Why don't the Cleveland Browns ...

... hire a head coach and/or general manager away from the Steelers? The Steelers are the best team in the AFC North, and they are arguably the best team in the AFC. You don't get to the Super Bowl unless you beat the Steelers. And, the Browns are guaranteed to play them at least two, and probably three, times every year.
Russ Grimm was with the Steelers for many years. There's probably a few guys on the staff right now who have head coaching ability. Heck, Dick LeBeau was the Cincinnati Bengals head coach for a few years (although he may not like to be reminded of it.).
Instad, we get two consecutive coach/GM hires which, when you really look at it, are almost the same thing.
Why fire Romeo Crennel only to hire Eric Mangini? Trading one Belichick/Parcells defensive coach for another.
Why fire Phil Savage to hire George Kokinis? They both come from the Baltimore Ravens front office.
It seems to me, if the Browns were going to do what they did, they might as well have given a nod to stability for another year.
I still think they should have hired Marty Schottenheimer, but given their 1-6 start, anybody would have been better than the guys they did hire.

(And, by the way, did anybody else notice that Savage recently said the current regime "ruined" both quarterbacks he left them? I doubt Brady Quinn would even bring any kind of draft pick in a trade after all this.)

NFL Head-to-Head (Weak Two)

OK, here we go again, my pics vs. Dave's pics. Straight up, no point spreads or anything. Four picks a week.

Dave: (3-1 last week, but I have no idea if Troy beat Piqua or not.)
Browns over Bears
Packers over Vikings
Broncos over Ravens
Texans over Bills
Bonus Pick:
No Bengals are arrested over their Bye Week

Me: (3-1 last week, with two typos.)
Indianapolis beats San Francisco (Big surprise)
San Diego over Oakland (Another shock)
Minnesota over Green Bay (Favre winning in Lambeau did not used to be cause for a headline.)
Tennessee over Jacksonville (They gotta win eventually.)

NFL picks (This needs a snappy new title)

So, starting this week, Dave and I will square off in NFL picks. Here are the rules: each week, we pick the winner of four games. Whoever gets the most right, wins!

Jeff:
San Diego bears Kansas City (One former Marty Schottenheimer team beats another)
Redskins knock off the Eagles (Jim Zorn saves his job, until the day after the game, when the bye week begins.)
Pittsburgh beats Minnesota (Although both teams will probably get beaten up pretty badly.)
Packers pack away the Browns (and mail them to Abu Dabi!)

Dave:
Browns over Packers
Steelers over Vikings
Cardinals over Giants
Texans over 49ers
Bonus Pick:
Troy Trojans beat Piqua Indians

Something I am going to purchase

Evan Dorkin, of "Milk and Cheese." Jill Thompson, of "Scary Godmother." "Beasts of Burden." That link is to a web comic. The real thing is in stores now!

Don't be in a Rush

This may somewhat fly in the face of some of my recent posts, but it seems to me that if Rush Limbaugh wants to be part of an ownership group to buy the St. Louis Rams (who at one time were the Cleveland Rams, for the record) he should be examined not on the basis of his controversial on-air personality, but rather by how committed he would be to putting a winning team on the field and being a good steward of an NFL franchise.
(That was a really long sentence.)
To consider: Mark Cuban, George Steinbrenner, Marge Schott and Daniel Snyder have been controversial.
Bill Bidwell (losing for a looooong time) or Carl Pohlad and whoever the hell owned the Montreal Expos before they moved to Washington DC (both teams willingly scheduled for contraction by their owners in 2002) certainly have not always been good stewards of their franchises.
And, what about the political activity of Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who was named by President Obama as ambassador to Ireland after openly supporting Obama in the 2008 election?
If Limbaugh can be a good owner, he should be allowed to own the team. If he going to be like Rachel Phelps from the movie "Major League," he shouldn't.
(Boy "Major Leagues generated a lot of funny quotes. Probably more than Limbaugh, and he's been on the air for 20 years!)

Dear MLB Network ...

... will you please stop showing highlights of the 1954 World Series? With the season the Indians had, and the one the Browns are still having, I fear you may be held liable for someone's suicide.

Sincerely,
Jefferson Wolfe

"Jack Staff" will be back right after this ...

