Lemieux crunches Stevens-Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica and I each earned four points over the weekend in the boxing challenge on a three fight weekend.
I lead the challenge 26-24..

On the HBO stage,fight fans were thrilled and bored on the two fight card.

The thrills came from the expected slugfest between middleweight bombers David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens.
For two and a half rounds,it was all you could want from a fight until Lemieux shook off a Stevens right hand and replied with a left hook that nearly sent Stevens out of the ring and did send him down and out cold in the third round.
Stevens was carried out of the ring on a stretcher and taken to the hospital,where his test results were fine.
What a fight and Lemieux's hook has given his stoppage the lead for knockout of the year.
This KO was so vicious that it is going to be very difficult for Stevens to retain contending status and he may never be the same fighter again.
As far Lemieux,he might have made himself the likely opponent for Canelo Alvarez,assuming Alvarez defeats Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and would wish for another fight before (Or instead of) Gennady Golovkin.
Ramon and I each scored two points for the Lemieux knockout.

Ramon and I each scored a point for the tedious comeback win of Yuriorkis Gamboa,who was reluctant to engage against journeyman Rene Alvarado on his way to a unanimous decision win.
Alvarado scored a flash knockdown on Gamboa in the 10th in the only remotely interesting portion of the fight.
I scored Gamboa a 97-92 winner.

In a non-televised junior middleweight fight from Germany,Demetrius Andrade started quickly,slowed in the middle before hitting the gas late and winning a split decision over Jack Culcay for a lesser title.
The judge that scored the bout for Culcay must have been asleep or scored the fight before it started.
Simply an atrocious scorecard.
Andrade might be the best talent in the division,if he would just fight more often.
The win sets Andrade up for as the mandatory contender for WBA champion Erislandy Lara.
I had Andrade a 117-111 winner and Ramon and I each added one point in the challenge.

I'll be talking about these three fights and a preview of Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Jacobs next weekend on Monday night in the latest edition of Fightheads....

Browns release Robert Griffin

The Robert Griffin era ended in Cleveland not with the earth moving as it did to Hue Jackson in his tryout,but with a whimper as the Browns released the former Baylor Bear in order to avoid paying a $750,000 roster bonus on the 15th of March.
The release saves the team just under seven million dollars in paying Griffin in 2017,although they will have to count his signing bonus of 1.75 million against the 2017 cap.

Griffin was the quarterback in the Browns only win of the season in December over the then San Diego Chargers,but that was about the only bright spot in his run as a Brown as he was injured late in the opening game loss to the Eagles and finished the season with just two touchdown passes to go with three interceptions along with finishing with less than 900 passing yards in the five games that Griffin would play.

Griffin looks to be done as a serious player in the league.
Griffin cannot stay healthy,the league's defenses have caught up to the read option that Griffin and similar quarterbacks had their Hailey's Comet like rise and fall and his accuracy has gotten worse with each injury.
I cannot imagine with all of those issues that any team is going to sign Griffin as any more than a challenger for an unproven starter and that's at best.

Don't ask me what the Browns are thinking at quarterback because I couldn't tell you.
I could see several scenarios developing that include trading with New England for Jimmy Garroppolo,moving up in the draft for their highest rated player,hoping a QB is there at 12 and even waiting until the second or third round to be ready in case they could land USC's Sam Darnold in 2018.
Each of those options have their pro and con.
Garroppolo-Looks to be a talented QB,but small sample size is concerning and if he is such a slam dunk,why did he last until round two in his draft year?
Moving up-Makes sure you land your guy,but trading assets to do so.
Waiting until 12-Gets a guy without paying more,but might lose your guy.
Waiting until later-If you don't love the higher rated players (I'm lukewarm),why not wait,but a guy at that stage isn't going to solve the problem,at least right away.
Waiting until 2018-I love Darnold,but there is no guarantee that A) he will come out early and B) As bad as the Browns will be (I expect them to be bad again),there are other teams that will be awful too that might nose them out of the spot in San Francisco,Chicago and my dark horse favorite-the Jets.

The Browns may not have to have their franchise quarterback this season,but they will need at least one from somewhere in the draft and they should have a veteran of some sort around,either keep Brock Osweiler or sign someone else to battle for the job.
I have my questions about each of the top three quarterbacks in the draft and I'd hate to see the Browns lose out on a generational talent just because a bad team was in a rush to say they had their quarterback...

I'm going to try (internet permitting) to post the boxing challenge later today...

