So I went to the game in Cleveland...maybe you heard...the good guys only scored 14, and the season isn't looking too good. But enough about the Indians. Almost....
Putting up double digits against Ozzie Guillen and officially eliminating his World Champion White Sox from playoff contention tonight was sweet. A few fans gave Ozzie the old "choke" gesture when he finally came out to rescue Jon Garland from the Indians' onslaught. The 2005 incident which Guillen later excused as "a joke", angered Cleveland fans all the more because it was so true. Still, it's got to be one of the most classless and rude stunts ever by an opposing manager, at least in my memory.
So when Casey Blake turned a rout into a massacre with the Indians' major league record-tying 14th grand slam of the season, and ended the White Sox hopes, I could summon nothing for Ozzie but sweet schadenfreude.
But this was my all-sports weekend, so I also got to see that other disappointing, under-achieving hometown bunch that scored only 14 in their latest appearance in Cleveland. This was the middle game of my weekend trifecta, and the ony bad result. Yes, the Browns competed. They were less embarrassing than they have been in the fiirst two games. But...there are no moral victories. Close doesn't get it.
Two points to make on the Browns. Kellen Winslow took lots of grief this past week for complaining about not being on the field in certain third down situations, and telling the press that he had gone to the coaches about it. Maybe he put the coaching staff in a no-win situation, (and he had a silly taunting penalty after a catch on Sunday) but I'd still love to have about 21 other players on this team with Winslow's attitude and intensity on the field.
And second, I am becoming ever more convinced that the Browns and their fans are still being worked over by NFL officials as ongoing punishment for the Jacksonville bottle-throwing game of 2001. It seems like every spot, every close call, every replay judgment, every benefit of the doubt goes the other way. As but one of many examples, Charlie Frye was taking vicious shots yesterday, being slammed around and bounced on his head in a way that routinely results in a 15-yard penalty for the offender. The league office is bending over backwards to protect NFL quarterbacks, unless he has an orange helmet, I guess.
The aforementioned penalty on Winslow is another example. There was no taunting gesture by Winslow. Yes, he was saying something to the Raven defender when he got up, but when don't you see these guys jawing at each other after the play? For the Browns, doing eternal penance for one itsy-bitsy little riot, it was unsportsmanlike conduct. It doesn't happen as much when we're on the road, for whatever reason. I think they just love to stick it to the Cleveland fans.
Hey, they say just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
As it happened, this weekend was also the annual Columbus trip with "the boys". We leave in an RV after work on Friday for the two hour trip, and take on the downtown Arena District on Friday night. None of us have tickets for the Penn State game on Saturday, but I'm on a mission to get one that morning, and I end up sitting way up in the North endzone a couple rows down from God, with a ticket scalped for just slightly over face value. Success... unmitigated by a soaking first half rain.
Not a lot to say about the No. 1 Buckeyes' 28-6 win over the Lions, except that the young defense that was supposed to be the Achilles heel of the team is coming around in a hurry. They're in the Top 10 nationally in scoring defense (8.0 ppg). The defensive line is brilliant and deep, and the young linebackers, led by James Laurinaitis, are overachieving. And if there is a cornerback in college football playing better than OSU sophomore Malcolm Jenkins, let's just give him the Thorpe Award right now.
Posted by dan at September 25, 2006 11:12 PM