Cleaning out the inbox- Sports version

It's been a busy time here at TRS when I'm able to post that is and the result is an inbox that's straining to keep itself in order with items from sports, non-sports, and passings.

We'll start with a Terry Pluto note on an upcoming appearance in Cleveland for Rocky Colavito.
The 85-year-old "Rock" will appear Thursday with a few former teammates at an All-Star fan week event as well as promote an upcoming book about the former Indian slugger.
Colavito, who I place firmly in the "Hall of Very Good" hit 374 homers in his fourteen-year career with 190 of them in his eight years and two stints with the Indians has been struggling with health issues in recent years that cost him his right leg (below the knee) from circulatory issues and diabetes in 2015.

The Athletics Tom Reed writes a tremendous article on former Browns tight end Gary Barnidge and Barnidge's life after football, which is a template for players today on how to prepare for their post-career.
Barnidge, who put up the best two seasons of his NFL career with the Browns, was then released in 2016 and would never play again in the league, will turn 34 before this season and could very easily still be playing football.
The article looks at Barnidge's various interests including studying the Bible and Koran as an agnostic, living in a home twenty minutes from almost anything in any direction and his friendship with wrestling legend Jerry "the King" Lawler among several interesting items on the former Cleveland tight end.

ESPN is working on a recurring series during the college basketball season titled "Chasing Ghosts" that looks at programs that possess plenty of tradition, yet for various reasons have struggled and slid from once-exalted status.
The edition that caught my eye was the N.C. State version ( I also had interest in the UNLV article as a fan of the Runnin' Rebels of the Jerry Tarkanian years) that looks at the peak of the program, coaches that contributed to the decline and the chances of the program returning to prominence.
I have written before of my fondness for the Wolfpack, who ranked behind only Maryland in my college basketball fandom under the late Jim Valvano and even today (since the sad defection of the Terrapins to the Big 10) battles with Wake Forest as my favorite school in the ACC and I do not completely agree with the article where they don't believe the Pack can ever return to past status.
Where there is a commitment to winning, there are possibilities of glory, it simply comes down to making the correct hire for your program and as the article notes, N.C.State hasn't been able to land that coach since Valvano's departure.

The Athletic makes the inbox again with an article on just what the San Francisco Giants would be losing when the likely trade of Madison Bumgarner at the trade deadline goes through.
Bumgarner's the type of old school pitcher that guys like me love and would have fit right in with the past eras of baseball.
He's grouchy, cantankerous and everything that modern baseball is not, which is exactly why the Giants and their fans will miss him so much.

Deadspin discusses a new pro wrestling promotion that has jumped the first hurdle that infant wrestling promotions have placed in the path to success- gaining a major television outlet.
The new All-Elite promotion that is funded by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan has agreed to a deal that begins in the fall with TNT.
Wrestling was a major portion of the success of the "Turner" networks from the early days with Georgia Championship Wrestling to their time with Jim Crockett Promotions and then World Championship Wrestling after the network bought the promotion from the Crockett family before selling the library and assets to the WWE and folding everything else.
This is an excellent article that covers the history of Ted Turner and his network's involvement with pro wrestling and even offers a piece of information that I never knew.
In 1970, Turner's then WTCG did not televise the local Georgia promotion which was on another network but wanted to televise wrestling.
What program did WTCG broadcast for a year before GCW moved over to them?
Capitol Wrestling- the WWF show promoted by Vincent McMahon Sr.
The WWF didn't run shows there, but this shows how long the Turner networks and their current descendants not owner by Turner have owned a relationship with wrestling.

We wrap up with the oldest item in the inbox from May as SI.com takes a deep look over two articles (found here and here) at the short life of the Alliance of American Football.
As some of you remember we covered the leagues and (mainly) the Arizona Hotshots and the league not surviving was a disappointment to me.
However, when you read these articles (and two podcasts that I'll mention soon in a podcast post), it is easy to see how the mistakes of the league sealed its doom.

