CBJ Board Other Sports Thread: Part VIII

[EspenK]

but I did wake up to a sweet, sweet sound in the air... the dulcet tones of tortured Seattle Silver Spoons fan sobs. Nothing better in the world!

What do you have against Ricky Schroder and the good people of Seattle? Did they cancel the re-runs?

 

[Viqsi]

What do you have against Ricky Schroder and the good people of Seattle? Did they cancel the re-runs?

I think you're making one of those old people references again.

 

[Fro]

was a hell of a goal by Merum....I hope some of you decide to take in a Crew game if you haven't...its a fun team to watch...

 

[Bobcat110]

Ohio has their second basketball coach snagged by a "Major" conference team in two years.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...tball-coach/yv6HWW1Qih76vMYCpTfrVK/story.html

 

[Samkow]

Great trade for the Browns.

 

[Samkow]

Great trade for the Browns.

 

[Viqsi]

Huh. So the Browns, having quarterback trouble, are expected to take a QB prospect who's very widely hyped in the college world but has some folks questioning his chances as a pro. Instead, they jump around from pick to pick grabbing guys that make folks go "huh? wait, what? why did you do that that way?", letting folks get worried, and then abruptly traded up and select said QB at 22nd overall.

Now, why does that sound so hauntingly familiar...?

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Huh. So the Browns, having quarterback trouble, are expected to take a QB prospect who's very widely hyped in the college world but has some folks questioning his chances as a pro. Instead, they jump around from pick to pick grabbing guys that make folks go "huh? wait, what? why did you do that that way?", letting folks get worried, and then abruptly traded up and select said QB at 22nd overall.

Now, why does that sound so hauntingly familiar...?

Costner?

 

[Samkow]

So, do you think Kekalainen collects the input of homeless people before making his draft picks like the Browns apparently do?

 

[Mayor Bee]

So, do you think Kekalainen collects the input of homeless people before making his draft picks like the Browns apparently do?

It's funny...all around the Super Bowl, the question was asked repeatedly of people inside football where Russell Wilson would be taken in the event of a 2012 redraft. The consensus was that it would be a tossup between him and Andrew Luck for 1st overall, which is saying something considering how highly-regarded Luck was and still is. Plenty said that with Wilson's skillset being what it is, the fact that he's 5'11" shouldn't matter.

And now here comes someone with a very similar skillset, who's even more dynamic, and suddenly he's supposed to be too small and too unconventional to have success? I don't get it. I know that the four-plus months between the end of the season and the draft leads to overanalysis, and I know that the football media is largely full of idiots and ex-players who know nothing, but seriously.

 

[Sore Loser]

Watching Johnny Manziel absolutely shred some of the top defenses in the country over the last couple of years, I find it baffling that someone didn't take him much earlier, for exactly the reasons you just mentioned, MB. The guy is a leader on offense, and can outright play football.

I've soured over the years towards the Browns (really, since the move) ... but, things are starting to look up for them, even if just a little.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Watching Johnny Manziel absolutely shred some of the top defenses in the country over the last couple of years, I find it baffling that someone didn't take him much earlier, for exactly the reasons you just mentioned, MB. The guy is a leader on offense, and can outright play football.

I've soured over the years towards the Browns (really, since the move) ... but, things are starting to look up for them, even if just a little.

It's interesting to know that the thought process exists that would heap praise on a first-time GM in his first year for making an aggressive trade, even knowing that it may well amount to nothing, because it's important to "send a message"...then slam another first-year GM for doing the same. (Not referring to anyone specific here; there are plenty of otherwise-sane people on Facebook and Twitter whose suspension of logic in the last three hours has definitely addled their brains)

Beyond his play on the field, Manziel is an immediate attraction. The top story tomorrow isn't even going to be who went #1, or why Oakland got the best player in the draft at #5 after a truly baffling move by Jacksonville, but how Cleveland went back up and got Johnny Manziel. For the first time in 15 years, talk at the water cooler around the country tomorrow is going to be about the Cleveland Browns and not about how they discovered a new way to lose a game.

