Failure the Best Medecine for Indians?
Today I am testing the limits of my abilities to be an understanding fan in a smallish baseball market. I am currently wondering if the Indians’ failures this season might actually be the best thing in the world for this team in the long run. And this comes less than a year after the Indians were 27 outs away from a trip to the World Series. Realize how big a leap this is for me and try to run with me on this one for a little bit. As I am typing here in this first paragraph, I don’t even know if I am going to convince myself before the end of the post. From a long-term perspective of the Cleveland Indians, could failure this year be better for this team than success?
Success is a lot of fun. Don’t ask me how I know. As a Cleveland sports fan, success is a mystical theory rather than a tangible feeling. Last year, the Indians got really close to the World Series. If they had gotten there, I think they had a hell of a chance against the Colorado Rockies. I know that this isn’t foolproof logic, but the Red Sox swept the Rockies and the Indians were able to go toe-to-toe with the Red Sox. But the Indians didn’t have enough to get over the top when almost everything was going right. Grady Sizemore and Victor Martinez anchored the offense. Asdrubal Cabrera provided a much-needed lift both offensively and defensively. The bullpen was crazy good. The Raphaels (Perez and Betancourt) were ridiculously effective out of the bullpen. Given a year of time and the Indians’ current struggles, I think it is safe to say that they were playing a bit over their heads last year.
So, now the Indians are 5 1/2 games back of the Chicago White Sox despite excellent starting pitching. Cliff Lee has re-emerged as a legit front of the rotation starting pitcher. CC Sabathia has overcome some early troubles to be an effective number one starter. Aaron Laffey has filled in admirably for Jake Westbrook and now Fausto Carmona during injuries.
But the offense can’t get anything going. Asdrubal Cabrera and Franklin Gutierrez are mired in sophomore slumps. Grady Sizmore hasn’t been bad, but he hasn’t been a superstar. Victor Martinez has a good average, but has yet to hit a homer this season. Jhonny Peralta has some homers, but a horrendous average. Garko has failed to do much at all. Jason Michaels was run out of town. Dellucci hasn’t been great. Even the callups like Ben Francisco, while better, haven’t provided enough of a spark to get this team going.
The fact is that this team that I was bragging about last season because of their depth looks absolutely thin right now. Looking down the road to Buffalo doesn’t provide too much light at the end of the tunnel either.
Back to the point. Could failure this year be better for the Cleveland Indians in the long run? Well, if the Indians become sellers rather than buyers as we approach the trade deadline, then yes, I think it could be better. The idea this year was that the Indians were going to keep everything in place to make a run at the World Series including the most talked about upcoming free agent C.C. Sabathia.
If the Indians were to trade C.C. and then later in the year trade Paul Byrd (another upcoming free agent) to a contender in a playoff race there is no telling how much young talent they could infuse into the team. It would be like the Bartolo Colon trade all over again, except this time Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee, Fausto Carmona, and to a lesser extent Garko, Peralta and other pieces are already here.
It would be like jumpstarting a rebuilding so that there wouldn’t be any rebuilding at all.
The Indians would lose C.C. Sabathia and they would still have Fausto Carmona, Cliff Lee, Jake Westbrook and Aaron Laffey in the starting rotation. The Indians would still have all the suspect offensive pieces in place, but maybe they could have two or three legit possibilities at third base and the corner outfield positions.
But if the Indians were marginally successful this year and DON’T make the World Series, they probably have to face the future with that same personnel when C.C. Sabathia leaves this offseason for $25 million per season somewhere else. At least if they get an opportunity to trade him they can get the future in place.
See? I don’t know if even I am convinced. Maybe this is just me trying to put a silver lining on how badly the Indians are playing right now.
The Dismemberment Plan – Time Bomb
Those are some weird words to have grouped together in a heading that also make me feel really good. One of my favorite bands. One of my favorite songs. Also a hell of a video. There was a hubub over this video once upon a time because apparently the concepts were seemingly ripped off by the Vines later for one of their videos.
But, here is The Dismemberment Plan.
Now for the video that a lot of d-plan fans thought ripped off Time Bomb conceptually.
