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On Columbus and the Browns

May 22, 2013 – 4:48 pm

At first, anyway, I didn’t think much of the press release in my email this morning about the Browns reaching a deal with a new Columbus sports radio station.

I work on Sundays in the fall, usually, and when I don’t and I’m in Columbus I usually go to a bar and watch 18 football games at once.

Rough gig. Somebody has to do it.

Anyway, the Browns, like all teams, send press releases so people will talk about them. And after I read it, I started thinking about something, and then started thinking about writing something about what I was thinking. That’s how these blogs often work.

And here’s what I think: It would be in the best interest of the Browns to try to matter in Columbus as this latest new group tries to build a brand, have success and sustain it. I’m not alone in my thinking.

“Columbus is an extremely important market to the Browns,” new team president Alec Scheiner said in a statement announcing the deal with 95.5 FM. “This addition to our network will allow our fans in this region to follow all of our games as well as other team programming.”

We know the only way the Browns are going to grow their fan base and visibility is to win on the field, and we know that’s 100 times more important than any marketing deal or radio announcement. But in just a few months on the job the new leadership group has already done a new radio deal in the home market and made several big-money hires in areas pertaining to winning (read: profiting) off the field even if the team isn’t winning on it.

I don’t live in Columbus — at least not on a full-time basis — but I see a lot of Steelers gear when I’m there. And a decent amount of Colts gear, too. And the Bengals are on the rise, and they’re only 110 or so miles away.

Columbus is far and away Ohio’s largest city. In the profit and TV viewer-driven world of the NFL in 2013, it’s a very valuable battle ground.

On Sundays at 1 p.m. in the fall, the Columbus CBS affiliate often has a tough decision to make on which game to show, Bengals or Browns. The way I understand it, showing the Browns almost always used to be the relatively easy call. The results of the last couple years when both teams play in the same window have changed that thinking. The bottom line is, if the Bengals are playing significant games in the back half of the season, the Bengals are going to be on TV.

In that case, Browns fans are going to have to go to the bar (they’re undefeated at that) or to the radio. And over time, the team that’s on more TVs is generally going to both gain and keep the most fans.

Additionally, I don’t know if NFL teams are still going to be leaving town for training camp very often anymore now that the new CBA has eliminated two-a-days and so many teams have so many amenities in their own, full-time buildings. But Browns CEO Joe Banner comes from the Eagles, who always went out of town for camp. And if that’s something the Browns ever explore, Columbus is not only going to be on the list of places to explore but probably at the top. More people equals more money and more buzz, and training camp remains one of the few things in today’s NFL that teams are selling on their own.

Columbus is very much a football town, and there’s every reason to believe it’s going to be home for the next several years (at minimum) to a championship-level football team that plays (almost always) on Saturdays. NFL scouts will be flocking to Ohio State, and it can’t hurt the Browns to make an effort to sell themselves around the city. Whether it’s riding the wave or starting a new one doesn’t matter. Keeping and gaining fans there does.

The NFL reaches its fans 12 months a year these days. The league and its 32 teams like when fans reach into their wallets.

Mostly, this is something to blog and talk about. But with Andrew Luck, the Steelers and the Bengals sharing that 200 or so mile radius, the Browns have a battle on their hands to regain Columbus. It will be interesting to see if they can.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL | Tagged , , |


14-year-old Guan will play in The Memorial

May 20, 2013 – 12:52 pm

The latest next big thing in golf will play in next week’s Memorial Tournament.

The Memorial announced Monday that 14-year-old Chinese amateur sensation Tianlang Guan has accepted an exemption to compete next week at the 38th edition of Jack Nicklaus’ event at Muirfield Country Club in Dublin.

Tianlang became the youngest player to make a cut in a major championship in PGA Tour history at The Masters last month. His invitation to the first major of the season came by way of his victory at the 2012 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, and since the Masters has played in two additional PGA events.

“I am very excited to accept the invitation to play at the Memorial Tournament,” Tianlang said in a statement. “It is Jack Nicklaus’ event, and the same as all the golf fans out there I have very high respect to Mr. Nicklaus, not just as a golf legend, but also as a great person. He has been actively involved in the development of golf in China, and junior golf development worldwide, and as a junior golfer myself I appreciate what he has done to help us grow. My parents and I got the chance to meet him in person at the Masters, and that was one of the highlights of my week at Augusta National. I appreciate a lot the Memorial Tournament for having me there, and it is going to be a great week.”

