A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

Goodbye Guardians … And Thank-You

Five days ago the New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Guardians in a decisive Game Five of the American League Divisional Series.  The loss ended the Guardians season, one that very few predicted would have made it all the way until October 19th.  

The season started ominously enough when the newly minted Guardians sign came crashing down outside of the team shop.  But players like Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Triston McKenzie, Emmanuel Clase, Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor made for an enjoyable and entertaining summer.  Winning 22 of their last 27 games left the rest of the American League Central in their dust.

This Cleveland Guardians team was so much fun to watch as they battled all year long until the final out.  I had been clamoring for the front office to finally buy in to the youth movement and while it may have been realized out of simple necessity, we all reaped the benefits.  

As we head into 2023, the Guardians only have a few questions to answer but they are very important ones.

1.  Will Amed Rosario play out his final year of his contract?
2. Will Bo Naylor be their opening day starter at catcher?
3. Will the Guardians look to add a 1B/DH or look to fill that position internally?
4. Will the Guardians look to add another quality starting pitcher?

Depending on how they answer those questions will go a long way towards dictating their direction next year in which expectations will have been rightfully raised.  Personally, I’d answer those questions as follows:

1. No.  His trade value will never be higher and the Guardians have a plethora of depth in the middle infield. 
2. Unquestionably yes.  The fact he made the playoff roster and never made an appearance didn’t make sense.
3. Look to fill internally.  Jose Abreu looks good on paper, but the Guardians have some of their highest rated players on the cusp of the big leagues.  Give George Valera and Bo Naylor the opportunity to add more power.
4. They should.  Carlos Rodon would have looked great in a Guardians uniform this past year.  While I think Cody Morris has potential to be a solid #4/#5 starter, I’d be surprised if Zach Plesac is on the Opening Day roster.   

Baseball was fun again and for that, I am grateful.  October baseball was nerve-wracking and often times unbearable, but those pressure-packed feelings can be precious and I am extremely thankful for getting the opportunity.  While I doubt the Dolans had any of this planned, a strong-youthful – and now experienced – roster is at their disposal.  

Don’t screw it up.  Which reminds me … 

Can the Browns just skip straight to 2023?

When the final ruling in the Deshaun Watson case determined he would miss the first 11 games of the season it was a devastating blow.  Jacoby Brissett – while a fine and reliable backup QB – was going to have a difficult time navigating 2/3 of the year on his own. 

The hope was that the Browns defense would help him out.  The hope was that Nick Chubb and a strong offensive line would carry the majority of the offense.  The hope was that a revitalization of the special teams would provide a value add.  The hope was that a strong and unified coaching staff, now intact for the third consecutive year, would provide stability and be able to effectively manage both the game and the roster.

After falling short to the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 and falling to 2-5 on the season, it’s official.

All hope is gone.  This season is over.  And it’s not because of Brissett – at all.

Under a different regime Nick Chubb would be discussed as a MVP candidate.  On this team, he can go nearly 20 minutes of game-time without a carry (which he did last Sunday).  The defense has been a hindrance all season and has directly cost the team at least one win (New York Jets).  The coaching staff has made questionable decisions every game and resembles one that has zero in-game experience.  The special teams unit – outside of Cade York’s game-winner against the Panthers – have been absolutely dreadful.  

Deshaun Watson is not going to fix anything in that previous paragraph.  Yes, he is a dynamic athlete who can use his legs and his arm strength to escape and create in ways Brissett can’t.  But he has absolutely zero to do with all of the rest … or does he?

When you give someone in the NFL an unprecedented $230 million dollar contract, fully guaranteed, it gives that player power that has never been seen in that league.  He has become, not just the face of that franchise, but the one in control of it as well.  

Let’s say Watson doesn’t gel with Kevin Stefanski.  Who do you think is leaving?  Bye-bye Kevin.  Let’s say Watson gets into a disagreement with John Johnson during practice and they end up in a fist-fight.  Pack your bags Johnny.  If Watson doesn’t like the direction Andrew Berry is going from a front-office perspective, then Mr. Berry will be shown the door. 

So yes, Watson may not be able to directly fix any of the major issues that plague this team, but he certainly can make things interesting if he so chooses.  There’s no playbook for this kind of contract in the NFL.  Everyone will be watching.

