Nobody Expected This

Ah, back from a long time away. The U.S. Navy is an adventure, that's for sure, but its a tough job sometimes. You know what else is tough these days? Rooting for the Cleveland Indians. Waiting for Browns' and Buckeyes' football to begin. Being the general manager for the Cavs (okay, that last one was a bit of a jab toward Danny Ferry).

Indians fans, can you remember the last time you have been this disappointed, this early in the season? I mean, 3 months ago, most of us were smug as a bug in a rug looking forward to at the very least a repeat of last year, if not, a possible World Series berth or even better, a World Series victory! Now, key injuries, underachieving, mismanaging, poor personnel decisions and a few months later, and wham - the Tribe is 180 degrees out of last year's campaign and holding last place in the AL Central with a death grip. There are so many things that have gone wrong or are currently going wrong with this club that is has become as hard to watch as a needle going into your eyeball. It pains me to see another future Hall-of-Famer go to another ball club. It seems to be a common occurrence throughout the years for us Indians' fans.

I refuse to put the same jinx on the Browns as I did to the Indians (Yes, folks this has been all my fault, I bought into all of the experts' opinions and thought the sky was the limit for the Tribe). I feel they have done the right things to make this team a serious contender, a team who will give the average football fan a reason to want to watch the game. Hence the reward of 5 prime-time games this upcoming season. I will tell you one thing; due to my upcoming deployment to the Persian Gulf, I will be out of CONUS (Continental US for you non-military types) for my 4th NFL season in a row. The fact that the Brownies will be on national TV means that I should be able to see at least 5 of their games. For that, I am thankful to both the team and the network bubbas who somehow made this happen.

Ah, yes, the Cavs. Almost forgot about them. Hmm. Well, another season that looked to be on the verge of something special, maybe a championship berth? But, in typical Cleveland style, the Wine & Gold brought us far into the playoff race (again) and left us hanging (again). It says something about LeBron that they did so well against James Posey and the World Champion Celtics; despite the obvious lack of overall talent (besides LeBron), they did much better against the Celts than any other team in the playoffs did. It is going to be an interesting off season, as we have seen since the draft. Not sure if I agreed to the draft picks this year, but hey, at least we had some this year. Maybe if these guys bust, Danny can say that he was just a little out of practice come draft day. I sure hope we pick up a decent free agent or two, but, my gut tells me that its not gonna happen. Time to cross the fingers I'm wrong here.

Sorry I haven't been around for a bit; but I'll close by saying this; the Youngstown State Penguins will not beat the Buckeyes in their opening game. I called it. Write it down.

Stay safe and may God Bless Northeast Ohio.