Said Nicklaus: “I have had the fortunate pleasure of spending time with Guan and his family, and I have found him to be mature beyond his years and very passionate about his development in the game. The performance of this young 14-year-old—who, mind you, is just an eighth-grader—in making the cut at the Masters and then in New Orleans was fantastic. Winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur was a great achievement in and of itself, but his maturity, composure and competitiveness in these two significant events sends a message that this young man has a wonderful future. For the growth of the game internationally, he is a role model for all aspiring Asian amateurs, as well as young boys and girls around the globe, so it is only appropriate to give him another opportunity to compete on a world-class stage.”

Posted in Golf | Tagged , , |


Xavier’s basketball future looking bright

May 17, 2013 – 6:08 pm

Indiana transfer Remy Abell has announced he’ll transfer to Xavier, continuing a strong run of commitments for coach Chris Mack and the Musketeers as they prepare to move to the Big East.

Abell, a 6’4 guard out of Louisville, Ky., played two seasons at Indiana and will have two more at Xavier after sitting out the 2013-14 season.

Also on Friday the school announced the addition of 6’8 Bulgarian forward Aleksandar Vezenkov, who’s played for his country’s junior national team and as an amateur in a Greek pro league. The 17-year old Venenkov is eligible to play next season.

With essentially a whole lineup of five players either concentrating on academics or playing elsewhere last season, a relatively young Xavier team took its lumps and missed the postseason but still finished 17-14. If Jalen Reynolds and Miles Davis get eligible and are ready to contribute for this season, the Musketeers will be in position to take a leap.

Joining Vezenkov in this summer’s incoming freshman class are 6’5 forward Kamall Richards and point guard Brandon Randolph,a  four-star prospect by Scout.com rated as the nation’s 15th best point guard prospect. Big man transfer Matt Strainbook (Cleveland/Western Michigan) will also be eligible this season.

Xavier already has two commits in the class of 2014, from four-star power forward Melvin Swift of Houston and three-star guard Edmond Sumner of Detroit. With Semaj Christon as the likely centerpiece for the next three years, the future for Xavier could be very bright.

Posted in Big East Conference, NCAA Basketball, Xavier | Tagged , , , , , |


Never boring Kent State baseball wins another wild one

May 17, 2013 – 2:55 pm

AKRON – Standing in the Canal Park dugout as the game wore on and the scoreboard re-started the inning count, Kent State coach Scott Stricklin had a little deja vu.

Maybe the most famous game in Kent State’s famous run to the College World Series last summer was the first, a 21-inning win over Kentucky in the regionals. And here, Thursday night, with not as much on the line but still in an important spot, Stricklin thought back.

It’s a different year and a totally different set of circumstances, but the Flashes finally beat Akron, 5-4, in 17 innings Thursday night to keep their hopes alive of winning the Mid-American Conference regular-season title. The winning run was produced when Derek Toadvine advanced from first to third on a Sawyer Polen bunt in the top of the 17th, then scored on an Evan Campbell top fly.

All are familiar names from last year’s run.

“It was after that 21 inning game that we really took it to a new level last year,” Stricklin said.

So the challenge is there again. Kent State will have to win next week’s MAC tournament in Avon, Ohio to get back to the NCAA tournament; either the Flashes or Buffalo will be the No. 1 seed.

Kent State took a 4-0 lead in the first three innings Thursday night; the Zips got all their runs in one big inning. Three times in extra innings Thursday Akron left a runner stranded on third base.

The night’s other big winner was Akron Children’s Hospital; the seventh annual Diamond Classic for Kids drew a crowd of more than 2,200 and raised almost $21,000 for the hospital.

“Get something to eat and get some sleep,” Stricklin told his team after the game — and about 12 hours before they were due back on the bus for the second game of the series. In college baseball, the show goes on quickly.

A boring program Kent State is not. It is one that’s used to playing its best at this time of year, and we’ll see starting today (game two of the series started at 3 p.m.) if the Flashes can ride the momentum they gained from winning in 17 innings.

