Cleveland Sports Chatter

[twonabomber]

in today's paper...Grossi is a smartass...

Q: Hey, Tony: Is it just my TV reception here in St. Louis, or do an awful lot of Browns fans show up disguised as empty seats? - Jonathan Kirk

A: Hey, Jonathan: Those are real people with faces painted orange. They blend in with the smattering of empty seats in the stands.

[twonabomber]

Cache of cash will buoy Browns

Sunday, December 10, 2006
Tony Grossi
Plain Dealer Reporter

The Browns will have a lot of holes to fill in the third off-season of the reign of General Manager Phil Savage as general manager. And they will have plenty of money and room under the salary cap to fill them.

NFL teams were informed last week that the salary cap will increase to $109 million in 2007 (up from $102 million this year) and it will rise in 2008 to $116 million.

According to figures published by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Browns currently rank fifth in the league in projected salary cap room for 2007. They have $33.3 million to spend. The only teams with more room are San Francisco ($42.1 million), Buffalo ($39.7 million), Arizona ($36.7 million) and Tennessee ($36 million).

Last year, Savage was one of the league's top spenders in free agency. He doled out more than $100 million in maximum value contracts to sign center LeCharles Bentley, left tackle Kevin Shaffer, linebacker Willie McGinest, nose tackle Ted Washington, receiver Joe Jurevicius, punter Dave Zastudil, tight end Darnell Dinkins and center/guard Bob Hallen.

The returns have been mixed, to say the least.

The Browns are currently reviewing their needs for 2007 and gauging the players available in free agency against those positions in the draft.

They will have needs on offensive and defensive line, cornerback, running back and quarterback.

In addition, the Browns figure to lose some players to free agency. Scheduled to become unrestricted free agents after this season are: offensive linemen Cosey Coleman, Hank Fraley and Lennie Friedman; defensive linemen Alvin McKinley and Nick Eason; cornerback Ralph Brown; receiver/returner Dennis Northcutt; and safety Brian Russell.

Savage said last week that he does not foresee re-signing any of his potential free agents before the end of the regular season.

[POJO_Risin]

Savage's last chance...

he better get someone worth a damn...or he's done...

maybe he shouldn't have left Baltimore...

[SA ME WHO]

3rd pick in the draft, right? What are they going to do with it? Will Russell come out early? Will he be on the board when the Browns pick? Will the Browns stick with the Frye/Anderson show and ignore quarterbacks?

They need a lot of help. Much will be determined through free agency, but I agree this is the last dance for Savage/Crennel if the 07 season is a bust. They need a good FA class and draft and to see SOME improvement (I'm guessing at least a .500 record) to ensure any kind of chance of returning.

(Who's going to be the big injury next season that will be "the reason" they had a hard time succeeding?)

[Mama's Fool]

They need an offensive tackle and bolster the defensive line. For every team it must start there and the ones that struggle (Arizona) can't seem to figure that out.

[SA ME WHO]

I wonder if Alan Branch is going to come out. Much as I hate Michigan, he seems like he'd be a good place to start. (Though, I don't know if #3 is too good for him. But, if Russell's off the board, I wouldn't mind seeing the Browns trade down a couple of spots and get a FEW picks out of their original pick.)

[High Life Man]

Any of you cats coming up Milwaukee way to see the Indians take on the Angels?

I'll be there Wednesday night.

Oh yeah, the roof is completely worth it. Even if it did kill like 67 people.

[chi-town324]

the commish gets his way again!

[High Life Man]

The commish, aside from living in Milwaukee, had nothing to do with it.

The owner of the Indians suggested it because it has a roof and the Angels are going to the East Coast.

[chi-town324]

Originally posted by High Life Man
The commish, aside from living in Milwaukee, had nothing to do with it.

The owner of the Indians suggested it because it has a roof and the Angels are going to the East Coast.

dont buy it for a second....Bud man always has his hands in things

[High Life Man]

Bud has nothing to do with it. NOTHING. The new owner is his own man...and a billionaire.

Updated: April 10, 2007
Indians feel right at home in Milwaukee
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com

MILWAUKEE -- As the bets went around the clubhouse and the Cleveland Indians guessed how many people would show up for their 2007 home opener, 450 miles away from Jacobs Field, pitcher Joe Borowski admitted he was the cruelest.

"I thought it would be like five, maybe 500," Borowski said. "I thought it would be like an American Legion game. I mean, come on, less than 24 hours' notice? I didn't think anyone would be here."

His teammates agreed, for the most part. So imagine the look on their faces when they took the field here Tuesday night and saw Miller Park's first and second decks loaded with baseball fans. Imagine what they were thinking in the third inning, when Brewers officials had to open the outfield bleachers to accommodate even more fans. And imagine the befuddlement when, in the eighth inning, the attendance was officially announced at 19,031.

