It’s Not LeBron, It’s the Heat

As we wait for Game 7 of the NBA Finals, we had a revelation.

We really don’t care if LeBron James wins a second title with Miami tonight, but the thought of the people in south Florida celebrating a second consecutive title is down right nauseating.

First of all, Miami is a terrible sports city when you come right down to it. And the fact that a bunch of people left game six early speaks directly to that. They don’t share the passion for sports that midwestern cities like Cleveland have. To them, it’s just a thing to do, a place to go.

That’s just the fans. The reason for rooting against the Heat have more to do with the franchise, and the way the team was put together.

It starts with Pat Riley, who is most famous for coaching the “Showtime” Lakers of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, but we remember that he was a central figure in the era that almost killed basketball, when he was coaching the New York Knicks.

Those Knicks teams forced the league to re-examine the rules about illegal defense, and they played thug basketball, with Riley instructing his squad to foul on pretty much every possession, and daring the referees to call it every time down the floor.

Of course, they didn’t because games would have lasted four hours, so “Riles” got away with one, although the Knicks never won a title.

Riley did finally win another title as coach, with the Heat, but did so forcing out Stan Van Gundy as coach, and taking over a team led by an aging Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade.

And although the league has never acknowledged it, there was tampering involved in putting the current Heat team together with Riley allegedly contacting LeBron James during the season before he became a free agent.

Sure, the players themselves (James, Wade, and Chris Bosh) probably talked about it during their time together in the 2008 Olympics, but many feel Riley was checking on the players during the season.

Then there is Wade, who is right now a broken down version of the great player he once was, but is a guy who for whatever reason gets the benefit of the doubt from officials on a regular basis.

When James was with the Cavs, there was a game the Heat won late because the refs continually sent Wade to the line even though in many cases, he created contact or a Cleveland player was called for a foul when he was getting out-of-the-way.

If Miami wins tonight, Wade will preen around the court like he is the guy responsible for the crown, much like he did after the Eastern Conference title. He should have been reminded that he played one good game in the series.

And then there is Bosh, a player much highly regarded than he should be. He disappears within the game on a regular basis.

Then you have Shane Battier, who may be falling down instinctively right now. Ray Allen, who turned his back on his compadre in Boston to chase another ring, and Eric Spoelstra, who the NBA butt kissing media would have you believe is a great coach.

If the Heat fail tonight, the blame should be placed on Riley, who didn’t put a strong enough team around James, much like Danny Ferry didn’t in Cleveland.

Instead, James will be skewered, and that’s not fair.

And this is coming from someone who still can’t forget the knife he put in the backs of Clevelanders a few years ago.

If You Are Older, NBA Doesn’t Care

The NBA continues to make older sports fans shake their collective heads.

The league says they want to have 30 franchises in 28 markets (the New York area has the Knicks and Nets, and Los Angeles has the Lakers and Clippers), but if it were up to the players, there would be six teams in New York, six more in LA, and several in Miami.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be good business for the league because basketball, on the professional level, would become a regional sport.

Younger fans don’t care, because you get the feeling, by and large, that they root for players not teams.

In the long run, that’s not good for business unless there is a marketable player on each team, and we all know that is not the case.

After the Miami Heat put together their “super team” after the 2010 season, similar experiments have been tried in other cities, none with the success of the Heat.

The Lakers tried by getting Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to go with Kobe Bryant. The Nets took a shot by getting Joe Johnson to go with Deron Williams. The Knicks tried as well, getting Carmelo Anthony to go with Amare Stoudemire.

None of these efforts have really paid off in titles, except for the group that Pat Riley put together on South Beach.

However, the lack of success hasn’t deterred the players, who are still trying to play general manager.

Just last week came word that Chris Paul and Howard and trying to figure out a way to play on the same team next season, since Paul is mad at Clippers’ management because they threw him under the bus, blaming him for the firing of coach Vinny Del Negro, and Howard is upset because the Lakers’ “big three” didn’t work.

Why is this a problem? If the owners decided to do something in concert with each other, the players would claim collusion. So why can two or three players get together and decide how to play on the same team?

As much as we dislike the Celtics, what they did in getting Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join Paul Pierce was not a problem because GM Danny Ainge traded assets (a bunch of draft picks and Al Jefferson) to obtain them.

It wasn’t players using free agency to make it happen.

The new type of fan might keep the league relevant for a while, because they will still follow the stars, most of who are created by the NBA’s corporate sponsors,

Meanwhile, the older hoop fans, who the league seemingly doesn’t care about because they aren’t the preferred demographic, will lose interest.

