John Kuntz, The Plain DealerBrowns linebacker Scott Fujita faces the media on the first day of Browns OTAs in Berea. BEREA, Ohio -- Crime and punishment in the NFL coincided with the private time Scott Fujita had planned with his wife, Jaclyn, and his newborn daughter, Marlowe. "It should have been time with my family," said Fujita, the Browns' veteran linebacker. Instead, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the law east of the Hudson River, handed down penalties for the New Orleans Saints' bounty system at the same time. Fujita, a member of the Saints' Super Bowl championship team in 2009 -- as well as an outspoken advocate of safety measures for NFL players -- drew a three-game suspension for the coming season. It was the lightest ... Continue reading →
Chuck Crow, The Plain DealerThere could be a lot more big hits and big smiles in store for Carlos Santana and the Indians this season. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Playoffs? You're talking playoffs? Absolutely. And why not? The Indians, 23-18 at approximately the quarter-pole of the season, are good enough to make the playoffs. It might not happen because injuries can always wipe out a small-market team with a small margin for error, just as they did here last season. But if the Angel of the DL passes over the Tribe, they have a good chance. A generation after the All-Star-laden teams of the 1990s won over a city the Browns had temporarily abandoned, a half-decade after Joel Skinner held Kenny Lofton at third and the ... Continue reading →
View full sizeScott Shaw, The Plain DealerRookie of the Year Kyrie Irving is just the latest example of precocious talent able to perform at a high level immediately in the NBA. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kyrie Irving won the Rookie of the Year award with the Cavaliers this season after only playing 11 college games. By doing so, he was a distant mirror of man-child prodigy LeBron James in his first year. James won the same award straight out of high school. James easily beat Carmelo Anthony for his ROY award. Anthony had spent one season at Syracuse, where he was occupied with leading the Orange to the national championship. Anthony Davis of Kentucky, who turned 19 as March Madness was just starting to gear up, ... Continue reading →
View full sizeDarron Cummings, Associated PressRouted by Indiana on Thursday night, LeBron James (left) and Dwyane Wade are experiencing a postseason struggle that has become all too familiar for James. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The photo of LeBron James dunking on the Spurs' Tim Duncan used to hang in James' locker at The Q. The picture stayed there, from seemingly just moments after it was taken during the second game of the 2006-07 season, until James presumably took it with him in 2010 on his way out of town under a white flag. A dunk is worth two points, except when it's not. Some dunks excite the crowd. Some are self-aggrandizing for the dunker. Others are humiliating for the defender. How did the statement James made ... Continue reading →
