While We’re Waiting… Cleveland Browns Sadness, Ted Williams, Doran Grant

After watching some sports shows on TV yesterday, you would think Arkansas won the game. It pains the natl media to admit that OSU played well (for a half at least) and won the game. Between Michigan making news yesterday and ESPN only able to talk about suspensions, even in winning the Buckeyes lost.

Also, I love the photo collage on Doug’s web page. Misery indeed.

My only question when looking at that is “What picture makes me most miserable?” Of course, it’s the Marlins’ celebration.

So close…yet so far away.

That Staples piece was trash. Someone, anyone, please explain to me what was “immmoral” about the Buckeyes’ Sugar Bowl win? I still don’t get it. If Tressel benches those five guys, nobody’s talking about “how good it was that OSU took the ‘high road.’” They’re only talking about what a beating OSU took and how we still can’t play with the SEC. So Tressel plays them (the only option that he had, considering pressure from the NCAA, Sugar Bowl, Big Ten, etc.), beats a good SEC team, and now the word is that OSU is a dirty or “immoral” program (forgetting the fact that what these 5 kids did during their Freshman year had nothing to do with the program or the university).

Staples’ “moral superiority” equivocation game is stupid. But playing it anyway, I’d still say that allowing 5 guys that sold personal property and got cheap tattoos play in an exhibition game before their half-season suspension, while maybe not the best decision in the annals of mankind, is probably less “immoral” than both (1) oversigning a bunch of kids that will never see the field or will have to transfer once their scholarships are revoked and (2) “allegedly” engaging in highest-bidder negotiations for star players.

@Chris

Holgren’s firing of Mangini, though, tells us a number of things. Perhaps Holmgren thinks that Mangini doesn’t fit with the system he would like to install. Perhaps Holmgren thinks that he deserves a chance to install his own system as he puts his reputation on the line. Perhaps Holmgren thinks that Mangini set us back a few years when he blew the draft by trading away talent for spare Jets and serving as de facto GM over the GM that he hand-selected. Perhaps Holmgren thinks that if the Browns have enough talent to dominate the Patriots and Saints, that they should at least be able to win one of two consecutive games against the Bills and Bengals. Perhaps Holmgren thinks that if the Browns really played hard for Mangini, they wouldn’t end the season on a four game losing streak punctuated by a 32 point embarrassment against an arch rival in our home stadium. Holmgren’s firing of Mangini might tell us a lot of things, but it does not tell us anything about your ability to put words in Holmgren’s mouth or to speculate without actual information.

But please, keep posting about Mangini when nobody even brought him up. I love it when you claim that you will accept Holmgren’s decision, then make unsolicited posts about the lack of support for an unsuccessful coach who was fired earlier in the week.

@Chris

You are right. Holmgren said plainly that we didn’t win enough games this year. That said, nobody would tell a coach that he has to “go .500 in the division and bring us at least 11 or 12 wins” or else he is fired. That was not the standard that Mangini was held to this year, nor does it follow that even if we won 7-8 games last year that we should automatically win 12 games the following year.

Unless you actually believe that a coach should be held to a 12 win minimum per year to keep a job, then your sarcasm indicates that you think Mangini was treated unfairly. You made a straw man argument to make your position look valid. I just think it is both hypocritical and asinine to claim that you will accept Holmgren’s decision, then post snide remarks implying that the next coach must win 12 games to keep his job.

And please, let’s keep the snide remarks to a maximum.

@Chris-
I like your reasoning. Makes sense to me. We should have been a seven-ish win team this year (implied by Big Mike’s rationale for firing Mangini). Since not improving results in a firing (again, thanks Mike!), not posting ten or so wins (I’m a little more charitable than you) means that the new coach (and maybe Holmgren) are not good and should be fired.

At the minimum, we should be with this new coach for the “long haul” which, based on when Holmgren invoked it in support of Mangini at the end of last season, means one whole season.

@sealed -
Holmgren himself shot down the “different philosophies” argument last year when he stayed with Mangini. Maybe he does think some of those things. Personally, I wish he’d, you know, TELL us what he thinks and why he really fired Mangini instead of blowing smoke.

@Garry -
Turned up to 11.

Thanks guys–Doug at ClevelandSportsTorture is indeed a poet, and a tortured soul. And Kevin did the fantastic artwork on the site. Believe me, narrowing down all the tortuous moments in our history isn’t that easy…