And ESPN, the “worldwide leader” in sports, will continue to blame the poor play of teams led by stars instead of praising the teamwork of San Antonio Spurs.

And where are the new stars coming from? This year’s draft lacks a star quality name, and in the meantime, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Dwyane Wade are getting older.

The young player who may have the highest profile to consumers is the Cavs’ Kyrie Irving. Think about that for a moment, and you should be afraid.

Very, very afraid.

Tribe Bullpen Not Saving

Last night, the Cleveland Indians’ bullpen had another bad game, bringing the problem to the forefront once again.

Leading 6-5 with two outs in the eighth inning, Joe Smith served up a homer to Chad Tracy, now hitting .145 on the season, on an 0-2 pitch. The next inning, Vinnie Pestano gave up a game winning gopher ball to Anthony Rendon, his first big league circuit shot.

Rendon is a top prospect, but his blast followed miscommunication between Nick Swisher and Jason Kipnis, which resulted in his foul pop up dropping harmlessly to the ground. However, that doesn’t excuse Pestano serving up a meatball to the rookie.

The Tribe bullpen, considered a strength coming into the season, is leaking oil. Outside of Scott Barnes’ three inning save against the Red Sox in a 12-3 blowout on May 23rd, the last time an Indians’ reliever picked up a save was over a month ago, on May 12th vs. Detroit, when Cody Allen came in and recorded the last out in an extra inning win.

That was Mother’s Day. Today is Father’s Day. The only save recorded between the two days honoring our parents was a “rule” one, because Barnes’ went three innings.

Now, losing 16 of 20 contests drastically lowers your chances of getting saves. They don’t award them in losing efforts. But, there were several games in the losing skein that the bullpen could have changed the outcome.

Most famously, there were the two games in Boston where Terry Francona’s squad were winning late.

On May 25th, Cleveland was leading 4-3 in the eighth inning, when Pestano allowed four runs to the Boston, the last two on a another pop up that dropped in with Asdrubal Cabrera trying to catch it.

The very next day, Chris Perez blew a great start by Corey Kluber in the ninth, turning what looked to be a 5-2 win into a 6-5 defeat.

On Memorial Day, which was the day after Perez’ struggles, Nick Hagadone came into a 2-2 games and promptly allowed a two run shot by Joey Votto to give Cincinnati a lead it never relinquished.

Hagadone was victimized again early this week against Texas, when he allowed another tie breaking HR, this one to Lance Berkman.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. The last game before the Indians entered the losing period, the relief corps allowed game tying home runs in three consecutive innings against Seattle in a game the Tribe would up winning 10-8. The culprits were Pestano, Perez, and Smith, who earned the win when Yan Gomes belted a three run dinger in the 10th inning.

All in all, Cleveland relievers are last in the league in saves, with just nine on the season. To show that saves aren’t the be all, end all for a team, the next two lowest bullpens are Boston (13) and Detroit (14), both of whom reside in first place in their respective divisions.

However, the Tigers have the second best ERA in the American League, which a great starting rotation, and the Red Sox are seventh. The Indians are 13th in that category.

The problem has arisen in two areas: The left-handers (primarily Hagadone and Rich Hill) have been terrible, and the late inning guys, most notably Pestano and Perez have allowed a lot of long balls (a combined eight in 34-2/3 innings).

Smith has a 1.48 ERA, allowing just four runs for the season, but two of them were game tying home runs.

The middle relievers (Matt Albers, Bryan Shaw, Allen, and even rookie Matt Langwell) have been solid.

Perhaps it is time to use them in later game situations.

The Indians have not had a lot of save chances so far in 2013, the problem is, when they have had them, they haven’t done the job. This has to make Francona wonder why he wanted to manage again.

Two Weeks to Go to Determine Cavs’ Future

After winning the NBA Draft Lottery last month, Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert once again put all kinds of pressure on himself and his basketball organization by announcing it would be the last time for the wine and gold in that position for a while.

While we believe Gilbert was speaking from his desire to win, these types of statements are growing old. It is time for results for sure, but what happens if the Cavaliers miss the post-season by one or two games in 2013-14? Winning 36-38 games next season would be a great improvement from this year’s 24 victories.

There has been a lot of conversation about trading out of the top spot in the draft, a move we have advocated all along, but with this year’s crop of draftees being devoid of a “difference maker”, it will be tough for GM Chris Grant to come up with a trade partner.

If the wine and gold cannot deal the first pick, then they need to take the best player, whoever they perceive it to be, and not worry about the current make up of the roster.

