Podcast-Special Guest Ramon Malpica

Special Guest Ramon (R.L) Malpica returns  with talk on boxing,television and technology too!!

Browns sign their UFA's

Normally,I don't write posts on the players signed as undrafted free agents by the Browns.
However,with this crop of players being acclaimed as either the best or second best in the league by most sources,I decided to offer a few comments,..

There are a few players that I was surprised didn't get drafted on this list and I bet some of these signees make the Browns.

To me,the one player I am really happy about is Maryland's power leg Brad Craddock,who drilled 81 % of his field goals and won the Lou Groza Award as the best kicker in college in 2014.
Craddock didn't repeat the award due to missing time with an injury,but Craddock kicked several field goals of over fifty yards in showing the leg strength that incumbent Travis Coons lacks.
I asked my buddy Kendall Morris,a devout Maryland football fan about Craddock and Kendall reports that Craddock came to Maryland as a punter and with work with former Brown Matt Stover developed into quite an accurate kicker.
Kendall describes Craddock as having a "strong and accurate leg that reminds him of former Terp Nick Novak".
If Craddock is like Nick Novak,who has had a pretty good career,I'll take that all day!
If I had to make a prediction right now,I bet Brad Craddock is the Browns kicker for the opening game...

Dominique Alexander of Oklahoma is a talented linebacker that led the Sooners in tackles the last two seasons.
Alexander was a mild surprise in going undrafted and I like him as a player,but he does arrive in Cleveland with two other rookies in Joe Schobert and Scooby Wright,so he'll have to do well in camp to make the team.

Mike Matthews is a somewhat undersized center from Texas A&M that has been tutored by the best in his father-Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews.
Matthews is 6'0 and 290,which is pretty sizable for the average man,but undersized for an NFL lineman.
I still wouldn't be surprised to see Matthews work his way on this team and might just stick on motor and attitude,,,,

Two defensive backs are interesting in Tracy Howard of Miami Florida and Kenya Dennis of Missouri.
Howard was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school and Dennis was a captain as a Tiger.
Both were rated by Ourlad's Dan Shonka over the Browns 5th round corner Trey Caldwell,so either or even both could surprise in camp and make the club.

Podcast-Special Guest Dorian Craft

Photo Courtesy WLEX-18 

The Podcast returns with former WHAG sports director and currently of WLEX in Lexington Kentucky-Dorian Craft.
Dorian discusses this weekend's Kentucky Derby,her love of Kentucky hoops,her dislike of Duke and the NBA and her time in Hagerstown covering sports and the Hagerstown Suns....

We also talk Canelo Alvarez,the Cavaliers vs the Hawks,Person of Interest and the future of the podcast!!!

2nd Annual Zabbies

Time to revisit a promised (and a bit overdue) return to the Zabbies.
We did the Zabbies last year for the first time for fighters that we are sick of seeing and the Zabbies were recently mentioned on Ramon (R.L.) Malpica's podcast-Thanks as always for the plug.

Here is last year's description of what the Zabbies are all about!
The Zabbies are named after former champion Zab Judah, who I grew tired of seeing get big fight after big fight and always accompanied by excuses after excuses for his losses, which were then followed by lots of talk about this being "a new Zab Judah" blah blah...
Judah hasn't fought in a year and hopefully will not fight further, so the namesake for the list is not on it.
The list has various reasons for being on it ranging from Judah-like excuses, weak chins, quitting when the going got tough and being susceptible to cuts, etc.

Well, over a year later, Zab Judah is still threatening a return to the ring, although it hasn't occurred yet and two of our Zabbie winners from last year are back for repeat wins!
It's showtime!!!

1) Victor Ortiz
I described Victor's faults last year and why I'm tired of him, so I won't re-write it, but they didn't go away in Ortiz's recent fight against Andre Berto in which he was floored, got up slowly, and then surrendered without a word.
How many times do you want to see the same guy quit and now that his only noteworthy win has been avenged in the rematch vs Berto, name one compelling reason to watch Ortiz.
Bleech

2) Robert Guerrero
Our other repeat winner has fought three times since the first Zabbies and has gone 1-2 and on my card should have been 0-3.
Plodding losses to Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia were bad enough, but his split decision "win" over clubfighter Aron Martinez (I scored Martinez the winner) showed the same dull fight again and again.
The most excitement that Guerrero brings to the table is when his father shoots off at the mouth about the damage Guerrero is going to do, which you know has no chance of happening...

