It's Not the Humidity, It's the Heat

We liked Bud Shaw's column in this morning's Plain Dealer about the Indians cornering of the market on platoon players. As Shaw points out, the Indians are short on guys who can hold down one position for multiple games in a row. Put another way, most of their efforts these days seem geared toward ensuring that they are long on guys who can't play regularly.

This season is starting to remind me of a game of Gin in which you start out trying to collect a run of spades only to switch strategy mid-game and begin collecting hearts. Meanwhile the rest of the table has stayed on course, someone has knocked and you suddenly find yourself with a hand full of nothing and getting whacked on points. That's what the Tribe's deck must now look like to GM Mark Shapiro. Not only is the roster radically different but different bad, not different good. Our offense is weaker without Eduardo Perez, Ben Broussard and Ronnie Belliard. Our pitching is worse without Bob Wickman. Our defense, always bad, has not improved.

Shapiro and Tribe fans can only hope that the next shuffle of the deck is more kind because with the Dolans as the owners, luck is the only chance we have.

***

We also enjoyed the photo of Kellen Winslow on the front page of the PD sports if not his confidence. Maybe a guy who has played two games in three years ought to refrain from declaring himself the elite NFL tight ends even at 90% health. Let me put it this way: you're on the clock in your fantasy draft. You can choose between Antonio Gates and Kellen Winslow as your tight end. Any debate? I didn't think so.

***

Speaking of confidence, it didn't do much for WOIO and their legal team, which confidently predicted that they would win their request for a preliminary junction to keep the Browns from breaking their contract. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Timothy McMonagle denied their request paving the way for the Browns to break the contract and put their games on another local station.

That, of course, doesn't mean that the Browns ultimately will win their lawsuit. It just means that if the case ultimately goes to court and WOIO were to win, they'd be entitled to monetary damages. Knowing this and knowing that they would have difficulty prevailing, the Browns are deep in negotiations with WOIO on a financial settlement. Look for that soon followed by the typical press releases from each side declaring their satisfaction with the outcome.

The real loser in all this appears to be Sharon Reed who now won't get the opportunity to cavort on the sidelines during games in low-cut blouses and high-cut skirts. But on the other hand, Playboy Magazine was just in town scouting for a new crop of Playmates so perhaps there's hope for Reed yet. Certainly this journalism gig isn't working out too well.