Cleveland Sports Chatter

[Brett]

Aww no Kobe and Lebron show?

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by Brett
Aww no Kobe and Lebron show?

Not Until Next Year's NBA Final's when they square off against each other.

[Brett]

Wow now that's a pipedream.

At least you still have a chance.

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by Brett
Wow now that's a pipedream.

At least you still have a chance.

But that would be the Best NBA Final in years. It'd be on the level of Magic Vs. Bird. The lakers are really starting to become my Favorite West Coast Team for some reason.

[Brett]

They are? Well there's something you don't hear everyday anymore.

Actually yes I think it would be quite a Finals, you might see it one day, both teams do need a few more pieces.

[POJO_Risin]

I don't think both teams need a "few" pieces...

The Cavs...

They need a more athletic center...unless they plan on putting Varejao and Z together...or using Varejao and dealing Z for someone else...

Not a scoring center...but an athletic center...in the mold of Ben Wallace...someone who can be a defensive and fast break threat...

They need Larry Hughes for a full, healthy year...

They need a point guard...or to just decide Lebron's the point-forward...and move on...

having a guy like Eric Snow and Damon Jones on the floor is not a good thing...

The Lakers?

Odom and Kobe are a good start...

I think Kwame is the athletic center they need if he learns how to move in the post...

Bynum...he's far away...but enticing...

If you acquire another big man (most people think they are going to go after...maybe...Garnett...which I just can't see at this point) to play the power forward spot...say a Carlos Boozer type player...that they wouldn't have to give up the farm for...

and get yourself a distributer and have Parker off the bench...

You've got something...in the triangle...you'd have Kwame at the top...Boozer at the bottom...Kobe playing two...Odom playing three...and say...a distributing point...that can maybe shoot some threes...maybe a guy like Brevin Knight....then you have something...

I think the big man is more key...some muscle...that can perhaps take the pressure off Brown underneath...

I could see the Lakers going after both those guys...

I could also see the Cavs going after Knight...who played with them early in his career...

[Unchainme]

Cleveland Browns Chatter

Okay Folks, My Favorite Pro Team of all time doesn't have its own thread? Yes Folks I love the Browns. We have 8 NFL Titles, Compared to the 5 the Steelers Have, We also have the overall series lead in the Rivalry as well. Now, The Browns have been down ever since Uncle Scum moved us, But not to worry, Thanks to us Acquiring Phil Savage and a Monterous Off-season We shallt be better.



So in the Spirit of Jim Brown lets kick this thread off.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that I may be on Social Security before the Browns win the Super Bowl...

It's only 20 years....

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that I may be on Social Security before the Browns win the Super Bowl...

It's only 20 years....

Yes, But I have to keep Optimistic thats all I have left is OPTIMISIM, Am I crazy? Yes, But you never know with the NFL, I mean how many times have we seen a time that NO one gave a shot to make it back to glory.

I'll use the steelers as an example, who would've thought that in his First Season Roethlisberger would lead his team to an almost undefeated record and Almost a Super Bowl berth.

So you really never know VA.

[Unchainme]

Hi! O-HI-O for Cleveland, for the greatest team in the land,
We raise our voices--in one great chorus, just to make them understand,
We're proud they come from Cleveland, where we play the best football,
Hi! O-HI-O for Cleveland, to the greatest pro team of all

[Unchainme]

The Browns new Uniforms, Going back to our Roots I guess, Last time we had Gray Face Masks The NFL and AFL had just merged.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Sure, you never know...

But at the same time, one could argue that the Browns have actually REGRESSED rather than improved since it's reincarnation....

[Unchainme]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
Sure, you never know...

But at the same time, one could argue that the Browns have actually REGRESSED rather than improved since it's reincarnation....

