Chris Raiden
03-13-2006, 07:09 PM
Upgrade-O-Rama
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By Chris "Raiden" Grewe, NFL Columnist
Volume 2, Issue 23
What happens when your favorite team signs some of the top free agents in the land to great long term deals that make your team a contender in a division that otherwise pretty much stood still?
You celebrate of course.
How do you celebrate?
Well, a nasty cold and a Buckeye loss in the Big Ten tourney championship wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it's what I had, sooooo...yeah, Sports Gods, message received, don't get my hopes up too terribly much...gotcha...yeah...loud and clear...heard ya the first time when the Bucks won the national title annnnd the Browns blew a two touchdown lead in Pittsburgh in the same calendar week...
So anyways, you read this column every week (or whenever I have time to write it anyways...) expecting a little humor with your analysis...just figured I'd throw in this bridge paragraph to get to that point...how's that...alright, here we go...
The Browns in a single weekend signed the 5th ranked OT available according to our own Crunked, as well as the number one center on the board as well. Not bad for a team known more for its ragtag offensive lines that have more place being the ugly guys in your local Tuesday night bowling league (you know the ones I'm talking about, the really big guys with the beards that look like they can bowl, but they're really just there because their wife nagged them into doing something they both enjoy, yeah...you know who I'm talking about....).
Phil "GOoD" Savage indeed delivered upon promises to upgrade this team with quality players (as opposed to just any guy who looked like he could play a little <insert position here> like last year) with guys like LeCharles Bentley, Kevin Shaffer, and of course, Joe Jurevicius (whose name I will misspell in columns AT LEAST 15 times this year, no joke). Oh yeah, there was also that Teddy Washington guy, and that Dave Zastudil fellow...and not to mention, oh wait, that's it for now, it's only Monday...
Let's do a little background research on these guys Bentley, Jurevicius, and Zastudil shall we? Bentley, Cleveland native, Jurevicius, Cleveland native, Zastudil, yep, you guessed it, Cleveland native. All three grew up rooting for the good guys in the orange helmets, and know just how special it is to play down by good ole' Lake Erie on a Sunday in October with 70,000 of your closest friends rooting you on. They know about that team in Pittsburgh, and what it means to this city to beat them each and every time out. They know the history, they know who Jim Brown is and why he has a nice salary and office with a very undefined role with the squad, even as a septuagenarian who last played a down in a Browns uniform when the oldest of the guys we signed was still half a decade from being born, they know who the Kardiac Kids were, and why that '64 team was honored a few months ago.
Bottomline, they know Cleveland, and they love it enough to come home to play for Cleveland. These guys, along with a couple current Browns like Simon Fraser, Josh Cribbs, and of course, Charlie Frye, know what it means to play here. These are the guys who are going to be the ones who lead this franchise back to the playoffs, whether it be this year, or next.
This is Cleveland Browns football the way it was meant to be. Smash mouth, hard nosed, and played with at least a few guys who grew up here and can tell their teammates, this is what it means to be a Cleveland Brown.
Chris grew up about an hour south of Cleveland, and at the moment, is unreachable up on his personal Cloud 9 after this weekend. When he comes back, he will eventually find your emails at raiden[at]pigskinheaven.[dot]com.
http://www.pigskinheaven.com/gallery/files/5/woof9cf.jpg
By Chris "Raiden" Grewe, NFL Columnist
Volume 2, Issue 23
What happens when your favorite team signs some of the top free agents in the land to great long term deals that make your team a contender in a division that otherwise pretty much stood still?
You celebrate of course.
How do you celebrate?
Well, a nasty cold and a Buckeye loss in the Big Ten tourney championship wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it's what I had, sooooo...yeah, Sports Gods, message received, don't get my hopes up too terribly much...gotcha...yeah...loud and clear...heard ya the first time when the Bucks won the national title annnnd the Browns blew a two touchdown lead in Pittsburgh in the same calendar week...
So anyways, you read this column every week (or whenever I have time to write it anyways...) expecting a little humor with your analysis...just figured I'd throw in this bridge paragraph to get to that point...how's that...alright, here we go...
The Browns in a single weekend signed the 5th ranked OT available according to our own Crunked, as well as the number one center on the board as well. Not bad for a team known more for its ragtag offensive lines that have more place being the ugly guys in your local Tuesday night bowling league (you know the ones I'm talking about, the really big guys with the beards that look like they can bowl, but they're really just there because their wife nagged them into doing something they both enjoy, yeah...you know who I'm talking about....).
Phil "GOoD" Savage indeed delivered upon promises to upgrade this team with quality players (as opposed to just any guy who looked like he could play a little <insert position here> like last year) with guys like LeCharles Bentley, Kevin Shaffer, and of course, Joe Jurevicius (whose name I will misspell in columns AT LEAST 15 times this year, no joke). Oh yeah, there was also that Teddy Washington guy, and that Dave Zastudil fellow...and not to mention, oh wait, that's it for now, it's only Monday...
Let's do a little background research on these guys Bentley, Jurevicius, and Zastudil shall we? Bentley, Cleveland native, Jurevicius, Cleveland native, Zastudil, yep, you guessed it, Cleveland native. All three grew up rooting for the good guys in the orange helmets, and know just how special it is to play down by good ole' Lake Erie on a Sunday in October with 70,000 of your closest friends rooting you on. They know about that team in Pittsburgh, and what it means to this city to beat them each and every time out. They know the history, they know who Jim Brown is and why he has a nice salary and office with a very undefined role with the squad, even as a septuagenarian who last played a down in a Browns uniform when the oldest of the guys we signed was still half a decade from being born, they know who the Kardiac Kids were, and why that '64 team was honored a few months ago.
Bottomline, they know Cleveland, and they love it enough to come home to play for Cleveland. These guys, along with a couple current Browns like Simon Fraser, Josh Cribbs, and of course, Charlie Frye, know what it means to play here. These are the guys who are going to be the ones who lead this franchise back to the playoffs, whether it be this year, or next.
This is Cleveland Browns football the way it was meant to be. Smash mouth, hard nosed, and played with at least a few guys who grew up here and can tell their teammates, this is what it means to be a Cleveland Brown.
Chris grew up about an hour south of Cleveland, and at the moment, is unreachable up on his personal Cloud 9 after this weekend. When he comes back, he will eventually find your emails at raiden[at]pigskinheaven.[dot]com.