WFNY Podcast #16
March 18, 2009Bounce Back: Jackets Edge Blackhawks in OT
March 19, 2009
While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
According to some sources, the Browns inked Ravens CB Corey Ivy to a one-year deal last night. According to the Daily News, even this ex-Raven provided a Jets connection to a Browns pickup.
The Jets-Ivy flirtation was fishy. He visited the Jets on the first day of free agency and the Jets were ready to announce a deal, but it fell apart. Maybe he found out the Jets were on the verge of trading for Lito Sheppard and he didn’t want to be a third corner. Maybe he flunked the physical. I’m not sure, but he left without a contract. [New York Daily News]
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More bad news on Cliff Lee from Castrovince… “Wow. Cliff Lee took quite a lump today — 10 runs (nine earned) on 11 hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. It reads as bad as it looked, and it looked heinous. Lee said he was just trying to locate his fastballs today. And I could definitely locate them. There was one that landed near the warning track in right, there was one off the center-field wall, there was one that cruised past his left ear on a liner up the middle…. well, you get the idea.” [Indians / Castrovince]
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Thad Matta might have been the greatest recruiter in the history of college basketball if his freshman would become sophomores. “If they had, if his freshmen had become sophomores and then juniors, Ohio State would be going for two titles in a row. Three if Daequan Cook had been able to guard anybody and could have been trusted in the 2007 Final Four.” [Bill Livingston / PD]
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While it might not have them all, electrify the start of your day with this video of Lebron chasing down fools who think they can go straight to Lebron’s basket. And make no mistake. That is HIS basket. Keep its name out ya mouth. (or something.)
30 Comments
that video has officially electrified my day!
im ready for 12 hours of bball today… portland is coming off a win in indy last night lets jump on them early.
say it with me, everyone: it’s only spring training, it’s only spring training, it’s only spring training. Doesn’t anyone remember what Cliff Lee’s spring training performance was LAST year? You know, the year he won the Cy Young? Quit worrying, these are meaningless games.
Cory Ivy is a GOOD signing, I don’t even think RandyOSU can argue with this one. And they didn’t even get LBJ’s DEMOLITION of J-Rich’s Attempted 360.
you may not think that, S-Dub, but just wait: the argument is coming.
S-Dub/B-bo:
Corey Ivy turns 32 on March 29th. This year’s Terry Cousin. Good signing S-Dub? Sure……if you agree that signing one 32 year old journeyman backup after another to build your foundation is a good strategy.
Here’s some more exciting news…….we cut this dude YEARS ago:
On July 12 2000, he was signed by the Cleveland Browns and was part of their training camp before being waived on August 27.
Gotta agree with Randy on this one, though I think Ivy is a little better than Cousin. He may actually defense a pass this season.
you may not think that, S-Dub, but just wait: the argument is coming.
Now YOU’VE done it. Baseless accusations when all he is doing is providing an opinion. MY OPINION CANNOT BE WRONG!!!!
MANKOK!!!!!
I will agree that the Ivy signing is certainly not an earth-mover, but I disagree with your fundamental argument, Randy:
A 1-year contract is hardly “signing one 32 year old journeyman backup after another to build your foundation…”
A lot of these guys are 1 or 2 year bridges until the new regime has time to draft their core. To insinuate that guys like Ivy are in their long term plans is a fallacy in argument, at best.
That said, I’m not turning backflips over this move, either. I’m all for depth, though.
@ DP: To insinuate that guys like Ivy are in their long term plans is a fallacy in argument, at best.
If not fallacious argumentation, what would the insinuation be, at worst? (Not picking a fight, just curious.)
I am not doing backflips either DP, but I am hoping this.
Corey Ivy > Hank Poteat > Terry Cousin
That’s all I am hoping for. Then again, despite the sophomore struggles, I like Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald. I am sure not everyone is satisfied with them as the starting corners.
#8 Grammar Police:
For Randy to say that the FO is signing these guys to one and two year contracts AS A MEANS TO BUILD THE FOUNDATION OF THE TEAM I believe is an incorrect assumption.
Better?
DP-here’s where the core of your argument fails:
Mankok doesn’t have a 2/3 year bridge. They need to get things moving in the right direction immediately, certainly winning and in playoff mode by that time. If you want to think otherwise wait and see. They will be out by year 2/3 given your statement. (Kendall Lewis said the same think on-air yesterday).
Tell me guys…….what are they “building”?
Let’s see who’s closer to reality after two years of Mankok.
The superfluousness nature of these posts manifests discombobulation.
/actually only knows 3 syllable or less words and had to look those up
Randy, nobody knows what they are building until the draft. These are backups and bridge players. If they miss on all their draft picks, then they are building nothing. If they end up with players who contribute right away then they are building a deep winner.
If these pickups are all starters, then the Browns are in trouble and I agree with you, Randy.
The goal is to build depth through free agency, and stock front line talent in the draft. By the time front line talent hits the free agent market, it is too expensive to build around in a salary-capped league.
Here’s the thing, Randy. Whether you like it or not, Mangini and Kokinis DO have a 2/3 year bridge. Kendall Lewis–whomever the heck that is–isn’t the owner of the team; Randy Lerner is, and he’s the one that signed the contracts. And, that’s why Mangini and Kokinis were signed the multi-year contracts.
Yes, they blew some smoke up our nether-parts at first in trying to make the fanbase think they actually were planning on just tweaking what we have, but I think we all knew on some level that they were planning on doing some purging and rebuilding of the roster; ALL new coach/GM combos do. It’s just the way of the business.