While you can pick for need when picking later, when you have the first pick, you have to take the best player.

That would seem to narrow it down to three choices: Kansas G Ben McLemore, Indiana G Victor Oladipo, and Maryland C Alex Len.

McLemore is reported to have outstanding athletic ability and can score the basketball. He has three-point range, and can shoot off the dribble, a skill needed to be a complete player. His weaknesses are his feel for the game and his ball handling.

Those are a lot of good skills to like in a player.

Oladipo might be a reach at #1, but it has been reported the Cavs love him, and he would fit in nicely with Mike Brown’s emphasis on defense. He might be the most explosive athlete in the draft. He has a toughness about him and can finish at the rim. However, the rest of his offensive game needs a lot of work.

His jump shot is inconsistent and he doesn’t handle the ball well. He may be a good complement to Kyrie Irving, with Dion Waiters coming off the bench in a combo guard role.

Len is probably the most ready to play big man available this year. At 7’1″ and 255 pounds, he is a legitimate NBA center and his back to the basket game continues to improve. And he’s a decent mid-range shooter, and made 69% of his free throws in college.

As with most big men though, Len needs to get stronger and because of that, he is not a great rebounder at his size.

His NBADraft.net comparable player is someone Cleveland basketball fans should be very familiar with…Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

The Cavs’ biggest need is a small forward, but there doesn’t seem to be a quality one available this year.

Normally we don’t advocate taking a big guy for the sake of taking a big guy, but taking Len makes the most sense unless Grant can make a deal.

The speculation will end two weeks from today.

NBA Finals are Generational Thing

The NBA Finals have turned into old school vs. new school.

In one corner, we have the Miami Heat, the darling of ESPN. They are a highlights editor’s dream, filled with spectacular passes and high-flying dunks. They were put together through the highest profile free agency season ever when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade to form basketball’s latest “big three”.

On the other hand, if you are above 40 years old, you have an appreciation for the San Antonio Spurs, led by Tim Duncan, an all time great looking for his fifth title as an important member of his team.

The Spurs were built through the draft, shrewdly picking international players like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tiago Splitter, and shrewdly grabbing guys like Kawhi Leonard in the draft and signing role players like Danny Green.

And San Antonio has perhaps the best coach in the professional ranks in Gregg Popovich.

The younger generation think the Spurs are boring, because they play below the rim and have unassuming superstars, who rarely draw attention to themselves.

The Heat have the preening James, the perpetual scowling Wade, and Bosh, who screams like he won the lottery every time he makes a big shot.

The older fans think the Heat is all that is wrong with professional basketball, with their roster of three all-star players, a couple of decent role players and a bunch of stiffs. They’ve become the place where guys nearing the end of their career go to try to pick up a championship ring.

But they think the Spurs play the game the right way. The move the basketball, play solid defense, and just go out and do their jobs. They are business like in their approach, as opposed to the “look at me” Heat.

The Spurs play like the great NBA teams of the past, and we aren’t talking about the Bulls of the 1990’s and the Lakers of the 2000’s. We are talking about the 70’s and 80’s, when teams moved the basketball, and the game wasn’t someone pounding the ball at the top of the key, waiting to break someone off the dribble and drive to the hoop.

Sure, occasionally Parker does that, like he did in Game 1 when he kept his dribble alive, falling down, getting back up, and hitting a leaner off the glass to clinch the win. However, by and large, the Spurs score by executing and making open jump shots. They usually are a very good three-point shooting squad.

They are like the old guys who play the kids at the Y, and keep winning and staying on the court because they understand the game, and use the mental aspect to create mismatches and points.

And on defense, they know how to grab and lean into players just enough to knock them slightly off-balance when they are shooting. They frustrate the heck out of their opponents.

Most of the older basketball fans are rooting for San Antonio, not just because their stars are older, but because they represent the way things used to be. They are hoping for a champion who does things the correct way.

Combo of Walks and Homers Hurting Tribe Pitching

Despite the slugging teams of the 1990’s, including a team that scored 1000 runs in a season (the last team in major league baseball to do so), Jacobs Field/Progressive Field has always been a pitcher’s park.

That speaks to how great those Indians teams that featured Albert Belle, Carlos Baerga, Manny Ramirez, and Jim Thome really were. They placed half of their games in a park that helped pitchers.

Now, the Indians have a problem. Their ballpark helps the pitchers and it is making it look better than it is.