Dan Whitney AKA Larry The Cable Guy
So, I have been hearing for years that Larry The Cable Guy (Git Er Done, BLECH) used to be another comic. He didn’t always have that shtick. Apparently it is about as authentic as the personalities that Vince McMahon comes up with in “professional” wrestling. Here is an early video of Dan Whitney, the actor who plays Larry the Cable Guy, doing some standup for a TV special live from Caroline’s comedy club in New York. Hard to believe that this is the same guy, but it is.
Mike Brown Has Maxed Out
I know the series isn’t over yet, but I am going to take this opportunity to talk about Mike Brown. Brown has drawn a lot of criticism on these pages for what I perceive to be bad coaching. This series with the Celtics is even more proof that Mike Brown needs to go as he was outcoached by another coach with a horrible reputation, Doc Rivers, in game 5. Mike Brown has done all he can with this Cavaliers team and it is time to find someone else to take them to the next level.
Mike Brown does some things well. He has turned the Cavaliers into one hell of a defensive team. He turned Zydrunas Ilgauskas into a serviceable defensive player, when he has never shined defensively for any other coach. Brown has helped develop LeBron James into a guy who plays solid help defense. His defensive schemes have forced many teams out of their offensive rhythm and forced them to play the Cavs’ tempo on many many occasions.
Unfortunately for Mike Brown, being a one-dimensional coach is not good enough in this day and age in the NBA. Mike D’Antoni could only get Phoenix to play offense and he was fired. Avery Johnson couldn’t seem to get his troops in Dallas to play with consistent effort on the defensive end and he got fired. And these were coaches for decent caliber playoff teams who were relatively successful, and yet their management chose to cut the cord.
I hope that the Cavaliers’ management will do the same with Mike Brown this off-season. I know he has a good record, but it just isn’t good enough. This Cavs team has one of the top two or three players in the league in LeBron James and while some of the rest of the personnel leaves something to be desired, they need a coach who makes them better on both sides of the ball. Mike Brown coaches defense very well, but he can’t scheme offense and his player rotations are mind-boggling.
I won’t run through the laundry list of complaints again, but the highlights include:
- Guys get in bad favor inexplicably and never see the floor again (Devin Brown, Damon Jones)
- End of quarter plays have LeBron dribble 30 feet from the basket with no movement of the other players on the court
- LeBron runs the pick and roll with non-offensive threats like Ben Wallace that guarantee he will be double-teamed (shoutout to Dan Labbe)
These are just a couple of things, but trust me there are more.
So, even if the Cavs miraculously pull off a series victory over Boston by winning tonight in Cleveland and again on Sunday in Boston, I can’t possibly support the continuation of Mike Brown as the Cavs’ head coach. I have been saying it since last season. I have said it since day one this season. I am saying it now. This guy should be done. Cleveland can’t waste any more of LeBron’s guaranteed years here in Cleveland. They have next season and the one after that to win a championship before LeBron becomes a free agent. That is an opportunity of a lifetime and I don’t trust Mike Brown to make it happen.
Explosions in the Sky – Austin City Limits
Explosions in the Sky will never hit the mainstream. They play instrumental guitar rock. That’s right. No vocals. Still, their music has this ability to be passionate and emotional. Their music was one of the brighter spots of the Friday Night Lights movie starring Billy Bob Thornton. They have a bunch of albums out. And now, they have done Austin City Limits on PBS. I found the video online and if you have 20 minutes to throw it on in the background, you should.
Dead Like Me Movie – Direct to Video
I don’t think I have ever been amped up for a direct-to-video movie until now. This show was a whole lot of fun. It pre-dated “Reaper” which I love now, but it is the same basic concept, except with a girl. And she is the impossibly cute Ellen Muth, which doesn’t hurt at all.
In Defense of the NBA Suspending Darius Songaila
The reason that I feel like writing about this at all is that as the media cycle has come around on this Cavs vs. Wizards first-round matchup, and the prevailing opinion that Darius Songaila should not have been suspended for game 6 has now become an unarguable fact in the media. I heard Steve Czaban talk about it this morning on Fox Sports Radio. I heard commentators talk about it during the Cavs’ game 6. I heard commentators talk about it during the Celtics vs. Hawks game 6. It seems that everyone talking about this suspension is now referring to it as a great travesty – an injustice of epic proportions – the proof that the NBA is at worst fixed, and at best in favor of protecting their meal-ticket LeBron James to whatever lengths to ensure that he succeeds.
