Personal Prose
Letting a good man, bad coach go: Cavs fire Brown
He came in with class five years ago, and he left with class two days ago. How can anybody not respect him for that? In a statement Wednesday, Brown expressed appreciation for the opportunity owner Dan Gilbert and GM Danny Ferry gave him. He was, he said, proud to be part of the Northeast Ohio community, a place he and his family have made their home. Brown had become as visible as all the other pro coaches in the community combined. Brown proved everything men like Eric Wedge, Romeo Crennel, Paul Silas and Eric Mangini have never been. Yet he had one thing in common with all four: He couldn’t bring the community a championship. |
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BASKETBALL
Cavs voice wins an awardJoe Tait stood with his back against the wall Tuesday, taking friendly fire from a band of male journalists who were there to celebrate his successes and not lob verbal broadsides the man’s way. But what criticism could any of them level at the easy-going Tait, the longtime radio voice of the Cavaliers? “How much longer are you going to do this?” one of them asked. |
BASEBALL
Ernie, thanks for the memoriesWait awhile, and bad things will happen. And one of those bad things happened yesterday: Ernie Harwell died. If one man’s death made this a lesser world, Harwell’s would rank high on anybody’s list. Harwell, 92, was all that was good in a human: kind, generous and unpretentious. The adjectives select themselves. And, oh, could Ernie Harwell call a baseball game. |
BASEBALL
Tribe has shallow pool of talentI wish the total numbered 10 instead of two. But on EPSN the Magazine’s list of the 100 best ballplayers in the bigs, the Indians had Grady Sizemore (No. 27) and Shin-Soo Choo (No. 69) make it. Two Indians, not 10. It wasn’t important that neither man made the Top 20. With a roster of players in Goodyear, Ariz., it would have been nice to see more than two current Indians and maybe one or two fewer former Indians on the list. |
OTHER SPORTS
Black apathy toward baseballI’ve heard this shrill refrain before, so much so that it sounds as off-tune as O.J. Simpson’s claims of innocence in his wife’s murder. What more is there is say about the obvious? Yet nothing seems to derail some discussions — obvious or not. Here’s one of them. I continue to hear the moaning about the declining numbers of blacks in baseball. |
