We’ll have a post up on Cavs Chants shortly, but first, our conversation with LeCharles Bentley and Je’Rod Cherry on WKNR last night is worth keeping some track of here.
(UPDATE: You can download two segments from last night’s broadcast here and here. You can also listen straight from the web if you click here and scroll down to the 11/29/10 podcasts in the archive.)
For starters, LeCharles and Je’Rod seemed to genuinely appreciate some of the media criticism we do here, which means a lot coming from a pair of guys who played in the NFL and have the platform that they have at ESPN Cleveland because of their experience and perspective. It was, of course, incredibly humbling to meet an actual Cleveland Frowns Person of the Year in person, and Je’Rod was as gracious as could be about our not having an official certificate of award prepared for him (yet). LeCharles quoted directly from a post here referring to the “craggy terrain of the wondrous world of LeCharles Bentley,” and did it with a laugh. These guys couldn’t have been nicer, and there was plenty of room for honest disagreement in the studio last night. LeCharles repeatedly referred to Cleveland Frowns as “a website for thinkers” which basically means “a website for people,” and is exactly right.
One of the best parts of last night came in between segments when LeCharles explained what he meant back when he said (see post linked above) that “Tiger Woods is one of us now, ‘Tiger Hoods’” after the golfer’s infamous infidelities had been revealed. Which was to say that it all made Tiger come off as less of a robot and more of a human, which is fair enough, and still exponentially more interesting than Brinda’s golf game and Fedor’s fantasy team combined.
As for the football talk, it mostly boiled down to a disagreement about how much talent disparities on NFL rosters matter. We said that it matters a lot, like when wide receivers can’t run faster than the people who are guarding them. LeCharles, not so much. We also pointed out that there’s generally a big difference between first round NFL draft picks, second round NFL draft picks, third round NFL draft picks, on down the line, which is why these categories are compensated so disproportionally, and that it would probably be helpful to count how many of each start for each NFL team before passing final judgment on a coaching staff. LeCharles brought up the issue of an apparent failure of the Browns coaching staff to make “second-half adjustments.” In response, we got our favorite Plato quote in, speculated as to what it would be like to fight against machine guns with bows and arrows, and that we’d probably try to use all of our arrows in the first half too before our head was blown off (like in this scene here (the 2010 Cleveland Browns are the blue guys)).
Along these lines, LeCharles also made a distinction between a football team’s “identity,” and its “scheme,” “system” or ”plan,” to say that the Browns had an identity, but not really any of the rest. This was confusing, because as far as we can tell, the New York Jets’ “power running system” to which LeCharles referred is only really any better than the Browns’ (or any more of a “scheme,” “system,” or “plan”) because the Jets line up with significantly more talented personnel.
We also got into Mangini’s performance as head coach of the New York Jets, specifically the meltdown in his third year there that LeCharles was hesitant to blame on Brett Favre. We could have spent an entire show or a week of shows on this, and a number of these topics. Also, it says here that Mike Williams ran a 4.48 40.
Another special moment was when none other than Michael Reghi brought it strong with a phone call to say that Eric Mangini, to him, was “a good Wednesday to Saturday coach,” who consistently failed to make “in-game adjustments.” This call was especially special not only because Reghi had just spent three hours hosting a show on ESPN Cleveland himself, but because it’s only been two weeks since we specifically criticized Reghi for making this lowest common denominator argument (easily disposed of with reference to the Avatar scene linked above) in a post titled: “This Week in Second Guessing: Michael Reghi on Eric Mangini’s “in-game Coaching Ability.” Worth a read if you missed it the first time and wanted to know what Reghi was really getting at when he called in to repeat himself last night.
"("Your bow and arrow isn't working here because you are 'a Wednesday to Saturday coach.' Get some better adjustments, dummy.")
Here are some of the Top Tweets from folks who tuned in last night:
@Cavalette23: RT @xsandospros It’s Showdown Monday tonight athe guys will be joined by @clevelandfrowns two full hrs to take your calls. 6-8 on KNR >YAY!
@MikeAmmo: @ClevelandFrowns I don’t get why the Cleveland media refuses to admit that Mangini built the foundation for the Jets!
@cpmack: @LeCharlesBent65 @clevelandfrowns What has Rex Ryan won that Mangini hasn’t? Identical records, one of them lucked into the playoffs
@jimkanicki: @LeCharlesBent65 @JerodMSF adrian peterson-hardnosed or not-would not deliver behind kevin shaffer and john stclair.
@lilOUMikey: @xsandospros PLEASE tell me how the hell Tampa and KC have a SYSTEM!?!?!
@Art_Brosef: @clevelandfrowns @jimkanicki yes well done. when the show was over I had to look up scheme, system, play, and philosophy in the dictionary
@BrianSpaeth: @MayKat33 it sounds like The View: Cleveland Males
@MayKat33: @brianspaeth hah, lol. Aaron Goldhammer is Elisabeth Hasselbeck!
@MapRoomBar: @ClevelandFrowns @xsandospros @LeCharlesBent65 are u guys coming by?
So, yeah, MayKat wins (love you, Hammer). As long as we get to be Babs.
Anyway, you should follow all of these people on Twitter, as well as @BrksfromthePnd, @kv327, @Robataka, @Rossitron5 @Sojournalista, @SpringCo, and of course, @XsandOsPros, @LeCharlesBent65, and @jrcherry3. It’s also true that if you’re not on Twitter, it’s a problem.
Thanks again to LeCharles, Je’Rod, and the ESPN Cleveland gang, thanks to everyone for listening, and for the feedback.
Back shortly to talk about this Thursday night at the Q.
