Browns release Christian Kirksey

The Cleveland Browns continue to shed high-priced contracts as the Browns released linebacker Christian Kirksey today and allowed him to shop his talents elsewhere.

The Browns drafted Kirksey in the third round of the 2014 draft from Iowa and Kirksey quickly settled in the linebacker rotation, starting thirteen games in his first two seasons.

Kirksey entered the starting lineup for good in 2016 and finished with 96 solo tackles, eleven for loss and two and a half sacks.
Kirksey would follow up with a similar season in 2017 but missed much of the 2018 and 2019 seasons due to injuries as he would play only seven games in 2018 due to a shoulder injury and just two last season with a torn pectoral muscle.

Kirksey was scheduled to make 7.75 million dollars next season and 8.25 million in 2021 and the Browns were reticent to spend that type of money on a solid, but unspectacular player that comes with health concerns.
The Browns attempted to re-do Kirksey's contract, but the principals were unable to come to an agreement.

I see both sides in this situation.
The Browns looked at Kirksey's contract as a bit high for a linebacker that hasn't been able to stay on the field and when he has been, Kirksey isn't any different than many Browns linebackers in recent seasons- Tackle accumulators that make their plays downfield rather than at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Kirksey's side is understandable as well- If I am going to take less money, I would rather play for a winning team than the typical dreck in Haslamville.

I agree with both, but the Browns have shown that they can find tackle accumulators anywhere at a lot less money than seven and eight million per year.
The Browns will certainly be shopping for linebackers in the draft and likely in free agency as only second-year men Mack Wilson and Sione Takitaki return.
Wilson showed some excellent signs as a playmaker after surprisingly slipping to the fifth round, while third-rounder Takitaki spent most of his time on special teams.
Wilson should start at one outside linebacker, while Takitaki will battle against a new arrival to replace Joe Schobert in the middle.

Christian Kirksey was well-liked by the fan base and by his teammates, but he will be pretty replaceable and by a cheaper option as well.
I'm signing off on this one, but the Browns will have to bring in some linebackers to replace Kirksey and Joe Schobert and my question is this- can they find equal production at a lower cost?
If they can't, that's a real problem and if they have to pay equal dollars, why not just keep one or both?
Free agency starts on March 18th.

Defenders fend off BattleHawks 15-6

The D.C. Defenders needed a win badly at Audi Field after back to back awful efforts resulted in two road losses and dropped them out of first place in the XFL's Eastern Division.

It might not have been the prettiest victory, but they all count the same and the Defenders 15-6 win over St.Louis came at the right time and against the right team, as the Defenders joined the Battlehawks and New York Guardians at the top of the division at 3-2.

Ty Rausa was the star of the day for the Defenders as Rausa kicked field goals of 40, 50, and 52 yards to make up the entire victory margin.
Tyree Jackson came off the bench to hit Khari Lee with a nine-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter for the only D.C. touchdown.
The Defenders will attempt to win their first road game of the season next Sunday in Dallas against the 2-3 Renegades.

Defensive Deflections

1) Cardale Jones was surprisingly benched in the first quarter after an interception and replaced by Tyree Jackson for the remainder of the game.
I thought the hook was premature, but I understood the reasoning as Jones had struggled of late and D.C. could not afford to fall behind again in such a crucial outing.
The question now is which of Jones and Jackson will start next Sunday in Dallas?

2) Tyree Jackson did what he needed to do to keep the trains running on time, but was unspectacular.
Jackson did complete nine of fourteen passes, but only for thirty-nine yards and his longest completion was the nine-yard touchdown pass to Khari Lee.
But he didn't turn the football over and kept the Defenders in the game, so in a must-win game, Jackson did his job.

3) The D.C defense returned after two weeks away with two huge fourth-down stops on short yardage.
The fourth and one stop on the Defenders five as St.Louis QB Jordan Ta'amu's run attempt fell short.
You could see the St.Louis hopes to pull the game out drop then and there and until...