Here's a story about Paul Grist, of "Kane" and "Jack Staff" fame, who will be returning to "Jack Staff" shortly after he releases "The Eternal Conflicts of the Cosmic Warrior" in November.
He's long been one of my favorite comic artists, but have to admit, he weaves so many stories together the comic is sometimes hard to follow month to month. He says that himself in the article.
That said, I'd highly recommend the trade paperbacks of "Kane" and "Jack Staff." Kane is a crime series, while "Jack Staff" is a superhero comic.
He uses a lot of parody and in-jokes about the comics world, but the material reads well at face value, even if you don't know any of the background stuff he is referring to.
And, Grist has a unique art style. Nobody in comics draws quite like him. Not, these days, anyway.

Paul and Storm teach us how to count to 10

Limbaugh, or leg waxing: You decide!

Everybody has opinions: I have them, you have them. And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Well, that’s horsepuckey, of course. We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our informed opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it’s nothing. It’s just bibble-babble. It’s like a fart in a wind tunnel, folks.
-- Harlan Ellison

Here's a story pertaining to what started the whole anti-christ thing: How mean-spirited today's political debate has become.
A snippet:
"The environment is much more extreme today because of the level of public involvement, the level of incivility among both the political elite and the public," said Chris Dolan, a political scientist at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa.

Here's an article about Rush Limbaugh telling people not to take him so seriously.
A short quote:
“My objective is to satisfy [my] audience so they come back the next day,” Limbaugh told TODAY national correspondent Jamie Gangel in a wide-ranging, three-hour interview, excerpts of which air on TODAY Monday and Tuesday.

I think it's important to remember what most political pundits, Limbaugh, Bill O'Riley, Sean Hannity, Keith Olbermann or Rachel Maddow, really want: Ratings.
What makes a good talk show doesn't necessarily make good politics or good policy.
What makes good radio is taking up a position that leads to an on-air discussion that gets people to keep listening, and keeps them coming back tomorrow to hear more compelling discussion. The problem is this: what's more compelling than a good old fashioned mean-spirited argument?
From the first article:
At Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C., Clyde Frazier said, "It is nasty and getting nastier." While he believes American history is littered with dirtier political periods and nastier claims among politicians, Frazier, also a political scientist, sees today's climate partly the result of the "media culture. Vitriol seems to sell. If you are telling people the end of the world is at hand, they watch."

Some of these people, also known as sheep, follow these acts so blindly they miss this completely.
In the past, it used to be encouraged that a person read or listen to a variety of perspectives in order to form an intelligent opinion.
Now, in some circles, if you don't hear it from Limbaugh or Hannity or Glenn Beck, it's liberal, communist, socialist, fascist propaganda. The same goes for people who only pay attention to leftist commentary.
People who did this used to be known as extremists.
Now, they see themselves as purists who are uncontaminated by the garbage spewed out by their opposition.
That's why I listen to ESPN Radio and it's ilk these days.
I think people who argue about sports are at least as well-informed, if not more well-informed, than people who argue about politics.
And, who wouldn't want to hear Mike Golic having his legs waxed on the air?

I have not mentioned Paul and Storm lately ...

I had to fix that with "Nugget Man."

More people who (probably) aren't the anti-christ

Bill Gates?
Bono?
Sarah Palin?
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Nancy Pelosi?
Joe Biden?
(That post and this one seem to contradict.)
Derek Jeter?
The Pope?
David Hasselhoff?
Need I continue?

Sometimes the past makes the present a little more clear

In this week's Newsweek, there's a really interesting article about Somalia at the turn of the 20th century, and the man they called "The Mad Mullah." The author draws an interesting parallel between what was happening then, and what's happening with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda now. There's also a lot of insight as to why people might follow, and even admire, a brutal killer.

An interesting passage:
His story sheds light on what is now called the "forever war," the ongoing battle of wills and ideologies between governments of the West and Islamic extremists. There's no simple lesson here, no easy formula to bend history in a new direction. It's clear, even to many Somalis, that the mullah was brutal and despotic, and that his most searing legacy is a land of hunger and ruin. But he's also admired—for his audacity, his fierce eloquence, his stubborn defiance in the face of a superior power. Among Somalis, the mullah's sins are often forgiven because he was fighting an occupier, a foreign power that was in his land imposing foreign values. It is a sentiment that is shared today by those Muslims who give support to militants and terrorists, and one the West would do well to better understand.

