Moohead Radio

And as if THAT wasn’t enough, 2000 people came to the Moohead site to look for yesterday’s Browns game. 800 watched Dorsey throw the game away, while so many people called at halftime, my phones blew out!

Your comments about the game? Leave them right here!

Moo. Thanks for your support.

“It’s been pretty frustrating for everybody because this started as an innocent knee scope back in January, and it’s morphed itself into multiple procedures,” Savage said

Bentley, Tucker, Jurevicius, Baxter, or the other guy who had staph infections?

BTW…Cleveland Browns veteran receiver Joe Jurevicius likely will start the 2008 season on the physically unable to perform list.

What made Stephon Marbury a sack of shit? Steve Francis? Shawn Kemp? Tim Couch?

No. Not drugs. Or ego.

Management made them what they are. Teams that were willing to pay them without insisting on performance.

Marbury was to be the next great point guard. But he got more money than God, and never had to prove himself on the court. Then someone else paid him more, and he worked less hard. The less he worked, the more people paid him. Culminating with the Knicks, who have awoken to the realization that they don’t want him in their building.

I could name others. Albert Belle? Jim Thome? (he used to hit to all fields until the money showed up). And now we have Derek “8 games” Anderson. The ultimate winner in the “you don’t have to earn your money” sweepstakes.

To fully appreciate Mr Beaver’s position, just listen to Phil Savage: “there will be no open competition for the QB job, Anderson is the man in 08″.

I guess 24 million and 14 million guaranteed isn’t enough. He gets the job no matter how he performs. Interceptions? Errant throws? Forces? Don’t matter. Derek is Mr Teflon. His first 8 games bought him a 3 year deal and a teflon coated guarantee from the schmuck who mis-negotiated the deal in the first place. Why work hard in the off season? That’s for losers like Brady Quinn who are forced to actually achieve so they can be ignored.

Remember Brian Giles? He was a platoon player. They told him that until they traded him. All he needed was one open mind (besides his own) and a chance. Why was Kenny Lofton traded from Houston? They never let him leave the minors, because another Teflon guy was in the bigs in center field.

Ben Wallace, Craig Ehlo, Bobby Phills, all had to toil in obscurity behind pampered guys. All finally got their chance. Mike Pruitt needed Forrest Gregg to leave. So did Brian Sipe. Tim Couch? It wasn’t just his OL. He never worked hard. He was handed his job and never earned it. And he never played elsewhere.

If I were Quinn’s agent, I’d find a town without a Teflon QB. And I’d get my client there in a hurry. If you can’t earn a job, why compete? Let Savage fan the flames of laziness. Look at Jamal Lewis. He just got his guarantee, too. Look at Jerome Harrison. He only looks good to the rest of us.

What’s wrong with sports are the men who run them. The players are the first paid and first blamed. I point my finger squarely at Lerner and Savage. They just opted for a system where rank is more important than performance. And Phil is proud of it.

Listen to the Friday archive, as Mr Moohead hemmed and hawed about the Chargers/Colts game. I had a feeling something was gonna go wrong for the Colts, but when push came to shove, I lacked conviction in my gut feeling. I picked the Colts.

Now fast forward to Romeo Crennel. This is from the Plain Dealer:

Q: Did you go into that game thinking you were prepared to make a change at quarterback or was that a spur-of-the-moment decision in the second quarter?

A: That was a spur-of-the-moment thing. You just get a feel about what’s happening, a gut feeling that I need to do something. That was the feeling - I need to try something else. After a quarter and a half, I thought, OK, D.A. [Derek Anderson], you try.

From another story:

The sources said several players went to Crennel at the end of 2006 with their concerns about Grantham, but Crennel was still in Grantham’s corner. In fact, Crennel was on board with the two-year extension given to Grantham in June, despite the fact he didn’t know him until he interviewed him in 2005.

Conviction is a funny thing. You can have conviction and be wrong. Like Romeo was with Frye and Grantham. It is a lack of effective action that hurts Crennel. Even in the face of mutinous players and assistant coaches, Romeo went with the status quo. He believed in Grantham. Only the opening week disaster opened his eyes slightly about Frye. Who knows? If Frye hadn’t been traded, Romeo may have tried him again a few weeks later.

And here we are again. DA will be the starter. No pre season competition. Just like this year. It’s DA’s job until he fucks up. Romeo believes in him. I have a very uneasy feeling about all of this.