Not that ranking 12th in the American League looks good. Cleveland pitchers rank ahead of only Baltimore, Toronto, and Houston in ERA.

However, on the road it is worse as Tribe hurlers rank ahead of only Seattle in terms of that statistic. That would partially explain why the Indians have lost 10 games in the row away from Progressive Field. They have a 4.72 ERA away from home.

The particular problem that has plagued Cleveland pitchers on the road is the base on balls. They have issued 118 walks on the road, 14 more that the next worst group, the Chicago White Sox.

Opposition hitters are only hitting .253 against the Tribe staff, the 5th best rate in the AL. But they have allowed 35 home runs, the 4th worst mark in the league. If you walk people and give up home runs, you are going to allow a lot of runs.

At home, the Tribe’s ERA is a respectable 4.15, which is 10th in the AL, but only .08 behind the Red Sox staff, which is in the middle of the pack. The walks are a problem at home too, though, allowing the 5th most in the Junior Circuit.

If you have figured out at this point that Cleveland pitchers are allowing too many batters to reach base via the walk, you are correct. Tribe pitchers are 3rd in the league overall, behind just Houston and Boston.

They’ve also allowed the 4th most dingers in the league, behind only Baltimore, Houston, and Toronto.

The home runs are equally spread out among the starters and relievers. The starters have given up 48 bombs, 5th worst in the league, while the relievers have allowed the 3rd highest total.

The bases on balls are the same ways. The starters have walked the 3rd most in the American League, the relievers rank 4th.

The one thing that doesn’t make this combination an unmitigated disaster is the Cleveland pitchers ability to strike people out, ranking behind just Detroit and Boston in that category.

In their recent losing streak, however, it is the starting pitching that is really letting the team down, allowing 2o runs in the first three innings, putting the team in a hole right off the bat.

So, while the starters’ ERA is 4.46, that figure has been accomplished because they have righted the ship after falling behind early and they have given Terry Francona around six innings per start.

In the Yankee series alone, all three starters (Justin Masterson, Scott Kazmir, and Corey Kluber) gave up big innings in the first three frames, but settled in and gave the skipper at least six innings, thus protecting the bullpen.

Earlier in the season, Indians’ pitchers were not walking as many batters, ranking in the middle of the pack, but as of late, that has changed and the extra base runners are lengthening innings, and helping set up three run home runs.

If the Indians are going to get going again, and as we said before the season started that this would be a streaky team, then the pitchers need to throw strikes, and they must pitch better on the road.

Until that happens, the Tribe will continue to struggle.

Tribe Needs to Weather Schedule Storm

Everyone is aware that the Cleveland Indians are going through a tough patch right now, having lost 12 of their last 16 games. Their next nine games are against three teams that going into the season, most experts regarded as prime contenders to win the World Series: the Tigers, Rangers, and Nationals.

That will end a brutal stretch were the Tribe also played the Yankees, Red Sox, Reds, and Rays. That’s a tough schedule for any team.

However, the only teams that really beat up on Cleveland were the Bronx Bombers and their friends from the AL East, the BoSox. The Tribe went 2-12 against them, they are still 28-17 vs. everybody else in major league baseball.

A quick glance at the schedule shows things are about to change, and if Terry Francona’s team wants to stay in the race all season long, they have the opportunity to do just that.

This is not to underestimate any opponent, because at the beginning of the season, we felt the American League was brutal, with 13 of the 15 teams having a legitimate shot at the post-season. We excluded the Twins and Astros because of their rebuilding modes, although the former is in third place, just 2-1/2 games behind the Indians.

Still, have the Nationals visit Progressive Field next weekend, 25 of the next 33 contests are against Minnesota, the White Sox, Royals, Blue Jays, and Mariners. Only two four games series, one vs. Baltimore and the other against the Tigers, are against opponents considered among the best in the American League.

That basically takes the Indians through the end of July (and close to the trading deadline).

If you look at the balance of the schedule, there do not seem to be a lot of big bumps the rest of the way. There are three games against the Rangers, seven vs. Detroit, a three game set against the Orioles, and a three game interleague series vs. Atlanta, and three more against Oakland. The majority of the slate is games against the other AL Central teams, along with seven contests against the Astros and Marlins.

The Tribe will also play the Angels six times, but at this point it is difficult to say whether or not people should consider Los Angeles a quality team or not. They were highly touted coming into the season, but currently sit eight games below the .500 mark.

Again, this is not to take any team lightly, because the Indians need to improve the way they have hit and pitched over the last three weeks to start winning again.