Here's another:
"Intensely as the Somalis feared and loathed the man whose followers had looted their stock, robbed them of their all, raped their wives, and murdered their children, they could not but admire and respect one who, being the embodiment of their idea of Freedom and Liberty, never admitted allegiance to any man, Moslem or Infidel." (Douglas Jardine, who served in the Somaliland Protectorate from 1916 to 1921 and later wrote a history of the conflict.)

Bye-bye, Braylon

After Browns Coach Eric Mangini traded Braylon Edwards for a wide receiver, a special teams player and, reportedly, third-and fifth-round draft picks, my opinion of Mangini increased exponentially. Getting anything for Edwards was a bonus, because they could finish in last place with him.
Oh, wait. Last year, they did finish in last place with him.
I'll be right back. I just dropped my mouse.
Oops. I dropped it again.

Elvis-loution!

OK. After mentioning Mojo Nixon yesterday, I had, had, HAD to find this and post it for you. It's a horrible copy, but it this fails to make you laugh, you are either dead, or the anti-christ.
Remember, we are all moving in perfect peace and harmony toward perfect Elvis-ness. Even the anti-christ, I suppose.

Mojo knows the anti-christ (too bad everybody else seems to think they do, too)

At work, we were discussing how political discourse has gotten so angry and mean spirited in recent years. Democrats call Republicans "Nazis," Republicans call Democrats "Socialists." (It is worth noting that the Nazis were officially the "National Socialist German Workers Party.")
Anyway, we got to discussing how some extremists have called President Obama the Anti-Christ, which is a silly notion.
Especially when everyone knows it's really George W. Bush.
Or, is it Hilary Clinton, as popular host Glenn Beck would have us believe?
Or, was it her husband, Bill?
Singer Robyn Hitchcock says it's Dandy Don Rumsfeld.
One person bet me I couldn't find a Web site that said Jesus was the anti-christ. He was wrong.
I, however, don't believe any of these people. I believe the real anti-christ was found back in the 1980's by Ohio's own Mojo Nixon, the singer (sort of) and songwriter who penned the classic "Elvis is Everywhere." It is his picture that adorns this blog entry.
If you look a little farther down this album, you'll find a track called, "I'm living with a three-foot antichrist."
I think Mojo Nixon has more credibility than the rest of those nut-bags, especially Glenn Beck.
Just to bring this full-circle, Beck, who has been known to call Obama a Communist or a Socialist, dresses up like a Nazi on the cover of his latest book.

The next manager of the Cleveland Indians?

I have not commented about Eric Wedge's firing here because I said pretty much all I had to say in this post.
I haven't changed my thinking much. But, I hope the Indians management picks someone good. Or at least entertaining.
You know, former U.S. Congressman Jim Traficant (D-Youngstown) is out of jail, unemployed and is obscenely popular in Northeast Ohio.
Can you imagine those post-game press conferences?

" ... I will grab a sword like Maximus Meridius Demidius and as a Gladiator I will stab people in the crotch." -- Jim Traficant

What to do, what not to do when traveling

Christopher Elliott, apparently no relation to the comedian Chris Elliot who once drank a bottle of cooking oil on "Late Night With David Letterman," tells us six things to do when traveling, and six more things not to do. I think if he adds six more, it may be a subtle clue that the airlines are the anti-christ.
His advice boils down to be nice, be sincere and don't be mean.
Kind of intuitive, but some of his examples are interesting.
More on the anti-christ thing tomorrow ...

A few minutes with Gary Burbank

Off the air, but never forgotten.
I wonder how Mom and 'ehm are?

Ferguson wins!

In the latest "Mistercellaneous" poll, Craig Ferguson is the top late night host, by a 4-2 margin over David Letterman.
Anybody who voted wanna say why you like him best?

Some of the best art in all of comicdom

You can see it in this wonderful preview of the latest issue of Detective Comics!
J. H. Williams III the doing things that no one else does with the comic page. If he's not the most creative artist in comics today, he's darn close.