Countdown to zero-hour for Buckeyes

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The Associated Press confirms with Gene Smith that the NCAA will issue its ruling regarding the Ohio State football violations at 3PM eastern today.

I think there's a solid chance that the self-flaggilation that the OSU Athletic Department has implemented (up to and especially the firing of Jim Tressel) will satisfy the NCAA committee. There didn't appear to be institutional lack of control, and huge USC-style violations were not present in any way

Not to mention that a certain scandal in Happy Valley have consumed the headlines for the last two months. So here's hoping that Ohio State can put this whole sordid affair behind them, and maybe the donation of a couple hundred thousand #2 jerseys will be the final penance OSU has to make.

What we think will happen vs. the Cardinals (Week 15)

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Cleveland Browns at Arizona Cardinals

December 18, 2011


*Due to a technical error, the CST predictions were not posted in time for the game. This is what we planned on saying yesterday before the game...

Brian	Browns 13 Cardinals 7	Is it over yet?
Tom	Cardinals 21 Browns 10	The Browns actually look good in this game. With the vet Seneca Wallace running the offense we actually get to see what the west coast offense looks like. If Wallace looks good whats that mean for Colt McCoy long term....
Doug	Cardinals 24 Browns 10	This is the last game of the year in which the Browns have any chance at winning, but victory led  by a back-up quarterback would gain them nothing but lost slots in the upcoming draft. So yeah, such is out lot in another invigorating Browns season!
Kevin	Cardinals 17 Browns 16	The Cardinals won 4 out of 5 with QB John Skelton starting in place of Kevin Kolb. I don't care if former Ohio State basketball star Jaime Skelton was starting for Arizona - the Browns are the Browns, even with a career backup starting for injured Colt McCoy. If Seneca Wallace moves the offense with any amount of efficiency we'll have (yet) another QB controversy and it will "business as usual" for President Big Show in Brownstown.
SamVox	Browns Cardinals	The Vox is off this week.
Ryan	Cardinals 20 Browns 17	No comment.
Sean	Cardinals 27 Browns 10	Beanie runs wild...

Hey Mike, you better recognize!

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Holmgren gave media the business at the presser

Browns' president Mike Holmgren swept his stern gaze over the journalistic rabble gathered in front of him. As the cameras rolled during yesterday's press conference in Berea, a get-together ostensibly about poor Colt McCoy's horrific prime-time de-cleating and subsequent concussion, Holmgren had something else to add during his matter-of-fact and occasionally prickly media address.

Expressing frustration with some cynicism-stepped reports on the injury, Holmgren said:

"Another irritant to me is that it's 'business as usual' around the Cleveland Browns, it's not. It's not. This was an incident that took place and hopefully after I explain how it happened, you'll understand. Because it's not (business as usual)."

This is how you should remember Baron Davis on the Cavs

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March 29, 2011: Cavs 102, Heat 90.

Thanks for your help, Baron. Good luck.

 Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America

Harrison suspended one game for hit on Browns' McCoy; is it enough?

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The NFL has ruled.

James Harrison will be suspended one game for the brutal* helmet-to-helmet on Colt McCoy in the Steelers' 14-3 win Thursday against the Browns. (He will reportedly appeal the suspension.)

Courtesy WFNY

I'm on record saying that I thought this could be a much worse suspension. This wasn't a last second flip by McCoy where he dropped his head and Harrison couldn't avoid the helmet collision. James Harrison is a great player, and he had plenty of time to make a tackle without using his head as the tip of a spear. How many linebacker or safeties have you seen crucify a receiver without launching themselves head-first? 99% of them. Harrison refuses to change his style. He knows what can hurt the opposing player the most. And even though he's been warned, he declines the constructive advice of the rulebook.

Ballcarrier or not, there's no place for tackles like that in football. It's just as cheap as going for someone's knee from the side. James Harrison is a great player who just doesn't have the line in his head that he knows not to cross. I thought in this case, a multi-game suspension would be warranted.  I doubt this is the last time he'll be looked at for this. In face, doesn't Pittsburgh visit Cleveland in a couple weeks...?

*Note: when I say 'brutal', I think that fits. Lots of hits that are perfectly legal in football are "savagely violent" or "punishingly hard or uncomfortable," as the definition of "brutal" reads. Many of Harrison's hits are bone crushing, violent--and yet legal, and truthfully, fantastic plays. But in this case, "uncomfortable" is a great way to put how Colt McCoy felt for a while after that one.