I’m just going to leave this picture of an unhappy Nick Chubb up until I feel Stefanski understands what he’s doing wrong.   Last week I talked about some questionable decision making by Kevin Stefanski, and yesterday he did it again – this time coming on a crucial 4th down decision in the 2nd half.  

For the Browns to hit the 5-6 mark needed to make Watson’s reappearance interesting, they need to win three of their next four against the following:

1. Home vs. Bengals
2. Away vs. Dolphins
3. Away vs. Bills
4. Home vs. Buccaneers

Barring a Josh Allen injury, there’s absolutely no way they beat the Buffalo Bills on the road.  So, can they sweep the Bengals, Dolphins and Bucs?  If you feel they can, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you. 

Odds and Ends

Notre Dame rebounded from their staggeringly disappointing loss to Stanford with a pretty ordinary victory against UNLV.  They are now 4-3 on the season with five games remaining (at Syracuse, vs Clemson, at Navy, vs Boston College, at USC). 

While nothing has been automatic with the Irish, it appears they are headed towards a 6-6 season.  That kind of record will have them headed to the Pinstripe Bowl against a team like Iowa.  And while I like to think myself a pretty strong and loyal fan, there’s no way I’m watching Iowa try to play football for four quarters.  

Finished Stephen King’s Fairy Tale this past week and will be recapping that at the end of my Stephen King book rankings.  My latest reading comes from Neil deGrasse Tyson and his new book, “Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspective on Civilization.”  It’s a tremendous read and highly recommended.   

Watched Jordan Peele’s Nope the other night and while it certainly has some memorable moments and dialogue it did not resonate with me like his previous two films (Get Out, Us).  Don’t get me wrong, it was enjoyable and kept me engaged, but it definitely ranks third in my Jordan Peele rankings.

Until next time, peace be the journey.

A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

3 Runs … 2 Homers … 1 Series Win

The Wild Card Series was brand new this year and of course I thought my team was screwed by this renovated format.  As you’re about to see, this thinking is deep rooted in personal experience. 

For instance – in 1995 (the first year of the Wild Card), the Indians had won a major-league leading 100 games.  However, MLB instituted a ridiculous rule that included a home-field advantage rotation amongst divisions.  Because of this, the Indians never had home-field advantage once during the 1995 postseason.

In 2020, the Indians won the Wild Card in the pandemic-shortened season, but MLB allowed 8 teams from each league to make the playoffs.  This meant that instead of playing the White Sox in a winner-take-all game, the Indians had to play the Yankees (and were immediately bounced).  

This year – with another silly MLB change (at least I initially thought) – we now added another Wild Card team and introduced the Wild Card Series.  So, instead of the division-winning Guardians automatically advancing to the ALDS (as they would have every year since 1995), they were forced to play a best-of-three against the Tampa Bay Rays.

You can imagine my speculation when Jose Siri hit a homerun in the top of the 6th in Game One to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.  My head immediately went spinning with some of these absurd rule changes and how my team always got the short end of the stick.  How I was to know that the Rays would not score another run in the series?!? 

Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer in Game One and then Oscar Gonzalez blasted a solo shot in the bottom of the 15th to win Game Two and the series.  As expected, both games were extremely close and full of drama despite the low scores (2-1, 1-0).  Game Two was historic on multiple levels as it was the first postseason game in MLB history to be scoreless after 13 innings.  My son Jack’s favorite player is Oscar Gonzalez because of his Spongebob Squarepants walk-up song.  Every time he comes up to bat my son starts singing along.  As I told him when he approached the plate for the sixth time, “He could end it with one swing.” 

And then he did. 

We went crazy.  We blasted Spongebob on the speakers.  We danced.  It was awesome.  Jack had recently learned what the word “chaos” meant, so it was only appropriate that after everything settled down, he said, “Dad, that was chaos.”

Welcome to postseason baseball Jack.  

Browns Lose … To Themselves … Again

Last week the Cleveland Browns dropped a three-point game to the Atlanta Falcons by having a swiss-cheese defense and continuing to shoot themselves in the foot on offense.  Yesterday, the Cleveland Browns dropped a two-point game to the Los Angeles Chargers by having a swiss-cheese defense and continuing to shoot themselves in the foot on offense.  They are nothing if not consistent.  Let me correct that, they are nothing if not soul-crushing.  