3) Brandon Rios
Rios once was a game warrior that went all out.
No longer as now the problem is that Rios is not always guaranteed to make weight and now tends to just aimlessly follow fighters around the ring ineffectively.
Rios has one decent win in the last three years and that was a disqualification win over Diego Chaves in a fight that I had him losing.
Rios doesn't care to get into shape or show much effort-if he doesn't care, why should I?

4) Chris Algeri
Algeri, a tough guy with a light punch, was just another clubfighter before being given what I thought was an outrageous split decision over Ruslan Provodnikov.
Algeri parlayed that win into a Manny Pacquiao bout that saw him get dropped six times.
Algeri since has fought decently in a loss to Amir Khan, a win over Erick Bone, and was steamrolled by Errol Spence.
Algeri cannot break soap bubbles with his punch, cannot outbox most fighters, and doesn't have a chin.
Guts only take you so far in the sport and Algeri just isn't capable of doing more than he does-which gives him a Zabbie and just might get him hurt badly in the ring...

5) The Dirrell Brothers
Pick the Dirrell of your choice-Andre, the fighter with the better resume', but shows the killer instinct of my dog Posey, content to just jog around the ring and notch unanimous decisions against overmatched competition or Anthony, who has fewer top fighters on his record,but did win a world title, only to lose it in his first defense,
Anthony occasionally turns it up a hair to stop the lesser opposition that the Dirrell's usually face, so that is a small notch in his favor.
For fighting basically the same dull fight against the same generally lousy PBC opponents, I'm sick of both Dirrell's...

Bonus Zabbie

6) Gary Russell
This Zabbie isn't for lack of talent as Russell has loads of that, but the flashy Russell has fought one quality opponent (Vasyl Lomachenko) dropped a lopsided decision to Lomachenko, and doesn't fight very often.
Russell doesn't deserve to be on this list because of losses, but he makes the list for his pattern of overwhelming poor opponents, calling out big names (like Lomachenko for a rematch) that's unlikely to occur, and then fighting more crappy competition.
Russell can get off this list easily for next year by fighting even top ten competition, which is more than he's done for his entire career...

Cleaning out the inbox-Non Sports Edition

Time for an overdue cleaning of the inbox.

We start with the pictured one hundred and twenty side die as written about in the New Yorker.
Larger amount (above six) sided are often featured in gaming of different types and I even use them when I play Strat O Matic on the cards with the twenty sided ones.
The 120 is regarded as the "ultimate fair die as allowed by Mother Nature"although I cannot imagine what type of game (or anything else) it would be good for.
Still a neat story and a cool looking little lumpy thing!

The Guardian offers an interesting article on the Mountain Chicken Frog in the island nation of Montserrat that is the equivalent of a miracle as one of the final two frogs of the species are used to attempt to mate in the wild.
The issue is that the male is literally "out in the woods" and the captive female's calls will be used to find the male and then hope that nature takes its course.
The frog,which looks nothing like a chicken,has been decimated by a fungus that have overtaken many amphibians in the chain of islands....

The Hollywood Reporter has a rare interview with Rick Moranis formerly of many films and most notably to me as one of the stars of the classic SCTV.
Moranis,who has basically taken an hiatus from film in order to raise his children after their mother's passing,discusses why it took him away from Hollywood and why he passed on a cameo role in the new Ghostbusters reboot....

The one place that I wanted to check out when Rachel's trip to Cleveland took place that I missed is now entering the food truck game as Slymon's and their world famous corned beef hits the road.
Just goes to show you that there is always hope....

Wrapping up with the Cleveland food theme,the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes about the various hot dogs served at Progressive Field.
The best to me sounds like the Reuben Dog with corned beef,sauerkraut and thousand island dressing.
Topped of course with Bertman's Ballpark Mustard!!!!

Entertainment from PBC? Boxing Challenge

R.L.Malpica and I each added three points Saturday night on a surprisingly fun to watch evening from the PBC on two networks.
The current score is 47-38.

From Los Angeles,Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz squared off in a rematch that was held about four years too late.
Considering the two fighters involved flaws and less than clear future,the fight was exciting and fun to watch.
Ortiz appeared to be controlling the fight and dropped Berto in the second.
Berto turned things around in the fourth with a strong uppercut that dropped Ortiz,a dazed Ortiz got up,but quickly was dropped again and didn't give an answer when asked if he wished to continue.
Fight was decent enough,but the problem is now we are likely to see another undeserved Andre Berto title shot-this one against WBC champ Danny Garcia,who would love Berto as another stop on the soft touch tour.
R.L added two points for the Berto KO win with myself settling for one...

