Gainer's Goal Crease: CBJ February Round Up

Umby tying the game late last night to send it to OT

2-1, 5-3, 3-2, 3-2, 2-1, 1-0, and 5-4.  Those are the final scores of the last seven games played by the Columbus Blue Jackets to finish out the month of February.  Guess how many they won?  If you guessed one, you would be correct!  They managed just three points during that stretch and currently sit at 5-12-3 which is good for 13 points.  That's last in the West and last in the NHL.

James Wisniewski, Jack Johnson, Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, and Derick Brassard.  What do these five have in common?  These are five of the highest paid players on the team who are all currently injured.  Their top offensive pairing in the #controlledchaos that is Wiz and JJ and basically the whole team's center position.  Yikes.

Tired of hearing of the dreadfulness?  Me too.

Chud Nation: NFL Scouting Combine & Weeden's confidence

The drills and interviews wrap up today over in Indy, for
 NFL Scouting Combine 2013.

A brand-new feature here on The Rock, called "Chud Nation". Named after the Browns newest Head Coach, hometown boy Rob Chudzinki, who Browns fans are hoping is the guy finally to turn things around up in Believeland, and not another name on the office door for the next two to three years. Topics that will be discussed under this new banner will include PLENTY of Browns notes/news, as well as, stuff that interest me across the NFL at the current time. First up, the NFL Scouting Combine.

2013 MLB Season Breakdown: Cleveland Indians

I must admit when I moved to Cleveland, the Indians were the team I was the least excited about.  I enjoy watching basketball, hockey and football much more.  I only went to one Tribe game (a win though!) with Boomer and frankly, there wasn't much to get excited about.  Fast forward half a year and things have changed ever so slightly.  The thing about any team and its fans is excitement.  What do I mean?  I mean a fan base needs to know the direction of the franchise.  The Cavs are rebuilding through Kyrie Irving and the youngsters.  The Browns have a new owner and look to finally challenge in the AFC North.  The Blue Jackets have a new Hockey Operations President and a hard working attitude.

What do the Indians have?  Well at the end of the 2012 regular season...almost nothing.  Spring training is now upon us (make sure to check out Boomer's preview for both the Tribe and the Reds) and there's palpable excitement in the air here in the city.  And it's not only because we are set to begin another season but also due to the changes made.  Francona, Swisher, Bourn, Reynolds, Stubbs, Dice-K, Bauer, Kazmir, and Giambi have breathed a new air of life into Believeland.  I'll be the first to tell you I don't care much for baseball in the same way Boomer doesn't care much for hockey.  But either of us will tell you that when there's something to get excited about, no matter how small or trivial, we will give it a chance.  Boomer knows the CBJ are going to be wildly different.  I now know the Indians have the same opportunity.

So pencil me in as an Indians convert.  I miss living in a baseball town (previously lived in the HOTlanta and watched the Braves religiously).  I won't promise I'll sit and watch EVERY game.  I mean HELLO they play 162 of these suckers but I am attending the home opener versus those Yankees.  So without further ado, let's see what our Cleveland Indians are up against this 2013 Regular Season and the March to October.  Thank you to the Indians website for these great calendar graphics sssssss...

2013 MLB Season Breakdown: Cincinnati Reds

Will the Reds be able to win back-to-back NL Central crowns (their third in the past four seasons), and can they finally put together a deep postseason run in October, let's find out...

Boomer Report: Reds & Indians Spring Training Preview

For the 4th spring together, the Reds & Indians, share
Goodyear Ballpark for spring training.

One of these years, I plan on heading out west for spring training and checking out Goodyear Ballpark, where both the Cincinnati Reds & Cleveland Indians have their spring training. For now, I guess I'll have to do my spring training preview from the chilly confines of the great state of OH-IO!

A Year Later: Ohio Professional Sports

When we first started this blog, Boomer and I did a piece on each of the pro sport franchises and if we thought there was a realistic chance the team could win a championship by the year 2015.  It is now, as you all know, 2013 and 2012 came up empty handed.  Here are the updates:

Gainer's Goal Crease: CBJ hires a new GM

Jarmooooooooo

Only three games have passed since my last entry but too much has happened in CBJ Land for me to wait any longer!  Let's get into the good stuff first.  General Manager Scott Howson was relieved of his duties this past week.  When John Davidson came into the fold, I wondered how long GMSH would even last.  Well my answer was 10 games.  Howson had been here since 2007 and did some good things.  What you ask?  Here are my favorite things:

NBA All Star Break

Valentine's Day has passed and as we head into the All Star Weekend in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers sit at 16-37 which is last in the Central Division and 12th overall in the Eastern Conference.  The Cavs have gone 3-4 since the last time I checked in.  It was an interesting seven game stretch which featured a three game winning streak.  After the Golden State loss, the team headed to Detroit and was handed arguably it's worst loss of the season at 117-99.  However, whatever they learned from that game carried over to the next three contests.  The next night back in the Q, the Cavs won their most impressive game of the year defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-110.  Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 35 points and played perhaps his best game as a Cav especially in the fourth quarter.