Last week I also talked about leaving Nick Chubb – who is clearly, and unmistakably, the best player on the Cleveland Browns – on the bench in game-winning drives.  And yet again, Coach Stefanski made the same decision against the Chargers.  This one was even more egregious as they were gifted a short-field with 90 seconds left and were still in position to run the ball. 

On a macro level, only running Chubb 17 times is mind-boggling.  If the goal of these games is to win, I would think that number could have been easily increased.

I’m just going to leave this picture of an unhappy Nick Chubb up until I feel Stefanski understands what he’s doing wrong.   Last week I talked about some questionable decision making by Kevin Stefanski, and yesterday he did it again – this time coming on a crucial 4th down decision in the 2nd half.  

After the Chargers scored to take a 24-21 lead, the Browns faced a 4th and 1 from their own 34.  Stefanski went for it (right decision) but called a very suspicious play that included multiple pulling lineman (wrong decision).  And what do you know, it was blown up.  Jacoby Brissett is clearly limited in both his arm strength and mobility, but he is elite at one thing, the QB sneak.

Coming into this season, he was hitting at a 95% success-rate when he’s been asked to execute the QB sneak.  Coming into this game against the Chargers, he’s been perfect on the season.  And yet, I get the feeling that Stefanski wants to try and “outsmart” other coaches with some of these 4th down play-calls.  It doesn’t have to be rocket science.  Brissett can get one yard just laying down.  In fact, historically, teams have brought him off the bench in these exact situations.  I don’t know why Stefanski avoids it as much as he does.    

I know this looks like nit-picking, but when you don’t have a defense that can continually get stops, it makes every possession crucial.  You win by holding on to the ball and scoring – every time.  The Browns only had four 2nd half possessions in the Chargers game.  They scored on just one of them.  If they can get one more score, the game changes dramatically.  

I’m not sure the defense can be helped at this point.  The Browns did trade for Deion Jones, a linebacker from the Atlanta Falcons, but who knows how healthy and able he will be.  I guess anything will be better than Jacob Phillips, who is not a starting middle-linebacker in this league.  Cleveland brought a little of this on themselves by not investing anything in the LB or DT positions this offseason.  As a result, teams are having no issue just running the ball straight ahead.  

Like I mentioned last week, the goal should be at least 5-6 during Watson’s 11-game suspension but things don’t get any easier next week when the 2-3 New England Patriots come into town.  They may be short on talent, but they are well-coached and execute at a high level.  They spanked the Browns 45-7 last year and may be positioned to do the exact same in 2022.  

Odds and Ends

Congratulations to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for their 28-20 win over #16 BYU on Saturday.  I’ve always been a fan of the Shamrock Series (although not with all of their uniform selections), and it was pretty cool to see them play a good team on a big stage out in Las Vegas.  No other team gets that opportunity, and it’s one of the main reasons Notre Dame loves their independence.  

Oh, and Michael Mayer might end up being the best TE in Notre Dame history.  That dude is amazing.  A lot of noise was directed at Marcus Freeman – and deservedly so – after his 0-2 start to the season, but I haven’t heard much on a national stage about Oklahoma’s new coach, Brent Venables.  The Sooners have been blown out in their last two games, including a 49-0 shutout courtesy of the Texas Longhorns.  They will ride a three-game losing streak into their contest against Kansas next week.  Rock Chalk Jayhawk.  Whatever that means.   

How has What We Do In The Shadows not won a single Emmy?  It’s been nominated 17 times, but has yet to take home any hardware.  It’s without question one of the funniest TV shows I’ve seen in the last decade.  Maybe I’m a couple years late to this, but could the Emmy’s make themselves irrelevant by continually picking the same small group of shows as winners?   

Until next time, peace be the journey.

A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

Cleveland Guardians – Brand New Playoff History

Say what you will about the Cleveland Guardians name-change, but one positive is that it pushes the reset button in terms of playoff history.  I was re-watching some Indians postseason moments prior to this post and not gonna lie, it felt a little weird hearing Bob Costas call them the Indians.  But it also gave me a renewed sense of spirit, because let’s be honest – the Indians were not on a roll when it came to recent playoff success.  Three times since reaching the World Series in 2016 the Indians had made the postseason.  Three times they were dropped in the first round.  The Cleveland Indians had lost four playoff series in a row, including eight straight games.  Dating back to Game 5 of the 2016 World Series, the Indians had a 2-11 record in the postseason.  But now, none of that matters.  Because these are the Cleveland Guardians, and the Guards have never made it to the playoffs.  They can re-write their own history starting next Friday.   