Now, personally, if we’re resigned to rebuilding (and, your feeling that they should be winning THIS year is an entirely different argument in that respect; they’re now in full rebuild mode, regardless of how we all feel about it… let’s call a spade a spade), I’d rather have them do that through the draft than through FA, like Savage tried to do. I was generally a Savage supporter, yes, and thought a lot of his FA signings were solid. However, as we saw, injuries can negate a big signing just like that. IF we’re going to rebuild under this new operation, I’d rather they purge the cap and start over through the draft.
And I say this knowing full well that we have no idea how well this FO will draft, long term. That has always been one of my red flags with the hiring process of these two.
So, I don’t choose to think that they will be out in two years, and thus the basis of my argument is not incorrect in that context. And, I hate to break it to you, even though you hope against all hope that they’re gone in two years, it probably isn’t going to happen. If they DO get fired after year two, I’ll be first in line to say you were right, sincerely.
As for the rhetorical question of “what they’re building,” that gets a grade of “incomplete” at present because they haven’t even gone through their first draft yet. If–as I contend–they’re now building through the draft long-term, it’s hardly fair to assign a label to the team when they haven’t even run their first draft yet. As I said above, the jury is out on whether they will draft well, and if they tank the draft I will definitely be on board the angry-train.
But, again, let’s give them more than six weeks before we condemn their long-term plan, whatever it may be.
Congrats to Craig for also saying what I was trying to, and for doing it in 1/4th of the number of words. 🙂
In 3 years if this is a +.500 ball club I think things are going fine. Last year in the off season we gambled away draft picks and opportunities to cash in young players that had break out years on the hopes that we would be a playoff team. Obviously that blew up in our face, our defense wasn’t improved in ways we had hoped and our break out young players dropped off quickly.
The old regime was ousted and the new regime is left picking up the pieces. Rebuilding is the only thing to do and we currently don’t have a lot to build with.
Is it understandable for us as fans to be frustrated with this situation? Of course it is, what else is our duty as fans if not to vent, chastise, criticize, praise, and rabble. It just seems that people wanted someone to come in here and turn crap into gold in one off season, and sadly King Midas wasn’t available for the head coaching job.
Hey Randy if you don’t want to rout for the team, then don’t. But don’t try to discourage other people who at least want to give these guys a chance to do something. I mean are these great signings? No, but hey Rome wasn’t built in a day. I know we have been waiting 10 years for our “Rome”. We are stuck with this tandem for however long they are here. There is nothing we can do, or say about it. So we can either rout for them, or rout for someone else. Most of us, it seems, are willing to see what we have the next couple of years because this is our team. Im not “drinking the kool-aid”, but as DP has said multiple times who are we suppose to sign? This years FA class wasn’t that deep, and Savage didn’t exaclty leave our cap situation workable for this year. Savage went and spent money and traded our draft picks= that didn’t work. I personally thin the draft approach might work. Let’s see how they draft.
GO BROWNS!!
I like the signing because I feel he fits a role for us as a nickel back who has some speed and wont be ALWAYS targeted on 3rd down throughout the year. He’s played on teams that have gotten deep into the playoffs and has valuable experience that can only help Wright and Mac. It’s only a 1 year deal and for very little money.
Also, Randy, you say we cut him in 2000. Pretty sure James Harrison was actually cut like 7 times between the Ravens and Steelers camps. Seems to me that players do have the ability to develop their talent level.
Well I was going to comment and actually make (what I felt) was a compelling tale about the Mangini/Kokinis era lasting long-term, how we’re rebuilding, and how we need to grade on the draft, but dang if DP and Craig didn’t beat me to it.
I like the signing. I’m good with Ivy and a one year deal. May just be a good mentor for our young DB’s.
That’s right ladies and gentlemen, it’s guaranteed to work! Just MENTION a minor Browns free agent signing even deep, deep in the off-season and make every day Groundhog Day!!
(“Paging Dr. Editor, Dr. Editor, need a Cavs or Tribe post, stat.”)
… and there it is, as I was typing! Thanks, Scott.
@ Randy “Mankok doesn’t have a 2/3 year bridge”
What is your basis for this? I don’t get the leap in this logic. Are you implying the fan base will revolt if a winner doesn’t appear this year, or are you implying ownership has giving them a WIN NOW mandate?
If recent history proves correct, they have most likely a 4+ year window.
BTW Kendall Lewis is a scrub talk show host that used to be on WKNR back in the day. He dubbed himself the BIG sports kahuna. I didn’t like that then, and I’m not going to listen to him now. He has bashed the Browns since they came back. He has said his Browns are now the Ravens, and can’t really get behind this team. So of course he is going to bash these guys now. Problem is the Browns haven’t really given these types of fans any reason to jump on the bandwagon. You know that if they get this thing turned around, and start being contenders he’ll be on the wagon!
love the video.
i love how they all look behind them like the small animals in the jungle look behind them when the lion is coming
@ Randy –
I don’t know how you can measure a bridge in years. They have length, width, and height – all measurable in distance. To say that a bridge is measured in years is asinine.
@IRB?
Well, I suppose if it were a really LONG bridge, it might take years to cross it
Can you have sports lobotomies?
You know, where a doctor surgically removes the portion of my brain that stores knowledge of the Cleveland Browns franchise? Could I wake up from the gas and think to myself, “Hey, Cleveland has a young baseball team with a couple of young stars and the greatest basketball player in the world?” Isn’t this possible? Shock therapy? Something…I mean, do you realize how few franchises in the three major sports are worse than the Browns? The Clippers? The…um…the…(searching for a second).
Could this same doctor remove the portion of my brain that stores knowledge of Lebron James’ departure if he leaves?
Can someone look into this? The only electrification I want to feel today is the one that makes me forget that a football season is being prepared for somewhere deep in the subterranean, staph infected annals of Berea.
(sullenly) Go Cavs.
#29
Umm, I would humbly submit the Lions. Well, not so humbly.