And they struggled against the Yankees this season, and we feel they will end the season not making the playoffs based on the injuries and collective age of their team. They’ve been doing it with mirrors, and that likely will end. That said, the Tribe could only beat them once in seven tries.

The point is, after this stretch of games, the Cleveland Indians have an opportunity to play a lot of baseball against teams they figure to have more talent than, at least on paper.

Of course, we all know games are played on grass, not paper.

Still, things could be looking up soon for Francona’s bunch. At least, according to the schedule set up by major league baseball.

Left-Handed Relief Not There for Tribe.

Many fans of the Cleveland Indians have been concerned about the bullpen recently, mostly because of the health of closer Chris Perez and set up man Vinnie Pestano.

Yes, there was that weekend in Boston, when on consecutive days both Pestano and Perez blew games, which made for crushing defeats. But for the most part, the back end of the Tribe bullpen has been fine.

However, there is bigger problem for the Terry Francona’s bullpen, and that is the need for an effective left-handed pitcher to work late in games.

Right now, Nick Hagadone and Rich Hill have been a disaster in relief.

This past weekend, the Tampa Bay Rays scored 20 runs in the three game series. Thirteen of the runs were charged to Hagadone, Hill, and another lefty Scott Barnes, who was sent back to Columbus Saturday after giving up five runs on Friday night.

Barnes looked good in his two previous appearances, a three inning save against the Red Sox and a one inning stint against the Reds. In his appearance on Friday, he came in and gave up a pair of two run homers to left-handed hitters Matt Joyce and James Loney.

The other two guys, Hagadone and Hill have had problems throwing strikes consistently, a must for relief pitchers.

Hagadone is a power arm, but falls behind in counts and then when he comes into the strike zone, the batters smash the ball. He was last seen yesterday giving up a bomb Rays’ SS Yunel Escobar, currently batting .246.

When he can get ahead of hitters, Hagadone can be lethal, capable of striking out the best left-handed batters. But he has walked 11 in 15 innings this season, way too many, and that doesn’t count the hitters he puts into good hitters’ counts.

Nine of those walks have come against right-handed hitters.

Hill is more of a situational lefty, someone who specializes against tough left-handed hitters, the David Ortizs and Robinson Canos of the world, players who will not be pinch hit for when a lefty comes into the game.

To be fair, Francona has had to use him in some blowout games to save his main relievers, so Hill has seen more right-handed hitter than he should. He has faced 40 hitters from that side of the plate, more than Francona probably wants him to.

Those hitters are batting .353 against Hill with a 925 OPS, which means every right-handed hitter the southpaw faces turns into Miguel Cabrera.

However, Hill has walked six left-handed hitters and has allowed two home runs to them as well, meaning he isn’t exactly shutting down those guys either.

This is developing into a huge problem for Francona and pitching coach Mickey Calloway, because they need someone who can get those tough left-handed hitters out consistently.

If Hill and Hagadone can’t do the job, then it will be up to GM Chris Antonetti to find someone who can.

If you watch the games, it really isn’t Perez and Pestano that are killing the Tribe consistently it is the left-handed pitchers.

Too many walks and home runs allowed by the set up lefties can blow up an entire bullpen.

Looking at Tribe After Two Months

The calendar turns another page today and as we enter June, we are also entering the third month of the major league baseball schedule.

And it is fitting that the Cleveland Indians played their 54th game last night/this morning, which also marks 1/3 of the schedule has been played. The Tribe’s record is 29-25, which means they are on pace to win 87 games in 2013.

For the record, for the first 27 games of the season, Cleveland went 14-13, which means they improved slightly in the last 27 contests.

The Indians’ offense has been a little better than expected, ranking fourth in the American League in runs scored per game at 4.93, trailing just Detroit, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay. They rank 7th in on base percentage, but 3rd in slugging behind the Orioles and Rangers, both of whom play in great hitters parks.

The Tribe is 4th in the AL in home runs, behind those same two teams and Toronto, another team that plays in a very good place if you have a bat in your hands.

The one concern about the Cleveland offense going into the season was strikeouts, and that concern has manifested itself. The Indians hitters have struck out 455 times, an average of 8.4 per game, although you have to go down to 10th among the league leaders to find an Indian, with Mark Reynolds and Drew Stubbs tied for that spot.

Both players have fanned over 200 times in a season, so that’s not a surprise.

Individually, really no one really overachieving among the everyday players, although fans should be pleasantly surprised by the production of Ryan Raburn (.296, 5HR, 16 RBI in 98 at bats) and Yan Gomes (.310, 5 HR, 14 RBI in just 71 at bats).