It seems likely the Guardians will face Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round (best two-out-of-three), which is the best-case scenario.  Seattle has had the Guards number all year (1-5 record) and Toronto could hit them out of the ballpark.  Tampa Bay is built very similarly to Cleveland.  They don’t hit a ton of homeruns, but they have very good pitching and will take extra bases.  You have to play solid baseball to beat Tampa Bay, which Cleveland is more than capable of doing. 

Cleveland has a 4-2 record against Tampa Bay this year, winning each three-game series.  Three of those games were decided by one run and the largest margin of victory was just three runs.  Expect close games in this series.

I have been clamoring for the Guardians to bring Bo Naylor up for months now, and he was finally added to the 40-man roster with a week left to go in the regular season.  Bo Naylor is a hard-hitting catcher who blasted 21 homeruns and stole 20 bases in the minor leagues this year (evenly split between AA and AAA).  He will undoubtedly be the Guardians starting catcher next year and should have been up in the majors before last week.  Better late than never.  When Naylor was brought up, it meant Bryan Shaw was let go.  So, let us pour one out for Mr. Shaw, who will likely never pitch again for the Cleveland Guardians.  An easy target by critics, but a dependable reliever who often pitched well in high-leverage situations.  Anyone who has made 700+ career appearances can’t possibly be a horrible pitcher all of the time.  And Shaw – while never an elite reliever – was very dependable and always available.  

I bought a scorebook to document the Guardians playoff run and am looking forward to teaching Jack how to score a game.  I’m not entirely sure when I picked up this skill, but from 1995-2001 I scored every playoff and opening day game.  One memorable night occurred in October of 1997 during Game One of the ALDS between the Indians and the New York Yankees. 

Having to wake up for school the next day I was not allowed to stay up and watch the entire game, but as the Indians had raced out to a 6-2 lead after four innings, I felt comfortable with the game situation and asked my dad to finish keeping score.  Oh, to be young and naive again.  When I woke up the next morning, my groggy eyes stared at the final score in disbelief.  8-6 Yankees.

“Dad, what happened?”

“Look at the bottom of the 6th.”

My dad had penciled in three consecutive home runs for the Bronx Bombers which gave them the lead they would never relinquish.  Needless to say, I never let my dad finish scoring another game again.

Browns Lose … To Themselves

The Cleveland Browns lost to the Atlanta Falcons 23-20, but the reality is they simply lost to themselves.  They lost with a pass-happy play-caller and a defenseless defense.  If the Browns are going to be successful either this year or in future seasons, they can’t afford to lose to teams like the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Jets.  They’ve managed to accomplish both within the first month of the season.  

I’m not the type of fan who will scream and yell for Nick Chubb to play the entire game, but he’s spent too much of potential game-winning drives on the bench in the last couple of years.  I understand that in certain pass-catching situations the Browns would rather have Kareem Hunt, but to have your best offensive weapon on the sideline in the final minutes of the game doesn’t make much sense to me. Twice the Browns had the ball inside the Falcons five-yard line and they walked away with a total of 3 points.  Speaking of things that don’t make much sense, the decision to throw it on 4th and 3 from the 4-yard line was mind boggling.  While I do understand the importance of touchdowns, I also think the game should dictate decisions like that.  Playing against Patrick Mahomes and figure you need a lot of points to win the game?   Yeah, go for it.  But playing Marcus Mariotta and the Atlanta Falcons?  Take the early points.  Better yet, maybe utilize the best QB sneaker in the game on those short-yardage situations.  What do I know?

I hate sounding like a Monday Morning Quarterback, but those decisions should have been obvious.  I thought the Browns had a coach in place who understood what he was working with, but the more I watch Kevin Stefanski call plays, the more I think the team would be better served with Alex Van Pelt behind the wheel.

With Deshaun Watson suspended for seven more games, the Browns will need three more wins to at the very least still have something to play for when their star QB returns.  And if you look at their schedule (LAC, NE, @ BAL, CIN, @ MIA, @ BUF, TB) there are zero easy wins available.  Those were all used up in the first four weeks.  The Browns will have to split their home games (2-2) and hope for one road win to be 5-6 when Watson comes back, and the schedule lightens up.

