also a key part of the "Mar-Keys", who scored a hit with the instrumental "Last Night" in 1961.

"Last Night" is fondly remembered by me from my childhood, thanks to its use in the opening introductions of NBA broadcasts by CBS, with Brent Musberger breathlessly adding his comments.

Cropper was also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from his membership with "Booker T and the MG's" and was a noted songwriter with credits from co-writing hits such as "Knock On Wood", "In the Midnight Hour", and "Sittin' On The Dock of the Bay".

Goodbye to Adam the Woo at the age of 51.

I'm not really the target audience for YouTube influencers, but I did enjoy watching videos made by "The Woo," as he was actively in the travel community.

Woo also traveled to abandoned places and into places behind the scenes, which he often didn't have permission to visit, which caused him to be banned from the Disney parks.

I didn't watch every one of his videos because, after a while, there are only so many amusement park videos that I can watch, but he seemed like a nice guy who found a niche that touched many people.

Garrett breaks record in Browns winning finale

     Myles Garrett got the sack that he needed to set his record, the Cleveland Browns' defense scored the team's only two touchdowns, the Cincinnati Bengals missed two extra points, and Andre Szymt kicked two 49-yard extra points.

All of that occurred before Szymt kicked a 49-yard field goal on the last play of the game to give the Cleveland Browns a 20-18 win in Cincinnati, the final game of the Kevin Stefanski era, if not the Andrew Berry era, in Cleveland.

Devin Bush grabbed a tipped Joe Burrow pass and ran ninety-seven yards for one touchdown, and Sam Webb ran fifty-three yards after recovering a Noah Fant fumble for the other Browns touchdown.

The Browns finish with a record of 5-12 and will return for the 2026 season with a new head coach.

Brownie Bits

1) It took until the fourth quarter, but Myles Garrett did get the one sack that he needed to set a new NFL record for sacks in a season.

The Bengals did an excellent job keeping Garrett off Joe Burrow until the record-setting sack, when Garrett was able to get off the line with an incredible jump, and Burrow had no way to avoid Garrett.

2) I was interested to hear that Michael Strahan commented that his was the real record because he did it in sixteen, not seventeen games.

Strahan is right that his task was accomplished in fewer games, but the NFL used to play twelve and then fourteen before Strahan's day of sixteen games, and I don't remember him complaining about that.

The record is the record for most in a season until the NFL decides to have a record for 12, 14, or 16 game seasons.

3) Shedeur Sanders's day wasn't very impressive as the rookie lostt a fumble and was fortunate to finish without an interception as the Bengals dropped two that should have been caught.

Sanders finished with a paltry 111 yards and was sacked six times.

4) Sanders did come through on the final drive, as he led the Browns into position for Andre Szymt's game winning boot, twice converting third downs with ten plus yard completions.

Sanders has been a mixed bag in his start, he did win three of his starts (Raiders, Steelers, and Bengals) but didn't really stand out in any of them.

5) Shedeur Sanders played well enough to be in the mix for the starting job in training camp but not well enough to hand him the top job.

I saw some things I liked and some I didn't, so consider me unsold but not on a permanent basis.

6) You have to be happy for Andre Szymt who came full circle after missing a field goal against these same Bengals that would have won the season opener, only to beat the Bengals with a field goal in the final game of the season.

Szymt finished the season twenty-four of twenty-seven on field goal attempts and proved me wrong when I wanted him released after the opener.

7) Cincinnati kicker Evan McPherson is usually one of the better booters in the league.

McPherson had missed only one extra point all season but in this one, McPherson missed two extra points in a game that Cleveland won by two.

8) The Bengals scored the first touchdown (Evan McPherson missed the XP) and appeared to be ready to go up by two touchdowns when Shelby Harris stuck up his hand to deflect a Joe Burrow pass into the hands of Devin Bush, who ran ninety-seven yards for the score.

Harris has always brought a knack for deflections as a defender and in blocking kicks and if the veteran doesn't return, that ability will be missed.

9) The Browns made life tough on Andre Szymt as he had to kick forty-nine yard extra points twice as both Devin Bush and Sam Webb were flagged for excessive celebrations as both dived into the end zone untouched on their scores.

I can excuse Bush's penalty a little but after seeing that call, Webb's penalty was really mindless.

10) The Browns will pick 6th in the first round and the win over the Bengals didn't hurt their position thanks to Washington's win over Philadelphia.

Had Washington lost that game, the Browns would have selected seventh.

11) Final note: The Browns won their final two games.

Had they lost both games, they would have selected first as they would have won the tiebreaker with the other three win teams.

Browns Fire Kevin Stefanski, Keep Andrew Berry

   I'll be reviewing the Browns' win in Cincinnati later, as the bigger news came on "Black Monday" with the Cleveland Browns firing head coach Kevin Stefanski and deciding to keep general manager Andrew Berry.