4) The Battlehawks final drive moved inside Defenders territory with a third and fourteen on the D.C. thirty-eight.
Jordan Ta'amu scrambles away from the rush and runs for thirteen and a half of those fourteen
yards with a little over two minutes to go.
D.C stopped Matt Jones short of that half yard and the game was over after a few offensive plays.
After two awful defensive games, the Defenders bounced back strong, maybe it's the cup snake?

5) Special teams played a part in the win as Jameer Thurman raced into the backfield and blocked Marquise King's punt in the fourth quarter to give the Defenders possession deep in St.Louis territory.
The Defenders have been able to block punts in their victories at Audi Field and I'm not sure why it's been more effective there than on the road.

6) I was critical last week of the Defenders defense and I was even more critical when the Defenders released safety Matt Elam, who finished with ten tackles in the loss to Tampa Bay.
I'm not sure why the former Ravens first-round pick was released, but it couldn't have been Elam's performance.

7) The passing game may not have pulled in a lot of yardage, but the running game sure did with over 200 yards as a team with former AAF and Arizona Hotshots running back Jhurell Pressley leading the way with 107 yards.
If the play of the quarterbacks continues to make air travel questionable, the ground attack is going to have to post similar numbers for the Defenders to hit the postseason.
Pressley is a back that can carry the load as the full-time back and enable Donnell Pumphrey to be a change of pace back in a role that he might be best suited for.

8) It does seem that an excellent group of receivers is being wasted by the Defenders.
Rashad Ross caught both passes thrown to him and Eli Rogers grabbed his only pass, but between them, they gained only thirteen yards.

9) Simmie Cobbs cracked a big play in catching a long score that was called back due to a penalty.
Cobbs is the big receiver that the team has lacked in the red zone and hopefully, someone can see what the former Indiana Hoosier could add to an offense in need of some help through the air.

10) Finally, it's Dallas next week.
The Renegades were picked by many to be the league's best team and they are 2-3 with all three losses at home.
The Defenders are winless on the road, the Renegades haven't won at home- someone's O has got to go!

Boxing Challenge: Helenius stuns Kownacki, Carroll surprises Quigg

Photo: Michael Owens Getty Images

Two surprising upsets on a boxing Saturday salvaged what didn't look to be an exciting weekend for the sport.

PBC suffered the big loss in their heavyweight main event on Fox as undefeated and heavily favored Adam Kownacki was stopped in the fourth round by Finland's Robert Helenius in a WBA title eliminator.
Kownacki had appeared many times on PBC televised cards and with victories over top twenty level heavyweights such as Charles Martin, Gerald Washington, and Chris Arreola, Kownacki was being built for an eventual in-house challenge of then-WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
Kownacki had been offered the chance to replace Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller last year in the "Andy Ruiz" role as last-minute challenger to Anthony Joshua and turned it down.
Ruiz would accept the call to win Joshua's three titles as well as a massive payday for the rematch,
as Kownacki was reported to be the next optional defense for Wilder after his obligations for rematches against Luis Ortiz and Tyson Fury were fulfilled.

Kownacki appeared to have another suitable opponent in Helenius, who fit the bill of Kownacki's last opponent in Chris Arreola- somewhat of a name in the division, as he had been around for a decade, wasn't going to run from Kownacki, would land enough punches to make an entertaining match, but not enough to derail the title train and would be durable enough to last a while, if not the distance.
For three rounds, the fight was going to plan as both fighters landing heavy punches with Kownacki landing more and doing more damage going into the fourth.
Helenius started the fourth round with a right hand that dropped Kownacki to a knee, but referee Robert Fields ruled the knockdown a slip.
It seemed pretty obvious to me that the knockdown was a legitimate one and Helenius, who seemed spent at the end of the third round, sensed that this might be his only opportunity to grab the upset and jumped on it as he landed a big right and following up with a left hook that knocked Kownacki down along the ropes.
A dazed Kownacki got up but in serious trouble as Helenius followed up with a compilation of punches and avoided the desperate counters of Kownacki, which forced Robert Fields to end the fight.