Odds and Ends

Getting Notre Dame bye weeks often lead to some free time at the homestead.  With my wife having a spa day, it meant bro-time this past Saturday.  What did Jack want to do?  Watch me build an 800-piece Lego set.  Details to come in next week’s football picks.

Best college football game of the week?  There wasn’t one.  It was great seeing Kansas continue to roll and having Oklahoma lose is never not fun, but otherwise it was a rather mundane Saturday.  

Finished Nathan For You this weekend and it was absolutely spectacular.  Nathan can be a bit weird and the viewer is never sure if his shtick is real or just a shtick, but I loved the absurdity of it all and felt the series finale was completely captivating.  Up next in my ever-expanding TV lineup: finish What We Do In The Shadows and then check out Resurrection Dogs.  

Until next time, peace be the journey.

A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

Cleveland Guardians – Central Champs

Two weeks ago I mentioned how everything the Guardians wanted was right in front of them.  All they had to do was take it.  Well, not only did they fully capitalize on that opportunity, they were damn near perfect in their endeavor.  Going 13-2 since that post 14 days ago, the Guardians capped off their incredible run yesterday when they clinched the American League Central.  Even though the Guardians have the youngest roster in baseball and even though they are almost dead-last in homeruns, they have still found ways to win – several in dramatic fashion.  May 9th might have been the most memorable when Josh Naylor got all the smoke from the Chicago White Sox after his game-tying grand-slam in the ninth inning, and then game-winning three-run homer in the 11th. 

They have been an incredible fun team to watch this year because they are winning in unconventional ways.  They don’t hit homers, but they don’t strike-out.  They steal bases.  They take 1st to 3rd at an elite clip.  They don’t play great team-defense but may have two gold-glove winners.  Their top two pitchers went a combined 23-19, but have been lights out the last two months of the season.  They have a dominant closer and a steady back-end bullpen. 

On April 6th my brother-in-law texted me the following: “Outfield of Mercado, Straw and Zimmer makes me physically ill.”  I responded with, “I like Steven Kwan, the rookie who can play OF.  High contact (hasn’t struck out all spring training).  Hopefully he forces Tito’s hand.”  

Not only did Kwan force Tito’s hand, he may end up with a top-three finish in the American League Rookie of the Year.  While players like Triston McKenzie, Josh Naylor, Emmanuel Clase and Andres Gimenez all deserve recognition for their contributions, the #1 reason this team is headed to the playoffs is Steven Kwan.  He stabilized not only the murky outfield, but the entire lineup in general.  He paved the way for the whole ensemble of rookies the Guardians brought up this year (16 in total).  He almost killed himself leaping into the stands to catch a fly ball.  In other words, he was King Kwan.  One word to describe the Guardians – compete.  They compete like hell and play hard all the way to their last out.  That never-give-up attitude has resulted in a major-league leading number of wins in their final at-bat. 

Heading into the final games of the regular season, the Guardians can now take some time to rest up and get their pitching rotation in order for their upcoming three-game Wild-Card series (Bieber – Game One, McKenzie – Game Two, Quantrill – Game Three). 

Regardless of what happens in the playoffs – and we’ll look at their playoff history in upcoming posts – this season has been remarkable.  The Guardians front-office finally went all-in to play younger guys and not waste at-bats on older/more expensive/less talented players.  The payoff is here and now.  You can’t win the World Series unless you’re in the postseason and the Guardians are emphatically in.  

First Family Vacation

You may have noticed there was no Weekend Recap last week, as I was out embarking on our first Florence Family Vacation (Niagara Falls – Buffalo – Cleveland).  We’ve previously taken Jack (our five-year-old son) on overnight trips that included a hotel visit, but this was the first actual long road-trip taken as an entire family.   All told, the trip was a success.  Jack was perfectly patient during the long-car rides and entertained himself with books, music and coloring.  Our trip included a visit to Niagara Falls (the Canadian side is 100% better), a new aquarium, putt-putt golf, pool-time in the hotel, his first Cleveland Guardians game and a trip around the bases.  

The “trip” verb was no accident as Jack had an unfortunate spill rounding second base on Progressive Field.  Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t Jack’s fault at all.  In fact it was an adult not paying attention to where he was going and inadvertently sent Jack into the dirt.  Yes, this “adult” was an Ohio State Buckeye fan, which helps explains his general lack of overall awareness. 