Browns lose Terrelle Pryor

One day after Cleveland Browns fans felt reasonably decent about their team for a change,those good vibrations changed a little as Terrelle Pryor signed a one year contract with the Washington Redskins.

The departure was somewhat expected,but the surprise was the length and terms of the deal-one year and eight million,which was far lower than Pryor had been asking for from the Browns and one that the Browns could have easily matched and exceeded,had they desired.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Browns were not given a chance to match the Washington offer and that the team didn't make an effort to be involved once Pryor made his decision to surf the market for potential new hopes.
Tony Grossi had been writing since yesterday that the Browns had "given the deal budgeted to Pryor to new signee Kenny Britt" and were out on the former Buckeye as soon as Britt agreed to his contract of four years and thirty two million.

Here's my problem with this-for the second year in a row,the Sashi Brown led front office have won the negotiations and lost the player.
Let me explain what I mean.
Just as in the case in 2016 with tackle Mitchell Schwartz,the Browns were able to accurately gauge the market for the player and avoid overpaying them to stay with the team.
That's a good thing and shows that the front office has a good grasp on the financial aspect of dealing with talent on contracts.
However,the Browns show an inflexibility to make deals beyond their ideas for it should be and seem to be working from a scaffold of arrogance once things have moved beyond what they are willing to pay.
In other words,once a player has decided to take a look around and see what offers might be available,the Browns act like petulant children and are no longer interested in discussing.

I can understand that the team will need to explore other avenues,just as the player is,but in both cases (Schwartz and Pryor) the team pulled their offers that might have landed them the player after they had scanned available offers.
Schwartz came back to the Browns looking to accept and Pryor may have as well and the Browns weren't interested even at the cost that they were willing to pay.
In other words,the Browns were happy to pat themselves on the back for reading the tea leaves correctly,but then arrogantly let the player leave.
Imagine the offensive line with yesterday's tweaks and having Mitchell Schwartz manning what is the one weak spot on the line at right tackle.
Imagine the wideouts with Kenny Pritt,Terrelle Pryor and Corey Coleman instead of Britt,Coleman and who knows.
In both cases,the Browns could have had the players at their evaluated rate,improved their team,but were more concerned with "winning" the talks.

The Pryor case is even more glaring because had they not burned the field to the ground (Blame Pryor's agent Drew Rosenhaus a large amount here as well),they had plenty of money to sign Pryor and Britt.
The Browns collected plenty of kudos for getting Houston's 2018 second round pick for Brock Osweiler and being willing to pay Osweiler's 16 million contract,even if they release him.
I'm in agreement for liking that move,but they could have kept Pryor for half (or perhaps a little over half) of the amount that they are willing to pay Osweiler-whether he plays for the Browns or not.
The money was there,the budget could have been held (or a small upturn to get the deal done) and instead the Browns allowed the one playmaker that they had to walk away.

I agree that Pryor and Rosenhaus overreached in their original demands and the Browns earn points for not overpaying,but the rigidity that the team has shown over the last two free agent periods with players that not only wanted to stay,but would have been foundation blocks of this rebuild,makes me wonder this-If the fight to keep players and hold the line on budgets are this bad with oodles of cap space,what will it be if the team ever reaches contention?

I think Terrelle Pryor and Kenny Britt are pretty comparable,although I prefer Pryor by a hair,but unless the Browns have a plan to add another receiver from somewhere that is of solid starting level (
either in the draft or another "Waiting for Josh Gordon" event),they could have them both and instead found it more important to win the battle and take another hit in winning the war....

Editor's Note: I'll be back tonight with a note on the Browns release of Robert Griffin and just what will they might do from here at quarterback.

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge continues with three fights this weekend.
I lead the challenge over Ramon Malpica 22-20...

HBO has the weekend headliner with a boxing after dark doubleheader featuring former victims of Gennady Golovkin as former IBF middleweight champ David Lemieux battles Curtis Stevens in what should be an exciting slugfest.
Both guys can bang and both have been stopped in the past by people other than Golovkin,so this could be an explosive battle that ends early.
Yuriorkis Gamboa returns to the ring in a 10 rounder against Rene Alvarado in the curtain raiser on the evening.
Gamboa is being matched well against Alvarado and is expected to shine...

In an untelevised junior middleweight bout from Germany,Jack Culcay defends his minor title against maybe the division's best fighter,but one that is perpetually inactive in Demetrious Andrade.
It really is too bad that Andrade fights so rarely as he is quite talented...