For Kownacki, PBC will likely try to rebuild him against the same level of fighter that he previously faced or perhaps they will decide to select him as the increased opponent level for one of their two undercard victors before Kownacki could lose again and lose even more stature.
For Helenius, suddenly he's first in line for Anthony Joshua only two fights after being knocked out by Gerald Washington.
Helenius was once one of the better prospects in the division after wins over Lamon Brewster, Sam Peter, and Sergei Liahovich- IN 2011!
Helenius' career began to stall after he "won" one of the worst decisions you'll see over Dereck Chisora in December 2011 with promotional problems and fought just five times against lesser opponents until a stunning loss in April 2016 to, future Deontay Wilder enhancement talent, Johann Duhaupas sent him out of contention with his only name opponents, before the Kownacki win, both defeating Helenius in Dillian Whyte and Gerald Washington.
Give Helenius plenty of credit for his upset win, considering his track record, it's ridiculous to have him in line for a mandatory shot and this fight should not have been an eliminator or at least it should have been an eliminator to reach a final eliminator.
That title shot will be well over a year away though as Kubrat Pulev will be next with either the fight to unify all titles with Tyson Fury or WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk following, so Helenius is either three or four fights away from that shot.
One would think that Helenius would like to stay busy during that time, but more than likely he'll take few chances on losing the title shot and payday.

The other two fights ended as expected with Efe Ajagba and Frank Sanchez continuing their undefeated streak with victories.
Ajagba stopped Razvan Cojanu in nine rounds in a fight that saw Conaju occasionally land right hands but was outgunned by the power jab and right hand of the undefeated Ajagba.
Ajagba knocked Cojanu down in the eighth round and might have finished him with more time in the round.
The die was cast and when Cojanu took a knee in the ninth after taking punishment, the fight was stopped.
I like Ajagba's offensive skills, especially the jab and I think he could be a quality heavyweight in time, but he's been vulnerable to getting hit with right hands in his last two fights and I wonder about his resistance to punches when he fights the next level of heavyweights.

As for Frank Sanchez, he won every round against trialhorse Joey Dawejko in winning a unanimous decision.
Despite the dominance of Sanchez, he never stepped up the pace against Dawejko, was content to box from the outside, and didn't seem interested in taking any chances against the durable, but slow Dawejko.
Sanchez is going to be a heavyweight that few are going to want to fight and even fewer are going to want to watch him fight in lopsided bouts until he faces better competition as he progresses to contender status.

The Helenius upset of Adam Kownacki might have been a bigger deal in boxing's big picture, but another upset occurred Saturday in the UK as Jono Carroll stopped former WBA junior featherweight champion, Scott Quigg in the eleventh round in Manchester.
Carroll consistently beat Quigg to the punch, walked down Quigg with harder punches to lead 99-91 on my card as he entered the eleventh round when Carroll hurt Quigg with combinations that had a badly hurt Quigg trapped along the ropes when Quigg's trainer Joe Gallagher threw in the towel to stop the fight.
The win was the biggest of the Irishman's career and combined with his very competitive defeat to then-IBF champion Tevin Farmer, Carroll should move up in the IBF ratings in which he was rated ninth entering this fight.
As for Quigg, he should consider this the right time to retire as he showed very little in his first try at junior lightweight after being out of the ring for sixteen months and since Quigg cannot make the featherweight limit, his chances for future success seem bleak.

In the Boxing Challenge, I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's three to stretch my lead to 45-40.
The difference was the Frank Sanchez unanimous decision rather than a knockout.

Boxing Challenge

Willie Soke said in Bad Santa that "They all can't be winners can they?" and in March, boxing has just enough to keep us going even through some uninspiring shows.

