I realized today that I don’t think I actually ever saw the Tyson / Spinks fight. Back in 1988, my friend Jesse’s folks agreed to get the show on pay per view. I don’t remember what I was doing - bathroom break, or perhaps I lost the coin toss on who had to get the popcorn from the kitchen downstairs. But I do remember Jesse shouting “The fight’s starting!” and by the time I got back to the TV - it was over.
91 seconds. In 91 seconds, he knocked out a guy who’d never even been knocked down, whose knees had never touched a mat before.
I didn’t see the game, but it sounds like it was an ominous start to the Browns season. If I wasn’t such a fan, the antics below probably would have been hilarious.
The Browns imploded shortly after kickoff.
On their first fourth down, newly signed Cleveland punter Paul Ernster let the snap slip through his hands before scrambling to get off a 15-yarder.
Cleveland was whistled for four infractions — two holds, an illegal formation and having a man downfield — on the play and the Steelers scored moments later when Roethlisberger hit Hines Ward on a 5-yarder.
The romp was on.
“I’d like to think we got the bad one out of our system,” said Browns wide receiver Joe Jurevicius.
My favorite quote so far about James’ performance last night:
No matter the words, James’ Game 5 may be the sort of stuff that saves leagues. You can almost hear the advertisements now: “Can the best player in the world beat the best team in the world? The Finals … Thursday at 9.”
I watched my first game on a HD flatscreen today. I was skeptical until I actually could see a defensive lineman’s face so clearly that I could tell how badly he fell for a fake by Smith.
Going to have to get one of those sooner or later.
In the wake of David Foster Wallace’s piece on Federer in yesterday’s NYTimes, the paper is allowing readers to share their thoughts on whether Federer is the best tennis player ever to play the sport. Kudos to William Tapia who got the first comment in:
“I like to watch tennis and this is a beautiful sport, but this is not a proper or interesting subject for comment at a moment of turnoil and war in some parts of the world. A discussion on the Middle East would be more suitable and is on our mids [Sic] now.”
A friend of mine asked me the other day what I thought about my baseball team’s name and mascot. She would be referring to The Cleveland Indians and Chief Wahoo.
Chief Wahoo
I have been a tribe fan all of my life. I can’t imgine calling my team anything but the Indians. But, both the Chief and the team name have got to go. If Detroit up and changed it’s name to the Detroit Negroes and sewed a sambo mascot to their hats we would be up in arms - and by we I mean nearly everybody.
Sambo
We weren’t always the Indians by the way. From 1901 to 1914, the team had three different names: the Cleveland Blues, the Cleveland Bronchos and the Cleveland Naps. Naps was derived from a former player named Napoleon Lajoie. When Lajoie was traded to Philly, the team’s name was changed to the Indians in response to a local newspaper contest.
In 1995, the Indians released a press release explaining that:
“The Cleveland Indians organization is very aware of the sensitivities involved in this issue. We have gone to great lengths to respect those sensitivities. In no way do we intend to demean any group, especially one as pround as Native Americans. The logo is simply a caricature that has enjoyed decades of fan appeal in the Northeast Ohio area…”
Last time I checked, a caricature was “a representation in which the subject’s distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.”
So essentially the ball club was saying, “We don’t mean to demean. We are laughing with you, not at you.”
How on earth can anybody seriously defend this uniform anymore?
I advocate returning to the Cleveland Blues. If the show fits… wear it.
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