"You can't say enough about Milwaukee," Borowski said. "I was amazed. Absolutely amazed. Nobody imagined this. It actually felt like a home game."

Kelly Shoppach
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Indians catcher Kelly Shoppach sits in the dugout at Milwaukee's Miller Park before Tuesday's home game against the Angels.

The Indians did everything they could to ensure that would be the case, from bringing their own scoreboard videos showing Grady Sizemore making diving catches and Travis Hafner hitting home runs to playing each player's requested song when he stepped up to the plate. Even Slider, the team's mascot, got into the act, making the trip to Milwaukee so he could twist his way down Bernie Brewer's slide after Kelly Shoppach and Casey Blake hit Indians home runs.

In the top of the ninth, when Borowski came in to close out the game, the Miller Park sound system blasted "Wild Thing," a tribute to the baseball classic "Major League," which was filmed in Milwaukee.

No, this wasn't Jacobs Field. But considering the foot of snow that blanketed the Indians' stadium over the weekend, a dumping the team is using flatbed trucks to remove, this wasn't all that bad.

"I thought maybe there would be like 2,000 fans," reliever Roberto Hernandez said. "But the people from Milwaukee showed a lot. It felt like a regular game out there tonight."

When it all was finished, the team that hadn't played since the previous Wednesday pounded out 10 hits en route to a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Yet afterward, the buzz in the Indians clubhouse wasn't Sizemore's three stolen bases or Shoppach's game-ending laser of a throw that nailed Erick Aybar attempting to steal second base.

No, the Indians wanted to talk about this crowd. And more specifically, a slow-motion wave the fans did during the seventh inning that nearly put the team in a trance. The slow-motion wave is a tradition that was started during football games at the University of Wisconsin.

"It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen," Borowski said. "I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me."

"I had never seen the slo-mo wave before," manager Eric Wedge said. "That locked me up."

Tuesday's crowd was decidedly pro-Indian, understandable considering Milwaukee's relative proximity to Cleveland as opposed to Anaheim. Several fans wore headdresses and war paint. One held up a sign that read, "Jobu needs a refill," another tribute to "Major League."

During batting practice, all the Indians had to do was look seven rows behind their dugout and they would have had an idea what was in store for them. There, an hour-and-a-half before doors opened to the public, two Indians die-hards watched the team hit with the exuberance of two toddlers on Christmas morning.

But these weren't your ordinary Indians backers. One of them, John Lowther, works for the Brewers as the Italian sausage in Miller Park's famous sausage race.

"It's true," Lowther said. "We snuck in the employee entrance so I could watch batting practice. I love the Indians. They're my hometown team. Just make sure everyone knows I cheer for the Brewers, too."

Officials from both teams, as well as Major League Baseball, didn't decide until late Monday morning to play the series in Milwaukee, and only then after it was discovered that other potential locations -- mainly Houston and St. Petersburg, Fla., -- couldn't accommodate the necessary hotel rooms for both teams.

The decision left Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers' executive vice president of business operations, with a daunting task: put on a major league baseball game, complete with ushers, ticket takers, parking attendants, police officers, concessions, clubhouse attendants and a laundry list of other folks in a little more than 24 hours.

His staff had to do everything from order food -- because many of the concessions are perishables and the Brewers aren't due home until April 19 -- to clean out the Brewers locker room so the Angels could use it.

"And I was supposed to be home early last night," Schlesinger joked. "But you know what? Our staff came together and really made a commitment to get this done. And it worked."

When Indians and Brewers officials agreed to sell tickets for $10, the goal was to fill Miller Park's first level with an estimated 9,000 fans. Three seasons ago, when the Florida Marlins faced the Montreal Expos at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field because of Hurricane Ivan, just over 4,000 fans showed up. But by game time Tuesday night, the first and second levels of Miller Park were nearly filled. By the top of the third inning, cars were still backed up waiting to enter the parking lot. Concession lines ran 20 to 25 people deep. And stadium officials opened the outfield bleacher seats to accommodate even more fans.

"I don't know what we would have done if even more people would have showed up," one Brewers official said. "We might have been in trouble."

Depending on the weather, big crowds are expected for the rest of the series as well. Ten thousand tickets already have been sold for Wednesday night's game and 6,000 for Thursday afternoon. Tuesday, 8,000 fans bought a ticket in the three hours leading up to the game.

"This just shows people in Milwaukee are big baseball fans," Schlesinger said. "They take pride in their ballpark; they take pride in their piece in all of this. It shows you how proud they are and how much they love baseball. This is truly a great baseball city."

The Brewers will not make any money on the series. Nor will the Indians and Angels lose money they would have earned on ticket sales or concessions. Major League Baseball told Schlesinger to keep track of his expenses as well as revenue from the series and that MLB would decide later how the teams would be reimbursed.

