Pavano, DeRosa, Romeo, 4-12, Phil Savage? Why I’m Still Easy Like Sunday Morning

The only way to keep E.S. smiling after the Browns’ season

Hello Legend readers, a most cheery New Year to you from Erie’s Scribe. Big props to Cecilio’s Scribe for carrying the team (as he often does) while I spent the past 5 months on the DL with a serious case of getting in touch with my inner Louis Skolnick and Gilbert Lowell while training to become the next Perry Mason in Akron.

Since the last time I chewed the fat (virtually) at the Legend, the Indians dealt C.C. Sabathia and proceeded to screw with my head for the upcoming season by finishing quite strong in the 2nd half. Their 2nd half finish has me convinced that Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner will return to form in 2009, and Kerry Wood will be dominant and injury free in the closer’s role, Cliff Lee will repeat his out-of-nowhere Cy Young season, Johnny Peralta’s complete lack of range will be a nonfactor, and the Tribe will be winning the World Series. Thanks a lot, Tribe, but I’m not letting you and your mind games get me down. Go ahead, sign Carl Pavano, sure it sounds bad on paper, but it has the potential of Pavano pitching well while being paid $1.5 million, thus driving Yankees fans berserk, and I’m all for that. Yes, getting Mark DeRosa to play third sounds like something the Pirates or Royals would do, but he’s better than the incumbent (no need to mention the incumbent gentleman’s name and defame him, his contributions are best left unremembered anyway), and…. well as I said, he’s better than what they got. Still, the Tribe is not going to get me down.

More disturbing than the Tribe’s shinanigans was the Browns disastrous season. Thank God the network schedulers thought the Browns were going to be good this year, so their putrid season was caught on national tv during the Browns’ 180 primetime games they had on the schedule. But, I am not going to let it bother me. Normally after such a debacle of a season, I would be a smouldering mix of devastation and anger at this point. In fact, I think I’m going to have to write an entire blog post to describe the sad ending of the Romeo Crennel/Phil Savage Era. But, not even the Browns’ utter ineptitude will get me down.

Why, you say? How can you keep your head up following such disappointment? Simply put, it’s LeBron season. Nothing can get me down during LeBron season. And, to date, this is the best LeBron season ever. LeBron has a team around him now, and they’re actually good. No more LeBron carrying the team to 45 or 50 wins, the Cavs are a legitimate team. Mo Williams is a damn good point guard. Delonte West has gone from merely being the most enjoyable goofy bastard in the NBA to being money at the shooting guard. Big Z is injured now, but speaking of lovable goofy bastards with mad skills, Big Z!!!! The Cavs offense has been so fluid this year that who cares if Ben Wallace does nothing on the offensive end? With the Cavs averaging over 100 per game, I’ll gladly take Big Ben’s 24.6 mins., 3.3 pts., 7.1 boards, and 1.8 blocks per game. Ben gives legit defensive intimidation and the occasional awesome afro sighting and I’m happy. Toss in Booby Gibson and Side Show Bob (who is some how draining mid-range jumpers this year) off the bench, and a promising rookie in J.J. Hickson, and the Cavs are a pleasure to watch this season. And that’s with barely mentioning LeBron, and not mentioning Szerbs at all.

Watching every LeBron game from my pad in LeBron’s hometown has been almost a religious experience for me. He might be a god. If he was playing Ray at the end of Ghostbusters, when Gozer the Destructor asks Ray if he is a god, he could have honestly answered yes. My first born son will either have the middle name LeBron, or Le something (i.e. LePhil, LeGeorge, LeFrank, LeThomas). And he’s not going to New York. So suck it you ass-clown Knicks fans and enjoy watching D’Antoni ball for awhile. On the plus side it’s entertaining, on the minus side it does not translate at all in the playoffs.

The answer to your question, CS, “the cavs are good. the question is…are the championship good? I’m not quite sure,” is a big hell yeah. But it’s not a question of if they will win the championship, it’s how many championships will they win?