SB Nation User Blog: Buckeye Brad

ESPN reports that Lerner wants Holmgren

Buckeye Brad — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:13:12 -0000

Just a few minutes ago on NFL Countdown, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the man Randy Lerner wants to bring in Mike Holmgren, former coach of the Packers and coach/GM of the Seahawks, as President of the Browns. He wants Holmgren to play the role that Parcells has with the Dolphins as the top football man in the organization and face of the franchise. Shefter said that Lerner also wants to talk to Ernie Accorsi, Rich McKay, and possibly Ron Wolf, but it's Holmgren's job to lose. If Holmgren would come to Cleveland, he would hire a GM and then those two would decide on the future of Eric Mangini as head coach.

At least it sounds like Lerner has a plan going forward and he wants to bring in an experienced man to run the operations. I wish he would have done this last offseason, but it sounds like he's learned from his mistake and is trying to rectify the situation. I guess this gives us hope for the future, which is all we can have at the moment.

UPDATE: ESPN.com now has an article by Schefter giving some more details.

Tim Belcher named the new Indians pitching coach

Buckeye Brad — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:05:17 -0000

I don't have a link, but I have it from a reliable inside source that Tim Belcher has accepted the position as Indians pitching coach under Manny Acta. The team is supposed to have a press conference tonight to make the announcement. Belcher has served various roles in the Indians organization over the past few years, including spring training instructor and advanced scout. As far as I know, this will be his first job as a pitching coach. He's a former #1 overall draft choice who pitched for seven different teams from 1987-2000.

UPDATE: Cleveland.com is confirming the story. He has worked in the Indians organization for the past 8 years.

As a special assistant, Belcher worked with the Indians player development system in instructing and evaluating pitching talent at every level in the minor league system. He also scouted other teams, providing advance scouting reports for the last several years for the Tribe's big-league coaching staff.

Q & A with Lerner

Buckeye Brad — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:59:59 -0000

Q & A with Lerner

Tony Grossi recently interviewed Randy Lerner via email and posted the transcript at the PD website. Lerner stood firmly behind Mangini as the head coach but wouldn't comment any further on Kokinis' firing. He did elaborate about a few other topics, such as his decision to hire Mangini and Kokinis and his thoughts on why he made a change after last season. He wouldn't comment on any personnel issues, including the benching of Brady Quinn (although he did say that it had nothing to do with money).

At least he stepped forward to answer some questions but I would really like to see him get up in front of a micrphone and discuss what's happening. Because the interview was done through email there weren't any follow-up questions by Grossi which leaves many questions still unanswered.

Shaq seems to be having trouble remembering the Cavs' playbook so the guys at Waiting For Next Year...

Buckeye Brad — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:53:44 -0000

Shaq seems to be having trouble remembering the Cavs' playbook so the guys at Waiting For Next Year came up with a handy cheat sheet for him.

Dave Zastudil is PK's Special Teams Player of the Week

Buckeye Brad — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:56:17 -0000

Dave Zastudil is PK's Special Teams Player of the Week

Not surprisingly, Dave Zastudil was given Peter King's Special Teams Player of the Week in his MMQB column. We all know he had a great game, but King showed the stats from each punt to show just how great he was on Sunday. His day looks even better when you break it down like this (the formatting is better if follow the link to his article):

Punt Length Punted to Return status
1. 25 Buffalo 17 0 (fair catch)
2. 31 Buffalo 11 0 (out of bounds)
3. 54 Buffalo 25 22 yards
4. 44 Buffalo 1 0 (downed)
5. 42 Buffalo 13 0 (out of bounds)
6. 43 Buffalo 42 minus-15 yards
7. 45 Buffalo 1 0 (downed)
8. 45 Buffalo 4 0 (downed)
9. 57 Buffalo 16 0 (forced fumble leading to winning FG)

Average drive start for nine Buffalo drives on Zastudil's punts: Buffalo's 15-yard line.

Columbus writer defends Mangini

Buckeye Brad — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:55:00 -0000

Columbus writer defends Mangini

Columbus Dispatch writer Michael Arace writes an article today defending Eric Mangini and says the media portraits of him are not accurate. He knows Mangini personally; they grew up in the same neighbofhood and Mangini was friends with his younger brother. He spoke with him after the Bengals game and says he could see the pain coming from the coach after the loss.

He admits that Mangini has made some mistakes but he thinks that if we give the coach time he can turn the team around. He thinks the stories we've heard from the media are overblown and Mangini is a smart guy who has a plan and hasn't lost his players. I guess we'll see if he's right.

It's nice to see someone stepping up and saying that Mangini isn't as bad as some have made him out to be. He must have some qualities as a coach to put up two winning seasons in NY and impress Lerner the way he did to get this job.

