Fall back, then spring forward: Cavs-Sixers, Behind the Box Score
November 2, 2015Urban Meyer and Taylor Decker discuss J.T. Barrett’s OVI
November 3, 2015Happy Tuesday, WFNY!
I’ve been staring at the screen for 15 minutes now before typing this, unsure of what I really want to talk about this week. Not that there isn’t a lot going on, what with the JT Barrett suspension, the Cleveland Browns season going on, and the Cleveland Cavaliers starting their season. But at this point in time, I sort of feel like there’s nothing to really say about any of these things. The Browns suck. This is just yet another season of my football fan life wasted. The Barrett suspension was surprising (well, the suspension isn’t surprising, but the action is) to a certain degree, but if you don’t want to ever be disappointed by college athletes, then don’t watch college football. Because young adults are going to make dumb decisions in college. I did, you did, we all did. And the Cavs? Well, the Cavs are just good.
I’ve been trying to find some unique angle with any of these things to talk about, and I simply have nothing. Which isn’t to say I’m not enjoying these sports right now. I mean, I’ve lived life without Cleveland Browns football, and I will take bad football over no football any day of the week. I felt the Browns would go 3-13 this season, too, so it’s not like they’re even failing to live up to my expectations. It just sort of is what it is.
But I do go back to what I wrote last week about the Browns blowing everything up. I don’t know what the answer is, probably because there is so singular solution to fix the Browns. For as much as I crave continuity and want to allow the people in charge enough time to turn things around, I also realize that you need to see results. Results, as in, real and tangible improvement. In what way are the Browns any better today after a couple years with Ray Farmer in charge? In what way are the Browns a better football team today for having Mike Pettine as coach?
Those are tough questions to answer, and that’s a real problem. Brandon Lambert from Dawg Pound Daily pondered whether it’s possible that Farmer’s picks aren’t as bad as they seem and that Mike Pettine and his staff simply aren’t coaching up the players and putting them in a position to succeed. I’m not willing to go that far. Good players find a way to be productive no matter who their coach is. But it does illustrate some of the grey areas that fans don’t always think about. The truth is, none of us are around these teams behind the scenes and we simply cannot know the dynamics of the coaching staff and the front office.
I think we all just want the Browns to be better, but I think we have a lot of disagreement among fans as to what the best way to do that is. Every time I think the Browns are showing some actual promise and improvement, they seem to then take two steps back. I was on a podcast with Dave Sterling a couple weeks ago after the Broncos game, and despite the loss, we were able to find so many positives to take from the season. Today, a lot of that optimism has begun to fade. I wanted to believe the Browns were finding an identity and that they could just start plugging in some more talented players. If only it were that simple.
*****
Great, kid! Don’t get cocky!
The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a great first week of the season. In all honesty, they are much further along than I expected them to be. Timofey Mozgov is showing no signs of his knee bothering him, Tristan Thompson isn’t showing too many signs of rust, Kevin Love looks way more comfortable than I expected him to this early, and the new guys Mo Williams and Richard Jefferson already look comfortable and assured in their roles on this team. Other than some first quarter blues in game one against the Chicago Bulls, the Cavaliers look like a team that is in complete control right now.
The biggest change for the team thus far has been the ball movement. Last year the Cavaliers averaged 22.1 assists per game, and this season that number has jumped all the way up to 27 assists per game. Whether it’s due to David Blatt changing up the offense a bit or LeBron James not feeling the need to dribble the ball up top to initiate the offense so much, the offense (which was already the strength of the team) looks entirely more sustainable and difficult to stop. And the Cavaliers are playing this well without two starters. Pretty impressive.
I’m not quite ready to project an 81-1 record for the season, though. The NBA season is long and while the Cavaliers do indeed have much better depth than last season, they are still a couple key injuries to injury prone players away from being right back where they were last season. As a still fairly new team, there is still a lot of room for growth and with that growth comes some growing pains. The challenge for David Blatt this season will be to keep everyone involved and to make sure he keeps the minutes down as much as possible.
Overall, though, today marks the one week point in the season and I think all Cavaliers fans are pretty excited about what we’ve seen so far. The Cavs were good last season, but it just felt like such a struggle. Everything seemed to take so much effort and energy to succeed. This season, the offense looks fluid and effortless and everyone on the team seems to be having so much more fun.
*****
New music of the week
Last week, I lied. Well, it wasn’t a lie necessarily. I meant what I said when I said it. At the time of writing WWW, there were no new albums that I was aware of that I wanted to talk about. But that’s because somehow I hadn’t realized that Beach Slang had released their debut album last week1.
For those who don’t know who Beach Slang is, I don’t blame you. They are a fairly new band from Philadelphia with a somewhat famous frontman, but only famous to those really dialed in to the undeground music scene. I found out about them when WFNY’s Craig Lyndall saw them open for someone. The next day he told me he had found my new favorite band. He was right. I fell in love with their upbeat take on punk rock and earnest, forthcoming vocals.
On their debut full length album, “The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us”, Beach Slang channels their inner early-90s Goo Goo Dolls (ie, pre-Dizzy Up the Girl). The music is infectious and fun while still maintaining a legitimacy that this kind of punk can sometimes lose.
This is a late-year release that is going to seriously challenge for a Top 5 spot in my year end list. It’s the kind of album you want to just listen to over and over again on repeat. I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I do.
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That’s been my time, thanks for lending me your ears (or, eyes, I guess) this morning. Enjoy the rest of your week here at Waiting For Next Year!
- Have I mentioned how much I hate this new Friday release day for new music? It totally throws off my WWW game. [↩]
14 Comments
The Cavs seem to have such a rare combo of talent, depth and a vibe free of personal agendas. Now that they’ve all tasted playoff pressure, now that LeBron’s culture-changing efforts have taken root, I’m going to enjoy this rarest of Cleveland fan experience: a season of realistic championship hope. Last time it felt this strong was with the Tribe, 1996.
I suppose this is what happens when you have the second highest payroll in NBA history! I am never going to complain about being the Yankees of the NBA.
You lost me at Browns……..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzg
In a parallel universe if the Browns organization were running the Cavs, LeBron would be on the trading block, Tristan and Varejao would’ve been let go and Dellavedova would be playing power forward.
Go, Cavs! I have watched all of the games thus far, except for the season opener in Chicago. Yes, they look good so far. Very, very good. Can’t wait for Kyrie and Shump to return. Look out, NBA. The Cavs are coming for you. So much fun.
yes, i am a broken record : the 2015 draft was a good one for farmer … i see a minimum of 6 starters in that group. stay the course with farmer !!
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1318.gif
Cavs are three points from being 4-0!
Shouldn’t you have texted this Ray? 😉
The Deuce is starting Thursday against Cincinnati!!!
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/dTa.gif
Correct me if I’m wrong but from this draft there is currently 1 starter (and in this last game that one starter Shelton, split half the snaps) ….yet you see 6 breaking out.
Interesting.
yes , my good man , i do … i would count shelton & m.johnson as starters though m.johnson is nearly invisible (like most fullbacks) , but he does start.
then i have erving , d.johnson , orchard ,cooper , i.campbell , gaines & ekpre-olomu as starters in the very near future. that’s 9… and if you can get 8-9 starters in a draft , then to me , it’s good draft.
disclaimer : please keep in mind my warped sense of optimism.
… and in my mind , orchard should be starting in front of mingo & kruger right now … duke johnson should be starting & FEATURED as well.
Warped optimism taken into consideration, thank you for your participation.