Normally, I would not include all three fights on the PBC-Fox cards because they aren't really important, but since it's a slow week, I will.
The all-heavyweight card isn't really impressive in importance, so I suppose we will have to hope for the show being impressive in action with the main event pitting Adam Kownacki against Robert Helenius in a WBA eliminator that might see the winner eventually fight one of that organization's 300 beltholders.
Kownacki had been built for an eventual title shot against Deontay Wilder with a recent win streak over the standard PBC heavyweights such as Chris Arreola, Gerald Washington, and Charles Martin.
Wilder's loss to Tyson Fury scuttled that hope (unless Wilder wins their third fight) and Kownacki appears stuck in neutral with PBC having no other top contenders to fight.
Hence the entrance from stage left of Helenius, who lost to Gerald Washington in his last fight.
PBC makes little sense sometimes as they gave us an awful co-feature on the Fury-Wilder II undercard in Charles Martin-Gerald Washington, left Kownacki off the card after he had beaten both of the pair, and Helenius gets the fight on network television coming off a loss to the loser of the lousy PPV co-main event.
This could be a fun fight to watch as Kownacki's fights usually are and Helenius is likely to slug with Kownacki, but that doesn't mean that it deserves to be the top fight on network prime time television.

The undercard fights aren't thrilling either as two PBC undefeated heavyweights take a small step up in competition without being overmatched too soon.
Efe Ajagba faces Razvan Cojanu and Frank Sanchez is matched with Joey Dawejko.
Ajagba didn't look quite as strong in his last win against a similar level of fighter in Iago Kiladze in stopping Kiladze in five rounds, but Conaju has lasted only two rounds in each of his toughest tests against Luis Ortiz and undefeated Daniel Dubois, so this looks to be tailor-made for Ajagba to look strong.
However, Kiladze landed a lot of right hands against Ajagba and knocked him down in the third round, so there is a small bit of intrigue in this one.

Undefeated Cuban prospect Frank Sanchez takes the larger leap forward against journeyman Joey Dawejko.
Sanchez hasn't been remotely tested yet and while Dawejko is a trialhorse, he's willing to swap punches and when placed at his level, Dawejko will last rounds as he has only been stopped once- by Charles Martin in 2013.
If Sanchez can stop Dawejko, Sanchez would stamp himself as someone to keep an eye on.

The other fight is an afternoon fight from Great Britain from Matchroom/DAZN as former WBA junior featherweight champion Scott Quigg moves to junior lightweight against former title challenge Jono Carroll.
Quigg hasn't fought in seventeen months and that fight was the only one since his loss to Oscar Valdez in a challenge for the WBO featherweight title.
In that attempt, Quigg missed weight badly, fought anyway and broke the jaw of Valdez in the defeat.
Carroll lost a unanimous decision to then-champion Tevin Farmer last year as he challenged for Farmer's IBF junior lightweight title.
I thought the fight was far closer than it was scored by the official judges and had Carroll ahead until Farmer's late rally won him the decision.
Carroll's the bigger fighter, so this could be interesting, but this bout comes down to Scott Quigg.
What does Quigg have left in desire and how well does he punch at 130 pounds?
The answer to those questions will decide the winner.

I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 41-37.

Heavyweights.12 Rds
Adam Kownacki vs Robert Helenius
R.L: Kownacki KO 7
TRS: Kownacki KO 9

Heavyweights 10 Rds
Efe Ajagba vs Razvan Cojanu
R.L: Ajagba KO 3
TRS: Ajagba KO 2

Heavyweights. 10 Rds
Frank Sanchez vs Joey Dawejko
R.L: Sanchez KO 8
TRS: Sanchez Unanimous Decision

Junior Lightweights. 12 Rds
Scott Quigg vs Jono Carroll
R.L: Quigg KO 8
TRS: Quigg Unanimous Decision

PPM

The XFL season hits its halfway point as the 2020 PPM  continues to march on!

Last Week: 2-2
Overall: 186-85

Houston over Seattle 25-13
Dallas over New York 18-9
D.C. over St.Louis 20-18
Los Angeles over Tampa Bay 16-13

Running Uphill

I've been battling a bit of a cold/illness this week and even though I've been working through it, I haven't felt overly motivated to write.

