All the small things

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The dawgs are barkin, they're all having fun,
Bernie will lead us to that place in the sun.

With the long list of problems that have afflicted the Browns since their return in 1999, it seems foolish to worry about the future coaching prospects of Bernie Kosar. His reported talks with New England and Cincinnati regarding an as of now unspecified post are such a miniscule thing compared to the importance of this bedraggled organization ensuring that another off-season of wholesale change will be the last for a very long time.

A tiny thing, yes, but that doesn’t stop the Cleveland fan inside me –like so many of its downtrodden brethren keeping a desperate hold on a happier past – from being at least slightly perturbed at the seeming lack of interest for Kosar’s services coming out of Berea.

Kosar to Join Bengals or Patriots?

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Various reports are stating that Cleveland Browns legend and hometown hero Bernie Kosar is talking to the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots about joining their organizations in some capacity. I don't know the details, but if this happens it will make me sick to my stomach. Bernie IS Cleveland sports. We already have a stadium in Cincinnati named Paul Brown Stadium for Pete's sake. Holmgren needs to understand the need for Bernie to be with the Browns and act swiftly. It goes beyond football operations. Please Mike - keep Bernie at home where he belongs!

Ohio State learns their texting punctuation, Miley Cyrus. SMH

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Turns out that Ohio State coach Thad Matta had to teach guard William Buford a little bit about his grammar.  Before the Buckeyes' commanding 87-64 win over the #12 Purdue Boilermakers, turns out Matta lectured Buford about his ellipses.  When I saw that, I figured he was talking three pointers, launch angle and parabolas, but turns out he just didn't like too much dramatic pause in the text messages he receives.

Buford twisted his ankle in the Buckeyes’ win at Illinois on Saturday. X-rays revealed no problems and Matta dismissed it as ‘nothing major’ on the Big Ten conference call on Monday. Still, the coach wanted to make sure Buford was all right before the team’s shootaround on Tuesday.

“I sent him a text and asked how he was feeling,’’ Matta said. “And he wrote back, ‘A little sore, dot, dot dot.’’ I said, ‘You don’t dot dot dot me. So we had a long conversation about what dot dot dot means.’’

Yes, young William, your coach doesn't want the follow-up text to read something like:
"A little sore...but the hangover from Four Loco is much worse."
"A little sore...so I skipped class again. Who needs it?"
"A little sore...from the tattoo I just got with #2."

Look Before You Tweet: A CST Public Service Announcement

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My dearly departed and often ahead-of-her-time grandmother used to say to me - her shy, introverted grandson - "Don't let the bird s--t on your head. Open your mouth!" In other words, speak up or you may miss an opportunity, or worse yet, be taken advantage of. In today's media-driven world of instant gratification, athletes are having no trouble opening up wide and letting the Twitter Bird take a dump. Not quite what Grandma had in mind.

On the heels of the so-called King's Karma (Un)Tweet, we now have the Jay Cutler controversy, where several former and current NFL players criticized the Bears pouty QB for, well, basically being a wuss for not playing through a knee injury in the NFC Championship game. Keep in mind, these tweets happened during the game without any information as to the extent of Cutler's injury or who's decision it was to sit him. While this is America and we are entitled to freedom of speech/thought/expression and, as evident by this blog, everyone is entitled to their opinions, it would be nice for those associated with credible media outlets (and there were plenty) to at least be responsible with what they are offering up to the masses. Discounting Cutler's injury based on his body language and expressionless disposition is careless... and is another example of the evils of Twitter. While everyone else opened their mouth, it was Cutler that got crapped on – and from reports that he in fact does have a legitimate knee injury, it was unjustified.

For the record, Cutler had previously missed a total of 1 game in 5 seasons as a starting QB in the NFL. 

Cutler injured, LeBron quits. And the difference in player reaction couldn't be more stark.

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Everyone knows that Bears quarterback Jay Cutler isn’t exactly beloved. Rick Reilly took his turn eviscerating Cutler last week, criticizing him for not much more than being aloof and not caring “who understands him and who doesn’t.”  But the level of talk in Chicago and the NFL about  Cutler missing the second half of the Bears’ loss to the Packers in Sunday’s NFC Championship game is amazing.

Maybe he's a bit of a jerk, sure, but at least he hasn’t been accused of any sex crimes, or tortured any animals to death. He comes off as condescending and rude to anyone who dares ask him a question, so it’s a bit understandable that reporters and columnists don’t like Cutler. And people who buy ink by the barrell can influence popular perception quite a bit. But it’s not just with the media that Cutler is apparently disliked.