The joy of being a Cleveland sports fan.

[UD_Delt]

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1096537035218232.xml

Another wonderful moment in Cleveland Sports and to top it all off there's just that little bit extra to make it even worse:

As part of a rookie hazing ritual, Denney was wearing a USC cheerleader's uniform when he was shot.

The outfit included high white boots.

"Our trainers said the boots may have saved Kyle from further injury," said Swain.

[Alkiera]

"If I just stay in the bus, no one will have to see me like this but the team..."

And the EMS crew, the people at the airport who were curious why the ambulance was there, and those in the hospital when he got there.

And now that it's been in the paper, everyone else knows he was wearing it, whether they saw him or not.

Oh, the embarressment.

Is having your sports teams shot at while leaving other teams' cities that common for Cleveland?

--
Alkiera

[UD_Delt]

Is having your sports teams shot at while leaving other teams' cities that common for Cleveland?

Not being shot at specificallly. Just tragedy and bad luck in general is more than common for Cleveland sports.

[WayAbvPar]

Heh. The Mariners like to make the rookies walk through the airport with Hooters outfits on. I am pretty sure you can pin that one on Jay Buhner.

[kemmyn]

I wag a pickle spear for you Cleveland fans in the hopes of you crushing the Redskins this weekend.

[Paelos]

All they have to do is get close to the sidelines on a few catches and Gibbs will challenge himself right out of the game.

"Back in my day we had REAL instant replay dammit! This flag business is for you young whippersnappers!"

[daveNYC]

Heh. The Mariners like to make the rookies walk through the airport with Hooters outfits on. I am pretty sure you can pin that one on Jay Buhner.

With 97 losses, they should all be wearing the short shorts.

[UD_Delt]

I wag a pickle spear for you Cleveland fans in the hopes of you crushing the Redskins this weekend.

Well we didn't crush them but we did manage to scrape out a win. I would still highly recommend avoiding any browns players on any fantasy team though. Our offensive line is still fucking horrible. Garcia still managed to get knocked on his ass when he was just trying to kneel on the ball. How sad is that?

[Alkiera]

I think the sheer numbers of issues with the Bills in the 4th quarter with 3 minutes left on the clock tops that.  They get going on a good drive with 8 mins left in the game, need a touchdown to tie it up.  Get to 17 yards from the goal, it's 3rd and 2, Bledsoe slips on the grass or something and falls down?

So now it's 4th and 2, they call a timeout to get everyone set, they're gonna try to get the two yards rather than punt...  So the ball is hiked, the back runs THE WRONG WAY, a defensive back who wasn't covered(?) comes thru, knocks Bledsoe down, he loses the ball, another defender scoops it up and runs all the way for a touchdown.

Way to go from 24-17 to 31-17, Buffalo.

--
Alkiera

[Paelos]

Any opinions on the Falcons from you all? The team that nobody loved has gone 4-0 for the first time since '86. Being a resident, I'm as shocked as everyone else in the city, but to watch their offensive package, it really is a thing of beauty. They run so many motions and plays that the defense really can't get a handle on what is coming at them. Do you blitz Vick and risk flushing him out? Do you charge the bootleg or go into pass protect? Is it a run or a playaction misdirection? They even have a weak side screen in their arsenal. I've been impressed with the team thus far, and I think they are playoff bound this season.

[UD_Delt]

I have to admit I'm surprised by the Falcons. I've always thought that Vick has the potential to be a great QB but he's never had much talent around him. I've also thought Peerless Price had talent but has never stepped up. Other than that though I've never been impressed by Dunn and there isn't anyone else of note on that offense. Yet somehow they've pulled it all together and performed... I really don't know much about the Atlanta D but they must be doing something right as well.

The team I'm even more impressed with is the Giants. I think they're going to be a force this year. If Barber can control the fumbles all year they are a contender. Warner can be a good QB if he has receivers to throw to and with Hilliard and Toomer he does. It's just a matter of Hilliard staying healthy.

