Random Ramblings

Time for some random ramblings and finish the inbox cleanup.
The Devils are off tonight,so I am hoping that tomorrow can either be the next portion of What If-The Cleveland Browns or one of the two long overdue minor league baseball posts.

The Pirate family lost another one of its own from the terrific 1970's squad when reliever
Ramon' Hernandez passed away on Feb 4th.
The lefthander was often used by Danny Murtaugh in the late innings against lefthanded batters and had the "Luis Tiant" motion with the twisting,turning delivery.
Hernandez joined the Buccos in 1970 at the age of 30 and was a bullpen stalwart until midway through the 1976 season when he was sold to the Cubs.
Thanks to Vlad over at Bucs Dugout for the knowledge.

Bruce Markusen has a very nice article on Hernandez on his blog here.

The Washington Nationals signed Adam Dunn at a bargain price-two years twenty million.
Will Dunn make the Nats winners?No way,but what he will do is instantly become the most popular National as soon the season arrives and will give Washington the power hitter that they have craved since Frank Howard.

The Cleveland Browns dropped a few players a few days back.
Most notably were linebacker Antwun Peek,who missed the 2008 season due to injury,cornerback/special teamer Terry Cousin and backup quarterbacks Ken Dorsey and Bruce Gradkowski.
Peek was expected to make a impact when he arrived in Cleveland in 2007,but only finished four sacks on the year.
Cousin was a journeyman depth player and the less I can say about Ken Dorsey the better.
Gradkowski did not clear waivers as he was claimed by the Raiders,so Bruce can continue to draw a paycheck.

Yahoo writes about the downward spiral of the Maryland basketball program under Gary Williams.
I think that Williams is still an excellent game coach,but the fact is that he cannot recruit well at this stage of his career.
Like it or not,kids today are different than the players that Williams recruited at American in the 70's,Boston College and Ohio State in the 80's and even the early Maryland recruits.
Kids today just don't want to put up with the Williams treatment when they can put up with less elsewhere.
It only takes watching one Maryland game to see what is happening there....
This is similar to what happened to Bob Knight.
Times change,we don't always have to like that,but accepting it goes a long way....

Finally,check this out on the fans that are still steamed about the Seattle Sonics move to Oklahoma City and their visit to Portland for the teams first return to the Pacific Northwest.
Good stuff on the dedication and pain that loyal fans go through....

Photo Credits
Hernandez:Topps
Dunn:AP Photo