Middleweights.12 rds
David Lemieux vs Curtis Stevens
R.L:Lemieux KO 5
TRS:Lemieux KO 8

Junior Lightweights. 10 rds
Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Rene Alvarado
R.L:Gamboa KO 4
TRS:Gamboa KO 7

Junior Middleweights.12 rds
Demetrius Andrade vs Jack Culcay
R.L:Andrade KO 9
TRS:Andrade unanimous decision

Browns sign Kenny Britt,Trade with Texans.

I wrote earlier on the Browns efforts to improve the offensive line and how I believe that the additions have moved those efforts forward.

The first signing of the day saw the Browns perhaps move on from Terrelle Pryor,although they still say that they would like to return Pryor to the team,Pryor has begun to take the tours and talk the talk with other teams.
The player that will slot into the place of Pryor as the presumed number one receiver will be Kenny Britt,formerly of the Rams (and Titans previously),who signed a four year contract for 32 million.

Britt and Pryor's age (28 to 27) and their 2016 statistics (68 catches,1,002 yds,5 TD's for Britt compared to 77 catches,1,007 yards and 4 scores for Pryor) are remarkably similar,but Britt comes with some baggage to consider.
Britt has suffered a torn ACL and MCL(2011),has had some legal issues and has carried a rap of not always being a top effort player.
Let's look at it this way,the Rams offense was terrible last season and they allowed Britt to leave.
I suppose one could say the same about the Browns with Terrelle Pryor,but all things considered,if I can only have one or the other and if the price is similar (and it may or may not be before all is concrete) ,I lean toward the bigger player without an injury history with the higher upside.

I'm not against signing Kenny Britt,not at all,but I don't think he is a number one receiver and planning on him to be such might prove to be faulty thinking.
A top three WR corps of Pryor,Britt and Corey Coleman is pretty solid.
One of Britt,Coleman and question marks makes one think that the Browns have ran in place at the wideout position and it still might need to be further addressed without Pryor.

The final transaction of the day saw a deal that has not been seen in the NFL as the Browns took the hefty contract (16 million) of quarterback Brock Osweiler off the Houston Texans cap along with a 2018 second round pick and a sixth rounder in the 2017 draft in return for the 2017 4th round compensation pick.
I've heard different plans for Osweiler that include reworking his contract to make it easier to swap him and pick up more draft picks,releasing him to take the one year cap hit (Osweiler's deal while large is only on the cap for one season) and being done with him or even keeping him around to compete for the job with whomever is still around.

I don't think the Browns will keep Osweiler around,but honestly I'm not against it,if the offers for Osweiler aren't up to par.
I mean if you are going to eat the 16 million,you might as well take a look at him,right?
I know he was terrible in Houston,but his size and arm are a good fit for the AFC North in theory,so I'm fine with bringing him to camp,although I'd prefer moving him along for more capital.

I know 16 million is a lot of money to pay for a second round pick, (give Jimmy Haslem some credit for writing the check too),but this has no downside other than money.
You get a pick for nothing in football assets and if you get anything out of Osweiler at all (either on field or in the event that you get something for him),you get even more.

I don't grade this post quite as high as the previous post.
Britt for Pryor is a wash at best,but the Osweiler deal is not just low risk,it's no risk and I applaud the radical (for NFL anyway) thinking by the Browns.
I've been quite critical of the qualifications of Sashi Brown for running this team.
This was a excellent day and Brown looks good for now,but a caveat-All of these picks mean nothing,if you fail to take the right people.
The jury is still out for the 2016 draft,although the results early on can be questioned-the 2017 draft has to be a different story,if things are to continue to improve.

Browns beef up offensive line

The Cleveland Browns made a major leap forward in arguably making their offensive line one of the better O-line units in the league in free agency with a few signings,an extension for a current Brown and what might be an underrated waiver claim that flew under the radar on day one of free agency.

I'm going to write about the flashier news in a second post on offense and concentrate on the beef up front.
The effort is clearly being made to protect the quarterback (whomever that may be) and being able to open holes for the running game (Isaiah Crowell or any challenger that may come to town).

The biggest addition was guard Kevin Zeitler from the division rival Bengals to be installed at right guard.
The right side of the line was the weaker side last season and most observers had Zeitler as the top offensive lineman available in free agency,
At five years and sixty million dollars,which makes Zeitler the highest paid guard in the game,Zeitler didn't come cheap,but at 27 is in the middle of his prime,so that is a plus as so often in free agency,teams are paying for past production.
Zeitler should be spending his best seasons in Cleveland and the former first rounder from Wisconsin immediately improves the line.

