Thursday, May 5, 2005

Random Recap #5: OH Giggidy

As you might have noticed by my lack of posts, the life of LeBlog has been quite packed, but just give me time before I realize the blog is #1 and life is #2.

Tomorrow the celebration of LeAkron hits Vegas so this should be the last post till mid next week. 

Enjoy the randomness:

*****Albert Belle
Yea that’s right I said Albert Belle.  The Indian's bad boy who punched a fan because of a little name change to Joey…Joey..Joey.  But to most he was known more for a little corking incident referred simply as “Batgate.”   In case you forgot here is a little summary: 

On July 15, 1994, Belle's bat was confiscated by umpire Dave Phillips after White Sox manager Gene Lamont voiced his suspicion that the bat was corked. The Indians knew it was corked, and set out to replace the bat, which Phillips had put in his locker. During the game, Indians pitcher Jason Grimsley wriggled through a crawl space above the ceiling above the umpires' locker room, dropped through an escape hatch, and replaced the corked model with a conventional one. "My heart was going 1,000 miles a second," said Grimsley. "I just rolled the dice, a crapshoot."

But the caper was easily found out -- the faux Belle model Grimsley had put in Phillips locker had Paul Sorrento's name on it. Belle was suspended for seven games. In his autobiography, released just a few weeks ago, former Belle teammate Omar Vizquel wrote about the "Batgate" incident: "I can be naive at times, but I'm not stupid. Certainly not stupid enough to steal Albert's corked bat and replace it with one that looked completely different -- one that was autographed by Paul Sorrento. That wasn't even a nice try. The problem, of course, was that all of Albert's bats were corked."

so nice and innocent you are..

So why am I bringing up Joey..well, I recently read that Belle was one of the candidates to buy the Cavs..yep…the Cavs.  Apparently he let the media know about this, but I heard nothing of the sort.  So as the LeABJ notes before Gund sold the team to Dan Gilbert, he (or someone from his organization) allegedly met with Belle, who wanted to put together agroup to purchase the team.   Wow..imagine that.  I later read on to learn that Albert made almost $100 million playing ball which put him in the top 10 baseball earners of all time.  I don’t know many endorsements he had, but I doubt enough to amount to more than Gilbert’s $375 million.  Yeah, pretty nuts huh?

*****Check out this completely random story I found surfin the net for something..I don’t know what.  It’s author is a die hard Cleveland sports fan and apparently a semi-pro wrestler.  It’s pretty humorous and mentions some classic names.  If you’re too lazy to read it goes like this:

Article starts:   I love Cleveland. I love the Cleveland Browns. I love the Cleveland Indians. I love the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Article ends:  If only more sports were like wrestling.


*****I must admit I am pretty psyched to see how Charlie Frye does with the Brownies.  The LeAkron University QB is definitely considered the next great MAC QB to hit the NFL.  His 11,049 passing yards rank third in MAC history and 15th in NCAA DI-A history..damn.  Also, Frye is just the 17th player from Akron U to play in the NFL since 1925.  His jersey might have to be my first Brown’s jersey since Hanford Dixon (who has the best autograph ever).  So I was checkin around for some Frye audio/video clips and I found this interview on ESPiN.  If you’re interested, it’s the third link in the ESPiN Features section titled Ohio Player

He def sounds thuggish, but the best part of the audio clip is when the interviewer says he is a native Ohioan then admits he is from the Nati so he ‘cant’ relate where Frye’s High School is in comparison to Akron/Cleveland.  Ha..see you guys really are from Kentucky.


*****Sit Down Solider
So I think K2 got in some accident..  Yeah, all I know is that it’s not life threatening. Wait..who the hell cares..you’re a Punk and you screwed us all last year..I don’t care if your going to be ok in the long run..Are you out all season or what? 

So I am not shocked and this is just part of life as a Cleveland fan.  Damn you all.  Checkout this disgruntled clip from a radio show some of my friends at work do (clip also in real player format).  This guy is from Cleveland and let’s just say he voices his opinion...check a sample:

“And actually it’s not the worst thing that a Cleveland Brown has done over the past couple years.  Cause you know 2 years ago William Green was drunk and high with a knife sticking out of his neck driving down I77 in Cleveland.  So at least Winslow was sober and in a parking lot.”

Notice the kid in the beginning who thinks he knows what’s up.


*****So a scUM fan I just happen to know told me he though Braylon would be a bust for the Browns..maybe he is right..we all remember his failure to lead at the end of big games.  Go Bucks!  And on that note, maybe the Browns have the worst drafting history ever.  Look at this rap sheet.  Correct me if I am wrong here, but we haven’t had a solid pick since 1993..that is pathetic.   One random fact:  The Browns have drafted 11 players with the last name of Brown.  That includes Sam ‘First Down’ Brown in 1956..ahh the good old days when nicknames were nice and simple.  The other nicknames from our draft picks in the 50’s include ‘Candy’, ‘The Beast’ and ‘Corky.’  Wow..times have umm..changed. 

In case you wanted some more Browns love check out these pics..aaawwesome.

*****Props to ESPiN Page 2 on this little contest in which people sent in their old classic t-shirts.  Check out #1.  How pimp is that.  Also, I am biased because Deion is my favorite athlete..of all time yes.   I will go into my obsession at a later time.  On another note, I think I seriously have shirt #8 at home in a closet.  Definitely gonna dig around for that one.  Shirt #9 is equally as sweet as it implies the Bengals..SUCK.  Ha..Kentucky.

greatest Defender ever..

*****Cavs rumors anyone?
So apparently the Zen Masta is not hittin up the Midwest which sux but not a shocker.   Flip is still the #1 candidate, but Nate McMillan and Eric Musselman are up there as well.  Also, the Orlando Sentinel is predicting H to the Izzo to land in Cleveland.  On the GM front, it seems Gilbert is talking to everyone as the list is huge.  Whoever it ends up being at least we know Gilbert tried.

Check out these absurd comments in the Detroit Free Press:

"Cleveland's LeBron James sat between Detroit's bench and the scorer's
table, and some Pistons shook hands with him just before tipoff. Also,
Iverson chatted with James while Prince shot free throws in the first
quarter."
"Meanwhile, let's hope LeBron enjoyed his recruiting trip. Maybe he'll
decide to come to school here."

I think not…the King ain’t leavin

Final Cavs note:  I can’t remember being this excited for an offseason..oh wait nevermind…there were those years between 98 and 03 in which we all pretend never happened…ahh Ricky Davis free offseasons... 


*****Experienced Zombo yet?


On that note, I am off to Sin City.

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