I have heard quite enough of this.
Yes, the NBA has a vested interest to protect LeBron James. As a fan of the Cleveland Cavs, I would argue that they didn’t do a good job at all. All series long the Wizards talked about hitting LeBron when he drove through the lane. And the proof was there that the Wizards were no longer looking to play basketball. Instead they decided to commit fouls and try to physically intimidate one of the game’s best players by hitting him rather than playing tough defense and double-teaming him.
What is the NBA supposed to do when a team like the Wizards is so blatant and unapologetic about their tactics? They don’t have a right to beat up one of the game’s best players and tell the world that they plan on doing it without some reaction from the NBA executive office. It isn’t in the league’s best interest to let any of this stuff happen. Ever since the Ron Artest fight in the stands, the NBA has been quite proactive about keeping fights under control and the Wizards basically said that they were going to push the limits of this series by hitting LeBron James when he came into the lane.
And this is where the Darius Songaila situation unfolds. The reason that the NBA suspended Darius Songaila was because in their view he threw a punch at another player after the whistle. This is the NBA’s definition of fighting. And just look at the replay. Songaila’s hand comes up and hits LeBron James in the face after the play. They were tangled a bit, but his hand flies up and hits LeBron.
Now, whether it was intentional or not is up for debate by you, me and everyone else. Stu Jackson from the NBA has the final verdict and he determined that it was intentional by Songaila. I don’t know if it was truly intentional or not. It could go either way from my viewpoint looking at the video in a completely unbiased manner. The thing is that nobody should view it in an unbiased manner. This series was defined by the trash talking of the Washington Wizards. It was backed up by 5 games worth of hard hits and hard fouls to LeBron James including a push while he was in the air, two shots to the head, and finally Songaila’s “punch.”
So, please, someone tell me why the Washington Wizards and Darius Songaila should have been given the benefit of the doubt by Stu Jackson and the NBA? In a world where it is in the NBA’s best interest to keep fights out of their games and protect all players from harm, why shouldn’t they send a message after five straight games of premeditated rough play and fouling?
If anything the Wizards were lucky that Brendan Haywood wasn’t suspended for his push of LeBron early on in the series. To a lesser extent they should have felt lucky that they didn’t lose DeShawn Stevenson after his hard foul to LeBron’s head in another game. How many times do the Washington Wizards think they deserve the benefit of the doubt when they talked all series long, basically calling their shots against LeBron before they even occurred?
According to Stu Jackson and the NBA they didn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt any longer. I don’t understand how anyone else could disagree either.
Granted there were worse fouls in the series. There were worse fouls in other series. None of that matters. With the consistent evidence provided by the Washington Wizards to the NBA of how they were going to play this series they finally put the NBA to a decision with something that looked like a punch after the whistle. And that hints of fighting. The NBA can roll with the punches (pun intended) on hard plays if they feel like it, but they will not roll with it when it looks anything like a fight.
Papa John’s is Very Sorry to Cleveland
The short story is this. The Cavs played the Wizards in the opening round of the playoffs. The Wizards despite pussying out on the name “Bullets” felt that it would be a good idea to beat the crap out of LeBron James and then call him a crybaby when he said he wasn’t going to bend from all their shots that they were throwing his way.
Papa John’s in Washington thought it would be a fine idea to print some Crybaby t-shirts with the number 23 on them for the sixth game of the opening round where LeBron scored a triple double and sent the Wizards to the golf course for the season. Didn’t you all look silly with those t-shirts on as you left early due to the pounding that LeBron gave you in your home arena?
The problem with Papa John’s opportunistic promotion was that Cleveland is a decent market for Papa John’s. Clevelanders eat a lot of pizza, apparently. I counted on the website and there are at least 10 locations that come up when I search my zip code. That means that there are ten within striking distance of Cleveland and LeBron fans. How does that guerrilla marketing plan look now?