However, more importantly, the Cavs needed to show they could beat the bad teams after they beat the good/elite teams.  They followed up the OKC win with an absolute blow out of the Bobcats 122-95 in which everyone on the roster contributed something.  With a win over the Magic a couple days later, the Cavs were looking good!  Unfortunately Denver came to town and they are a match up nightmare.  The Cavs battled valiantly but came up short.  They lost a tough one this past Monday to a depleted Minnesota squad as well.  Valentine's Day Eve the Cavs again played one of their better games of the season but lost on a buzzer beater to the San Antonio Spurs.  Bad news? Irving scored only six points.  Good news?  They only lost by one point!  Dion Waiters had a good game with 20 points but had a defensive lapse that cost us the game.

So with a week off and no games until Wednesday, February 20th, the Cavs get a much needed rest.  Unless you're Kyrie Irving who has already stated he's getting tired.  Irving is competing in all three days of All-Star Weekend.  Here's what you can look for:

Boomer Report: Recap of the off-season for the Tribe & Reds heading into spring training

The Tribe creating a "buzz" in Major League Baseball,
this past week, with the team's free agency moves.

117 million dollars! The price tag the Cleveland Indians put down this off-season in MLB free agency. Now, I know thats peanuts, when you compare 'em with the heavyweights of the diamond (Yankees, Red Sox, both LA squads), but after only using a few million dollars over the past couple years, the Tribe are hoping these recent "high" dollar signs, are a sign of good things to come up in Cleveland this summer.

Boomer's Urban Renewal: CFB Signing Day Wrap Up

Vonn Bell, was just one of 24 football players, to announce Wednesday, that he will
be coming to THE Ohio State University to play football in the fall.

OH YEAH! Sort of a national holiday for all you college football fanatics out there this past Wednesday, as CFB had its yearly National Signing Day hoopla. Here, I am to give you my thoughts and discuss a couple things on the day. A day in which time seems to stop, as we all, send the day following, where a certain 5-star 17-year old will play football at next fall. In case you missed it, January 2012, I wrote up a little piece on the whole "hat selection" day and I gave you my honest opinion on the whole matter. Enjoy folks, TGIF! #kidpresident

Gainer's Goal Crease

Artem Asylum going ham for two goals in a win over Detroit

In this new section, Gainer is bringing you da hockey news.  Our Columbus Blue Jackets are now ten games into the shortened 48 game season.  After this upcoming weekend, they'll be a quarter of the way done with the entire season!  At 3-6-1 overall, things could obviously be better but they could honestly be WAY worse.  The Jackets got off to a great start winning the season opener down in Nashville where they never win with an impressive shootout victory.  Two days later in the home opener, they lost a tough shootout to Detroit but three points outta four ain't bad.  Unfortunately after that, there was a three game losing streak.  Since a victory over Dallas on 1/28, CBJ have dropped three of four.  What explains the struggles?

Boomer's Diamond/Gridiron Notes: Things to look forward to in the upcoming months

HAHA!!!

If the NBA, NHL, or College Basketball isn't enough to keep you busy till spring, here's the Countdown to Opening Day for the 2013 MLB season. On top of that, while you wait on your favorite teams first pitch, here are a couple items in the upcoming months in the world of baseball & football to keep you occupied till then.

Thad Minute: Men's team in BIG10 race, Women's team continues to struggle



DeShaun Thomas is locked & loaded for a critical month
of February in the Big Ten Conference.

IT'S GROUNDHOG DAY! Here again, to give you my rundown of the Men's & Women's basketball programs over at THE Ohio State University. Last time I updated you both team's were a couple games into Big Ten Conference play. Take a minute, and let me update you on how both teams finished out the month of January. Go Buckeyes!

Boomer Report: A Super Bowl Bucket List

Hoisting the Lombardi trophy, the ultimate
bucket list item for any NFL player(s).

With Super Bowl XLVII just days away from happening down inside the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, the grandest stage of Professional Football, it sure got me thinking.