I'll be around later with another inbox version with either recent passings of note or cleaning the non-sports version of the inbox.

Browns waive Gary Barnidge

Less than a day after trading up for Miami tight end David Njoku at the end of the first round,the Cleveland Browns didn't wait long to show that they are all in with their new tight end as veteran Gary Barnidge was quickly released well before the beginning of the second round.

Barnidge had his career year in 2015 with 79 catches,9 touchdowns and finished with over 1,000 yards receiving,but saw his numbers drop in the Hue Jackson office to just over 600 yards and with a large cap number due to a deal that Barnidge signed after the 2015 season,the decision to turn the position over to the drafted Nkoju and 2015 draftee Seth DeValve makes sense and even though you would think that the team could have shopped Barnidge as a possible throw in in a trade or even fetch a sixth or seventh rounder,but the more likely scenario is that the salary of Barnidge made a trade very unlikely and by cutting him now,the well-liked veteran will have plenty of time to hook on with another team.

Barnidge's career year came as a huge surprise as in his previous six years in the league had seen his career high in catches sit at a low 13,but the extension was seen as an olive branch to fans disgusted with the regression under Mike Pettine and a show of good faith.
When you think of tight ends under Hue Jackson,you think of large,athletic,rangy types that can get downfield such as his use of Tyler Eifert over Jermaine Gresham in the years that he spent as the Bengals offensive coordinator and despite his good hands,Barnidge isn't that type of player.
Combine that with the departure of Josh McCown,who Barnidge seemed to have chemistry with/McCown looked for Barnidge first and you can see why the Browns decided to allow Barnidge to go elsewhere.

The Browns have two picks tonight,a second rounder obtained from the Titans and their own pick which is the first in the third round.
I'll be here tonight looking at both (or more) players selected tonight by the Browns...

Raiders ramble over Browns 27-20

The Cleveland Browns looked pretty lame for most of the game before a fourth quarter rally gave the Browns a chance to tie before Charles Woodson baited Josh McCown into a game-ending interception as the Oakland Raiders left Cleveland with a 27-20 win.
Josh McCown did finish with 341 yards with two touchdowns and the game clinching interception was the only one that the veteran threw.
Gary Barnidge caught six passes for over 100 yards and a touchdown to pace the Cleveland pass catching bunch.
The Browns fall to 1-2 and will spend the next two weeks on the road against San Diego and then Baltimore.
The schedule gets tough,folks-it's about to get worse...

Brownie Bits

1) Josh McCown was not so swift for three quarters and managed to salvage some stats in the fourth quarter.
McCown still should have done better early on as he overthrew receivers on multiple occasions,but he wasn't awful enough to change things at quarterback.
I still think that Johnny Manziel needs to play,but if the decision was made for this game to go with Josh McCown,then I see no reason to reverse course based on this game.

2) Huge game by Gary Barnidge,who is most known for his blocking, with six catches,100 plus yards and a score,but keep in mind this -Oakland has made tight ends look like Kellen Winslow Sr.
Tyler Eifert (Bengals) and Crockett Gilmore (Ravens) each had huge games vs the Raiders this year and Barnidge was added to the list.
Something must be amiss in the Oakland defensive scheme that tight ends are killing them so much...

3) Brian Hartline had a nice game with five catches for 96 yards with one amazing catch as well.
Nice to see Hartline getting targeted a bit and perhaps his chemistry is better with Josh McCown than Johnny Manziel.

4) Travis Benjamin grabbed another touchdown and completed it with a nifty dive to break the plane of the end zone.
Benjamin also fumbled a punt that could have given the Browns more time to tie the game,but instead allowed the Raiders to run time off the clock.
Benjamin also was the intended receiver on the Charles Woodson interception and he didn't make a great effort to come back to the ball..