Stefanski, as has been noted ad nauseam, won two Coach of the Year awards and took the Browns to two playoff berths, along with one playoff victory when they won in Pittsburgh during the Covid era.

However, the Browns won just eight games in the last two seasons, including two meaningless games at the end of this season, and Stefanski's offenses struggled badly since the team fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in an attempt to tailor the offense to the then-starting quarterback, DeShaun Watson.

Stefanski's mantra of "Tough, Smart, and Accountable" slowly frittered away as a team consistently committed stupid penalties ( including Stefanski's final game that saw two touchdowns tagged with excessive celebrations that forced Andre Szymt to make two 49-yard extra points), and generally played undisciplined football and rarely paid any type of price for it.

Stefanski's Achilles heel was his inability to work with quarterbacks, which is confusing considering his arrival from Minnesota was heralded with Stefanski's reputation as a quarterback guru.

Stefanski was unable to revive Baker Mayfield's early success, struggled to connect with DeShaun Watson, his belief in rookie Dillon Gabriel proved to be unfounded, appeared reluctant to give Shedeur Sanders a chance despite Gabriel's struggles, before he was forced to play Sanders after an injury to Gabriel.

Stefanski finished his Browns tenure with a record of 45-56, a record that took a serious dip in his final two seasons after finishing those years with a slate of 8-26.

Stefanski won't be unemployed for very long, as it's been reported that he will interview for at least three teams with head coaching vacancies (Giants, Falcons, and Titans), and was rumored during the season to be the top choice to become the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive coordinator, if he was not hired for a head coaching position.

As for Andrew Berry, the man who built a flawed squad without investing in skilled players to help any of the questionable quarterbacks he provided, he managed to retain his position as general manager due to his first solid draft in the six drafts he oversaw.

While I credit Berry with a solid draft that shines compared to his five previous attempts, with the additions of three or four potential stars (Carson Schwesinger, Harold Fannin, Quinshon Judkins, and Mason Graham), even in that draft, Berry wasted a third rounder on Dillon Gabriel.

Berry has made more errors than I list, even before the DeShaun Watson debacle, with ridiculous extensions to Jerry Juedy and Dustin Hopkins, to name a few, awful drafts that included selecting Jedrick Wills, now out of football, over perennial All-Pro Tristan Wirfs as the Browns' left tackle for the decade, and each time the Browns drafted a wide receiver or offensive lineman, they went bust or below average at best.

Berry drafted Grant Delpit and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah before the possibly career-ending neck injury to JOK.Outside of those two players, Berry's picks made average to no impact for the Browns.

Berry has especially struggled in picking players at three positions: quarterback, wide receiver, and offensive linemen, which are the team's biggest needs in April's draft, and it gives me anxiety with Berry picking these positions.

I plan a deeper dive into the Andrew Berry-led personnel decisions in the future, but when you consider his picks at quarterback (Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders), wide receiver (Anthony Schwartz, David Bell, Michael Woods, Cedric Tillman, Jamari Thrash), and offensive line (Jedrick Wills, Nick Harris, James Hudson, Dawson Deaton, Dawand Jones, Luke Wypler, Zac Zinter), it's easy to see my concern.

To be fair, only Jedric Wills was picked in the first two rounds, and some of these picks have been hampered by injury throughout their career, such as Cedric Tillman and Dawand Jones.  Berry hasn't been able to land even an average player who starts with consistency at these positions.

When you add in arguably the worst trade in football history, his bungling of the salary cap, and his drafting limitations before 2025, it's fair to question how Berry kept his job.

A narrative of supporters of Kevin Stefanski was that Stefanski deserved the chance to return with his own quarterback, and they often pointed to the lack of offensive talent on the Browns.

The man in charge of building those units was Andrew Berry, and he is being given a mulligan for his mistakes.

I don't feel sorry for Kevin Stefanski. The time was right for him to leave Cleveland.

The problem is that the creator of this roster mess is allowed to stay and continue in his "roster building".

Kevin Stefanski wasn't screwed by losing his job.

Kevin Stefanski was screwed by the Haslams and the Browns, who chose him as the scapegoat as the person most responsible for the disaster that is the Cleveland Browns.

That person kept his job.

I'll be working on the Browns' win over Cincinnati later, and the Andrew Berry deep dive will be coming very soon.

Thanks for reading this extra-long post.

One missed block, one missed boot costs Buckeyes in Cotton Bowl defeat

    The Ohio State Buckeyes missed execution on a few key plays, and it was too much to overcome against a well-prepared Miami Hurricanes team, who upset the Buckeyes 24-14 in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Julian Sayin finished with 287 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, with Jeremiah Smith catching seven passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.

