While We’re Waiting… No joy in Believeland
December 23, 2013Scott Raab’s final WFNY podcast for 2013 about the Browns, Tribe Jeff Goldblum and more – WFNY Podcast – 2013-12-23
December 23, 2013Wow. Having watched that game, I can’t say with a straight face that there were any winners in Orange and Brown. Looks like an all-loser edition.
LOSER: Jason Campbell. Drops aside, this was a miserable game from Campbell who as a veteran should have been able to beat this Jets team. 18-39 for 178 yards and two interceptions.
LOSER: Greg Little. Pretty convinced that Greg Little was gone next year long before Sunday. Call this one the clincher.
LOSER: Ray Horton. No sacks. No pressure on Smith all game. 200+ yards rushing given up, and a second consecutive 100 yard back. (Chris Ivory? Really?) Add another 14 points to the fourth quarter points tally. Scoring drives of 79, 80, 80 and 81 yards from the 30th ranked offense in the league.
LOSER: Fans. There was absolutely nothing to be excited about in that game. No big plays made. Not even a flicker of excitement from Josh Gordon.
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Winner: My Wife, no resistance from me to shut the game off at 3:30 so we could leave for a birthday party
Admittedly I litterly fell asleep for the forth quarter but:
Winner: Edwin Baker
Winner: Our 2014 Draft position
Winner: Who ever (hopefully not on the roster now) the two QBs we backup Hoyer with next year.
WINNER: The dreaded Clarity. Those of us who were excited about Campbell earlier this year now know better.
LOSER: Red zone offense. Just pathetic.
LOSER: Josh Gordon. He must have shaken hands with Little before the game.
Loser: The entire Cleveland Browns organization.
Winner: Edwin Baker. Runs hard and with awareness like Trent Richardson was supposed to.
Loser: Everyone else.
Winner: Josh Gordon. Dude had 6 Recs for 97 yards. That is a very good NFL day (not even considering what he has done the last 5 weeks). He looks unstoppable on that 14 yard out pattern to the sidelines. I’m sorry, he has been a consistent winner in my book. I don’t even think there’s an argument against that.
LOSER: Domes. This is kind of off-topic, but there was an interesting juxtaposition of late games yesterday: Pittsburgh and Green Bay battling in the snow of Lambeau and Detroit and the Giants battling in the sterile environment of Ford Field. Both games went down to the wire, but how could anyone choose to watch the dome game?
Since the NFL is all about television ratings not fan comfort, you’d think they would discourage domes, especially in cities that don’t get that much cold weather.
Wow. That sucked.
LOSER: Goaline play calling. Why screens to Josh Cooper and not Cooper blocking for Gordon? Gordon excels at screens. I was shocked they did not do a WR screen once near the goal line.
LOSER: Third and Long Defense. next year, that has to clean up. The final touchdown drive put a fork in us. There was a 3rd and 11 conversion on that drive. SICK OF THAT ALL SEASON LONG. When I saw the Jets convert that 3rd and 11 conversion, I knew it would end with a TD.
Loser: The Rookie McFadden: I bet he will play better next year, but I swear, I don’t know why he was even in at times, playing 10 yards off.
I actually agree with an all Loser edition. While Josh Gordon’s 6 rec for 97 yards is not a bad day, he made a couple drops which make me keep him out of the winner column. I can’t put him in the Loser column. Besides, in my lifetime, a Brown has not led the NFL in receiving yards, passing yards, or rushing yards. Gordon leading the league will probably happen despite the fact Gordon has missed two games, dropped some balls, and has had two horrible inconsistent QBs. Cannot put him in the winners for yesterday though.
I think I wrote this around Week 2, but worth repeating…
LOSERS: Us, for thinking this year would be different.
Winner……Pittsburgh…They get to play the hapless Browns for a potential spot in the playoffs……0-4 and they are playing a meaningful game on week 17….that’s what winner organizations do…..loser organizations worry if mediocre centers and safeties are going to test free agency…
Winner……Gordon….Best receiver in the NFL….and that includes his drops….this guy is a beast……so without a doubt he will fail a drug test this off season….
Winner…….Arizona….they almost had Ray Horton as a head coach……
Winner……Pat Shurmur…..The Browns are going to win less games than he did last year and now he is the OC of the top running game in the NFL:and probably playoff bound Eagles…….( OH and we could have had McCoy but we choose Robiskie, Massaquoi and Veikune……I will never get over that debacle….and for all of you people who are happy about draft choices and draft position….Tell me again why????…)
Losers…….Banner and Haslam……They followed about as bad a group as you could want and they are going to end up worse…..Unbelievable……
Loser……..Lombardi…..does this guy even work here anymore?????
Loser…….Whoever gets picked by the Browns in the 1st rd next year ( both picks )….seriously…..their careers will be over before they begin….
Loser….Me….I have now gotten to the point where I am convinced we are just cursed…..The Browns and the Lions are just plain cursed….we could have Lombardi himself come back and we would still go 5-11……Somehow , someway the football gods have decreed that the Browns organization will always be doomed to failure…..not one Super Bowl appearance in 50 years?????
3 playoff games in 23 years???????…..you CANT be that bad if you tried!!!!
LOSER: The 2014 Cleveland Browns.
I really want to believe they’ll be better next year but they will only win 4 or 5 games.
I don’t like this team. I don’t like Chud. I don’t like Horton. I don’t like Norv. I don’t like DQ52. I don’t like our O-Line (minus Thomas). I don’t like everything.
Bah humbug.
At least our owner is a crook, otherwise I’d feel bad for the hell-hole he purchased.
