While Browns fans are rightly upset about the team`s
3-12 performance, blunt CBS football analyst Randy Cross believes
things are brighter than they appear.
"I don`t think the future`s grim at all for the Browns," Cross says.
"They just have to realize you can`t run a football team by trying to
pound square pegs into round holes. They`ve spent too many years
putting players and officials in roles they aren`t suited for."
Cross says one encouraging sign is Browns owner Randy Lerner and
President John Collins insist on having separate roles for the team`s
future coach and general manager.
"Having one guy as the total despot of your team, controlling everything, just doesn`t work," Cross says.
Former Browns head coach Butch Davis, who resigned Nov. 30, also had wide-ranging management power.
Cross, part 2:
The analyst, a former Pro Bowl offensive lineman, is still high on much-criticized Browns defensive tackle Gerard Warren.
But Cross says Warren is one of several Cleveland Browns defenders who are simply "talented, but out of shape."
"He can kick any offensive lineman`s [butt] in the first quarter,"
Cross says of Warren. "But, after that, what he`s doing doesn`t work
too well."
Based solely on wins (zero) and losses
(likely five, after today`s game against Houston), Browns interim head
coach Terry Robiskie doesn`t have a good shot of getting the full-time
gig. But Robiskie deserves credit for preventing Browns players -- and
coaches, too -- from blatantly quitting on the season after Davis left.
That`s no small feat, considering how deeply Davis had alienated most
of the team.
Davis, part 2:
What`s the irony in recent complaints by Browns players -- and Robiskie
-- that the former head coach wore down the team with brutal practices?
Before this season, Davis ordered a team study to examine just how
tough Browns practices were compared to other NFL teams -- and gloated
when it revealed that most clubs (including Super Bowl XXXVIII loser
Carolina) worked players harder or longer.
Former Browns defensive coordinator Foge Fazio,
in good humor despite recent reconstructive knee surgery: "The doctors
told me my type of surgery is among the most painful done on the human
body. They were right, too."
How much is Cavs star LeBron James
(and James alone) responsible for the team`s surge in popularity these
days? Longtime Gund Arena folks say they`re still shocked that so many
spectators left the recent Houston game once James went out with a
fractured cheekbone -- even though there was an entire half (and more)
to play.
The Cavs have three players
ranked among the NBA`s top 50 in total minutes played this season:
James (1), Jeff McInnis (12) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (50).
Former Valley Forge High basketball star Ryan Patton
is among the top players in the English Basketball League. Patton plays
for the Sheffield Arrows, a Division I EBL team. He was a college
standout at Youngstown State.
Native Clevelander Jack Herrick,
longtime board chairman of the Professional Squash Association world
tour, is smiling broadly these days: 2004 ended as the most successful
year in the circuit`s history, with a record-setting $1.8 million in
prize money and 146 events across the globe. Herrick is widely regarded
as the first American to win a world title in squash -- he did it in
1983.
Channel 19 sportscaster Charlie Minn
and Golden State Warriors forward Dale Davis hope to start
pre-production on their movie, "Double Or Nothing," in Cleveland next
month. Minn and Davis are co-producers of the movie, which centers on a
struggling sports-gambling addict. Minn will also direct the film.
Former St. Ignatius High football standout Frank Divis,
who played slotback at Navy, has asked to be assigned to surface
warfare after graduating from the academy this spring. He could be in a
combat zone as soon as August. Divis played well in his final Navy
game: he completed two passes and averaged nearly 4 yards per carry in
the Midshipmen`s Emerald Bowl win over New Mexico.
Parma native Dan Fritsche
has definitely earned his spot on Team USA in the World Junior Hockey Championships.
Heading into Saturday night`s action, Fritsche led the Americans in
penalty minutes and was tied for the team lead in goals -- a pretty
clear sign the man`s been flying all over the ice. Fritsche is a top
prospect with the NHL`s Columbus Blue Jackets.
