COVID-19 and the summer without sports

    It has been a long strange summer without sports to watch.  We haven't had the NBA playoffs.  We haven't gotten to ride the daily marathon of baseball.  Over the past few years, my sports watching has greatly decreased.  I have four kids and although I have watched a lot of youth sports, my time to watch live sporting events has greatly decreased long before the pandemic. (That is documented here in an earlier blog post http://mattferrellblogs.blogspot.com/2017/10/sports-juggling.html) 

    Some sports have returned.  NASCAR, golf, and UFC don't interest me. So I haven't spent any time watching those events.  What I have to ask myself is, "What have I done with the extra time?"  I have burned through shows that my wife and I had saved on our DVR that we said we would get to eventually.  Apparently the summer of COVID is that eventually.  I have spent much more time outside.  Many of the yard projects that I would said, I would get to when eventually, planting a garden, trimming trees and bushes, planting grass in formally barren patches of the yard, have been completed.  

    I have missed sports greatly, but it seems like my overall life has been better without them.  I have gotten many thing accomplished.  Such as writing this blog post because google informed me that if I didn't add new content that I would lose my sponsorship.  Speaking of which, please visit the companies websites that are supporting my writing and give their wares a view.  

    Despite the improvement of functionality, I can't wait for sports to return.  I want to hear the return of squeaking sneakers, the crack of the bat, the pop of the pads.  I know that seeing much of the data on COVID that we can't make sports return while this virus rages on, so if you like me, want to get back to sports and much less productive life, please socially distance, please wear a mask.  Think of the mask like a dress code rule.  The more this thing is contained before a vaccine is created the sooner we can have more sports and less yard work.  Do your part, if not for your own health or your neighbors, but so come fall I can watch sports on the weekend instead of raking leaves.  

PLEASE! I'm tired and want to watch somebody else physically work.  

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Sports Juggling

We live in a great time for sports.   I can watch every single Indians, Cavs, and Browns game. I even have the ability to stream my alma mater Kent State getting their clocks cleaned if I so choose.  It's great.  I pay a large bill to the good people at DirecTV each month for the privilege.  There is only one problem with this.  Where do I find the time to follow all of my teams as much as I would like?

 I work as a teacher for students with multiple disabilities, I have four kids, two of which are teenagers with full calendars filled with their own sporting events and no drivers licenses, the other two are twin hyperactive babies under two years  old, who don't want to spend their Sunday afternoons watching the Browns fail to convert on another third and long, and a wife who on occasion has been known to want to spend time with me.

What I am Thankful for in Sports

This time of year Americans sit down with family and friends and spend time to be thankful.  This is also the point in the sports calendar where there is constantly sporting events on television.  So it got me thinking what I had to be thankful for being an Ohio sports fan with a busy life and a wife and kids.

I am thankful that the 2014 NFL Draft is loaded with Quarterback prospects.  As the Browns head into the home stretch of another stink hole season ruined by bad quarterback play, Browns fans' attention turned towards the draft.  Fortunately this year is the deepest quarterback draft in a very long time.  Brandon Weeden, the Browns' first round pick in 2012, who came out of college at 28 as a project, is bar none the worst quarterback in the league.  Weeden is not just the worst starting quarterback, the worst quarterback period. He isn't the first terrible quarterback the Browns have tortured their loyal fans with.  Since the Browns returned as a cesspool in the NFL in 1999, they have trotted out the following collection of bums and mistakes at starting quarterback.


Ty Detmer, Tim Couch, Doug Pederson, Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Ken Dorsey, Bruce Gradkowski, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer, Jason Campbell.

I had to take a shower after listing off that rotten collection of turds.  The Browns have the Colts first round pick after convincing them to take the corpse of Trent Richardson plus their own surely high first rounder.  I am not opposed to the Browns using both picks on quarterbacks in 2014.  I mean one of them has to not suck.  I mean right? It has to happen eventually.  If the Colts can go from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck and the Packers can go from Bret Farve to Aaron Rodgers then the Browns can get one good quarterback every twenty years. I mean can't we catch a break?

I am thankful this is the last year of the BCS.  Ohio State seems locked into the 3rd slot and therefore outside of the championship game despite not having lost a game during the past two seasons.  I would love to see the Buckeyes get a chance to play for the national championship this year, however I am no dummy.  I have seen Alabama and Florida State and know that the Buckeyes are not in their class.  If this was next season in order to win a national title, the Buckeyes would have to beat both of them in a two week period.  Not happening.  You are just not putting together two perfect games back to back like that.  However since this is the last year of the BCS, if the Tide or Seminoles should happen to stub their toes in the last few games of the season, then Ohio State would only have to pull one upset.  They have an outside shot of doing that and I would love to watch them try.

I am thankful for the 2013 Cleveland Indians season.  It was a great season with tons of ups and downs like any good roller coaster ride season should be.  However I know this was probably as good as it is going to get for a few years.  The Cleveland Indians shot completely over their skis this season.  They hit gold with a few lottery tickets like Jason Giambi and Scott Kazmir.  However the mass exodus of players with talent that the Tribe can no longer afford has already begun.  Joe Smith a reliable middle reliever left for the Angels because a small market team just can't afford to spend 4 million a season on a setup man.  Ubaldo Jimenez who stunk most of his time in Cleveland finally turned it on the last two months.  Just in time to decline his player option and cash in big time.  Thanks for stinking for two years and then finally getting it together for a payday, Ubaldo.  This next season will be a disappointing one for the Tribe as they will take a step back in 2014.