5) Mike Pettine's whole philosophy is to run the football and stop the run and the Browns get a huge fail on both.
39 yards rushing (36 of them to Isaiah Crowell) on 14 tries.
That isn't going to wear anyone down and you aren't going to win many games with Josh McCown or Johnny Manziel throwing 49 passes to these receivers.
Complete failure and shows the Browns failure in evaluating talent and tailoring it to fit what they want to do.

6) As for stopping the run-good luck as the Raiders continued the run (no pun intended) of team slamming the ball down the throat of this supposedly improved run defense.
This time,it was Latavius Murray that scorched the Browns for 139 yards and generally did whatever he wanted against the this sorry excuse for a run defense.
I see zero amount of improvement and this was supposed to be a major upgrade for 2015.

7) Joe Haden has had a rough three game start to the season and he suffered a rib injury early in the game in which Raider rookie Amari Cooper had his way with Haden.
To their credit,neither Haden or Mike Pettine used the rib injury as an excuse,but still it's starting to be apparent that Browns fans and the media may have overrated Haden as an elite shutdown level corner.
Haden just gets beaten far too often for that to be the case...

8) The Browns also play really dumb football for a team that wants to play smart,physical football (part of that play like a Brown garbage).
How about these two gems-After three cracks at the end zone on fourth and goal,Joel Bitonio (who has taken a step back thus far this season) false starts to eliminate that option and then Barkevious Mingo roughs the punter (although to be fair,the penalty could also have been called on three other guys as well) to give the ball back to Oakland.
Result-The Raiders drive the ball down the field with the possession gift for their first touchdown of the day....

9) This defense was supposed to dominate,remember? Well,in order to dominate,you need to tackle!
I watched too many tackles to count,be broken and result in huge gains over well of over 30 yards.
The most memorable of which was fullback Marcel Reece accounting for all 55 of his yards of the day on a screen pass that should have gained five yards,if not for poor tackling.
Donte Whitner appears to be a step slow and more interested in giving big hits than wrapping up.
Play like a Brown indeed.

10) If you liked Derek Carr and Khalil Mack's performances yesterday and you should have,remember that both could have been Browns.
I liked both coming out of college,but the Browns passed on both for Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel.
That's why they are the Browns.

11) Speaking of Justin Gilbert,he did dress for the game,but did not play.
As for the biggest Browns "addition" in the off-season,Dwayne Bowe was inactive.
Dwayne Bowe was Ray Farmer's guy and Farmer can return from his suspension right after the Chargers game.
It's clear that there is a difference on Dwayne Bowe between the coaches and front office as far as their opinions on the veteran wideout.
Watch for something to happen on that front as soon as it does.

12) The Raiders believe in getting a young quarterback weapons and investing in playmakers.
Which is why the Raiders gave Derek Carr a young star in Amari Cooper to throw to and while the Browns were guaranteeing Ray Farmer's buddy from Kansas City nine million dollars,the Raiders signed Michael Crabtree for help for their young passer.
A young passer that plays by the way and doesn't sit behind a 36 year UFL veteran.
Amazing how you can rebuild when you draft impact players when the ball is in their hands.
The Browns? Well,they wait until round four to pick a guy with the dropsies and then release him.
That's the Cleveland M.O.

13) Today's uniform update-All Brown.
I generally like the colored jerseys,but on this team-I think the best look with these substandard uniforms would be white jersey,orange pants...

14) The schedule now becomes brutal with only one game over the last 13 that I see the Browns possibly being favored in-maybe the home game vs the 49ers,maybe.
I spoke on the preview podcast that the Browns had to be a minimum of 2-1 after these first three games (two at home) and they've came up with 1-2..
I'm sure they'll win one or two (at best) games that you don't expect them to and maybe they get the Niners,but that still is 4-12 at the top end.
I'd rather take 2-14 and the top pick,if those are my selections.
I predicted that the Browns would have that pick for 2016,let's see...
It's about to get brutal in Cleveland....

15) Cavalier camp opens soon at least.