Jack looked like Jason Kipnis after he touched home plate and was generally more embarrassed than anything.  Tears soon followed after he realized a previous scab on his knee had opened up, but those cries were short-lived as we now point at second base during the games on TV and say to each other, “Jack, that’s right where you slid!”  Good times … I hope.  When Jack went to school the following Wednesday and had the opportunity to share about his vacation, he chose to recall none of this.  Not the pool, not Niagara Falls and not even the Cleveland Guardians game.  Instead, he told his entire class that he went on vacation and got to stay up late watching college football games with his dad.  That was his highlight.  

Odds and Ends

Notre Dame and the Cleveland Browns won in convincing fashion this past weekend, with both the Irish and the Browns controlling the line of scrimmage and utilizing their strong run games.  This method of victory was no surprise for the Browns, but it was a pleasant one for the Irish.  If Notre Dame can continue that positive trend throughout the season then 8 wins is more than obtainable (a far cry from where they were after two weeks).  

Appalachian State continues to play exciting football, this time coming up on the short-side of a 32-28 loss to James Madison.  App State was up 28-3 in this one, before giving up 29 unanswered points.  They play The Citadel next week, and I can’t wait.  

Roger Federer said good-bye to professional tennis this weekend as he announced his retirement following The Laver Cup.  Roger’s last match was a doubles contest with Rafael Nadal as his partner.  While Roger and Rafa ended up losing, it didn’t really matter.  As soon as the final point was won, the world got to say good-bye to Roger who was as gracious with his final words as he was on the court during his two-decade period of dominance.   One of my favorite new TV shows of 2022 was The Rehearsal.  It starred Nathan Fielder and is almost impossible to describe.  This past weekend I started watching Nathan’s first show, Nathan For You (which ran on Comedy Central from 2013-2017) which is absolutely fantastic.  I finished the first eight episodes on HBOMax and cannot wait to see what absurdity Nathan has in store for the next three seasons.   

Until next time, peace be the journey.

A brief recap of the last 72 hours on a variety of topics including sports, news and personal events.

September 11th – Never Forget

Life is often about moving on, but some events require one to look back.  September 11th is one of those unique occurrences.  We do this to ensure we don’t forget, because the longer we get from that horrific day 21 years ago, the more difficult it can be to remember.  

For many of us, we can recall the particular events of September 11, 2001, with uncanny detail, especially considering the passage of time.  We know it was a Tuesday.  We can recall the weather, where we were when we heard the news and the general uneasiness in the air.  While those memories help tell our personal story, it’s also important to remember the lives that were lost, the horror that struck our country, and the courage shown by so many.

Eventually I’ll have to tell this story to my five-year-old son, and while that will be challenging, it will also be vital so the next generation also never forgets.  

In a Glass Case of Emotion – Browns Week One

It was the worst of times.  It was the best of times.  It was the age of wisdom.  It was the age of foolishness.  It was the epoch of belief.  It was the epoch of incredulity.  Charles Dickens penned that opening in a “Tale of Two Cities,” and I lived that entire range of emotions in the last 5 minutes of the Browns season opening win against the Carolina Panthers.  

Winning in the NFL is not easy.  It’s even harder when you only throw for 138 yards.  It gets even more challenging when you have blown coverages in the 4th quarter, resulting in a game-changing 75-yard touchdown pass.  And yet, the Browns somehow found a way to escape Charlotte with a 26-24 victory.  Having Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and Myles Garrett certainly helped erase several of those aforementioned mistakes.

For a large portion of this game it felt eerily similar to the Browns season opener last year in Kansas City.  Cleveland dominated for three quarters in both only to see their offense sputter and their defense crumble.  The two big differences between the openers were the Browns didn’t turn the ball over against the Panthers (like they did vs KC) and this time around the Browns have Cade bleeping York kicking field goals.

Several NFL experts felt the Browns made a mistake when drafting Cade York in the 4th round of the NFL draft, but any “true” Browns fans would tell you it was the best pick of their draft.  Cleveland missed a higher percentage of field goals than any team last year and opponents did not miss a single one.  It was a problem and it cost them games last year.  It likely would have done the same again in 2022 had the Browns front-office ignored the position this offseason.  Thank goodness they didn’t.  