From 1999-2001, (2002 Not counting since we auctually made the playoffs that year.) and 2003-2004, Sure we really sucked then. But last season we really were showing signs of improvement (Us beating the Dolphins 22-0.), Sure we had bumps in the road (41-0, Man I am never going to live that down.), But we are starting to advance, Hell, the games against you guys could auctually be close this year .

[Unchainme]

BTW, Bro they have the Highlights of The Choke of us in '02 on dawged.net against you guys (Goddamn Prevent Defense!, Davis was a fucking moron.) It's under Wildcard on there.

[Unchainme]

Savage draws rave reviews
By Steve King, Staff Writer
May 25, 2006


He literally took the bat out of his hands by being there, making himself over an hour late for a softball game for Browns employees back in Berea.

But general manager Phil Savage still hit a home run Wednesday, doing so while serving as the guest speaker for the monthly luncheon series at Ohio Prestwick Country Club in Green to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio.

He drew rave reviews in the suburban Akron city for his candid and insightful comments on a variety of topics concerning the Browns. But the biggest hit with the crowd of about 100, made up mostly of local businessmen who also looked to be husbands and fathers - and the subject on which he spent the most time - was the philosophy he said he's using to rebuild the club.

"The goal of the Cleveland Browns is to build a championship-caliber organization on and off the field that will represent Northeast Ohio well," he said.

It's possible to be a success in both areas, he said. In fact, it's a necessity if the Browns are ever going to return to prominence and gain that elusive Super Bowl berth.

"When I was working under Bill Belichick with the Browns in the early 1990s, he wanted players who were in condition, knew what to do and played hard," Savage recalled. "It didn't take too much physically for a player to do those things.

"Then about 1998 or '99 when I was working with the Baltimore Ravens, I started trying to figure out what kind of lifestyle off the field was most conducive to a player being successful. What were the common off-the field traits of the players who made it in the NFL and had substantial (four years and longer) careers?"

But is it really possible, in this day and age when so many athletes in all sports at all levels seem to have questionable values, for a playoff-type team to have good players who are also good people?

Yes, of course, Savage said.

"I've often referred to the old Woody Hayes saying of, ‘You win with people,'" he said, "But more and more, I'm starting to believe a philosophy from a book I read where it says you win with the right people."

Does it mean the Browns will automatically bypass a talented player who has off-the-field issues?

"No, we're trying to find good football players," Savage said. "But our goal is to find guys who are both. We're not always successful, but we try."

But Savage is determined to be successful in this search more often than not. He's determined to make it work here in Cleveland.

Doubt his chances? Keep in mind that this is a man who, as a boy growing up in Mobile, Ala., came home from an overnight church lock-in event with the skin rubbed off his face after trying to win a race in which contestants had to roll a potato along the floor with their nose.

"I'm very competitive," Savage said.

He said only about 15 players remain from the group he inherited when he was hired in early January 2005.

He's also overhauled other areas of the organization to establish what he said was a sorely-needed "culture of winning."

He said Crennel is "the right coach for the right time. He's the authority figure for the team. The players like him."

"Last year, we had $24 million of dead money on the salary cap (players getting paid but no longer with the club)," he said. "Since 1993 when the salary cap went into existence, teams with more than $20 million of dead money averaged only five wins. So we exceeded that by one (with a 6-10 season in 2005).

"Other than that time on Christmas Eve (a 41-0 loss to Pittsburgh), we were in every game. It was hard for teams to beat us. They didn't just roll over us."

All this after he came home from the Browns' 27-13 season-opening loss to Cincinnati and dejectedly lamented to his wife, Dorothy, "I'm not sure we're going to win a game. This looks like it's going to be a long season."

The Browns used the year to get their program implemented and for all the new players and coaches to learn to work together. Now, after what the Browns deem to have been a successful offseason involving a productive free-agency signing period and draft, they're ready to see if it can translate to continued improvement on the field.

And off the field as well.

Explained Savage, "If we can get enough people working together, we can not only win, but win the right way - the way the Browns fans want, with dignity, class and true professionalism."