Jason Kipnis has been streaky and his numbers reflect it (.238 average, .307 OBP). The Tribe needs better out of the second baseman if they are to contend all season. Asdrubal Cabrera got off to a slow start, but had a solid May (.278, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 806 OPS) and actually leads the Indians in extra base hits with 24, ahead of Nick Swisher and Carlos Santana’s 21 each.

To us, an elite offensive player is a guy who has an on base percentage over .350, and a slugging percentage of over .450. The Tribe currently has two of these players: Santana and Swisher. That should put to rest any concern about these two players.

Santana’s average slipped big time in May, but he still takes walks and has a .390 on base percentage. We’ve heard some mild concern about Swisher, but people have to realize big money doesn’t make you a better player. Swisher is who he is, a player who has pop and gets on base.

The recent problem for the Indians has been pitching, with the staff ranking 10th in the AL in ERA. However, the starting pitching, supposedly the weak link of the team, hasn’t been bad, but the bullpen has struggled mightily of late.

New pitching coach Mickey Calloway has emphasized throwing strikes, and all five Tribe starters have strikeout to walk ratios of over 2:1, which is outstanding.

The only complaint about the starters is the need to work longer in the games. With the bullpen struggling, the starters need to get through six innings consistently. There have been too many “five and flys” this season.

With Chris Perez on the disabled list, much focus has been put on the back-end of the ‘pen, but the left-handed relievers have been terrible. Terry Francona cannot be confident in any situation where he needs to get a tough left-handed hitter out, because Nick Hagadone, Scott Barnes, and Rich Hill have not been effective, nor have they been able to throw strikes.

Hill has walked 10 in 15-1/3 innings, and Hagadone has also issued 10 in 13-1/3 frames. Barnes has only walked three in eight innings, but has allowed three home runs.

The team needs to find someone who can be effective in this role, or it will haunt them all season.

The Cleveland Indians hit the one-third point in the campaign in good shape, on pace to win 87 games and just a half game out of first. Fortifying the bullpen, especially with an effective southpaw would seem to be #1 on the priority list right now.

#32’s Return Doesn’t Mean Much for Browns

One of the most overblown stories of the week is Jim Brown’s return to the Cleveland Browns as a special adviser.

While we would agree that Brown is the greatest football player of all time, in the grand scheme of things, this is just a nice public relations move, that is all.

Brown will have little impact on the field, outside of talking to players about the importance of being a Brown, sharing the rich tradition of the franchise, even though that heritage seemingly ends with the decade of the 1980’s, the last time Cleveland’s franchise was relevant in the NFL.

Look, it is better to have the team’s greatest player on the side of the current ownership and administration than it is to have him on the outside, but let’s face it, Brown is somewhat of a loose canyon, and that’s what he wants to be.

However, it is hard to forget Brown showing up with Art Modell when the Ravens, at that time just recently moved to Baltimore, went to their first Super Bowl. He also counts Bill Belichick as a “friend”, and talked to the Patriots on the coach’s behalf during one of their visits to the Super Bowl.

Don’t forget, he also defended LeBron James’ departure when the superstar turned his back on the franchise and went to Miami.

Brown may say he respects and loves the fans of Cleveland, but he is certainly not one of us. He has turned his back on the Cleveland fan base time and again.

Brown will defend himself by saying he is his own man, always was and always will be. But his actions make it difficult for the fan base of the brown and orange to embrace him fully.

He even snubbed his nose at the fans when he decided to let his feelings toward former team president Mike Holmgren get in the way of attending the unveiling of the Browns’ “Ring of Honor”.

That’s right, the greatest Brown of them all decided to skip the event because he was mad at a front office guy.

The event was staged to allow the fans to honor and remember the rich heritage that is the Cleveland Browns’ franchise. At one point, a very long time ago (1950’s and 60’s), the Browns were the hallmark franchise of the NFL, winning league titles in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964, and making the playoffs 15 times from 1950 through 1972.

Brown didn’t care about that, he had his own personal agenda, which didn’t include the football fans in this city. He will say it is principle, we say it was a slap in the face to the fans.

#32 will no doubt be active in the community, and he has a great history of helping youths in gangs and in the inner city. That cannot be considered anything but a good thing.

Still, Brown will have minimal effect on the product on the field, and after decades of losing seasons, that is what is important to supporters of the Browns.

The legend, #32, the greatest running back in the history of the league, is back with the Cleveland Browns. Excuse us for not thinking it is a big deal.