The Browns in General part I

I am a Clevelander, and my favorite teams in the pros are the Cavaliers, The Browns, and The Tribe. The first question about the Browns that many people are asking is "Who will start at the quarterback position?". A follow-up question for that is "Why is that so crucial?". It is important because last season The Browns offense looked like this: they were 30th in points with 14.5 ppg, they were 31st in yards with 249.1 ypg, they were 31st in pass yards with 148.8 ypg, and they were 26Th in rush yards with 100.3 ypg. So, Who will start at the Browns quarterback position, Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn? Derek Anderson played in 10 games, where as Brady Quinn only started in 3 games. Although the games played difference is so high, some statistics are so different that you can't help but see the difference. Such as in sacks, throughout 10 games Anderson had 14 sacks, and lost 87 yards, whereas Quinn in 3 games had one sack and lost 9 yards. This means that Anderson had 1.4 sacks per game, and lost 8.7 ypg due to sacks, when Quinn only had .33 sacks per game and lost only 3 yards per game due to sacks! What a difference. Although 5 yards per game doesn't seem like much, if you are on a 2nd down and have 3 yards to go, and get sacked for 8 yards it will then be 3rd and 11 instead of a 1st down. Another big statistic is passing ypg. Derek Anderson had 1,615 yards which is 161.5 ypg. Quinn had 518 yards or 172.6 ypg. That's 11 yards or one 1st down per game. Next, Derek Anderson did have the advantage in touchdowns, where he threw 9, or .9 per game, whereas Quinn threw 2 or .667 per game. Yet, Quinn did do better in interceptions having only 2 or .667 per game, and Anderson having 8 or .8 per game. The next 3 statistics are very close together, and almost are equal. Derek Anderson completed 87 1st downs, 82 through the air and 5 on the ground. Quinn completed 26, 24 through the air and 2 on the ground. The difference, Anderson had 8.7 per game and Quinn had 8.67 per game. After that, the passer rating comes into play where Quinn had a 66.6 and Anderson had a 66.5. Finally, the completion percentage of Anderson had a 50.2 and Quinn had 50.6. So, who does this lead to? Who will start? I believe that Quinn, who also has a 5.8 compared to Anderson's 5.7 yard per completion, will start, but Cleveland's head coach Eric Mangini will have to make the decision. Follow my blog for more of the Brown's keys for winning in 2009

A-Rod a threat for the All-Time Home Run Leader

The Top three active Home Run leaders are Ken Griffy Jr., who is 39 and has 617 Home Runs, Alex Rodriguez, who is 33 and has 562 Home Runs, and Jim Thome who is 38 and has 553 Home Runs. The Current all time Home Run leader is Barry Bonds who has 762 Home Runs, although it took him until he was 42 to hit all those Home Runs. So, if Alex Rodriguez averages the same amount of Home Runs that he has hit in the last three years, home many years will it take him to break Barry Bonds record? With his last three years average of 41.3 Home Runs per season it would take him 5 years to break Bond's record! That would be 6 years quicker than it took Bonds, but we have to calculate injuries, suspensions, and any slowdown in Homerun hitting such as Barry had when he was 40.

Alex was the youngest person to hit 500 homeruns, and he has proven the ability to come off of this years injury (hip cysts) and still hit homeruns. Although he only has 9 Home Runs this year, he still has a while to hit more, and it may not be a tie for his career high 54 Home Runs this season, he could definitely hit around 30-40.

So, will A-Rod break Bond's record? Can he be the all-time Home Run leader? Watch A-Rod and the Yankees to find out!

A Triple Crown?

In the 2008-2009 sporting year, Pittsburgh teams have dominated. Other than the most recent Championship, The NBA finals in which The LA Lakers won vs. the ORL Magic, Pittsburgh has won all of the other 4 major sports thus far. The Steelers started it off in football being 12-4, as well as winning the Superbowl versus the Arizona Cardinals. Then, The Pittsburgh Penguins followed by completing their season 45-28-9 and upsetting the Detroit Red Wings in The Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh does not have a basketball team in their city, but they do have the nearby Philadelphia who were 41-41, clinching a seed in the playoffs, but losing in the 1st round of the playoffs. Currently underway is the 2009 baseball season, and Pittsburgh's chance to win an unheard of Triple Crown. The heavy weight of this scenario all lands on the Pittsburgh Pirates, who currently are 30-33 and 4.5 games behind the leader of their division, The Milwaukee Brewers, who are 35-29. Although The Pirates win percentage is .476, they are on a 2 game win streak and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. Also, just because they are 4.5 games behind the Brewers does not mean their season is over! There are around 100 games left in the season, and if Pittsburgh has a good 2nd 2/3 of the season then they can easily make the playoffs. Next, don't forget about the wild card! Their have been many upsets this year alone that could of set Pittsburgh teams up for a Championship, including the Anaheim Ducks defeated the 1st seed San Jose Sharks! The Pirates would be 1 game above .500 if they had won 2/3 of the games decided by one run! Currently in games decided by 1 run Pittsburgh is 4-8. Another improvement The Pirates could make is winning more games on the road, currently they are 13-21 on the road!!! That is Way Less than 50% which is what a playoff team wants at the least on the road! If they shape up those two categories, the Pirates should do well this season as shown by their home record of 17-12. So, Can The Pirates win the World Series? Will Pittsburgh win a triple crown? Continue to look out for this historic event!!!