Bye-bye: What to look for in Browns' final seven games

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"So, you like...stuff?"

The Browns travel to Dallas on Sunday after what was hopefully a fruitful bye week. There are still two months left in the season, and before the depressing NFL draft discussion really cranks up as it does in Cleveland around Thanksgiving most every year, what else is there for Browns fans to ponder over the final seven games?

What we think will happen today in the Election! (Special Edition!)

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2012 Election

November 6, 2012

Every week the tortured fans here at Cleveland Sports Torture make ill advised picks of the Browns, Buckeyes, Cavaliers, or Indians. But today I thought I'd do something different. Like make ill-informed predictions for the election. What's that, you say? I guess you probably have missed the election advertising for the past million few months. I guess, then, you might think our predictions mean something!  Note, this is a PREDICTION, not necessarily a PREFERENCE. But judge for yourself.

(Yes, I know that it's after 9PM on Election night, but I assure you this was written on Monday night. The other writers at CST are still in line to vote.)

Brian

Electoral Vote: Obama: 290, 51.1% Romney: 248, 48.9% Ohio: Obama 51.7% Romney 48.3% Brown: 54.3% Mandel: 45.7%

The Republican party has tried to blame Barack Obama for everything (a) that they left for him and that (b) they wouldn't let him fix since their Day One goal of getting him out of office. Surprisingly enough, their Ever Incompetent Extreme Ideological Obstructionist (E-I-E-I-O) policy didn't work, despite the way too slow road back from recession and partisanship shown by the President. In other news, should Josh Mandel win this election, I fully expect to see him running for Prez come 2020.

What we think will happen vs. the Ravens today (Week 9)

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Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns

November 4, 2012

Brian	Browns 24 Ravens 20	Home game. Ravens. So close last time. Old team. Young team. Once in a while things need to work out.
Tom	Ravens 20 Browns 17	The Ravens are on a decline, and the Browns are on the upswing. The Browns lose a heartbreaker as the Ravens pull off another division win.
Doug	Ravens 21 Browns 17	Each week, the Browns make incremental strides in the direction of respectability. That inchworm-like progress continues today, although it won't be enough to beat the injured-riddled (but still dangerous) Ravens.
SamVox	Browns 27 Ravens 10	John Harbaugh and Paul Ryan both attended Miami University and will suffer significant losses just two days apart. There are no coincidences in my box, as The Vox improves to 9-0 in this space.
Kevin	Ravens 21 Browns 20	The Browns are improving, it seems, every week but the 2 wins have been a bit of "fool's gold" in my opinion. Without some of the Ravens defensive leaders, the Browns have a chance, but the bad guys have just enough talent and experience to pull it out in the end.
Ryan	Browns 24 Ravens 17	Once again, hope is alive.
Sean	Ravens 28 Browns 14	Going to pick against the local experts (radio callers). Their optimism is unreal.

What we think will happen vs. the Chargers today (Week 8)

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San Diego Chargers at Cleveland Browns

October 28, 2012

Brian	Browns 24 Chargers 20	I'm sick of people in other cities telling me how good Brandon Weeden is. Just get a damn "W."
Tom	Browns 17 Chargers 16	Weather drags the Chargers to a halt. Browns pull off the upset.
Doug	Chargers 21 Browns 13	As bad as the Browns are, they've been in most every game this year. That trend will continue today, with the young roster learning another harsh lesson at the hands of the 'Bolts.
SamVox	Browns 20 Chargers 18	I'm the only CST 'capper to correctly pick every game this season, but I'm befuddled today. My imaginary friends at SanDiegoSportsTorture.com are backing the Brownies, so I'll play my hunch and eat Norv's lunch.
Kevin	Chargers 31 Browns 17	It's Sunday, so that means The Walking Dead returns for another heart-pounding episode. Oh, and that show about zombies is on again tonight. Coach Shurmur, not be confused with one of those emotionless flesh eaters, is Dead Man Walking. I see almost no scenario where he's coaching this team next year.
Ryan	Chargers 27 Browns 24	Browns keep it close, but the rookies struggle to close out the game again.
Sean	Chargers 17 Browns 14

Indians' Shapiro opens up

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Over at Fox Sports Ohio, a good interview with the Cleveland Indians Mark Shapiro was posted yesterday by Pat McManamon.

It's the first long interview I can remember Shapiro giving in a long time that touches on a lot of the topics fans want to know about.

One of the more interesting unsettling quotes...

On the belief from us fans that if more people show up to games, more money will be spent:

 "I think more people will come. But the challenge is 2.2 million instead of 1.6 million doesn't change the way we operate. Even that extra 500,000, 600,000 people, even if that's $10-to-15 more million in revenue a year . . . one win in free agency is $9 million. So you're not going to change the context. Again, I don't think people want to intellectualize baseball, and I don't believe you should have to intellectualize baseball . . . and we've made a conscious decision in most of our interviews not to get into these topics and just stay positive and talk about what our aspirations are.

But that revenue swing between 1.5 million in attendance and 2.2 million in attendance . . . meaningful dollars but not dollars that will have us plan dramatically different." 

You can read the full interview here.