 

[EspenK]

I think Cleveland did good in the draft. Got a top corner and a guy who could become a great QB. I don't think they should have taken him at 4 but trading up a couple of spots to get him at 22 was definitely worth the "gamble".

 

[Viqsi]

It's funny...all around the Super Bowl, the question was asked repeatedly of people inside football where Russell Wilson would be taken in the event of a 2012 redraft. The consensus was that it would be a tossup between him and Andrew Luck for 1st overall, which is saying something considering how highly-regarded Luck was and still is. Plenty said that with Wilson's skillset being what it is, the fact that he's 5'11" shouldn't matter.

And now here comes someone with a very similar skillset, who's even more dynamic, and suddenly he's supposed to be too small and too unconventional to have success? I don't get it. I know that the four-plus months between the end of the season and the draft leads to overanalysis, and I know that the football media is largely full of idiots and ex-players who know nothing, but seriously.

I freely admit that when we're talking NFL football, I fit pretty easily into that "idiots who know nothing" category. It's why I don't bring this sort of thing up much - I don't have nearly enough data to be able to argue coherently or intelligently, mostly because I don't really have any investment in the league or any teams within beyond empathetic sympathy to Browns fans. Pro football just hasn't grabbed me the same way hockey has, and it doesn't have the excuse of three family generations' worth of intimate ties that the Buckeyes do for me.

I'm just greatly amused by the apparent coincidence, mostly. I couldn't even begin to criticize fairly.

 

[Fro]

i think you browns fans should be happy with last night...you got another top corner to pair with Haden so teams won't be throwing on you, and then you still get the guy everyone said you should have taken at 4...as well as adding a 2nd 1st round pick for next year...

i think everyone knows the browns aren't one or two players from competing...but they are doing a good job of finding players to get them there

 

[pete goegan]

i think you browns fans should be happy with last night...you got another top corner to pair with Haden so teams won't be throwing on you, and then you still get the guy everyone said you should have taken at 4...as well as adding a 2nd 1st round pick for next year...

i think everyone knows the browns aren't one or two players from competing...but they are doing a good job of finding players to get them there

I agree, Fro, anyone who saw the pitiful attempts at pass defense, last season, has to welcome the addition of the top-rated corner in the draft. As for Manziel, I'll try to maintain an open mind - could be a star, could be a journeyman, could be a bust. That's the intriguing thing about him, there's no consensus, so it'll be fun to see how it turns out. "Fun" in the sense that watching a Ferrari spin out at 180 and waiting to see if the driver catches it or goes over the cliff is fun! For everyone but the driver, that is!

 

[Jive Pawnbroker]

As for Manziel, I'll try to maintain an open mind - could be a star, could be a journeyman, could be a bust. That's the intriguing thing about him, there's no consensus, so it'll be fun to see how it turns out. "Fun" in the sense that watching a Ferrari spin out at 180 and waiting to see if the driver catches it or goes over the cliff is fun! For everyone but the driver, that is!

You nailed it, Pete. Nice analogy -

 

[Kev22]

The Dispatch is reporting that Jim Tressel has been named the new President at Youngstown State University. Good for the Senator.

 

[Viqsi]

"Fun" in the sense that watching a Ferrari spin out at 180 and waiting to see if the driver catches it or goes over the cliff is fun! For everyone but the driver, that is!

Yeesh. Unless I'm seeing something that's already happened, I find that stuff outright terrifying; I'm worried sick for that poor driver. For stuff that's already happened... well, so long as I know nobody was killed or seriously injured in the end it's all good, because then there's that sense of relief of "wow, they walked away from THAT? crazy!"

Watching it live in-progress, though? Can't do it. It's just too much. Not unless I can do something to make it somehow not an imminent disaster.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Cleveland holds pick #35 and has a ton of options for what to do. There are a couple of good receiver options (Lee and Latimer), a couple of good interior DL picks (Jernigan and Nix), and multiple OL options (Moses, Su'a-Filo, Bitonio, Kouandijo being the big ones).