I'm also surprised the Bengals are 1-3. I thought they made some great off season moves the last two years and would be a division contender this year. I guess they just can't get past the curse of being the bungals...

[HaemishM]

Atlanta is for real, but not because of Vick. He's still probably 2-3 games from having any sort of real handle on the offense. What people forget about the Falcons is that Jim Mora, Jr. is their coach. If you watched San Francisco last year, you got to see him in action, as their D Coordinator. The man flat out knows how to get great defensive performances out of mediocre talent. He knows how to get interceptions and stop the run. It is no fluke that Atlanta is 4-0 this year, despite not really being an offensive powerhouse. Give him another year of drafts and such, and he will make that team a scary contender.

Note that San Fran's defense this year is almost as bad as its offense.

Bills suck and Bledsoe is done. If Losmann hadn't gotten hurt, I have no doubt they'd have shitcanned Bledsoe, but now they just have no other option.

[Shannow]

Worst thing that happened to Buffalo was Lohsman getting hurt. Course it wouldve been funny to see Bledsoe get pulled for a rookie quarterback again in the second game of the season. He wouldve sat there rocking back and forth 'not again, Im a good quarterback!, not again, I deserve to start, not again'.

And it was Bruschi, a linebacker, who sacked Bledsoe for the fumble that Seymour scored on.

Oh and lucky for you Cleveland fans that you beat Minnesota once, Red Sox nation wouldve been rather annoyed if we had to face Johan Santana.
That being said we'll probably get swept by Anaheim.:P~~

[UD_Delt]

Oh and lucky for you Cleveland fans that you beat Minnesota once.

I'm relatively happy with how the Indians did this year. We finished one game off of .500 and had 12 more wins than last year. It may not have been a huge step forward but it was at least forward progress. If we can get some bullpen help and fill out a few more positions we may be ready to actually compete down the stretch next year.

For a mid-market team in a mostly mid-market division I see the Indians reclaiming the division in 2-3 years once the Twins can no longer afford to pay their talent and have to go through the rebuilding process. The only threat in our division is if the White Sox ever figured out how to properly manage a team salary.

[Shannow]

IIRC Cleveland was at one stage in the last two months of the season 2 games back from the Twins. Not bad I say! Some damn good young hitters with some up and coming pitchers..if a few of those pitchers develop in to good quality starting studs you maybe able to dominate a weak division for years to come.

[HaemishM]

Some of those young Cleveland hitters ended up being studs in some of my fantasy teams. Matt Lawton (when he was healthy) and Travis Hafner both lit up the fucking scoreboard. The fact that they even got within sniffing distance of the Central lead and the wild card with a team of youngun's and a manager younger than most of the broadcasters covering the games leads me to believe they will challenge next year.

[UD_Delt]

I really hope that's true that we can challenge next year. I'm really happy with where our offense is right now.

I like our starting staff built around Westbrook and Sabathia. Cliff Lee and Jason Davis are both still young so either one of them could turn into a serviceable starter as well.

All we need is a stud or two in the bullpen. Hell, if we had a decent bullpen earlier in the year we'd still be playing right now. I can't find a good team stats page but I'd be curious to see totals on how many blown saves (w/out wickman) and blown holds we had...

[HaemishM]

According to this, Wickman had 1 blown save out of 14 chances. And according to this, Cleveland as a team had 28 blown saves out of 60 save opportunities.

That's pretty goddamn atrocious. Granted, I'm sure Wickman would have blown a good 5 or 6 over the whole year, but shit. That's huge. And that doesn't even count any blown holds. In comparison, my poor Cubs had a total of 24 blown saves out of 66 chances. Los Angeles was tops with only 9 blown saves out of 60 chances, and of the other playoff teams, Houston had 23, Oakland 28 (strange coincidence that Oakland's closer Dotel started as Houston's closer), Atlanta 20, Anaheim and the Yankees 17, St. Louis 16 and Boston 13.