Boycotts were mentioned. Cleveland fans were riled up. You will remember that this is the same sports town that sent John “Big Dawg” Thompson (right) to testify before congress after Art Modell and the NFL stole our professional football team.
Well, Papa John’s was scared so they have apologized and are going to offer large one-topping pizzas to Cleveland residents on Thursday for a small price of 23 cents in honor of LeBron James’ number 23. The big joke will be when they only offer the food to “Cleveland” residents. You see, the way we draw the lines for our cities and towns around here means that almost nobody actually lives in “Cleveland.” Out of the 10 stores listed on the website as being near my home, only 3 are actually in the city of Cleveland. Are the near suburban residents out of luck? We will see.
Band Recording (Craig Not Writing)
After getting my MacBook Pro a couple months ago, the band started laying down audio tracks in my basement. I have been spending a lot of time figuring out what kinds of mistakes I have made in our initial round of recording so that we can get a polished product together. As a result, I haven’t really written anything lately on this website. I know that is bad, but there it is.
It has been a lot of fun, but at the same time, it is unnerving. I am pushing forward because, quite frankly, I have never been afraid to try something and fail, but I am really nervous that I am wasting my time and that we should just go into the studio to get an expert to put the sounds together.
And this should be interesting. Let me just tell you the things that I have been thinking about.
We all listen to music, but how loud should the drums be? Drums are an integral part of any recording, but they are a bit more of the focus in certain bands like Tool, Dave Matthews Band and others. The drums aren’t the focus of our band. After I answer the volume question, should I pan different sections of the drums to different sides?
How loud should the guitars be? Should I put Todd’s guitar on the one side and mine on the other? Should they work together on the same side? If I pan one guitar to the side, and the other guitar to the other side, where do I put the bass guitar?
Should I leave the lead vocals centered? How much delay and/or reverb should I put on the vox? How about backing vox? how high should they go, and how many effects should I put on those?
These are the questions that I have been asking myself, and what I am running into is that their are so many different ways to do things that I need to just come to a conclusion sooner rather than later, because I can’t afford the time it would take to experiment with every variable.
Maybe I will post some samples to let you hear what I am hearing.
New York State is Against Business
At least that is the only conclusion that I can come up with after a few pieces of evidence have come to light.
I read this article from ArsTechnica today about a proposed “Amazon tax” that seems to only affect Amazon.com and other Internet businesses that sell items to New Yorkers over the web. The law states that Amazon must collect sales tax for all orders sold to New Yorkers even though the online retailer has no physical presence in the state.
Right now, I am rooting for Amazon to win their forthcoming legal action against the state because of my own interactions lately. My family’s business is attempting to get licensed in the state so that we can take care of a few token properties and situations that affect some of our Ohio-based customers. We are not going to open an office in New York state, but we would like to sell a couple of insurance policies that cover the state of New York. So we started the process of getting a license in New York.
Well, after 5 (count’em 5) iterations of mailing our application along with a check and having that paperwork get returned, I am officially pissed off at the state of New York. You see, every time they send it back, they send the same form letter not really explaining what was wrong with the current application. Also, they will stop reviewing your application when they find the first mistake. So, in a complicated form I can fix one mistake, send it back and then have it returned based on another mistake that wasn’t called out the last time I updated the form.
On top of that, the Ohio department uses a Certificate of Good Standing as their standard form to give people incorporated in the state of Ohio. Then New York state claims that a certified copy of that Certificate of Good Standing is UNACCEPTABLE for their application.
No matter what, I have officially deemed the State of New York relatively hostile to new business. I would think that the state would prefer to make it easier, not harder, to do business in their state. I realize that what we are looking to do in the state isn’t exactly high profile and high reward for the state of New York, but that shouldn’t matter.
But I guess this is indicative of the state of customer service in this nation today. People use call centers in India as the example of bad customer service today, but I am here to tell you it doesn’t stop there. The government, state, local, and federal, have lost any sense of customer service too. From the post office, to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, to the IRS, there is absolutely NO focus on customer service by the people who are employed using tax dollars. That shouldn’t be the case, and I wish someone would change the culture starting at the top.