There hasn't been a lot of news other than the damn Coronavirus, and certainly, nothing to carry its own post, so just to keep my writing chops semi-sharp- Here we go with a few thoughts.

The Cleveland Browns are apparently not going to re-sign Joe Schobert and will allow him to leave via free agency.
Schobert's representatives met with the Browns and couldn't come to an agreement with Schobert's wish to be paid around ten million per year more than the Andrew Berry-led front office was willing to pay.
I understand the Browns not wanting to pay that kind of money for Schobert, who is a good, not great linebacker, but if the Browns decide to keep the oft-injured Christian Kirksey at nine million per
year ( and at that price, I hope they release him as well), I would question this move far more than moving on from both players.
The Browns will be opening a hole at linebacker and I can argue that creating a space for a cheaper and lesser player will not help the Browns. but I can see why they could be moving away at the money that he is asking for.

The "Coronavirus" hasn't been around locally and hopefully, it will not find its way here, but it could have an impact on me even if it never shows up.
MLB has sent memos to all of their teams recommending that players refrain from signing autographs and contact with fans, due to the virus.
I understand the nervousness with their investments (although most people don't have the luxury of not being around people at their job.) but being around young players as minor league baseball is populated with, I think I know them a little bit and I'll say this- There will be players refusing to sign/interact long after the hysteria has passed.
It'll be a reason to avoid people that may be legitimate now, but won't be for the entire season.

Another thought on this.
Spring Training is in full swing, and teams in Florida and Arizona have already implemented this policy.
I would imagine that a major chunk of the people that go south for pre-season is going for the interaction with the players.
These visitors are not always autograph seekers, people that want to talk with the players, get a picture, etc. in an atmosphere that even the biggest stars are more relaxed and willing to engage with the ticket-buyers.
Those people that buy tickets, stay in hotels and eat in local restaurants could be less likely to return next season as they could be afraid that there could be another health scare that takes away the fun from the trip and the expense with airfare, hotel, food, etc.
It'll be interesting to see how exhibition attendance declines over the final few weeks of the spring (I don't think it'll be major as these trips are most already paid for), but I'll be really intrigued to watch next season's attendance.

A really interesting show that I watched the first two episodes is "Dispatches from Elsewhere" on AMC.
I've never even watched one episode of AMC's huge hits such as "Breaking Bad", "Mad Men", "The Walking Dead" or "Better Call Saul", but I was watching a movie on AMC, saw a promo for the show and I decided to give the first two episodes a chance.
Jason Segel, of Freaks and Geeks fame, is one of the two actors that I knew along with Sally Field and it's an interesting concept that's hard to explain with only two episodes to figure out the "rules" of the show.
Jump on board and give it a chance to see what you think.

Wrapping up with the new Topps Heritage Baseball card set.
Heritage is the only major league set that I buy each year and this year is the one that I have been waiting for as finally, it is the time for the set to emulate my beloved 1971 set!
If you've been here for a while, you may remember that I finally finished the 1971 set a few years back and it is cemented as a star of my collection.
In other words, short of the type of emergency that would be financially crippling, that set isn't going anywhere for a long time.
This year's Heritage set looks great, although Topps continues its habit of placing too many stars in their "Short Print" portion of the set.
I understand the argument that lesser players as the SP cards might make it less collectible, but there could be a better mix involved.
I usually buy a "base" set of 400 cards and only buy the SP's of the Indians, Giants, and Pirates players, but this year, I'm going to try to collect all the SP's- not just for the value, but because I like them so much!

Cleaning out the inbox- Passings

We return to pay our respects to people (and others) that have recently passed on and give tribute to their achievements.

