Cleveland Sports. The Dark Cloud that Never Lifts.

[HughBeaumont]

Browns - terrible and never getting better. Poor talent evaluation, lousy lines that year after year seem to get slower, more injury-plagued and talent-void, drafts that should come with a Looney Tunes soundtrack, zero running game due to (drum roll) lousy lines, a rotating door of immobile quarterbacks that cannot throw, receivers that cannot catch, corners that get burned far too often and coaches that seem to be stuck in the 20th century.

Indians - Miserly owner that thinks mimicking the Twins' success will work and has fire sales when it doesn't (resulting in . . . last nights WS opener!), "Little Ball" GM that gives away the pitchers needed to make that work and a rotating door of greens that look lost. Stuck in a sport where you either need gobs of cash or an insane amount of luck to succeed with regularity.

Now the New and Improved Cavs! . . . . can't even beat the goddamned Craptors?? Turkeyglue has our number no matter what team he's on, we cannot set an offense for beans, these new additions just aren't jelling and Mike Brown . . .

I mean, it just infuriates me that we have the best player in the game and we do absolutely NOTHING to help him. 7 years and STILL no "Pippen".

Gee, I wish WE were like Big Market Boston and get a nice Garnett/Allen theft. Or like the Big Market Lakers, where they got the deepest frontcourt in the NBA for pretty much NOTHING.

Our only lottery pick in the LeBron era was a complete BUST (Luke Jackson???). We're STILL paying for the lousy management of Jim Paxson (developed no younger talent and sold first round draft picks for Jiri Welsch). Our frontcourt got bigger . . . and slower . . . and older. Parker and Moon heave brick after airball. Our starting "point" is a bi-polar mess who thinks he's Mad Max. LeBron STILL remains a One Man Team.

New year. SAME old problems.

It's never . . . EVER going to go away. 45 . . . soon to be 46 YEARS with no title in ANY major sport. Absolutely pathetic.

[Auggie]

1. I can understand the baseball team

No one can expect Larry Dolan to incur multi-million dollar losses season after season. Perhaps he has no business owning a small market team, but that's the way it is until an owner comes along with money to burn or baseball moves to the salary cap or true revenue sharing.

[HughBeaumont]

2. I can probably expect the former.

Because ain't no WAY Basebusiness is moving to salary cap. The Big Market Entitlement Machine would never allow it. What are you gonna do in a sport where all but 9 teams are out of the playoff running by about August?

[TZ]

3. But hey the Indians hired Manny Acta!

That should fix everything!

[HughBeaumont]

4. That press conference should have come with multiple facepalms.

Classic Cleveland hire. Unbelievable. There should be gibbets outside of Progressive Field.

[Auggie]

6. This underscores another issue that's a huge problem

Namely, the inability to attract or pay for proven, successful coaching and front-office management. With Acta it came down to dollars. We do know the Browns talked to Bill Cowher -- he would have been offered the keys to the city -- but he turned them down, citing his comfort in TV. Yeah, right.

[HughBeaumont]

7. Pretty much boils down to the old axiom:

"A coach is only as great as the talent he's given."

ANY coach worth their salt knows helming the Br_wns would be a pox on their legacy, and again, that's due in large part to the bumbling front office this organization's been plagued with for a decade straight.

[jakefrep]

5. Geez. TWO games into the NBA season and you're off the bandwagon?

[HughBeaumont]

8. Unless some jelling happens fast . . .

. . . and Brown drops this "Shaq/Z on the floor at the same time" thing, and starts concentrating on an offense that doesn't consist of "wait for LeBron to do something", and we get Delonte West back and some goddamned SHOTS START FALLING, I just think games like this set the pace for your season. I think it's going to be yet another heartbreak instead of an upgrade.

It seems like the NBA has moved away from slow, plodding bigs and last night proved it. Bargnani made our bigs look like bowling balls with legs. I don't even want to THINK about what's going to happen against Orlando, who still has that same indefensible offense and routed Philly without Rashard Lewis.

[dakota_democrat]

9. Cavs would have been better off picking up Ryan Hollins than Shaq.

Yes, Ryan Hollins.

The current Cavs team has no title aspirations unless they find an athletic big guy somewhere.

[Auggie]

10. Here you go: Browns fans plan protest on MNF, 11-16 vs. Ravens

A.P., 10-29-09

Lifelong Browns fan and season-ticket holder Mike Randall, aka "Dawg Pound Mike," is encouraging other Cleveland fans to stay away from their seats for the opening kickoff of the Browns' Nov. 16 home game against Baltimore.

Sickened by the nearly constant losing since the NFL team's return in 1999, Randall hopes the sight of empty seats for the start of the nationally televised Monday night game will send a loud message to owner Randy Lerner and club officials that fans have had enough.

"We're tired of losing," the 39-year-old Randall said. "We're tired of the booing, of seeing fans leave in the fourth quarter. There are fans who have had tickets for 30 years who are turning their seats in because they can't take it anymore. So many fans are fed up."