MLB representatives did not return a phone message Tuesday, but spokesman Rich Levin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday that any shortfall of income for the series will come out of an MLB contingency fund.

"They informed us to do what we needed to do to pull this off," Schlesinger said. "So that's what we worried about."

The scene Tuesday night was both surreal and perfect. After all, there were the Indians, in their home whites, taking the field in someone else's stadium. And there was the voice of Bob Uecker, 1,500 miles away in Miami, calling the Brewers and Marlins on the stadium's audio feed.

Yet at the same time, it was a night for the fan. Luxury suites were closed. The front rows weren't filled with suits and ties but rather with college kids and families who otherwise wouldn't get a chance to get an up-close view of America's pastime. Tuesday night, toddlers ran up and down Miller Park's aisles. Families took their kids to their first game. And everyone seemed to smile. In the seventh inning, when the fans executed the slo-mo wave to perfection, the stadium erupted. It did the same in the ninth, when Borowski entered to "Wild Thing."

"It was quite a scene out there," Sizemore said. "Something I don't think anyone expected."

Yet for all the fans who were here for the baseball or the cheap tickets or an inexpensive night on the town, for all the feel-good moments Tuesday night's game brought on and off the field, there were those who were drawn to Miller Park for other reasons. Take the group of college kids wandering around the second level with empty cartons of Miller Lite on their heads, one of them holding a sign that revealed their ultimate focus:

WE'RE HERE FOR THE BEER.

Wayne Drehs is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn3.com.

[Unchainme]

BUMP

For obvious reasons..

[Unchainme]

LeBron bewilders Pistons as Cavaliers inch closer to NBA finals

ssociated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- LeBron James used one of the most spectacular performances in playoff history to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to the verge of their greatest season.

James' career playoff-high 48 points -- including 29 of his team's final 30 -- carried the Cavaliers to within a win of the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history with a 109-107 double-overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

James made a go-ahead layup with 2.2 seconds left and Detroit's Chauncey Billups missed a shot in the lane on the ensuing possession.

It was one of the many driving shots that James made look easy.

"Why should I be surprised? I was making a lot of great moves," James said. "They are definitely a great defensive team, but I was determined to attack."

The Pistons blew a seven-point lead with 3:15 left in regulation and lost the third straight game in the series after winning the first two at home.

Game 6 is Saturday night in Cleveland and if necessary, Game 7 will be Monday night back at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The San Antonio Spurs, who eliminated Utah on Wednesday, have a week off before hosting Game 1 of the NBA finals.

Detroit can only hope the series ends like its last postseason matchup with the Cavs.

The Pistons won the first two games of the conference semifinals last year, then lost three straight and needed to win on the road and then at home in Game 7.

James was 18-of-33 from the field, making both of his 3-pointers, and 10-of-14 from the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals in a performance that might end up be a defining game of his career.

"We tried to trap him and get it out of his hands, but he attacked," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "We'll definitely have to do something different next time."

The 22-year-old star showed he's human, though, airballing a shot just before the shot clock expired with 6.6 seconds left in the first overtime that gave Detroit a chance to force another period.

James put Billups on the line with 3.1 seconds left and he made two free throws to make it 100-all.

The Cavs have prided themselves on not being a one-man show, but James just about did it alone against a team in the conference finals for the fifth straight year.

He simply took over late in regulation and in both overtimes, choosing to attack the basket with driving layups and dunks instead of deferring to teammates.

James scored 32 more points than Cleveland's second-leading scorer, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who fouled out with 16 points. Rookie Daniel Gibson, who also fouled out, was the only other double-digit scorer, with 11.

"Somebody told me that in the locker room that he scored 29 of our last 30 points and I could not believe it," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "Everybody keeps asking for more, and he keeps giving more.

"I feel bad that my words don't do justice what he did."

The Pistons, meanwhile, seemed to finally put a complete game together and each of their starters scored at least 10.

Richard Hamilton scored 26, Chauncey Billups had 21 and Chris Webber scored 20. Rasheed Wallace had 17 points and Tayshaun Prince added 10.

It wasn't enough.

Game notes
Both teams were slowed by foul trouble and Detroit had to play the final three quarters without its top reserve, forward Antonio McDyess, because his right arm appeared to hit Anderson Varejao's neck as he went in for a layup and he was automatically ejected with a flagrant-two foul. ... James averaged 28 1/2 points in two games at home after scoring 29 total in the first two games, including a playoff-low 10 points in the series opener. ... Faces in the crowd included Anita Baker, New Orleans point guard Chris Paul and Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek, who said he still doesn't know if he will retire or return to Detroit.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=270531008

[Unchainme]

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[sadaist]

Jesus Christ! LeBron was incredible tonight in the two OT's. Sure was fun to watch.