I am thankful that at the end of this NBA season that Lebron James can opt out of his contract.  This will finally allow the closure that we Cavs fans need. There has been rumblings that Lebron may return to Cleveland after this season for a do over with the Cavs.  I know that would be great for the Cavs record and chances at a title.  But Cavs fans have been stuck in neutral ever since the Decision.  There were the two years of hate and the past year and a half as been hoping and pining for Lebron to return.  Cavs fans clapped and begged for Lebron to return when the Heat came to Cleveland to play on Wednesday and it saddened me to see what we have become.  It doesn't make me feel good to see my fellow fans turn into a jilted lover who is hoping for their ex to get divorced and come back.  It's pathetic.  I will be just be glad when the Cavs finally know that he isn't coming back and we can start actually moving on as a franchise.  That way we can build around the often injured Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson who after years of playing basketball realized he shoots better with his other hand, the black hole shooting guard who can't shoot Dion Waiters, Andrew Bynum who keeps talking about retirement, and Anthony Bennett who is on pace to be the worst number 1 overall draft pick since Kwame Brown in 2001.  It is only a matter of time until Bennett is a D-League all-star for the Canton Charge.  This team has some major issues and I doubt will seem all that attractive to Lebron so it seems like it will be another long, dark era for the Cavs.

What I am most thankful for this season with Cleveland sports teams is what they have done for my son.  He has learned that you love people unconditionally.  That you stick with them through the hard times even if you don't see good times on the horizon.  Being a Cleveland sports fans has taught him that you are loyal and hopeful even if you never get any sort of satisfaction in the end.  It has now been 50 years since a Cleveland team has won a title and he sees his friends, who obviously have no class or values and were raised by barbarians, pronounce their love of the Steelers, Heat, Yankees, Red Sox, and other teams just because they are winning currently.  He knows that is not how a person should be a sports fan.  People love sports for the escape that it allows from life, but I love sports for what it does for my life, how it teaches lessons, and how after every heart-breaking loss and devastating season that my son is becoming a better person through it.  I am thankful for that more than any championship my teams could bring. Although I feel that he has learned enough about perseverance and loyalty, so we could really use a Championship Parade.  I would be very thankful for that.

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Player to be named later is the jewel of Sabathia trade.

Five years ago this weekend the Cleveland Indians traded away C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers for 4 prospects.  Pitchers Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson, Michael Brantley who was the player to be named later, and the jewel of the Brewers farm system Matt LaPorta.  Many thought the Brewers gave up a lot for a half season rental player.  It is impossible to break down a trade involving prospects in the moment.  Time must pass in order to properly evaluate a trade.  Let’s break this swap down.

Zach Jackson made his debut for the Tribe in August 2008.  In 9 starts for the Indians that season Jackson went 2-3 with an ERA of 5.60.  The next season Jackson started one game and appeared in two others.  The next spring he was traded to Blue Jays.  Jackson was a big zero for the Tribe. He is currently in Double A for the Royals.

Rob Bryson, who I had no recollection, is amazingly still in the Indians organization 5 years later.  Bryson has spent the bulk of his career playing for the Indians’ Double A team in Akron.  He has spent a small amount of time in Triple A spent mostly getting the tar hit out of him.  His Triple A stats are an ERA over 6.00 and WHIP over 2.  That performance quickly got him sent back down.  Bryson is minor league roster filler for as long as the Indians continue to mail him checks.

Matt LaPorta, a power hitting outfielder who the Indians converted to a 1^st basemen was called up the next season in 2009.  He spent parts of the next four seasons bouncing back and forth from the bigs to Triple A while playing a solid first base but nothing special with the glove.  He struggled at the plate and his WAR was basically zero.  Meaning that LaPorta was playing about as good for the Tribe as the average triple A first basemen would.  Not a lot of production from the crown jewel of the Brewers organization.  In fact the Indians released LaPorta from the 40 man roster and not a single team claimed him.  In a league where teams give multiple chances on tons of players to try and fix them and unlock potential, not a single team felt LaPorta was worthy of claiming off of the scrap heap.  LaPorta went back to Triple A Columbus, where his production this season looks like that of a man, who has given up on getting back to the bigs with the Indians.  He is batting .235 with 5 homeruns in 22 games. 

The player to be named, usually considered a throw away, Michael Brantley has become the Indians everyday left fielder.  Brantley, the son of a major leaguer, is arguably the Indians most consistent hitter.  He rarely slumps and is an above average major leaguer.  He made his tribe debut in 2009 and has been durable, an above average hitter who doesn’t give at bats away, plays superb defense, and is quick on the base paths.  On the five year anniversary of the trade he hit two homeruns to tie his career high for a season, and lead the Indians to win over division rival the Detroit Tigers. 

C.C. Sabathia would help lead the Brewers to the Wild Card that season and a first round exit in the playoffs. It was the Brewers first playoff appearance in almost 30 years.  Sabathia would leave for the Yankees in the offseason as the Bronx Bombers brought in a Brinks truck for a hefty contract for the hefty lefty. 

It sounds like the Indians got the worse end of the trade, but I say the Indians won this trade in the long run.  The Brewers got 2 extra home games and Sabathia got shelled in his lone postseason start because the Brewers wore him down using him on short rest down the stretch run to even make the postseason.  Then he was gone.

Although the Indians did not receive an All-Star as of yet from the trade, they have a very good left fielder in Brantley who seems to have moved into the role of clubhouse leader.  Sabathia wasn’t coming back to Cleveland and the Indians weren’t going anywhere in 2008, so the Indians got a very good player instead of letting Sabathia walk away for nothing.  Should the Indians have gotten more for one of the best pitchers in baseball? Of course/ Did they get more out of the trade then the Brewers? Yes they did.  

 

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