The Browns are loading up, it seems. They picked up Donte Stallworth today. That gives them a number two receiver with some speed. Joe Jurevicius moves to the number three guy. Happiest man on that deal is probably Kellen Winslow. The Browns have speed at both wideouts now and they will attract attention.

They also traded away their second and third-round picks for some beef on the defensive line, which was sorely lacking. My God, will they finally stop they run? Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers show up. Each with their respective baggage. Rogers is up to 370 pounds, and is now nicknamed "Big Maybe". Williams arrives not only with a big contract, the second-round pick looms large, as well. He's gotta be a difference maker to justify that set of circumstances. As far as the dumping of the draft picks, Phil Savage must not be too pleased with the upper reaches of this year's draft.

Also, good news for Cleveland State basketball. The Vikings had five things that had to happen to reclaim the number two seed in the Horizon League tournament. Three of them occurred on Thursday night. Valpo beat Wright State earlier today and CSU beat the Fighting Penguins of Youngstown State. CSU had a complete turnaround, winning 20 games this year after losing the same number last year. The win, however, seeds CSU to the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament, depriving fans of a tournament home game, unless Butler loses before the final.

Meal of Links

Saw the new Will Ferrell flick, "Semi-Pro". today. This one clocking in at a crisp 90 minutes. Yeah, you'll chuckle at this one, but really, only a few scenes stood out for me. Kelly Leak makes an appearance as a '70s stoner named "Dukes". And a scene with a gun is funny. And a wrestling bear shows up. There are a few laughs throughout, but it's typical Ferrell. If you hate him, it's not for you. If you like him, well it's not "Old School" and certainly far from his best, but probably still worth the small time investment. Not a full house, and that's a bit surprising. Maybe the act is getting a bit old for some or the R rating is causing some issues. The trailer of his summer movie, "Step-Brothers" with John C. Reilly may offer him redemption after this one.

A man should never win "Idol". The two male winners, thus far, were "giant, non-threatening clowns".

All about the Steinbrenners. There are some gems from Hank the Quote Machine.

Exercise Yard

First Saturday of the month must mean boxing on Showtime. Tonight, it's Vazquez-Marquez 3. Stallone and Jack Nicholson in attendance. This Super Bantamweight bout became the early leader for Fight of the Year. The combined workrate for both fighters was perhaps the highest I've ever seen.

Rafael Marquez dominated early throwing the left jab at will. Israel Vazquez got knocked down in the 4th, which was a terrific round for both fighters. I had Marquez way up on points early. But Vazquez kept at it, despite a probable broken nose and two nasty cuts, one on each eye. It was painful to see him get tended to between rounds as those cuts were stinging badly. His work paid off in two ways.

Marquez got penalized a point in the 10th for low blows. The final straw was probably a borderline call, but you had a feeling this would come into play, because he was warned very early for the infractions. This set up the 12th round which most viewing thought Vazquez needed a big round to pull it out. Unbelievably, he did it. Big right early in the round set the tone and he was all over Marquez, finally getting a knockdown in the final 20 seconds of the fight. That 10-8 round combined with the 10-8 round for the low blow round won him the fight.

It was tough to score, reflected in the split decision. I thought Marquez won it with a 9-9 round for the low blows. One judge had it 114-111, Marquez, another had the same score for Vazquez. The final judge had it 113-112, Vazquez, allowing him to retain his title.



















Great fight tonight.

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