Lerner responds to fan complaint

Buckeye Brad — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:24:48 -0000

Lerner responds to fan complaint

I found this link from an article on TheClevelandFan.com. The president of the Baltimore Browns Backers wrote an email to Randy Lerner expressing his frustration with the direction of the team, and Lerner (supposedly) responded. I'm not sure if the email is actually from Lerner but it sounds authentic. He expresses his confidence in Mangini, calling him a "straight-shooter and deeply decent man". He also basically throws his father under the bus by saying that the team had very little direction in the front office when he took over, and he's guilty of trying a variety of combinations (Davis, Garcia, Savage, and Crennel) in an attempt to find something positive to build on. He remarks that it usually takes many years to build a strong foundation for winning football teams.

Again, I'm not sure if the response was actually from Lerner, though if not then it was very well done. But if Lerner really did write that then I think it shows that he really does care about this team (despite what many fans believe) and he thinks that Mangini can get the team moving in the right direction. It's much too early in the season to give up on him.

More fun in the Browns locker room

Buckeye Brad — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:11:58 -0000

More fun in the Browns locker room

ESPN is reporting that Coye Francies went nuts in the Browns locker room today becase he was upset about being the subject of a prank. He threw a bucket of ice on Brandon McDonald and then started throwing punches. Braylon Edwards shouted "welcome to the Browns locker room" as the commotion happened.

And this year just keeps getting better . . .

ESPN's '09-'10 NBA predictions

Buckeye Brad — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:34:33 -0000

ESPN.com surveyed their entire crew of basketball writers and staff (53 people) to gather their opinions on the upcoming NBA season. I wanted to post them here so we can discuss their predictions. I provided the link on every topic to ESPN's writeup.

First off, ESPN has each panelist predict the number of wins and losses for every team and those were averaged to get the final results. The panelists predicted the Cavs would finish with a 61-21 record which gives them the best record in the Eastern Conference. Boston was second (57 wins) and Orlando was third (56 wins). Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Philly, and Washington were the other playoff teams. Out West, the Lakers were the clear favorites with an average of 62 victories followed by San Antonio, Portland, Denver, and Dallas all bunched closely together.

They also seperately predicted champions for each conference and the Finals, and in the East the Cavs were the clear favorites with 32 votes. The Celtics (13) and the Magic (8) were the only other contenders. The Lakers were the overwhelming favorite in the West with 41 votes. The Spurs had 10 votes and the Mavs and Nuggets each received one vote. The vote for the NBA Finals champions were almost even split between the Cavs and Lakers -- the Lakers got 19 votes and the Cavs were only one behind. The Spurs, Celtics, and Magic each garnered a few votes, too.

Not surprisingly, LeBron was the big favorite as the MVP with 35 votes, well ahead of Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade. The panelists were also asked where they think LeBron will land in 2010 (along with other top free agents) and 73% think he's staying in Cleveland, a significant change from last year where less than half believed he would resign with the Cavs. A big reason is the probably reduction in the salary cap next year which won't allow the Knicks and other teams to sign two max players. Also, the Cavs have made moves to keep them as title contenders and LeBron is going to want to sign with a team where he has a chance to win mulitple championships. The other teams listed as possible destination for LeBron were New York (8 votes), Miami (3), New Jersey (2), and Boston (1).

The panelists voted on other categories for the upcoming season. Shaq finished second in Best Newcomer category with 8 votes (behind Richard Jefferson of the Spurs) and ironically also finished tied for fourth as the Worst Newcomer (behind Zach Randolph, Ron Artest, and Rasheed Wallace). Finally, the Cavs received two votes in the Team Turmoil category, evidently by writers who don't think that LeBron and Shaq can coexist this season.

Poll

What is your prediction for the Cavs this coming season?

Win the NBA championship

1355 votes

Lose in the NBA Finals

354 votes

Lose in the Conference Finals

306 votes

Lose before the Conference Finals

153 votes

2168 votes | Poll has closed

LGT Fantasy Football

Buckeye Brad — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:59:45 -0000

We've had an LGT Fantasy Football league through ESPN the past two years and I'm wondering if we're going to continue that this year. I don't remember who was running the league and I know some of the members aren't around here any more, but I'd like to play again this year. We set it up two years ago as a keeper league but last year I'm not sure if everyone participated. If whoever was the commish of this league is around then post here and let us know if we're playing again.

If that league is defunct then I wouldn't mind starting another league if people here want to play (and are willing to keep up with it). I'm willing to set it up and hopefully get a draft time in the next week where most people can participate. I would probably use Yahoo because I like their format better (and they have free live scoring this year). So please post here if you were a member of the old league and want to continue that or would be interested in joining a new league.