Much to Discuss

And I do mean much. Today's topics: Browns release Kenard Lang and Michael Lehan. Cavs trade for Lee Nailon and Flip Murray. The Tribe gets their own ohio TV network. College basketball comments. And of course, whether or not I ever found Bugs Bunny attractive when he dressed up as a girl to trick Elmer Fudd (there's a whole 'nother column in the works about cartoons too, don't worry).
Browns first: Kenard Lang...well...he was a solid DE. Kudos for cutting weight and getting faster to play OLB because lord knows we needed you there. Kudos for being "the consummate professional" in all of this according to Phil Savage - he really was very gracious in his press conference. And certainly kudos for saying how much you appreciate everything Cleveland and the fans have done for you over the years. On the other hand though, he's 31, coming off of the 2nd worst season in his career (behind rookie year) and he's really not a very attractive man. But the real reason he didn't get re-signed is because his agent is Drew Rosenhaus...so kudos to Kenard for not arguing his release from his front yard. More to the point, we need a solid OLB, and we would have needed one even if Kenard stayed, so I guess I'm okay with this move.
As for Lehan, he really let his stock drop immeasurably when he cut his dreads off. I don't even know when it happened, but I know it did and I'm not real happy about it. Furthermore, we have Leigh Bodden (our #1) Gary Baxter (our # 2) and Daylon McCutcheon (#3) wrapped up for a few more years. However, I think Daylon is overrated, but I'm not running the show, obviously. I guess that's about it for the Browns day today.

Lee Nailon and Flip Murray? I approve.
I bet you expected me to dive into that one, but not so much. I asked Ryan what he thought about it, he liked it, so I agreed - he knows more about the NBA than me. (I'll be putting a link to his blog on here somewhere if I could figure this crap out)

Tribe TV! SportsTime Ohio will be the channel, and it will carry 130 of the Indians' games this season. Mike Hegan, Rick Manning, and John Sanders will be the big 3 doing the talking again, which was probably a good move for the channel. The best thing about this channel is that Jim Donovan is getting himself involved. Aside from Michael Reghi - who is in a league of his own - I think Jim Donovan is one of the best announcers there is. He can precisely describe the Browns entire formation in a matter of about 4 seconds without slipping over a single word...it's incredible, but I digress. Donovan will be doing the pre-game shows and bringing "more energy" to it. What the hell that means is beyond me, but hey, I'm game.

College basketball: There are 9 seconds left in the Nova/Cincy game and I bet Nova to cover the "too-good-to-be-true 3.5 spread" because, well, I'm an idiot. 9 seconds left and it's tied, Nova will take the last shot, and I'm guessing it won't be a 4 pointer to cover for me. Great inbound play, Nova scores, wins by 2. Good for them I suppose. Now for my thoughts about Nova.
These guys are good. I know they only won by 2, but their backcourt is without question the best in the nation. Randy Foye is a man. A 6'4" guard just ripped down 15 boards to go with 25 points...that's incredible. I was gonna comment on how their problem is being undersized, but those guys can play, that's f'damn sure. I'm normally not one to follow small teams thru the tourney, but they might be the best hustle-team I've seen this year. Their starting 5 was a forward and 4 guards and those almost outrebounded the entire UC team - and outrebounded UC on the offensive end by 12-6 by the starters, very impressive stuff. Again, I don't think teams can make it without a solid big man or 2, but what do I know about anything. In response to B's comment about how OSU has Terrence Dials who, admittedly, brings his hard hat and lunch pail on a nightly basis (Reghi, circa 03-04 Boozer times, and yes, that's MLA citation). My only complaint about him is that he could turn into a shaq-esque thing where the opponents could go straight at him and draw fouls, because if he's in foul trouble, it didn't appear to me that OSU had a guy who was sufficiently prominent at driving to the hole. They certianly can knock down 3 after 3, but a cold day ruins them. Obviously, this is all just my opinion. But let's move on.
Bugs Bunny...well, yeah. I was a little turned on. Perhaps this is an explanation to my current fetish involving small woodland creatures and so on. Also, the column that I'm referring to for the future is a critique of the top 20 cartoon characters of all time from a web page i saw the other day.
As always, Go Browns, Cavs and Tribe!