Cleveland

Posted in Anastasia PantsiosDrinksEatsEventsFestivalMusic: PopularOutdoorsPartyPerformancePreviewShopLOCAL[ May 24, 2013 8:00 pm to May 27, 2013 8:00 pm. ] Fri 5/24 @ 12 pm-11 pm Sat 5/25 @ 12 pm-11 pm Sun 5/26 @ 12 pm-11 pm Mon 5/27 @12 pm-8pm Longstanding Cleveland Memorial Day weekend tradition, the Great American Rib Cook-Off, is officially the Marc's Great American Rib Cookoff & Music Festival. That indicates that, while the food is abundant, so is the music. There are always [...]

In the 2013 NFL Draft, there were a total of 11 players who were drafted from the state of Ohio, which put them in a tie for 6th place among states in the USA. The leaders were California and Florida, each of which had 27 players selected. Note that these figures do not include undrafted free agents. Here were the players who were born in Ohio and drafted to the NFL: QB Zac Dysert (Ada) - Broncos, 7th Round RB Le'Veon Bell (Groveport) - Steelers, 2nd Round RB Kyle Juszczyk (Lodi) - Ravens, 4th Round RB Spencer Ware (Cincinnati) - Seahawks, 6th Round TE Travis Kelce (Cleveland Heights) - Chiefs, 3rd Round OG Eric Herman (Toledo) - Giants, 7th Round OG Hugh Thornton (Oberlin) - Colts, 3rd Round OT Brian Winters (Hudson) - Jets, 3rd Round DE Cornellius Carradine (Cincinnati) - 49ers, 2nd Round LB John Simon (Youngstown) - Ravens, 4th Round DB Micah Hyde (Fostoria) - Packers, 5th Round As for which states the Browns' draft picks were born in, here you go: OLB Barkevious Mingo (Louisiana) - 1st Round OT Garrett Gilkey (Illinois) - 7th Round DE Armonty Bryant (Texas) - 7th Round CB Leon McFadden (California) - 3rd Round S Jamoris Slaughter (Georgia) - 6th Round

May 19, 2013 Indians 6, Mariners 0 Chapter 42: Just another Cy Young victory When the 2013 season began, there were seven pitchers in the AL who had won a Cy Young at some point in their careers. After today, the Indians have faced six of them (R.A. Dickey, David Price, Jake Peavy, Justin Verlander, Bartolo Colon, Felix Hernandez), with only CC Sabathia left unfaced. In addition, they've faced Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee during Interleague Play. So they've faced in total eight former Cy Young winners, in other words, about one every week this season. Counting today, they've won seven out those eight matchups, with Jake Peavy the lone loss. Today might have been the most impressive of the lot. Felix Hernandez came into the game today the league leader in ERA at 1.53, and hadn't given up more than two runs in a game since April 11th. The Indians scored two runs in the first inning, and three runs in the second. Terry Francona before the game, when asked about how to attack King Felix, said that you had make him work as much as possible so that perhaps you could get him out of the game by the seventh inning. Hernandez has not only great rate stats, but he's gone seven or more innings in five out of his nine starts, and hadn't gone fewer than six innings in a start this season. Well, by the time the second inning was over with, Felix Hernandez had thrown over 60 pitches. The tone was set from the first at-bat of the game. Bourn lined a single through the middle, then took second when the Seattle outfielders didn't charge the ball quickly. Hernandez struck out Jason Kipnis, leaving Bourn at second base, but Michael Brantley, who was batting third because Asdrubal Cabrera was given a day off, dumped a single into shallow right field to plate the first run of the game. Mike Morse foolishly threw directly to home plate on the play, allowing Brantley to go to second. That overthrow came back to haunt the Mariners, because when Nick Swisher's grounder went under Justin Smoak's glove, Brantley was able to score the Tribe's second run. The Indians didn't score again that inning, but Hernandez would have to throw 15 more pitches to finally retire the Indians. The second inning started much better for Hernandez, as the first two Tribe hitters grounded out. But Michael Bourn reached on an infield single, Jason Kipnis added a single of his own, and Michael Brantley blasted a three-run homer to right-center to essentially blow the game open. That three-run shot blew the game open because Justin Masterson was once again dominating. He wasn't quite as dominating as his last outing against the Yankees, as there were many fly balls and line drives hit on the day. But he was missing bats, too, and by the time he left the mound after the top of the seventh inning he had struck out 11 batters, many of them left-handed batters. The Indians would tack on the final run of the game on another hustle play. In the fourth inning, Mike Aviles hit a double down the left field line, and when home plate was left unoccupied after Drew Stubbs hit a dribbler, he jumped on the opportunity, scoring the Tribe's sixth run off Hernandez . With the victory the Indians are now eight games above .500 and will spend another day in sole possession of first place. This hot streak is now three weeks old, and since that second game of the doubleheader in Kansas City, the Indians have gone an astounding 17-4. Source: FanGraphs Roll Call (41 Commenters) Game Thread (531 Comments) # Commenter # Comments 1 tgriffith1992 84 2 johnf34 64 3 PyroKinesis 37 4 westbrook 27 5 CLEinAZ 24 6 Matt Y. 24 7 Danieldelamaiz 22 8 9James 21 9 JulioBernazard 20 10 Ockus_NYC 18 11 kendaru.geter 17 12 profdlp 17 13 Chief Wahoo 14 14 27ftBaja 13 15 Gradyforpresident 13 16 Heavysoviet 13 17 Pa tribefan 11 18 notthatnoise 9 19 Brick. 8 20 Lo

