Mid-to-late afternoon wrapup

This is my favorite time of year….football warming up and baseball getting tense. Plus, we’re exactly 4 weeks from the first Cleveland Cavaliers pre-season game!

Ohio State Buckeyes

Now comes the first real test! We head west to take on Washington this Saturday at 330pm, and the Big Ten waits to see if Ohio State is worthy of their #10 ranking, or do they join the other member of the Big Two?

My take on this game will be detailed later in the week, but I can tell you one thing…it will all depend on how we run the ball. Yes, Beanie Wells ended up with a great game on Saturday against Akron, but it took a long time, and we can’t wait that long to get the engines running this weekend.

A lot of people are picking against Ohio State, and it’s due to the lack of offense they got used to seeing in 2006. Frankly, I look at the last two times Ohio State made the national championship game, and I see the difference…the year we won, it was thanks to an incredble defense. Not saying we’re BCS-bowl worthy yet, but defense does win championships.

Cleveland Browns

Now that the news has spread around Cleveland, there’s more to discuss about the Charlie Frye trade.

Derek Andersen will start on Sunday against Cincinnati, and Brady Quinn will be the backup. Quinn will also see more first-team reps during team practices.

I think this move was made to try and quiet the critics of the Browns’ front-office. The “hurry-up-and-start-Brady” cries were getting pretty loud while both Frye and Andersen were struggling so poorly over the past five weeks, and this will stem the tide for a short period. But I guarantee one thing….if Andersen struggles this week, things are gonna get ugly.

For the record, I don’t think Quinn should start yet. He needs time, and rushing it could damage his progress. Because I’m a Browns fan, I hope Andersen wins this weekend…but I really want him to succeed…temporarily….so Quinn has more time to grow, before he takes over.

Cleveland Indians

The Detroit Tigers lost today, 13-6 to Texas. It drops the Tribe’s Magic Number down to 12, and I think it has sunk the Tigers for good.

They looked lethargic, until half the team got to sit the bench for pinch-hitters…and those are the guys who scored the 6 late runs for Detroit.

They’ve thrown in the towel.

Now it’s time to start getting ready for the playoffs, and we have a decent shot at home field advantage. We’re 2.5 games back of Boston to win that honor.