A few weeks back, we sat with Browns Tight End Kellen Winslow at the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Dinner. At the time, we had no idea he needed more knee surgery. Well, even though he needs that surgery, that hasn't stopped K2 from making his first Pro Bowl appearance this weekend in Hawaii. Thanks to Antonio Gates' injury, Kellen, who was the to alternate, has been invited to go and gladly took the invitation.
He deserved it. There may be no tougher TE in the league. They guy played through pain all year long and never complained. He's all about winning and turned into a model teammate this season. John Clayton from ESPN.com wrote an excellent column about everything Kellen has beem through to get to this point. Among the interesting quotes from this piece:
On potential fourth knee surgery: "It's something I'm going to look into," Winslow said. "I might have said it wrong a week ago when I said I was worried about it. I want to get it looked at. I'm not really worried. I just want to take care of it. I want to play for a long time. Longevity is the key for me."
On his all-out style on the field: "The style comes from my mom," he said. "My mom don't take no crap, man. She always told me, 'Don't let nobody push you around.' I guess it stuck with me."
On the Season: "We really came out and wanted to go 11-5. We wanted to win our division and we didn't do that. To finish second place was disappointing. That happened when we lost late in the season to the Bengals. We felt we had to get that last win to get to 10-6 because the city of Cleveland deserved the turnaround we had. In our hearts, we were winners."
*******
Now we move to the incomperable Lebron James. We all know the Cavaliers need another piece to help the greatest talent in the NBA. We also all know that Shaq has now been traded to the Suns and The Lakers stole Pau Gasol fron Memphis. Lebron is not happy and wants to know when his team is going to make a move. Flat out, Lebron is jealous.
Said the superstar after the deals: "It's unbelievable. It caught everybody by surprise. Shaq is always a presence, no matter if he's not playing the way he's always played," James said. "When he's on the court and has a uniform on, he's a presence, no matter how healthy he is or what his numbers are looking like for the season. He's always attracting a double team, and that's good for Phoenix."
"You just need to have guys who can make plays," he said. "It does help when you have guys on the team who are perennial all-stars or perennial guys who are going to go out there and produce every night. Every night you know what you're going to get out of those guys. But as far as having super superstars on the same team, we don't know. We have to wait and see. "
*******
In another classic Mark Shapiro reclamation attempt, the Indians signed reliever Brendan Donnelly. The 36 year old veteran who pitched well lfor the Angels earlier in the decade is coming off of Tommy John surgery and won't be ready until at least after the all star break. Shappy loves stockpiling bullpen arms and loves guys coming off of injury. Sometimes it works (Scott Sauerbeck and Bob Howry in 05), sometimes it doesn't (Steve Karsay and Danny Graves in 06). It's a good low risk move. He's 25-9 with a 2.88 ERA in his big-league career.
He deserved it. There may be no tougher TE in the league. They guy played through pain all year long and never complained. He's all about winning and turned into a model teammate this season. John Clayton from ESPN.com wrote an excellent column about everything Kellen has beem through to get to this point. Among the interesting quotes from this piece:
On potential fourth knee surgery: "It's something I'm going to look into," Winslow said. "I might have said it wrong a week ago when I said I was worried about it. I want to get it looked at. I'm not really worried. I just want to take care of it. I want to play for a long time. Longevity is the key for me."
On his all-out style on the field: "The style comes from my mom," he said. "My mom don't take no crap, man. She always told me, 'Don't let nobody push you around.' I guess it stuck with me."
On the Season: "We really came out and wanted to go 11-5. We wanted to win our division and we didn't do that. To finish second place was disappointing. That happened when we lost late in the season to the Bengals. We felt we had to get that last win to get to 10-6 because the city of Cleveland deserved the turnaround we had. In our hearts, we were winners."
*******
Now we move to the incomperable Lebron James. We all know the Cavaliers need another piece to help the greatest talent in the NBA. We also all know that Shaq has now been traded to the Suns and The Lakers stole Pau Gasol fron Memphis. Lebron is not happy and wants to know when his team is going to make a move. Flat out, Lebron is jealous.
Said the superstar after the deals: "It's unbelievable. It caught everybody by surprise. Shaq is always a presence, no matter if he's not playing the way he's always played," James said. "When he's on the court and has a uniform on, he's a presence, no matter how healthy he is or what his numbers are looking like for the season. He's always attracting a double team, and that's good for Phoenix."
"You just need to have guys who can make plays," he said. "It does help when you have guys on the team who are perennial all-stars or perennial guys who are going to go out there and produce every night. Every night you know what you're going to get out of those guys. But as far as having super superstars on the same team, we don't know. We have to wait and see. "
*******
In another classic Mark Shapiro reclamation attempt, the Indians signed reliever Brendan Donnelly. The 36 year old veteran who pitched well lfor the Angels earlier in the decade is coming off of Tommy John surgery and won't be ready until at least after the all star break. Shappy loves stockpiling bullpen arms and loves guys coming off of injury. Sometimes it works (Scott Sauerbeck and Bob Howry in 05), sometimes it doesn't (Steve Karsay and Danny Graves in 06). It's a good low risk move. He's 25-9 with a 2.88 ERA in his big-league career.
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