Ohio State ends its season with a 12-2 record and will start its 2026 season in September at home against Ball State.

Olentangy Offerings

1) The one missed block came in the first half when a play developed in slow motion (it seemed) as Julian Sayin attempted a screen pass.

Jeremiah Smith didn't block his man, so Kelonte Scott shot through to grab the lob and race seventy-two yards for the score that Ohio State never really recovered from.

2) Watching the replay. It's hard to see whether Smith missed the block or just thought he could get away with minimal contact.

Either way, that missed block set the tone for the remainder of the game.

3) The first half saw the Buckeye offense struggle until the final drive of the half, and Jayden Fielding trotted onto the field for his first field goal attempt since his catastrophic short miss against Indiana in the Big Ten title game.

Forty-nine yards is hardly a chip shot, especially for a college kicker, but you need your kicker to come through when needed, especially when 14-3 and some momentum would have meant so much compared to 14-0.

Fielding missed.

4) Another underrated play of note happened in the final quarter when punter Joe McGuire smashed a fifty-three-yard punt and forced a Hurricane fair catch at their own eleven.

This would have been a great chance for Ohio State, then trailing 17-14, to get a stop and the ball back for a potential winning drive.

Ohio State was called for illegal formation, McGuire's second punt traveled twenty yards less, and Miami started at their own thirty-one instead.

5) Ryan Day needs to re-evaluate the program's acquisitions of kickers and punters because, far too often in recent years, the kicking game in Columbus has come up short against good teams.

I know the theory against using scholarships, etc., on kickers who so seldom make a difference during the season at powerful programs, but they can make a tremendous difference in big games and often cost one.

6) And sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way.

In the third quarter, Miami's Malachi Toney took a tremendous lick from Caleb Downs, causing him to fumble.

However, the ball bounced right back into the arms of a stumbling Toney, who recovered the ball and allowed Miami to kick a field goal on the next play.

Honestly, that might have been the biggest play in the game, as a turnover would have resulted in three fewer points for the Canes and kept momentum rolling for Ohio State, who had scored their first touchdown on the previous drive.

7) On the final scoring drive of the game, when Ohio State needed a stop, it was the Hurricane offensive line that made the difference as they physically pounded the Buckeye defense with their running game.

Miami moved seventy yards and threw the ball only twice on the drive that put the game in the Miami column.

8) The offensive line struggled to keep the Miami pass rush off Julian Sayin, especially in the first half.

Miami does have two defensive linemen who are expected to be high first-rounders (Reuben Bain and Akheem Mesidor) in the NFL Draft, and the Buckeyes did a better job protecting Sayin in the second half. The Hurricanes sacked Sayin five times, equalling Indiana's sack haul against Ohio State.

9) Now we head to the silly season of the transfer portal, where the Buckeyes will bring in players and lose others.

Ohio State will lose several defensive starters, and especially the back seven will take its share of new arrivals.

Face it, the bottom third of the roster is going to churn over constantly in the new world of college football, and whether we like it or not, college football has changed, and Ohio State has to be prepared to change with it.

10) I'm disappointed with the end of the season, but I'd grade it as an average season.

Had you asked me before the season if I would take two regular-season losses, a CFP berth, and a dominating win over Michigan if offered?

I would have.

Remember, Texas and Penn State were regarded as top-five teams entering the season, and losses to each of those teams weren't out of the realm of possibility, so I would have taken the offer.

Still, losing the final two games was a bit galling, I can't lie, but I've felt worse at the end of seasons.

11) Watch for the CFP to move to sixteen teams without byes.

I don't blame rust for the defeat to Miami, who outplayed OSU and deserved the win, but it's fair to wonder if that will change after seven of the eight teams that received byes in the first two years of the CFP were defeated.

I'm okay with sixteen, although there will be even more non-competitive first-round games. However, I would prefer that the first two rounds be held at campus locations.

I'm not sure if the current contract for the playoffs would allow so many non-neutral games, but that's my hope.

PPM

 The final week of the NFL season is here, and the college playoff is down to a surprising final four.

Last Week: 2-6 

Overall: 156-74

College Playoffs

Ole Miss over Miami 31-27

Indiana over Oregon 26-19

NFL
Bengals over Browns 22-17

Falcons over Saints 24-17

Games of the Week

Seahawks over 49ers 37-35

Panthers over Buccaneers 29-28

Ravens over Steelers 20-14

Happy New Year

    Happy New Year to everyone!

I'm due for a good year, as 2023 saw crazy work horrors followed by a great 2024 with the birth of our first grandchild.

2025 wasn't a great year, with my hospitalization and other setbacks, both in my personal and family.

2026 is in an even year, so I'm hoping for a bounce-back year!

Best to all of you and yours!