Toadvine’s baserunning heroics can be seen in the video below

Posted in Akron Zips, Kent State Golden Flashes, MAC | Tagged , , , |


Adding Hoyer makes things interesting, to say the least

May 16, 2013 – 8:16 pm

BEREA, Ohio – Thursday was the third day of Browns OTA practices and the first open to the media. It was a beautiful, sunny day that featured a practice with a noticeably faster tempo than has been seen in Berea recently, Brandon Weeden operating the first-team offense and head coach Rob Chudzinski answering a question about the quarterbacks and the possibility of adding another by saying, “all of that remains to be seen.”

And, yes, what happens from here very much remains to be seen.

Multiple reports early Thursday evening said the Browns have signed Cleveland-area native Brian Hoyer, who was released by the Arizona Cardinals early this week.

Again, the Browns are three days into OTAs. And they’ve decided to add a quarterback who’s now on his fourth team in nine months. That says something — maybe a lot — about what the decision makers have seen from Weeden and Jason Campbell in minicamp and the first three days of OTAs. We know zero about the team’s plans for Hoyer at this point, but you don’t sign a guy a week into OTAs to be a third-stringer.

That makes what remains to be seen pretty interesting. When it comes to not having a certain starting quarterback, interesting doesn’t usually mean good.

Perpetually interesting, these Browns. For 14 years now — minus Derek Anderson’s three magical months in 2007 and Tim Couch’s periodic flashes of brilliance in the back half of 2002 — this franchise has searched for anything resembling an answer at quarterback, and that’s why the people calling the shots for this franchise have changed so much.

This new group has now added another to the mix. If there wasn’t really a quarterback race before — and there probably wouldn’t have been had Weeden been anything resembling good from now through August — there is one now.

To this untrained eye, the best quarterback on the field at Thursday’s practice was Campbell, the veteran signed in March to his fourth team in five seasons. That opinion means nothing; really, one May practice means nothing in the grand scheme, especially with a new staff installing new things and still on what has to be a nametag basis with its players.

But now a new guy joins the mix; a guy who, like the other guys, has played a little and has done little to indicate that great things are ahead. We don’t know how they’ll try to spin it, but the Browns certainly have a quarterback question and might have a full-fledged quarterback competition on their hands, one that brings back bad memories of Anderson vs. Charlie Frye and Anderson vs. Brady Quinn and — I guess — Colt McCoy vs. Seneca Wallace, if that ever really happened.

Here’s what Weeden said not long after Thursday’s practice when asked how he’d felt out there: “My third day was not as good as my first two days. Day One and Day Two, I was making completions everywhere.”

Here’s what Weeden said when asked if he thought he’d be the starter: “I’m approaching it that way. I’m approaching it that I’m going to take the next step and be that guy.”

The team’s latest move suggests, at very least, a dissenting opinion.

Stay tuned. As always, it promises to be interesting.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL | Tagged , , |


T.J. Ward hosting youth football camp Saturday

May 16, 2013 – 6:34 pm

AKRON – Browns safety T.J. Ward is hosting a football camp Saturday, May 18 for boys and girls aged 7-14.

The camp will take place at Lakeview Stadium on Graham Rd. in Stow. Ward will be on hand interacting with campers and will sign autographs upon conclusion.

Staff from MKU athletics, a local athletic training center, will assist with instruction at the camp.

Registration opens at 8 a.m. Saturday. The camp runs from 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Cost is $50 in advance, $75 day of camp. Campers can pre-register through the MKU Athletics website.

 

Posted in Cleveland Browns | Tagged , |


McFadden’s OTA absence shouldn’t last

May 16, 2013 – 3:26 pm

BEREA, Ohio – Rookie cornerback Leon McFadden is absent from the Browns first week of organized team activity (OTA) practices this week due to an antiquated NFL rule, but his absence isn’t expected to be a long one.

Browns Head Coach Rob Chudinski said McFadden will be back next week, and that’s good news for both the team and for McFadden.

NFL rules prohibit rookies whose schools are still in regular academic session from attending OTAs. In some past cases, players have had to miss the entire OTA period. The rule does not apply to full-squad minicamp, which most teams hold in June to conclude this portion of their offseason.

Under the new CBA, teams get 10 OTA days that most use over three weeks, then wrap up with a three-day, full-squad minicamp in either the first or second week of June. The rule used to keep Ohio State players out of OTAs, but Ohio State switched from quarters to semesters for the 2012-13 academic year.