Winners:
– The eternal truth of that famous Marty-ism: “The most important distance in football is the distance between your backbone and your breastbone.” One thing Browns fans sure are knowledgeable about is how to recognize a team that’s already packed it in. Like Justice Stewart, I know it when I see it.
– Organizational stability – we get both our coordinators back! Expensive d-line gets punked by a shaky rook QB leading one of the league’s worst offenses on a team with nothing to play for. Comical dancing bear routines substitute for pass rush. Yay! – Horton will come back. Yay – I guess.
Losers:
– Chud: well, those Kenneth Branagh/Henry V call to arms worked for half a season. Next season will require new tricks that cut through the smoky haze of your possession receiver’s “personal problems” which make his formerly sure hands turn to stone and make the back up tight end forget the snap count in the red zone with the game on the line.
– I’m lowered to criticizing the broadcasters again but Rich Gannon … really? Davone Bess’s absence is a loss of the Browns’ reliable third down weapon, and you say it twice? Dude, you’re in town, read the local paper, talk to someone, read a stat sheet, do something to prepare for the game even if it’s not the game you maybe wanted to do.
WINNER: Me. Had the game on on in the background while I got a lot of work done on a final project for a CCNA class, which is due on Christmas freaking eve.
the problem is the NFL decided a decade or so ago that they needed to start catering to fringe fans, at the expense of the die hards. They figure the die hards aren’t going anywhere, for the most part. Also, if they keep attracting “new” fans, they can continue to grow the game (i.e. line their pockets, which really is the bottom line to them, both literally and figuratively).
That being said, domes make it easier for those non die hard fans to attend games when it’s cold or wet outside so they don’t get a sniffle.
Winner: Bess. Probably smoked his way off this sinking ship.
Loser: DirecTv. No Sunday Ticket for this Browns fan in 2014. So very tired of reinforcing failure.
Take that, you multi-billion dollar corporation! That’s a few hundred you’ll be short next year. Don’t like it? Take it up with the Cleveland Browns!
/drops mike
/slow about face
/walks off stage
I’m done with Thomas, too. That guy hasn’t been worth a single win, either.
Meh.
Drops?
If you paid this year, you probably could get next year for free anyway. I wish I could get sports a la carte. Would dump Directv in a heartbeat
Free is good; but at this point, I feel like someone should pay me to watch the Browns.
A la carte sports would change the telecommunications world. Millions would drop their TV providers. We would.
and ESPN would be $30 a month
Don’t know where to start this but interesting I think: If Was loses to NYG and Hou beats Tenn, St. Louis has #1 pick in draft. As the Browns, do you trade both 1st round picks this year for #1 pick, Does St Louis do it? St Louis would have 3 picks in top 20, and is Bridgewater worth the trade up?
I think Chud mixed up his Branagh speeches. He meant to do the “Henry V” monologue, but ended up with the “Much Ado About Nothing” one (also extremely good, but not really inspiring for footballing).
I don’t know if it would be. You can get a lof of free stuff online. It would be ideal if I could pick 10 channels on cable to pay for.
True, but I’m talking no TV at all. Imagine if the various sports leagues could divorce themselves from ESPN contracts, etc, and just offer games via the internet. It will never happen, but imagine if it could.
Winner: Elipses…
Can I jump in here?
No.
No.
No.
Addendum:
No.
Yes.
No.
Oh, and, ignoring the putrification that is Cleveland Browns football, Rich Gannon’s ubiquitousness (ubiquity? I like this more, sounds like “iniquity”) with Browns games is enough reason for me to never watch another one again. You would think that after season upon season of scoring between 10 and 16 gigs covering the Browns games that Gannon would get the hint that he’s not “good” at his “job.”
But fans have to understand, they’re rebuilding THE RIGHT WAY.
Bridgewater is not a can’t-miss sure-thing QB. Heck, even can’t-miss sure-thing QBs aren’t can’t-miss sure-things.
I’d rather have two good first rounders than to reach for Teddy and hope that we get lucky.
When ellipses win, we all lose.
Yeah, i just really want a good QB. I guess even some of the really good or at least servicable QBs have sucked this year ie Stafford, Ryan, Eli…
Lennon-esque. Nay, Lenin-esque.
oh you mean TV wasteland a la carte…not just that half step of selecting various channels of your own volition from your cable provider. gotcha
Oooh, ooh, oo-ooh.
I think I am just tired of losing. Seems like CLE teams always gets good draft picks when the talent sucks. I am ready for a winning team.
Yesssss.
The former will NEVER happen. The latter will NEVER NEVER happen.
Oh well. They say that I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one.
In terms of value, I can’t help but think that this year’s #1 pick is the most over-inflated #1 pick in history. I’m not convinced Bridgewater is even an NFL starter.
I’m with you; but hope does not lie within the draft (at least not in a top 5 pick).
Never never? Is that like double secret probabtion?
Winner: The rest of the division. Cleveland is still a guaranteed win or two.
Loser: The fans, for at least being told the team would be improved if nothing else.
Imagine all the people…living under the thumb of their socialist oppressors?
Very similar. But worse, in a better way.
I would say punctuation marks in general.
When we win next year…now we will know why.
Ellipses aside, I’m kind of lost in this new punctuation inflation. One exclamation mark apparently only indicates you’re not sarcastic, but then it becomes like prunes for constipation: 4 too many? 2 not enough? Does a certain number of question marks denote the exact level of outrage as that same number of exclamation points in a statement rather than question form? Or maybe you need an uptick in number as the statement proceeds just to maintain the outrage level, because written outrage naturally tapers as the paragraph (and I use the term loosely) proceeds.
Discuss.