Randall and his friend Tony Schafer decided to go ahead with plans for the protest following last Sunday's 31-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers. As they walked out of the stadium, they heard fans grumbling about how they're wasting their Sundays and money on an inferior product that seems to be getting worse. Their hope is that fans stay outside the stadium, on concourses or in the restrooms for the start of the game.

The Akron Beacon-Journal first reported the protest, which Randall and Schafer announced on the Web site www.mobiledawg.com .

MORE: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4605603
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Why bother even going? Just stay home.

[HughBeaumont]

13. Anyone who spends money on the Orange and Crap is only prolonging the sorriness.

Yet at the same time, good luck finding cheap and hungry and injury-free athletes in salary-cap football willing to play in a deep-freeze. I think once a team is bad, they really, REALLY have to obtain an insane amount of luck to even hope to get better.

The Browns need 1. a more efficient and knowledgable front office and 2. to put almost total focus on building these LINES. That's pretty much been their worst quality this whole decade. This is why they have no running game and because they have no running game, they're absolutely horrible in the Red Zone . . . thus the baseball-ish scores.

[Capt. America]

16. I gave up on the Clowns years ago and now I have stress-free Sundays. The Clowns should not have

lobbied to get their colors and name back. If they had started with a new name, they could have dropped all of the angst about the Drive and the Fumble and Modell and....ad nauseum.

[Yavin4]

11. This Time Next Year, LeBron Will Be A NY Knick

The Knicks can put a great team around him in FA, and he will be able to make tremendous financial contacts which will enhance his post-NBA career.

[JonLP24]

12. They said the same thing last year

My money is on Lebron staying in Cleveland.

[HughBeaumont]

14. He ain't leaving all that money on the table to go back to Square One.

Especially not with the Knicks, who cannot surround him with even remotely decent players right away. He can get tremendous financial contacts ANYwhere. What, is he going to live at Jamie Dimon's apartment or something?

[Yavin4]

19. A LeBron-less Cavs < NY Knicks

And the the Knicks can add Bosh or Wade.

[HughBeaumont]

26. The NY Sports Entitlement Machine isn't getting him.

Stop listening to Adrian Wojnarowski and concentrate on getting Wade or Bosh instead.

[Capt. America]

15. Brooklyn Nets...with Jay-Z. He'll sell tons of merchandise.

[jakefrep]

17. Wrong...It all boils down to money

And no team will be able to pay him more than the Cavaliers.

[Auggie]

18. Maybe. But Cleveland isn't helping his image.

I expect him to seek teams that will

[Yavin4]

20. You're Right. He Can Make More Money With the Knicks

You're forgetting that he can make far more money in endorsements playing for the Knicks than he can playing for the Cavs. Jordan made most of his fortune off endorsements. He didn't make that much money off of his NBA contract until near the end.

Also, LeBron can build a financial empire by playing for the Knicks.

[JonLP24]

21. He currently ranks #3 of all American athletes when it comes to endorsements

His image his fine and he is one of the most popular players there is. Last year they said he was going to the Knicks I said he wouldn't and he is still in Cleveland. I'm saying the same thing. My money is he stays in Cleveland.

[Yavin4]

22. #3 Aint #1

He can become #1 by coming to NY.

[JonLP24]

23. No he can't

Tiger Woods is #1 and he nearly has 3 times the amount as Lebron. No one is going to top Tiger Woods and being in New York doesn't make the slightest difference. He is well known in the world of ESPN, the Internet, Satellite TV so playing in a bigger market is meaningless.

Think of it this way. Kobe Bryant plays in Los Angeles and makes far less in endorsement deals than Lebron James.

[Yavin4]

24. If LeBron Plays for the Knicks, He Would Be The Greatest Star Athlete In The World

He would easily surpass Tiger, esp. if the Knicks won a championship.

Yes, Kobe plays in L.A., but L.A. is not NY.

[JonLP24]

25. Yes but LA is a bigger media market than Cleveland

and Lebron makes more. I can't imagine anyone surpassing Tiger Woods and Lebron is just fine as far as endorsements go. If he does surpass Tiger where ever he is it certainly won't be 'easily'.

[HughBeaumont]

27. Maybe we should just fold all mid/small market franchises, then.

Send all great players to the Large Market Entitlement Machine and just make all sports the Boston/LA/Chicago/NY/Philadelphia/Detroit League. And the mid/small market "cow towns" can play . . .. lesser sports like AAA baseball (I mean, who are we kidding? What is Basebusiness but LA/Boston/NY and their 27 bitch farm clubs?), volleyball and curling. That's really what you guys and the ESPN/Yahoo people all want anyway.

All those 28 WS championships between the Yanks and the Mets, three Super Bowl wins by the Giants and Jets, five Stanley Cups between the Islanders and the Rangers and the biggest payroll in all of sports just simply isn't enough for you, is it? You all have to have MORE MORE MORE and never give anyone else a chance at all.

[jakefrep]

28. Wrong.

Playing in New York won't make LeBron one bit of difference endorsement-wise.