Saturday, February 25, 2012

Kyrie. Grady. Griffin.

With baseball season fast approaching, I just felt the need to get back into the blogging game. It's been too long. Today I'm going to hit on all the major Cleveland sports. Did Kyrie seriously just do that last night? Really, again Grady?? RGIII?

When the Cavs selected Kyrie with their first pick I really wasn't that excited. Yes he was the best player available, but was he really that great? His one year at Duke showed some promise but it was so brief myself and many others really didn't know what to expect. Well now he's 28 games in to his rookie season and looking nothing like a rook. Rookies are supposed to be inconsistent. Rookies usually don't takeover games. This isn't your ordinary rookie. Kyrie is averaging 18.1 ppg and 5.1 assists, those kinds of numbers usually don't come this early in a players career. He's shown his confidence throughout the season and his teammates have shown their own confidence in him. With the game on the line Kyrie wants the ball in his hands. Sometimes it's been easy to forget that he's only 19 years old. As I'm writing this he is two years younger than me, already the star of not only one basketball team but he's quickly showing why he is one of the stars of the league.

I didn't get a chance to watch the rising stars game last night but I did follow along on my phone. Every couple minutes I would check in to see how Irving and Thompson were doing. It seemed like everytime I looked, Kyrie had scored 5 more points and hit another 3. I sat at a friends table playing cards not able to comprehend what was happening. When his night was over he had tallied 34 points and 9 assists. Shooting a perfect 8 of 8 from deep. Yes I understand this is an all-star game where players don't play defense, but you can't deny the fact that Kyrie was clearly the best player on the floor for most of the night. It was no 11 of 11 performance like Boobie, it was better. The difference between Kyrie's game and Boobie's game is that Kyrie is no just a role playing spot up 3 ball specialist. No, he is the face and future of this franchise and I think it's safe to say we're in good hands.

Grady Sizemore. There are probably better comparisons to make but this one just came to me and I'm going to use it. Grady is the Greg Oden of baseball. Or for some of you older folks he's the Sam Bowie of baseball. While Grady actually got his career off to a fast and promising start, unlike Oden whom never really had the chance to showcase his talents on the big league level, the similarities are there. Both very talented players in their respective sports, both major disappointments due to injury. The patience has just about ran out for me and I really don't know what to think about this current situation the Tribe are in. His injury will most likely keep him out of opening day and who knows what other setbacks he'll have. The thing about this whole ordeal that really boggles my mind is that the Indians could have just parted ways and let another team deal with this. Instead they renegotiated his contract and signed him for cheap. But for what? The injury headlines? It is pretty safe to say Grady will never be as good as he once was. Here is to hoping he makes for a good story in major league baseball this year.

Robert Griffin III. Everytime I turn on sports radio I hear something about RG3. If the Browns are smart they'll do whatever is possible to get him. Sure we can build up our defense or receiving core or maybe pick up Trent Richardson. But why would we pass up a guy who could change the face of this franchise? If we do pass him up and he goes on to have a hall of fame career, we will all be left saying what could have been. Ever since Tim Couch, this city hasn't been so abuzz over a QB before. At least since I can remember. Yes no matter what through the draft we'll get players that make us a better team. But which player can elevate us from the laughing stock of the league to a team who can be respected and showcased throughout the league. We've all seen what Kyrie has done for the Cavs. He's given the fans something to be excited about and something that the media outlets have been talking about. RG3 can do the same. Get it done Browns execs. This may be your last chance to keep your fans hanging around.

Now that I can write posts from my phone I think I'll be making this at the very least a weekly thing. That'll be part of my Lenten resolution.