Players despised Carthon, and Romeo stood by him. It almost cost him his job. Grantham obviously WANTED his job, and Romeo stood by him for 2 years. We kept Northcutt too long, even though he whined constantly. It turns out we had a pretty good punt returner on the roster. Romeo believes in Willie McGinest. He believed in Ted Washington. He doesn’t believe in Jerome Harrison, and he stumbled upon Brandon McDonald.

I speak from experience. Conviction is wonderful. But it’s useless if you can’t pull the trigger once your conviction turns out to be misguided. I missed my glorious upset pick because I lacked conviction. Who knows what Romeo might be missing due to a lack of action.

(Not to mention Tony Dungy’s conviction that a rested team is better prepared than one that sits on it’s ass and lets the Titans go to the playoffs. Harrison didn’t do shit, and the defense was still on vacation)

In a nutshell, the PD talked to the agent and reported it as fact. As I suspected, the agent planted the story. Sad.

From the ABJ:

By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sportswriter

Published on Saturday, Jan 05, 2008

Coach Romeo Crennel’s agent Joe Linta said he and the Browns are not in the midst of negotiations over a contract extension, although Linta would like to be.

Linta said Thursday he made one telephone call to the Browns concerning Crennel’s status. Crennel, 60, signed a five-year contract in February 2005 that has two years remaining.

”It would be akin to an end-of-the-year evaluation meeting, not necessarily talking about football,” Linta said. ”Nobody said anything about a three-year deal. It was an inquiry from me to see where we stand, ‘Let’s evaluate this three years into it.’ ”

A report Wednesday that a three-year extension was in the works came on the heels of an Internet report that Crennel would be the first choice of new Miami Dolphins Vice President of Football Operations Bill Parcells. Crennel addressed that possibility twice, saying both times that he always has honored his contract.

”It would have been a great rumor for me to plant,” Linta said. ”I wish I could take credit for it.”

Linta said his ideal scenario for Crennel would be a five-year extension at $5 million per year.

”If he was worth a five-year deal three years ago, he ought to be worth a five-year deal now,” Linta said. ”Make him the face of the franchise so when you go into free agency, he’s the future, he’s rock solid.

”If you would have asked people in the 216 and 330 area codes, ‘Would you sign up for 10-6 this year?’ they would have done it. There’s a huge cohesiveness on the staff, the organization is coming together. He’s turned the program around.”

Linta said if he’s ultimately rebuffed, there will be no hard feelings.

”If they’re not going to do anything, fine,” Linta said. ”In a perfect world, we’d want (owner) Randy Lerner to say, ‘We want Romeo to be the face of the franchise for the foreseeable future, and we’re willing to make that commitment.’ If they don’t, nobody’s mad at anybody.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her Browns blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/browns/.

Coach Romeo Crennel’s agent Joe Linta said he and the Browns are not in the midst of negotiations over a contract extension, although Linta would like to be.

Linta said Thursday he made one telephone call to the Browns concerning Crennel’s status. Crennel, 60, signed a five-year contract in February 2005 that has two years remaining.

”It would be akin to an end-of-the-year evaluation meeting, not necessarily talking about football,” Linta said. ”Nobody said anything about a three-year deal. It was an inquiry from me to see where we stand, ‘Let’s evaluate this three years into it.’ ”

A report Wednesday that a three-year extension was in the works came on the heels of an Internet report that Crennel would be the first choice of new Miami Dolphins Vice President of Football Operations Bill Parcells. Crennel addressed that possibility twice, saying both times that he always has honored his contract.

”It would have been a great rumor for me to plant,” Linta said. ”I wish I could take credit for it.”

Linta said his ideal scenario for Crennel would be a five-year extension at $5 million per year.

”If he was worth a five-year deal three years ago, he ought to be worth a five-year deal now,” Linta said. ”Make him the face of the franchise so when you go into free agency, he’s the future, he’s rock solid.

”If you would have asked people in the 216 and 330 area codes, ‘Would you sign up for 10-6 this year?’ they would have done it. There’s a huge cohesiveness on the staff, the organization is coming together. He’s turned the program around.”

Linta said if he’s ultimately rebuffed, there will be no hard feelings.

”If they’re not going to do anything, fine,” Linta said. ”In a perfect world, we’d want (owner) Randy Lerner to say, ‘We want Romeo to be the face of the franchise for the foreseeable future, and we’re willing to make that commitment.’ If they don’t, nobody’s mad at anybody.”

From Terry Pluto’s 12-31 article:

You knew it.

Because if you’re a Browns fan, you were born to be broken-hearted.