If I were sitting there, I'd see what Houston does, then look at moving back pick by pick to get additional assets. Cleveland could fall as far back as 45 and still get a possible immediate starter who'd be an upgrade on a current position.

I think Cleveland did good in the draft. Got a top corner and a guy who could become a great QB. I don't think they should have taken him at 4 but trading up a couple of spots to get him at 22 was definitely worth the "gamble".

Absolutely. Both Minnesota and Cleveland got QBs at the end of the first round who could have just as easily gone at the beginning of it.

i think you browns fans should be happy with last night...you got another top corner to pair with Haden so teams won't be throwing on you, and then you still get the guy everyone said you should have taken at 4...as well as adding a 2nd 1st round pick for next year...

Gilbert is a bit of a project, but getting him does two things. It will allow Haden to aggressively press at the line while allowing Gilbert's athleticism to flourish on the other side while he develops. And it allows Buster Skrine to slide back to nickelback, where he may flourish instead of being the below-average CB that he is.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Watching Johnny Manziel absolutely shred some of the top defenses in the country over the last couple of years,

You apparently didn't watch TAMU play LSU. He was awful in those games.

 

[Mayor Bee]

You apparently didn't watch TAMU play LSU. He was awful in those games.

A&M never attempted to get any type of a run game going in either of those games, or in the losses against pretty much anyone the last two years.

Florida under Spurrier was built heavily around the run. They'd pass five or six times in a row out of open sets, but their home run plays were all in the run game. It's possible to pass to set up the run, but A&M in their poor offensive showings the last two years seemed more content to give Manziel free rein about 95% of the plays, rather than the 60-70% that would have opened up more defensively. It was a schematic issue more than an execution one.

 

[pete goegan]

You apparently didn't watch TAMU play LSU. He was awful in those games.

Watching Johnny Manziel absolutely shred some of the top defenses in the country over the last couple of years, I find it baffling that someone didn't take him much earlier, for exactly the reasons you just mentioned, MB..

He said some, not all.

 

[JKinCLE]

i think you browns fans should be happy with last night...you got another top corner to pair with Haden so teams won't be throwing on you, and then you still get the guy everyone said you should have taken at 4...as well as adding a 2nd 1st round pick for next year...

i think everyone knows the browns aren't one or two players from competing...but they are doing a good job of finding players to get them there

I think a large majority of us Browns fans are VERY happy with JFF. I know I am (if my new avatar doesn't make that obvious). Its not because we think he is our savior, but for the time being he makes the Browns relevant and exciting. I haven't been this excited for football EVER, granted I spent most of my childhood without an NFL team, and had to suffer through garbage, recylced year after year since '99. We are finally in a position where playoffs are realistic and almost expected and we're no longer striving to be the 7-8 win team that we have never even been. I'm looking out my office window staring at FirstEnergy Stadium, and I no longer see the Factory of Sadness. Great day to be a Browns fan.


Dare I say things are looking up for Ohio sports? Or is it the same old optimism, based on nothing at all, that Browns fans have going into every season?

 

[Samkow]

It's funny...all around the Super Bowl, the question was asked repeatedly of people inside football where Russell Wilson would be taken in the event of a 2012 redraft. The consensus was that it would be a tossup between him and Andrew Luck for 1st overall, which is saying something considering how highly-regarded Luck was and still is. Plenty said that with Wilson's skillset being what it is, the fact that he's 5'11" shouldn't matter.

And now here comes someone with a very similar skillset, who's even more dynamic, and suddenly he's supposed to be too small and too unconventional to have success? I don't get it. I know that the four-plus months between the end of the season and the draft leads to overanalysis, and I know that the football media is largely full of idiots and ex-players who know nothing, but seriously.

You're leaving out that one is an arrogant spoiled child.