Time for a quick recap of what is going down with the teams that make this site what it is. We love the four teams we deemed cursed, and we are entering an interesting time for all four.
Browns: So Sunday is the biggest game at the new Browns Stadium in its short history. It's the biggest game in Cleveland in 13 years. The 7-6 Buffalo Bills come to town with the winner putting themselves in great position to grab the last AFC playoff spot. If the Browns win, they will be 9-5 with a two game lead over the Bills with two bad teams ahead of them, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The weather is going to be brutal. Sunday calls for 27 degrees with wind and snow. Just perfect for teams form these two rugged towns. High winds would favor the Bills though, who will run all game long with rookies Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson against the 32nd ranked run D in the league. The winds will hurt the high-powered Browns passing attack.
Make no mistake, the Browns offense will come to play regardless of the weather because after all these years, they can actually run the ball as well thanks to the great left side of the O-line and RB Jamal Lewis. I heard Chris Mortensen on ESPN radio the other day said take away Adrian Peterson and Joe Thomas is a no doubt rookie of the year. He continued to say Thomas is having the best rookie season of any offensive lineman in the last decade. Isn't it nice that he plays for our team? They are going to need big games from Lewis, Thomas, and Eric Steinbach if the weather is as bad as they say it will be. It's going to be such an old school feeling down at the lake front on Sunday. It takes us back to the 89 AFC playoff game against the Bills, an epic 34-31 Browns win where Thurman Thomas killed us all game long, but in the end, it was a Clay Matthews interception of Jim Kelly which sealed the victory for the Browns.
More national love: Wherefore Art Those Browns, Romeo? On the Cusp of the Playoffs - Lesly Visser, CBS Sportsline
Browns: So Sunday is the biggest game at the new Browns Stadium in its short history. It's the biggest game in Cleveland in 13 years. The 7-6 Buffalo Bills come to town with the winner putting themselves in great position to grab the last AFC playoff spot. If the Browns win, they will be 9-5 with a two game lead over the Bills with two bad teams ahead of them, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The weather is going to be brutal. Sunday calls for 27 degrees with wind and snow. Just perfect for teams form these two rugged towns. High winds would favor the Bills though, who will run all game long with rookies Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson against the 32nd ranked run D in the league. The winds will hurt the high-powered Browns passing attack.
Make no mistake, the Browns offense will come to play regardless of the weather because after all these years, they can actually run the ball as well thanks to the great left side of the O-line and RB Jamal Lewis. I heard Chris Mortensen on ESPN radio the other day said take away Adrian Peterson and Joe Thomas is a no doubt rookie of the year. He continued to say Thomas is having the best rookie season of any offensive lineman in the last decade. Isn't it nice that he plays for our team? They are going to need big games from Lewis, Thomas, and Eric Steinbach if the weather is as bad as they say it will be. It's going to be such an old school feeling down at the lake front on Sunday. It takes us back to the 89 AFC playoff game against the Bills, an epic 34-31 Browns win where Thurman Thomas killed us all game long, but in the end, it was a Clay Matthews interception of Jim Kelly which sealed the victory for the Browns.
More national love: Wherefore Art Those Browns, Romeo? On the Cusp of the Playoffs - Lesly Visser, CBS Sportsline
Kansas Hoops: Its exam time, so the college hoops season slows down until the first of the year. The Jayhawks have a week between games and more importantly, a week to get healthy. In preparation for the game against Ohio at the new Sprint Center on Saturday (ESPN2 5 PM EST), Coach Bill Self has told the team Wing Brandon Rush will return to the starting lineup, replacing Rodrick Stewart. “My explosiveness and first step ... they are coming back. Around Big 12 play, I should be 100 percent,” says Rush. “I’ll be back to my old self by January or February. Getting there and battling with big dudes, trying to rebound over everybody ... it’s still in my mind, but starting to fade away,” Rush said of being tentative.
Stewart has done a great job in Rush and Sherron Collins place, becoming the team's energy guy and one of the better defenders on the team. It was only a matter of time though, before Rush and Collins came back and his minutes would get reduced. “Being real candid, yes,” Self said, asked if Stewart’s minutes will decrease with Rush healthy and Sherron Collins recovered from a stress fracture. “I told Russell (Robinson) and Mario (Chalmers) their minutes are going to go down. I think everybody’s minutes will go down if we play to our strength, which is getting out, pressuring and playing fast.”
As for Collins, who returned for his first action against Depaul last Saturday, “His weight is good. His conditioning is not. It’s a gradual process where it’s getting better daily,” Self said. “He’s not far off. I don’t know if he’ll be 100 percent by Saturday, but he won’t be far off.” Take it from me, its a greta thing to have Collins back in the fold. You know the old saying, "you don't know what you got till its gone?" Well I never appreciated Sherron the way I should have until I saw the 'Hawks without his killer crossover and deadly three point shot. His returns opens up the floor for everyone else, most importantly Chalmers and Rush.
In another classic, Self was talking to the media the other day about struggling big man Sasha Kaun. He let off this classic blast: "I absolutely love Sasha Kaun. He has gotten the most out of his college career as just about anybody I ever coached. He's a great student. He's gonna graduate in a very tough curriculum. He'll do anything that's asked of him. He's fabulous. He comes by my office every day. But he's too nice. If I will allow my daughter to date him, you know he's too nice. There's nobody else on the team that would even get a sniff."
How good is that?
After Saturday's game with Ohio, the Jayhawks will then travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech. A game in which MTAC will be in attendance. You know what that means? Its guaranteed win night. Our lifetime record for KU basketball games is in the neighborhood of 65-3.
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