Random Old Indians Baseball Card Of The Day

Big time Albert Belle. One of may favorite players growing up for sure. I still have my Albert Belle bell and my mug with his intimidating stance on it. Just another reason to miss the 90's. I remember when i was like seven and went Mother's Day shopping with my mom, I saw an Albert Belle wall clock. Needless to say, that was the gift for my mom and it now resides in my room as it has since about two weeks after that Mother's Day. Its okay she said she loved it. I especially love this card because the rare glimpse of Belle actually trying to play defense. I can only assume he didn't catch the ball in this pic. But he probably came back from that with three homers and two corked bats.

One of the greatest Indians stories ever was the Albert Belle corked bat story. This was the gangster Indians of the 90's. Jason Grimsley squirming through ceilings to swap his bat with Paul Sorrento's. Dude should have been in Ocean's 11. Good stuff. Roll Tribe.

My Cavalier Lottery Prediction

Tonight is the annual NBA Draft Lottery. We all know how luck the Cavs got back in 2003 when we landed the first pick and drafted that one guy from Akron. Yet, this year, the draft class is anything but that. Its almost certain that nobody is going to find a Dwyane Wade at the 5th spot this year. The class is significantly weaker, yet the Cavs do have two lottery picks and are ready to make an impact.

With our 19.9% chance plus the 2.8% chance from the Clippers, the Cavs have about the same chance of winning that we had in 2003. However, this year, I just don't feel like we have the luck to grab the first pick. Maybe not, as shady as the NBA playoffs are, who's to say the NBA doesn't slightly fix the lottery. Its not like there is a judge back there checking everything. Coincidence that the Cavs got LeBron and the Bulls got Rose? Thats your call?

Whether you think the lottery is rigged or not, I think i'd rather have the 2nd pick this year. Kyrie Irving seems to be the most liked pick at #1. Yet, he barely played last year and seems to be a bit small for the NBA. I would personally like to have Derrick Williams out of Arizona. To me he seems like the better NBA ready player. At 6'9'' 240, he has the size and athleticism to be a solid forward. We need a scorer and go to man and someone to take the load of the boards between Andy and JJ.

This just seems to be the year that it is ok to be second in the lottery. Lets just not hope we fall past that because we'll be in slim pickings.

Cleveland Out Of Money; Builds Skatepark Instead

Cleveland City Council has passed a plan to build a $550,000 skate park on the east side of the Flats. This coming just days after the city laid off hundreds of city workers including police and firemen. I don't want to get into politics on this blog but this has to be one of the dumbest city projects ever.

Now I was too young to remember and experience the Flats when they were in their prime. However, my parents and older relatives took full advantage of the once prime waterfront bar district in Cleveland. For many years now, the once popular Flats have been abandoned and run down due to crime and a rough economy. Shooters is ironically about the only thing left there now.

Are skater-boys really the crowd we want to bring into the Flats? My beef with this is personal. I guess because I grew up in a different culture and possibly a whole different generation. Call me crazy but when we were bored as kids, we picked up a ball of some sort. We played whiffle ball, a pick-up basketball game, or played some old fashioned tackle football.

Thanks to the X-games and MTV, kids are growing up wearing jeans so tight an anorexic model couldn't fit into. Maybe I was a sheltered kid who's parents would watch the Sopranos with them instead of MTV. This is going to be the downfall of America. I never got into the whole "rebel against society" and ride skateboards thing. Its one thing if your living in Canada to want to rebel but this is Motha Fucking America!

And do these kids really need an expensive new park to skate around in? If the Tony Hawk video games taught me anything is that these skaters like to "shread" on random abandoned shit rather than a skatepark. So why is our broke ass city spending half a million on these kids when they can be perfectly happy riding on the shit hole we currently call the Flats?

Anyways, stay in school, wear larger jeans, and be thankful your living in America; a society that is ok with your already weird habits. Also, pick up a damn baseball once in a while. We need more Americans in all these American sports!

Scouts Inc. Tries To Defend Ranking The Browns Dead Last

A couple weeks ago, those at Scouts Inc. came out with an early Power Ranking for the 2011 season. They also sparked some flames with us diehard Browns fans by ranking the Browns 32nd. Dead Last and prime to pick Andrew Luck. Now, drafting Andrew Luck is an entirely different story, the fact that we were picked to be the worst in the league is a little shocking.

Today, on the ESPN.com AFC North Blog, blogger James Walker talks with Scouts Inc's Matt Williamson about why he ranked us so low. He really doesn't give any strong reason other than we are still weak at d-line and have no offensive weapons. He brought up how we play in the AFC North and have a fairly strong schedule. However, he brought up no inclination on how he assumes the Browns will probably win between 2 and 4 games. If there was any consolation to what he mentioned, he would now move them to 31st and Washington to 32nd. Yay!

Now don't get me wrong, i'm not going to say the Browns are going to make the playoffs. I am biased here but I am also more realistic. I do think the Browns are moving in the right direction. I think McCoy will be a good fit in the West Coast offense. I think our new front four is much better than what we had before. And I can guarantee that the Browns will not be the worst team in the NFL next year.

Look at our non-division schedule. Its on the easier half and I think it is one of the easier ones out there. To be the worst in the NFL, you can at most win four games. I think at worst we can split with the Bengals. At worst. The Colts are a loss but you never know. Then we go on what has to be one of the easiest nine week stretch in the NFL. Dolphins, Titans, bye before the Raiders, Seahawks, Niners, Texans, Rams, Jags, and the Bengals. Call me optimistic but I think there is at least five to six wins in that stretch. Now we finish with the Ravens and Steelers each twice in five weeks. Thats why there is no chance at the playoffs. But com'on Matt Williamson, how do you honestly think the Browns are going to have the worst team?

What pisses me off the most is how he think the Bengals are a better team. Sure they have more offensive weapons on paper. But most of them want out. That organization is so f'ed up at the top, that anyone with talent want the hell out of there. Dalton will have AJ Green who we have no clue how well he will produce. Their defense is average at best but there going to lose their best secondary player to free agency. The Browns are coming together great as a team. Camp Colt has only helped and its obvious as long as Mike Browns is there, our organization has an advantage to theirs.

Anyways, I would bet good money that the Browns will not be last. If anything, Colt knows that he has to win because Andrew Luck will be right on his ass.

Indians Rolling, Yankees Struggling, Its A Good Day

Well that's what you get when you cancel two straight games and keep the Tribe all cooped inside. They come out with a flurry of runs sending pitcher Vin Mazzaro back to the minors. Tribe absolutely killed the ball today. My favorite part of this night was that we only had one homer. 19 runs with only one long ball. Thats just pure overall hitting right there. 7 doubles and 11 2-out RBI's. Everyone better watch out if the Indians are hitting that clutch all year. We spiked the kids ERA by more than 15 in one inning!

I wonder how far in the season until we actually start getting respect. I know we are Number Two on the power rankings but im talking about longer than 30-sec stints on ESPN.

To make it even better, the damn Yankees are all in a mess. Between Jeter and Posada being too old to even play, they Yanks have lost six straight games and are on the verge of completely falling apart. Getting swept at home against the Sox then blowing a 5-run lead to the Rays has playoff written all over it.

This is one of the more interesting baseball season is a while. Thanks to a weak AL Central, im excited to see the Tribe actually have a shot at the division. Roll Tribe.