The co-feature saw two wild,sloppy,but exciting to watch rounds from light heavyweights Edwin Rodriguez and Thomas Williams.
Trading bombs that bounced off each others chin,Williams finished Rodriguez in the second to earn a likely shot against WBC champion Adonis Stevenson.
From what I saw,that might be another fun,but short night.
R,L and I each picked Rodriguez to win...

In Washington DC,two super middleweight belts were on the line as IBF champ James DeGale and WBC boss Badou Jack were supposed to skip by opposition on their way to a fall unification match.
That bout will take place,but not without some controversy.
DeGale looked to outclass another questionable IBF mandatory challenger in Rogelio "Porky" Medina,but instead found himself in a life and death struggle.
I scored the fight 115-113 for DeGale,who won a unanimous decision that could have just as easily been 115-113 Medina-it was that close.

WBC champ Badou Jack settled for a majority draw against Lucien Bute in a bout that I thought Jack won 116-112.
The fight was decent enough,but I thought the first fight had more of a case as a draw than this one.
DeGale's struggles and Jack's draw took a little luster off the fall fight,but in the world of PBC,such things rarely matter....

Browns complete day three

The Cleveland Browns finished their draft with some players that might turn out to be steals and made a trade to attempt to help a player with a change of scenery.

The Browns did add a fifth rounder in a tradedown with the Raiders and later added cornerback Jamar Taylor from the Dolphins in swapping seventh rounders.
Taylor,a second rounder from Boise State in 2013,had been regarded as a bust in Miami and given that the Browns already have Justin Gilbert,one could make an argument the Browns really didn't need another disappointing corner on the roster.
I look at it differently.
The cost of giving Taylor a chance was just dropping in the seventh round,the pick still resulted in Scooby Wright and if it doesn't work out,the team can just release Taylor.
At 25,Taylor is still young enough to put it all together.

I love the two drafted linebackers,which were the Browns first pick and their last one in Wisconsin's Joe Schobert  (4th)and Arizona's Scooby Wright (7th).
I attempted to reach Ryan to ask for more about Schobert,but on the podcast,I spoke about how much I loved Wright.
Wright is one of those linebackers that are always underestimated in the draft based on size and speed and then just go out and tackle everything in sight for years.
Schobert was a pass rushing outside backer as a Badger,but most likely will move inside in the NFL.
I think both of those guys make the team and one if not both start sometime in the next two years...



The Browns took a lot of pass catchers to try to spray a bunch of picks around to maybe wind up with a good one or two.
Auburn's Ricardo Louis (4th) is a terrific physical specimen that has been rumored to be moved to corner due to bad hands,which is a small problem for a pass catcher.
That brings to mind last years pick in the fourth round of another Browns receiver pick that had issues catching the ball and didn't even make the team in Vince Mayle.
I hope Louis doesn't meet the same fate as Mayle.
Princeton's Seth DeValve (4th) was a college wideout that the Browns plan on moving to tight end and the best two picks came in the fifth with UCLA's Jordan Payton and my favorite sleeper (mentioned on the podcast preview) in Colorado State's Rashard "Hollywood" Higgins,who was an absolute theft at this stage of the draft.
The Browns have added quite a few interesting receivers and I would be surprised if more than one weren't on the final roster for 2016.



Cleveland added two players to the secondary in TCU's Derrick Kindred (4th) and Trey Caldwell (5th) of Louisiana-Monroe.
Kindred is noted as a hard tackler that played his entire 2016 season with a broken collarbone,choosing to play through the pain rather than miss the season and should at least be a benefit on the special teams
Caldwell isn't the biggest corner at 5'8,but did finish with 52 tackles last season.that's about the extent of what I know about Caldwell as none of the three draft books that I lean on had a writeup on him and I couldn't find much on YouTube about him either.

Bruising Baylor guard Spencer Drango (5th) will attempt to move inside after playing tackle at Baylor.
At 6'6 and 315 pounds,Drango has a chance to add some depth to the offensive line,but despite his size will need to work on his run blocking after spending so much time being a pass blocker at Baylor in an offense that preferred the throwing of the football.

On the overall,I liked this draft day with a few flaws-I would not have drafted Seth DeValve or Trey Caldwell because I think there would have been an excellent chance of being to sign them as undrafted free agents,but clearly in the case of DeValve,they must have had the feeling that another team was interested.