The Browns also decided to scrap any thoughts of returning Cameron Erving to center as they signed J.C. Tretter from Green Bay to man that position.
The sites that grade offensive line play give Tretter high grades,but the concern with Tretter is staying healthy as he has missed 33 games due to injury in his four years with the Packers.
The former Cornell standout (wonder if he knows Andy Bernard?) will solidify the middle of the line,if he can just stay on the field and at 26,he has his best years in front of him.

Cleveland hedged their bets on Tretter as they took advantage of being first on the waiver claim list by claiming former third rounder (2014) Marcus Martin from the 49ers.
Martin started 22 games at center for the Niners in his three seasons and can play guard and even tackle in a pinch,so he not only adds insurance for the health of Tretter,he could be a versatile reserve.
A young player with starting experience on the waiver wire?
There has to be more than this for a crummy team like San Francisco to release Martin,so maybe Martin was their Cameron Erving,but for the waiver cost,I'm willing to take a look.

The final move on the offensive line was an extension to left guard Joel Bitonio for five years and 47 million.
Bitonio is coming off a foot injury,which adds some trepidation,but when he is on the field-Bitonio is a top level player and signing him now keeps him off next years free agent market,where he would have been the best guard available.

I love all these moves and you could make an argument that if any of the contenders at right tackle
(Shon Coleman,Spencer Drango and maybe Cameron Erving) can be even league average,this could be an offensive line that ranks in the top five to ten in the league and that would go a long way in a return to any type of respectability.
Combine those guys with the eventual return of John Greco from injury,the Browns line will be deep as well as good-Been a long time since I've said that!

I'll be back with the signing of Kenny Britt and yes,the trade with the Texans might come up as well...

Cleaning out the inbox-Mostly Non-Sports Edition

I wanted to get this finished before the Browns start of free agency later today and then boxing over the weekend,so here is a quick and mostly non-sports cleaning of the inbox.

Vulture.com (which I had never heard of) landed a great interview with David Letterman.
The wide ranging feature does discuss a lot about Donald Trump,but more than you would think about Letterman's home life along with his thoughts on television,late night,his life after retirement and more.
If you even are a mild Letterman fan,this is a fascinating read.

The New York Times as part of their series "Vietnam 1967" writes about Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam and how the former President and master politician wound up immersing himself in what the Times describes as an "Unwinnable War'.
The article discusses Johnson's fear of appearing weak,the domino theory and the various reasons that Johnson got into Vietnam and how he couldn't get out...

The Comeback writes of the finding of the "Chase Car" of one of the famous chase scenes in film history from the 1968 film "Bullitt" starring Steve McQueen.
Apparently,car customizers often make replicas from the 1967/68 Mustangs to make replicas from a car used in the film "Gone in Sixty Seconds".
I've never seen that movie,so I wouldn't know much about it,but people in that industry seem to be looking for those models for the above reason.
The car was found in a Mexican junkyard and upon some research and the handy VIN number managed to trace it back to being one of the two"Bullitt' cars.
Instead of being processing for its original intention,the car will be fixed up in true Bullitt style.
An estimate in the Los Angeles Times has the car perhaps reaching one million dollars if the owner chose to sell it after renovation.
The article says Steve McQueen,who died in 1980,reportedly tried in vain to find the car before his death.
Wonder if his son,Chad McQueen (as in Dutch from Karate Kid) might be interested in obtaining the car?

Sorry to hear of the death of Robert Osborne at the age of 84.
Osborne was the host of Turner Classic Movies,who appeared at the beginning and end of each TCM offering,giving some interesting facts and anecdotes on the film.
I remember first seeing Osborne in a similar position for the Movie Channel when Cherie and I were first married and we had that channel.
Osborne was so knowledgeable about film history and seemed like a pretty nice person in the years that he was in that position.

I wrote recently in an edition of the inbox about Ball Four and saw another piece to mention today.
Mark Armour of SABR brought this article of his about the book back on a tweet honoring Jim Bouton's birthday.
Bouton turned 78 yesterday and I hope it was a good one.
The article is a comprehensive one that mainly looks at Bouton,co-author Leonard Shector,the book and its aftermath.
It's a very deep look at the topic and very well written.