Well, you pretend Jesus loving piece of pap. Why didn’t you pray to your all powerful God for something good to happen? Or are you acknowledging that the dark side has more power? You want instant analysis? You’ve been here too long and you need to take a job at a weekly circulation paper in Massillon.

The carriage turned into a pumpkin. An inspiring year turned sour. One incredibly bad game in the one you have to win. Welcome to the world of Derek Anderson.

They say great players have short memories. But so do Alzheimers patients and people with ADD. At what point does Derek Anderson’s short memory create long term repercussions?

Even 3 picks, and this game is winnable. But Anderson’s refusal to take what is given him results in turnovers. Stop his deep routes and he’ll continue to throw them. A smart QB would simply move the chains and throw 10-12 yard passes. But that implies accuracy, another Anderson deficiency. And when does he decide to throw short? At the end of the game to run the clock out on his teammates.

Rarely have I seen a game where one player shoulders virtually 100% of the blame. Even though we gave up too many yards on the ground, the defense converted 3 TO’s of their own, and did not allow a single ball possession drive against a good Bengals offense. Anyone else besides the bad Derek Anderson…any mediocre performance gets it done against a Bengals team looking to fold. They were exhausted defensively, and tried to give us the game in their last 2 possessions.

But all that is in the past. DA has a short memory. When Brady Quinn starts next year, will he remember why he is no longer the starter? Young players must learn. And Derek Anderson is now learning the flip side of the Cinderella story.

Thursday
Pittsburgh @ St. Louis Steelers. They win when they have to. Fuckers. If they don’t, the refs will help them

Saturday:
Dallas @ Carolina Cowboys-Jessica Simpson will not be there

Sunday:
NY Giants @ Buffalo Giants
KC @ Detroit Detroit
Philadelphia @ New Orleans Saints
Oakland @ Jacksonville Jags
Cleveland @ Cincinnati Browns
Green Bay @ Chicago Packers
Houston @ Indianapolis Colts
Atlanta @ Arizona Arizona
Tampa Bay @ San Francisco Bucs-Big party night for Jeff Garcia
NY Jets @ Tennessee Titans
Baltimore @ Seattle Seattle
Miami @ New England Pats 47-7-Belichek goes easy
Washington @ Minnesota Vikes

Monday:
Denver @ San Diego Chargers

HERE are the current standings between the Pasutureheads

Big Dog 149
Leroy 145
Moohead 144
Jim Giles 140
Lenny Da Cow 139
Tony the Calf 134

It’s called buying into a system. And “Believeland” has nothing to do with the fans. It has everything to do with the players. Two teams living in the same town. One believes. The other doesn’t.

While the overachieving Browns continue to surprise with solidarity, the more experienced Cavs seem totally removed from a year ago. “We’re not a very good team” LeBron says. Mr Moohead says: “You’re not a team at all”. The Cavs are a bunch of individuals refusing to perform together. If this were an orgy, no one would get off. No passing. No help defensively. No effort or energy. No belief. And these players are more talented than the Ethan Kelley’s of the world. But they don’t have each other’s backs.

Larry doesn’t want to be PG. He only wants to shoot. Damon Jones shoots 3’s, and does not play defense. Z gets sullen when he doesn’t get touches. Drew gazes into space during time outs. And LeBron resorts to the fadeaway 24 footer when all is lost.

Derek Anderson wants the ball. The OL plays with energy, and relishes the trench work. Jamal Lewis wants the ball at the end of the game. Mediocre players gang tackle to help each other out. Lawrence Vickers blocks and doesn’t whine about not getting the ball.

Some might say it’s coaching. Nope. It’s team balance. When veterans refuse to accept roles to make room for young guys, you end up with distractions. When Hughes refuses to handle the ball, he destroys the offensive flow. When DJ plays matador, a big man commits a foul behind him. Then rotation stops altogether.

Compare that to Ken Dorsey. He’ll never play, but he remains comimited to helping the young QB’s. Or Willie McGinest who teaches on the sideline. No whining. No hidden agendas. Soon the young guys start responding. Even the weak DL stepped up yesterday, because they are listening to the right voices.

But who can Gibson, Shannon, Sasha and AV listen to? To selfish Larry? To sometimes team leader LeBron? To the pouting Z?

The Cavs need more than a point guard. They need a VETERAN PG, like Jason Kidd. LeBron wants him because he needs help motivating a bunch of whiny veterans who refuse to part with their playing time or accept their own diminishing skills.

Believeland is a state of mind. The fans may live there, but the Cavs do not.