This game felt more important than other season-opening debacles, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Part of that had to do with the Panthers starting QB, but I think it was mostly centered around the entire Deshaun Watson circus that enveloped this team for the last six months.  Winning goes a long way to moving on and thankfully the Browns can now move on to week two with a 1-0 record.  If they beat the Jets they will be 2-0 for the first time since 1993.  That was twenty-nine years ago.  I was eight.  

Saturday Schedule Frees Up

We signed our son up for some fall baseball (coach-pitch) and the eight-week schedule runs on Saturdays until around Halloween.  I was a little nervous because the game-times are sporadic (could start as late as 2pm) and required a two-hour time commitment.  There was always a chance I would miss Notre Dame football games depending on how the schedule fell – but after last week’s game against Marshall, I’m hopeful all of Jack’s games coincide with an ND contest.  I’d rather watch a bunch of five and six-year-olds pick their noses and group chase a run-away baseball than watch any more of Notre Dame football this season.

Marcus Freeman was supposed to come in and lead this program to new heights.  He is now 0-3 as the head-coach (worst start ever for an ND coach) and crash-landed after his honeymoon.  There is a very real possibility this team does not even qualify for a bowl game.  Their offense is stagnant, and their defense lacks any game-changing personnel.  I don’t see how they can compete with Clemson, USC or BYU, and games against California, North Carolina and Stanford now appear to be toss-ups at best.  As my nearly 70-year-0ld father texted me after the Marshall loss, “ouch.”  

Brian Kelly had some bad losses as he dropped games against Tulsa and Navy, but Kelly also had a track record of winning to rely on.  Freeman does not.  He certainly can turn things around, but the questions will be how much time he is given, and how much of a learning curve will we have to endure.   

Sweeping Away in Minnesota

The Cleveland Guardians headed into their three-game series at Minnesota on a down-swing.  They had just blown a ninth-inning contest to Kansas City and their lead in the American League Central had shrunk to just a game and a half.  There was a very realistic chance that the Guardians would leave Minnesota looking up in the standings.  Fortunately Cleveland threw out their top three starters and walked out of Minnesota with a three-game sweep.  

Minnesota can 100% still win the division, but they have dropped to third place and are now 4.5 games behind Cleveland.  The Twins come to town next week for a five-game series, but their margin of error has been reduced to nearly zero.  It appears the White Sox will be the biggest challenge to the Guardians.  As a result, please send your thoughts and prayers to Tony LaRussa so he can get back to coaching very soon.  

The success of this team will depend on their ability to win when Cal Quantrill, Triston McKenzie and Shane Bieber are on the bump.  They have carried this team the majority of the year and will be relied on to continue pitching at a high-rate if they hope to win the division race.  

We are down to 24 games, and Cleveland has nine of them against either the White Sox or the Twins.  If they can win at least six of those then they will be in full control of their playoff chances.  Easier said than done, but it’s mid-September and the Guardians are in first place.  Everything they want is right in front of them.  

Odds and Ends

Two weeks into the college football season and Appalachian State has established themselves as must-see TV.  Their week one game vs UNC was incredible and their week two upset at #6 Texas A&M was equally compelling. 

After Georgia Southern upset Nebraska I thought Scott Frost would have a difficult time keeping his job.  For one of the few times in my life, I thought correctly as Frost was let go the following day.  Poor guy was also given a $15 million buyout for his efforts.  Most of us go on performance-plans for sub-par work.  Others become multi-millionaires.  This is America.

Congratulations to Carlos Alcaraz for winning the U.S. Open championship on Sunday over Casper Ruud.  Not only did Alcaraz win his first major title, he also became the youngest-ever #1 ranked player in the world.  When I was nineteen, I won the Ohio University intramural tennis championship, so I can relate.  

Finished the first season of What We Do In The Shadows on Hulu, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed so consistently at a television show.  In particular, the second episode where the vampires attend the City Council meeting had me in stitches. 

Also watched Vengeance, starring BJ Novak and Ashton Kutcher.  It was a solid directorial debut for Novak; one that had me not looking at my phone throughout (I’ve never sounded more millennial).  Vengeance also included a cameo appearance by John Mayer, who absolutely delivered in his performance.  100 percent.  

Until next time, peace be the journey.