Cleaning out the inbox

Time to clean the inbox and we'll start with Bruce Markusen's Card Corner that he does for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bruce picked the 1969 Topps to discuss former Indians outfielder Ken "the Hawk" Harrelson,but I've always preferred the 1970 (shown) or his 1971 with Hawk seemingly cracking up over the duller 1969 version.
Markusen's article explains why the 1969 cards are so dull and has a comprehensive look at Hawk's career and his announcing career.
I'm a huge fan of Hawk's,but I can certainly understand why some fans cannot stand him-he certainly is a homer and loves the White Sox definitively!


The Comeback writes of the possible end of a torrid rivalry between New Mexico and New Mexico State due to the issues of conferences.
New Mexico State looks headed to 1-AA as the Sun Belt booted them and Idaho,no other conferences appear to want the Aggies (small market) and as an independent,New Mexico State appears unlikely to be able to schedule five home games a year,which is an NCAA D-1 requirement.
The question then becomes,if NMSU goes down to 1-AA,will the Lobos continue to schedule them?
It's too bad and a sad ending to a big rivalry...

Battlin' Bob sends this note from SI.com on the many people that the Rams move from St.Louis affected on game day and otherwise.
It goes to show just how leaving a town can sour a market and this market might be poisoned for good when you consider the Cardinals left as did the Rams and the passing over of St.Louis for expansion for Carolina and Jacksonville.
People never look at the stain on Paul Tagliabue's resume for insisting on Jacksonville as an expansion club.
Picking them over Baltimore likely cost Cleveland the Browns and over St.Louis,might have meant football never left Southern California.....

Joe Plum adds a page on the demise of the Shawshank Redemption tree in Ohio.
I went and saw the tree a few years back with the lovely Cherie,but had been split after being hit by lightning.
Now the tree is down as it succumbed to high winds and is on its side.
No word on the eventual home or use for the wood from the tree...

One of my all time favorite Cavaliers talks with Sam Amico of Amico Hoops as Mark Price chats about his career in Cleveland and a little about the Cavalies NBA title.
Price is currently the head coach at Charlotte,who plays in Conference USA.....

Comstock's writes about the business of minor league baseball and their major league affiliations as the article focuses on the Sacramento RiverCats and their move from the Oakland Athletics to the San Francisco Giants in 2014.
The interesting article talks about the ins and outs of Sacramento's move and how it was done along with how it worked out.

We wrap up with a ESPN short film on Peter Norman.
Norman was the Australian sprinter that was on the medal stand with Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their famous protest in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
It's a take on the incident that I haven't seen before...

Football notes-pre-game!

A few football notes with the rumor mill running wild before the Browns expected loss to the Steelers.

The Browns are now being reported to be firing both Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer following the Steelers game.
This comes a few days after the same reports had Farmer going,but Pettine staying.
This has legs though and the two names getting play are the just fired Chip Kelly from the Eagles and Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase.

Gase is interesting because he is offensively oriented and the Browns haven't hired a guy with that background (other than Rob Chudzinski's 1 year cameo) since Chris Palmer in 1999.
However,he's never been a head coach and being young (37) could be overwhelmed with such a huge job ahead....

Chip Kelly clearly doesn't know personnel and would need a strong GM ahead of him to rein in his demands,but as an on the field coach-I might buy in.
A motivated Kelly that learned from his mistakes in Philly could be quite a force,but did he take enough time away from the game to fully learn this lesson?

Hiring Gase would show me that the Browns are serious in trying to lure Peyton Manning to run things when his career is over with "his" guy installed as head coach instead having a coach forced on him.
Hiring Kelly looks like another forced coach/GM pairing as once again the coach would be hired first rather than the traditional other way around.

I'm open to either on the surface,but I'd also like to see the bigger picture....

Also with three teams trying to move to L.A. here is a scenario for how to make me a fan if one of the 3 moves there-the Rams.

The Rams would give me my longed for NFC West Coast team to watch every week after the Browns and have several players that I really like in Todd Gurley and James Laurinatis.
Keep Jeff Fisher as head coach (long time favorite) and change the colors back to the blue and yellow and the Los Angeles Rams just might have a new fan...

