Tag: Cleveland Browns

How’s Your Football Team Doing?

It’s hard to believe. My how the year flies by. There’s no looking back. Time flies when you’re having fun. Where has the year gone?

I guess I could throw out a few more cliches about how we look back and suddenly realize a year, season, month, day, hour has gone by, but I did just that the other day thinking about this football season. I know, it’s a little weird in respect to a football season, but as it’s past the middle of October, and I was thinking about it, the NFL regular season is nearly half over. Sure, there are the playoffs and Super Bowl that extend things another month or so, but here we are, past week seven of the 17 week/16 game season, and I’m at a weird point of still being half wrapped-up into my teams, and half thinking they’ve both got no chance to make my football season continue into the playoffs.

My teams are the Cleveland Browns and the Chicago Bears. I’ve got the Browns because I grew up in Lorain, OH, just outside of Cleveland, and I’ve got the Bears because I’ve now lived in the Chicago area longer than I lived in Ohio. Both teams show flashes of goodness, and then, just when hopes get a little higher, both teams show a blast of reality, especially after the past weekend with Jay Cutler confirming he has a groin, and the Browns confirming they don’t have a quarterback. The thing is, depending on the next run of about five games moves on, I may be at a very weird position of not knowing which team to cheer on as, and it doesn’t happen that often in the regular season, the Bears play the Browns on December 15th in a game that  just might have playoff implications for both teams, although, by then, both teams may have achieved total suckiness, thereby making the game just another December football game to watch because, well, they are your team, and you watch them until the end of the season.

My teams are both teetering at this stage of the season, but I’m just wondering how your team is doing, and so I plight: How’s your football team doing?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Have you ever been to a football training camp?

Here in Chicago, the summer has become a vast wasteland of sports. Sure, we had the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup, so at least that carried some excitement into the summertime, which just seems wrong as it’s hockey and it’s summer, but at least it was something to pay attention to. Now we are stuck with two baseball teams that are pretty much sucking as the Chicago Cubs are still on their twenty year plan for greatness, or something like that, and all of the White Sox fans who, at the beginning of the season, were saying the analysts were wrong in the prediction of Sox mediocrity, well, they are quickly finding out that White Sox mediocrity has turned into suckosity.

Thankfully there is hope as Chicago Bears training camp is right around the corner, July 25th for what it’s worth, with the public being able to start getting their football fix on the 26th. I’ve never been to training camp, I never really saw the point although a lot of fans say it is a fun time, and actually I’ve never been to a Bears game. My original team is the Cleveland Browns, and I remember some games at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which is now at the bottom of Lake Erie. Don’t get me wrong, I love football, and I’m ready for some football, but from what most people say, and I vaguely remember, going to a game is 5 seconds of excitement with 2 minutes of dealing with the drunk people around you until 5 more seconds of excitement.

Sure, someday I hope to go to a Bears game, but as a basic fan, I can tell you that there is 99% no chance of me ending up in Bourbonnais, IL, for Bears training camp. I am wondering about everyone else out there, though, and so I plight: Have you ever been to a football training camp?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do you plan on boycotting the NFL until the normal refs are back?

So I guess, last night, while I was sleeping, the latest debacle of an NFL game with the replacement refs occurred as said refs who are taking over in place of the locked-out refs screwed up another game. From what I read they awarded the Seattle Seahawks a touchdown at the end of the games, on a play that clearly wasn’t a touchdown, thus helping the Chicago Bears in their division, but costing the Green Bay Packers what could turn out to be a chance at the postseason, and it’s only week three.

The Twitterverse exploded with controversy with Seattle fans happy but admitting the refs screwed up and the Packer fans besides themselves. Most of the rest of the NFL fans were just pissed as the experiment with the replacement refs has turned into a boondoggle. ruining the enjoyment of the sport and rendering watching any game an exercise now in waiting for the refs to screw it up. Hashtags started popping up like #boycottthenfl, #boycottthursdaynightfootball (a hash tag that is far too long, and seems kind of stupid only boycotting Thursday night’s game and not the entire league, and besides, who besides Ravens and Browns fans really care about the upcoming Thursday game?), and #nflsucks. Seriously, though, are any of these people really going to boycott watching the games until the NFL comes to an agreement with the normal refs and Ed Hochuli gets to show his guns on national TV again? I doubt it as most will now watch the games in anticipation of the refs screwing things up, and just hoping it’s the other team, much like it appears it happened to the Packers last night, that gets screwed. And so I plight: Do you plan on boycotting the NFL until the normal refs are back?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

 

Are You Ready for Some Football?

The NFL season opens this week, and my excitement level is about half. Having lived in Chicago more than half of my life now, I have become a Chicago Bears fan, however, having grown up near Cleveland, the Browns are always near and dear to my heart. Luckily the chance of the Browns playing the Bears in the Super Bowl is such a far-out reality that my true allegiance will probably never be tested, but I will find myself cheering on both teams an any given Sunday. This year there was some initial hope for the Bears, but then Brian Urlacher ended up injured and the team just didn’t look that great in the pre-season (Maybe Jay Cutler’s new baby with K-Cav, I mean Kristin Cavallari, is keeping him up at night), and the Browns, well, I don’t pay attention to them as much as I should, usually I’m just hoping they can win a few games a season and make it look good, but from what I could follow from some Facebook friends, it looks like it might be a long season for the Browns fans again.

The thing is I’m a sucker for believing, once the season gets going, that somehow, someway, one of my teams will make it to the Super Bowl. I will watch the games, check the standings, and until they are mathematically eliminated, always have some glimmer of hope and usually waste the three-ish hours of a Sunday yelling at the TV (Although the yelling has toned down quite a bit since I’ve gotten married) that Cutler will make that miraculous play, or the Dog-Pound will have a reason to go crazy. Then, low and behold, there will inevitably come that play in the game where I will turn into my mom, throw my arms up in disgust, and say “That’s it!”, knowing, in my head, the game is over, only thirty seconds later thinking “Maybe there’s a chance.” It’s like a self-inflicted torture every Sunday, of highs and lows, and praying the opposing team is stupid and will kick the ball to Devin Hester for another amazing kick-off return.

Such is football, and such will be Sundays for a while, and such is today’s plight: Are you ready for some football?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

LMFAO, Go Bears, Come on Browns, Lourdes, X-Men, and Survivor is Back!

By: The Dude on the Right

Download and ListenDownload the Podcast!

While I had passion in my pants and I wasn’t afraid to show it, Stu Gotz was trapped at a hardware store. Probably best that this is a solo “Weekend Wrap-Up!” podcast, as for another week we couldn’t seem to get our schedules together, but that’s okay, one of these weeks we’ll be back together! All that aside, I’m quickly becoming a fan of the band LMFAO, especially for the song they wrote about me, “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” The thing is, though, that as much as I sing along, I also can’t help but recollect the days of Right Said Fred and their song, “I’m Too Sexy,” whenever I hear LMFAO. It was a big weekend, also, as the Chicago Bears opened up their season with a victory over the Atlanta Falcons, and dreams of a Super Bowl fill my head. Sadly this Super Bowl probably won’t also include the Cleveland Browns. Probably best to dream small, I suppose.

I saw two Blu-rays, “Lourdes” and “X-Men: First Class,” and give a quick dissection before my full reviews get posted later, I’m excited because “Survivor” is coming back on Wednesday but I’m worried about DVR conflicts, and I’m not excited about any upcoming movies, but after seeing a reviews of “Drive” after I recorded this podcast, maybe I should be.

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this podcast! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!