Hope you are fully recovered from your overdose of turkey from the past two days. Thanks for stopping by the site today, as While We’re Waiting always serves up an early morning plate of goodies for our readers. Here we usually share things pertinent to Cleveland sports and the greater Ohio area. Have something else you think that relates to that general topic? Feel free to send it over to us in the tips e-mail address in the right sidebar.
Hey Team Brady, check out this promising article about your favorite Notre Dame product. These comments from Daboll will maybe lift your spirits for the next few weeks of this depressing season. “Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said he has “high hopes” for Brady Quinn’s future. ‘I think he’s a smart guy who has all of the intangibles that you look for,’ said Daboll. ‘You have to remember, he’s a young guy. He’s started eight games. If you go back, I am not going to compare him in history, but there’s a lot of numbers you can look at. How was Peyton (Manning) going to be after eight games? He had 11 touchdowns, 16 picks, 1-7 [record].’” [Mary Kay Cabot/Cleveland Plain Dealer]
At least we love our outgoing defensive coordinator who speaks to the media every single week with some good quotes about our pathetic team: “Misery loves company. So, Browns fans, know that you have a friend in the team’s defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan. He’s just as upset as you are over last Sunday’s nightmarish, last-play – even the-play-after-the-last-play — 38-37 loss to the Detroit Lions. ‘We have to win in this league,’ he said… ‘This is a bottom-line business. And when you score 37 points, you had better win.’” [Steve King/Orange & Brown Report]
Didn’t realize he had 10 Gold Gloves and 12 All-Star Game appearances, but Roberto Alomar is the first in a long line of maybe invites for the Hall of Fame: “Roberto Alomar was a slick-fielding second baseman who was proud of the way he could beat teams with his bat, his glove and his legs. He will soon learn if what he achieved in a 17-year career will be enough to earn him election into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.” [Jack Curry/New York Times]
Tony Lastoria digs into the details for why the Indians rostered young Kelvin De La Cruz: “So where does left-hander Kelvin De La Cruz factor into all of this? He was just rostered by the Indians last week, and while he is surely a talented pitcher there were a lot of people surprised with the Indians decision to put him on the roster considering he was still so far away from the big leagues. But, thanks to Jay over at Lets Go Tribe, his research unearthed that De La Cruz will be eligible to receive a fourth option year.” [Indians Prospect Insider]
A ranking of the top prospects in the organization starts with the injured folk and that of course starts with this pitcher: “Adam Miller just turned 25 yesterday, but in baseball years he might as well be Satchel Paige. After a brilliant 2006 campaign in Akron in which Miller established himself as one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, Miller has been one injury after another. The most recent setback an unprecedented operation to repair the pulley system in his middle finger, the most important finger in a power pitcher like Miller.” [APV/Let's Go Tribe]
Off to local news, it was loads of fun to watch Cincinnati destroy Illinois yesterday but will Coach Brian Kelly stay around for next year? We will soon find out: “It’s a shame for his sake that Tony Pike had to sit for all or most of the last four-and-a-half games, because it’s obvious he’d be surging right about now as an All-American and Heisman candidate if he’d been in the pocket shredding defenses at a record pace instead of Zach Collaros as Cincinnati closes in on a BCS berth. As far as his own personal standing is concerned, Pike’s absurd afternoon in his first full game back in the fold — 32-of-46 for 399 yards and a school-record six touchdowns….” [Matt Hinton/Dr. Saturday]
Finishing up with the local spin, the Akron Zips will continue their trek in the men’s soccer tournament in front of a sold out crowd: “Sunday’s NCAA Tournament third-round match between the University of Akron men’s soccer team and Stanford is officially sold out, the UA Athletics Department announced Friday morning. It is the fourth time the No. 1 ranked Zips will be playing in front of a capacity crowd this year as the soccer program has already broken three attendance records this season. Sunday’s crowd is expected to challenge the current record of 2,700 fans, set this past Sunday in a 2-0 win against South Florida.” [Michael Beaven/Akron Beacon Journal]
(The photograph above of Brian Daboll and Brady Quinn is via Mark Duncan/AP Photo and was found at this link here on the Plain Dealer’s Web site.)