Prior to the start of free agency, I flirted with the idea of the Cleveland Browns signing the best available offensive guard, Louis Vasquez. The Browns did not end up adding any prominent guards in free agency or the draft. It was not a top priority, but it would have enhanced an already-promising unit. Just how promising is the perception about the Browns' offensive line? Back in January, we posted a link to rankings from Pro Football Focus, which ranked Cleveland as having the NFL's 5th best offensive line. Last week, Evan Silva of NBC Sports compiled his own rankings and gave the Browns almost just as high of a ranking at No. 6 in the NFL: 6. Cleveland Browns (5)2012 Run Block Rankings: 14, 202012 Pass Block Rankings: 5, 12LT: Joe ThomasLG: Jason PinkstonC: Alex MackRG: Shawn LauvaoRT: Mitchell SchwartzSuper Sub: G/T John GrecoOverview: An immobile rookie quarterback and injured tailback didn't help Cleveland's rate stats last season, but this is one of the most promising young lines in the league. Perennial All-Pro left tackle Thomas is the group's elder statesman at age 28. Pinkston, 25, Mack, 27, and Lauvao, 25, form an athletic and physical interior. Pinkston and Lauvao are backed up by Greco, a 28-year-old who can play both guard positions and blocked effectively in ten 2012 spot starts. Last year's 37th overall draft pick Schwartz was a top-three pass-protecting right tackle as a rookie, according to Pro Football Focus' ratings. If new coach Rob Chudzinski can work some Derek Anderson magic with Brandon Weeden, this Browns offense could take off in 2013. Denver, which was the team that added Vasquez, was up at No. 3 overall. Last week at Browns OTA's, Jason Pinkston made his long-awaited return to practice, but will have to work his way back into the starting lineup. Also, in a unique twist, Shawn Lauvao saw some reps at left guard, with John Greco at right guard. There are a couple of undrafted free agents (such as OT Chris Faulk) who could have a lot of promise, too, which would strengthen the depth of this unit tremendously. Besides Pinkston's scare last year, Cleveland's offensive line was very healthy in 2012. Side note: The two pass- and run-blocking numbers from Silva's report are 2012 rankings from PFF and FO. It is interesting how PFF has the Browns significantly higher in both categories than FO.

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Indians expect right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka to be pitch again in the minor leagues within the next month after an oblique injury sidelined him. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Cleveland Indians News

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam‘s Pilot Flying J company is being investigated by the government for a scheme involving diesel fuel rebate fraud. Many have expressed concerns that Haslam’s legal issues will impact his ability to continue to own the team. Haslam has taken a “regretful and apologetic” stance in his talks with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. When the NFL owners meet this week in Boston Haslam’s legal problems are expected to be addressed. Don Banks of Sports Illustrated reports the NFL has said it would not ask Haslem to step aside while the investigation continues, but Haslem is believed to have three or four family members with a stake in the team’s ownership, and could deal with a suspension or a recusal by temporarily transferring the team to either one of his two grown daughters, or perhaps even his 82-year-old father, Jim Haslam, the founder and patriarch of the family business and a still very-active former University of Tennessee football player and member of the school’s 1951 national championship team. The NFL is also not ready to lump Haslam’s legal plight in with that of a former NFL owner, ex-49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who pled guilty to a federal felony charge of bribing former Louisiana governor, Edwin Edwards in 1998, receiving two years of probation, a $1 million fine and a year’s suspension from then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. The key distinction in how the NFL views the two cases at this point is this, league sources say: DeBartolo was involved in an individual criminal matter, as opposed to being found responsible for a corporate act of illegality, as Haslam would seem to face. DeBartolo admitted to his role in the bribery, and even voluntarily recused himself from control of the 49ers in December 1997, just before being indicted by a federal grand jury. Haslam has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and maintains the rebate fraud was the act of a small group of rogue employees who bent the rules for their own financial gain. He has promised to make restitution with interest to companies who have been cheated, and to put in place a chief compliance officer to restructure and oversee the company’s rebate program. But for now, at least according to league and team sources, the idea of Haslam having to change his long-term status in team ownership in reaction to the fraud case seems unlikely.

Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton has enjoyed installing the team’s new 3-4 defense and working with the players.

Posted in Anastasia PantsiosCultureEducationEventsHistoryMusic: PopularMusic: Rock and RollOpeningPreviewShopLOCAL[ May 24, 2013; 6:00 pm; ] Fri 5/24 @ 10 AM The idea of naming any rock band “the greatest,” as some have done with the Rolling Stones, is questionable at best, since every music fan will have his or her own opinion. But there’s no denying, based on their musical contributions of the ’60s and early ’70s, that the Stones provided one [...]

At first glace, The Thermals don’t necessarily look like a band that will kick your ass. Bassist Kathy Foster comes off a bit like your neighbor (not to say that women can’t kick ass), while lead singer-guitarist Hutch Harris and drummer Westin Glass look like people you might see at your favorite indie coffee shop or comic book convention.… [ Read more ] [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

This Tuesday is an important day for the Cleveland Cavaliers. That evening the NBA Draft Lottery takes place, determining the order for the teams possessing the top fifteen picks in the draft. If everything stood as is, the Cavaliers would pick third overall, and according to a plethora of mock drafts, would select Georgetown small forward Otto Porter. While most Cavs fans would love to see this take place, life and the NBA Draft Lottery doesn’t always go according to plan. It’s entirely possible that the Cavaliers could draft fourth, fifth, or even (gasp!) sixth in the upcoming NBA draft. At that point, Porter and Nerlens Noel, reported to be the top two players on the Cavaliers’ draft board, will probably have already been drafted by other teams. Never fear, even if the Cavaliers’ fortunes take this tragic turn, there are many possibilities that could lead to a successful draft night for our favorite team. Here is one scenario that appeals to me. Assuming that Noel and Porter are off the board, the best pick for the Cavaliers could be Maryland Center Alex Len. If you took the time to read eraulli’s excellent post on Len, you already know that Len is a talented offensive player and underrated defender. ESPN’s Chad Ford has compared Len to former Cavalier Zydrunas Ilgauskas due to his size, rebounding, and ability to score both at the rim and with his midrange game. While there is some question about Len’s drive due to his lack of dominance at Maryland despite his size and skill, much of this can be attributed to Maryland’s poor guard play. Comments from Len, his coaches, and teammates paint a far different picture of his drive. Len also seems like an excellent fit for the Cavaliers for many reasons. He can run the floor well, play the pick and pop and pick and roll with Irving and Waiters, and his offensive and defensive skills both fit well with Tristan Thompson’s as the Cavaliers’ front court of the present and future. After drafting Len, the Cavaliers can turn their focus to the only position they have not addressed through the draft, small forward. There is no denying that after Porter there is a significant drop at the small forward position. That being said, a realistic option for the Cavaliers could be to package the 19th, 31st, and 33rd picks to move up far enough to draft the one small forward who has been rated above Otto Porter at times this season, Shabazz Muhammad. As noted by numerous analysts, Muhammad’s draft stock has fallen from potential number one pick to late lottery status over the past year. Currently he is ranked eleventh on Chad Ford’s Big Board and is ranked behind both Porter and Dario Saric at small forward. While Ford still has Muhammad being drafted ahead of Saric in his second mock draft, this could easily change as well. Kevin Pelton also had a pretty harsh assessment of Muhammad when predicting his future WARP (Len didn’t fare well either). Muhammad has been criticized for being a one dimensional scorer and bad teammate, to say nothing of the whole age debacle. In all fairness to Muhammad, there are plenty of signs he still should be able to be a productive NBA wing. As Tom Ziller wrote, Muhammad seems to have become this year’s Harrison Barnes, a wing who hasn’t lived up to pre-college expectations, isn’t super-efficient, and is therefore overly criticized. While Muhammad isn’t as big or athletic as Barnes, it should be pointed out that Barnes is an athletic player who doesn’t play athletically. In addition, Muhammad could be affected by the "Howland Variable" John Hollinger used in his 2011 draft rater. For those who don’t have ESPN Insider, the basic gist is that Howland’s system doesn’t allow for as much individual success for NBA prospects at UCLA as other systems. Citing the success of players such as Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday,