Welcome to my blog. As the Deputy Sports Editor for the Beacon Journal, I hope that this is a place where we all can discuss issues with the Beacon Journal and Ohio.com sports coverage and the teams and leagues we cover and care passionately about.

So to get started here is where I am coming from. I like nearly all sports (although I don't get some of the sports in the Olympics), but with my Pittsburgh upbringing, I lean toward pro and college football and hockey with a fondness toward baseball (I think that is what the Pirates play).

I think college sports in Ohio is more than Ohio State football. … I think that Jeff Gordon should have knocked Jimmie Johnson into the wall to win in Martinsville two weeks ago. … I think the Browns would be crazy to pass on Calvin Johnson and would be crazier to take Brady Quinn. … I expect them to take Quinn.

I think soccer is growing in the U.S. and will be pushing the NBA at some point in the next 20 years. … Remember more folks in the U.S. watched the World Cup final than Game 7 of the World Series. … It would be nice if Summit County stepped up and built a soccer complex like the new one outside of Denver. Great stadium and 24 more fields for the youth of Colorado. But around here, folks don't seem to want to look ahead and see a future for the young folks with young families or a place for kids to play.

The best playoff sport is the NHL — don't believe me, pick a team and watch their games throughout the playoffs. The intensity is unbelievable.

The Indians won't win a championship until GM Mark Shapiro takes a page from White Sox GM Ken Williams and makes a move to add defense (Josh Barfield was a great move) and sacrifices some of the power for less strikeouts. Remember Carlos Lee was traded for Scott Podsednik and the White Sox with solid pitching won a World Series. … Too many strikeouts means too many losses in a 4-2 or 3-1 games that get overshadowed by 12-4 wins. Too many strikeouts add up to miss opportunites. … Jake Westbrook, Travis Hafner and C.C. Sabathia are nearing the end of their contracts with the Tribe. All will get big money. … C.C. is the most important to the Tribe future, but he is the least likely to stay. … Hafner is the most likely to stay but probably the least important to keep.

LeBron please drive to the basket more, please. … Use Z more on the offensive end, too.
The University of Akron needs a football stadium downtown, and so does the city of Akron.
The Beacon sports department is constantly trying to evolve with the times, so check out our blogs and podcasts. If you have an idea or question, drop me an e-mail

That is just a few of my thoughts.
What are yours?

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Baseball, Browns, Cavaliers, College football, First, Indians, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, Ohio State, Soccer, Sports, Zips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.