Sad in St.Louis,Browns anemic in 24-6 loss

Before I start,I'm not sure if I'll be doing a blog post on the Buckeyes rout of Rutgers.
Depends on the time allotted for me.
My good friends at Verizon are coming to fix the phones today (thank the lord that it hasn't affected the internet) and it will depend on how that goes.
If it is a quick (and quiet) repair,I'll do a Football weekend in Ohio and cover both games on the podcast.
If it is a loud and long job,I may hammer out a short post....


The Cleveland Browns played a lifeless and listless game in their worst performance of the season (maybe the Jets game was arguably worse) in their possibly final visit to the Edward Jones Dome in St.Louis and slunk out of Missouri with a 24-6 loss to the Rams.
Josh McCown threw for 270 yards without an interception,but fumbled twice under a vicious Rams pass rush and Gary Barnidge grabbed six passes for 101 yards to lead an offense that failed to reach the end zone.
Travis Coons connected on both of his field goal attempts to account for all the Browns scores and the only bright spots of the afternoon.
The now 2-5 Browns host Arizona next Sunday.

Brownie Bits

1) I picked the Rams as my possible surprise team in the NFC and it could happen,if they can get anything out of Nick Foles at quarterback.
I haven't seen a team with talent like the Rams on the D-Line this season and I think they are one receiving threat away from being a real NFC contender..

2) Todd Gurley.
I've been high on him since I first saw him at Georgia and made the statement that he is the most
talented back to hit the NFL since Adrian Peterson.
Gurley finished with 128 yards and two scores on just 19 carries.
This is a runner that can hit the smallest holes like a 5'8 scat back and run you over like a power back.
Gurley will be the gold standard in running backs as soon as the end of this season...

3) One more word on the Rams.
Only 35,000 people in St.Louis for the game and knowing the threats to move back to Los Angeles-I can't blame fans that have had one football team leave town (Cardinals) not come out at NFL prices.
Being a Suns fan and seeing threats constantly arrive,I've seen in person the affects that can have on attendance.
This whole Los Angeles mess is more of a mess every day....

4) Josh McCown wasn't great,but he wasn't awful either.
McCown only threw six incompletions and it isn't his fault that his receiver (Taylor Gabriel) fumbled a pass that turned into a scoop and score.
McCown did fumble twice,but anyone would taking the shots that he was in the pocket on Sunday.
The worst thing he did was whatever that was (slip,bang fall,etc) against the wall at EJS,banging a shoulder and almost hitting the ground.
McCown was injured late and may not be able to play against Arizona.

5) I'm surprised to see the vitriol against Joe Thomas.
Thomas did commit penalties,but he dominated Robert Quinn,an excellent pass rusher, to the point of Quinn having no statistics for the game.
I know this because Quinn is my fantasy defensive lineman and his numbers are usually strong.
Want to knock the offensive line in this game?
I'm on board and with five false starts and four holding penalties,there isn't much to dispute,but Thomas controlled Quinn and that's a top notch effort.

6) A team "Built on the running game" continued to plod like bugs in the mud.
Take away Josh McCown running for his life for 21 yards and Robert Turbin's 22 yard run (his other runs added eight yards combined) and you have a grand total of 39 yards.
Barf.

7)  Another 100 yard game for Gary Barnidge and another great catch.
Barnidge became the fourth Browns tight end to have three 100 yard games in a season.
Only Milt Morin (4) has more,but I bet Barnidge gets to that point....

8) I know I have talked about the Browns not having top notch receivers,but the lack of size is often a factor as well.
The stature of Travis Benjamin,Taylor Gabriel etc can (and often does) lend itself to fumbles by bigger defenders as seen by Gabriel's first quarter fumble.
There is a place for smaller receivers,but having all (or most) of them being smaller lends itself to turnovers...

9) The defense just gives up plays in huge parcels and it makes a huge difference.
Todd Gurley alone gashed them for five runs over 12 yards with one of 48.
The secondary allowed a pass play of 41 yards among others.
Such a disappointment.

10) Another bad day for the draft class.
Danny Shelton had zero tackles,Cameron Erving hit the field and got called for a holding penalty.
Duke Johnson caught seven passes,but looks to be overmatched in the run game and the rest (Nate Orchard,Xavier Cooper and Ibreheim Campbell) were nondescript at best.

11) Finally,things are on the slide.
I'm sure a win might come unexpectedly,but remember both Browns wins came over teams with just one win each as of this writing.
I don't see one game that I give the Browns a chance to favored in (or even a pickem game) until San Francisco at home in December.
Look out...