Goodbye to Tony Fernandez at the age of 57.
Fernandez won four Gold Gloves and made five All-Stars in a career spent mostly with Toronto before bouncing around the league in the later stages of his career, but in Cleveland will always be remembered for his one season with the 1997 Indians where the then-35-year-old Fernandez would hit the highest of peak and the bottomless pit of the low in the Indians postseason.
Fernandez sent the underdog Indians to the World Series when his home run in the top of the eleventh broke a tie in Baltimore in game six of the 1997 ALCS.
The 1997 Indians gave the Orioles some payback for the previous season when the heavily favored Tribe lost in the ALDS to the Orioles, so the upset gave each team a win in the back to back postseason series with the better team losing both times.
Fernandez would hit the depths in the World Series against the then-Florida Marlins when his error in the bottom of the eleventh in game seven contributed to the Marlins winning the game along with the series.


Goodbye to Jimmy Thunder at the age of 54.
The Samoan from New Zealand, Thunder never challenged for the heavyweight title but is well remembered for his many appearances in the U.S. in the mid to late 90s, often on the USA Network's Tuesday Night Fights.
Thunder defeated two former champions in Trevor Berbick and Tony Tubbs and lost to three others-Tim Witherspoon, Chris Byrd, and John Ruiz, but will be best remembered for his Tuesday Night Fights first-round knockout of Crawford Grimsley in which Thunder knocked Grimsley cold with the first punch that he threw.
The entire fight from bell to finish was thirteen seconds and that included the count!
I always thought Thunder resembled "Piston Honda" one of the various competitors in the video game "Mike Tyson's Punch Out".


Goodbye to A.P. Indy at the age of 31 with Joe Plum sending me the word.
The winner of the Belmont Stakes and the Breeders Cup Classic in 1992 as a three-year-old, A.P. Indy was named Horse of the Year and was retired to stud at the end of his three-year-old season.
The son of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, A.P. Indy's time in the 1992 Belmont tied Easy Goer for the second-fastest Belmont ever behind only Secretariat as he ran down My Memoirs and Pine Bluff in the long stretch at Belmont Park to earn the victory.
Arguably the most successful stallion in America during his time, A.P. Indy sired 88 Graded Stakes Winners and 12 champions including 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, 2006 Preakness winner Bernadini and 2007 Belmont winner Rags to Riches.
For more on A.P. Indy along with some beautiful pictures of the champion late in his life, the Blood-Horse wrote this wonderful article last year.


Goodbye to Nesby Glasgow at the age of 62.
Glasgow played for the Washington Huskies Rose Bowl champions in 1977 and intercepted a pass in the waning seconds of the 1978 Rose Bowl that clinched Washington's 27-20 win over Michigan.
Glasgow was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1979 and would play for the Colts in Baltimore and Indianapolis through 1987.
Glasgow was waived by the Colts and was claimed by the Seahawks, where Glasgow would play the final five seasons of his career until his retirement following the 1992 season.

Goodbye to Johnny Antonelli at the age of 89.
Antonelli was the final "Bonus Baby" signed by the Boston Braves to have major league success, but he found his most successful seasons at the Polo Grounds with the lamented (by me anyway) New York Giants.
Antonelli spent time in Boston, but rarely pitched in Beantown and joined the Braves in Milwaukee after a two-year stint in the military, finishing with a 12-12 record but with an ERA of 3.12 that finished fifth in the National League.
This caught the eye of Leo Durocher and the Giants, who were returning Willie Mays to their lineup after his military term, and traded Bobby Thomson as in "Shot heard round the world' fame to Milwaukee as part of a six-player trade to land Antonelli.
Antonelli paid immediate dividends as he won twenty-one games, made his first All-Star team, led the National League in ERA and shutouts and was the top starter for the eventual World Champions.
Antonelli would make the All-Star team every season from 1956-59, which bridged the move to San Francisco from New York and in his final year with the Giants Antonelli would transition to "fireman" which is what teams called their closer in those days and finished with eleven saves.
Antonelli's arm was going bad though and was traded to Cleveland after the 1960 season with Willie Kirkland for Harvey Kuenn, who had been acquired the previous year for Rocky Colavito.
Antonelli was so bad in Cleveland that he was traded to the Braves after only eleven games and after nine more bad appearances in Milwaukee, Antonelli decided to retire.