McFadden’s absence is glaring because the secondary is arguably the Browns’ weakest area at this point; it certainly seems to be the thinnest. A third-round pick last month, McFadden should get snaps immediately and compete for a starting job. Buster Skrine worked opposite Joe Haden Thursday in the first practice open to the media.

Undrafted rookie running back Robbie Rouse (Fresno State) is also absent from OTAs due to the academic calendar issue.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Draft 2012, NCAA Football, NFL | Tagged , , , |


‘One tough dude,’ Cribbs signs with Oakland

May 15, 2013 – 6:36 pm

We knew the Browns and Joshua Cribbs were going to part ways, and after several false alarms it has happened.

Cribbs has a new team, the Oakland Raiders. He signed a one-year deal on Wednesday after a prolonged and strange free agency courtship that included plenty of suitors — and plenty of concern about the knee Cribbs had scoped after the Pro Bowl.

As recently as this week, Jets general manager John Idzik said publicly that his team’s medical staff believed the knee “wasn’t there yet.”

The Browns weren’t one of the suitors for Cribbs. Even though they never gave a straight answer as to why, it’s understandable. The Browns are new again at the coaching and administrative levels, and Cribbs was fazed out of the offense last year, became eligible for unrestricted free agency in March and turns 30 in June.

He’s not the same player he once was, but for a long time he was darn good.

Cribbs’ eight kickoff returns for touchdowns are tied with Leon Washington for the most in NFL history. He was also good covering kicks, and there was never any question about his work ethic or his desire to win. He never shied away from sharing his feelings in public, and his desire for a new contract in 2009 caused a stink, in part because the team stunk then.

He ended up getting his desired extension at a salary that wasn’t as big as advertised. The team got its money’s worth.

The best three players of the “new” Browns era are, in some order, Phil Dawson, Joe Thomas and Cribbs. Dawson and Cribbs both left via free agency for Northern California this offseason.

Signing a one-year deal with the Raiders means Cribbs needed a job. The Raiders figure they’ll get their money’s worth, too, and see what’s still in the tank. Even if Cribbs never gets to play in a playoff game, his journey from skinny Kent State quarterback to undrafted utility man and top-level return man has been a remarkable one.

Someday, he’ll go into the Browns’ Ring of Honor (or whatever the people who are running the team at the time call it). That his exit now is nothing more than a simple line in the daily NFL transactions says a lot about the fleeting, unforgiving nature of the NFL.

To say the least, it’s a tough business. Here, Cribbs will be remembered as one tough dude.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Kent State Golden Flashes, MAC, New York Jets, NFL | Tagged , , |


UPDATE: Michigan St. yanks rapper’s scholarship

May 14, 2013 – 7:08 pm

DatBull spun it like he has better things to do than play dat ball.

Michigan State sees it a little differently.

As we blogged last night, according to this story, a Michigan State wide receiver recruit from Pennsylvania informed his parents and the school that he’s picking a rap career over a college football career.

But this Philly.com story says Jay Harris was stripped of his scholarship after releasing a rap video that showed him lighting a marijuana cigarette and using explicit lyrics.

Genius.

Harris does have an album slated for a June 1 release, and it’s not like we’re rooting against him. He was removed from the roster of the prestigious Big 33 Game set for June and is apparently done with football. Dat is bold.

Posted in Big Ten Conference, NCAA Football | Tagged , , |


Tiger Woods commits to The Memorial

May 14, 2013 – 3:02 pm

Tiger Woods is coming back to Dublin and he Memorial tournament.

Tournament officials announced Tuesday that Woods, the defending champion who’s fresh off a win at The Players Championship last weekend, has committed to playing in the tournament he’s won five times.

This year’s tournament is May 30-June 2 at Muirfield Village.

The announcement isn’t a surprise given Woods’ past success at the tournament and the respect he has for Jack Nicklaus, but it’s still big news. With four wins this season, Woods is firmly back as the world’s No. 1 golfer.

“It’s an honor to come back here as defending champion,” Woods said in a statement. “It’s always great to win a tournament, but when it’s Jack’s, it’s extra special. I look forward to the Memorial every year, and Jack does everything he can to make it an outstanding event.”

Last year’s win was Woods’ 73rd on the PGA Tour, tying Nicklaus.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , |