The Boston Red Sox improved on Thursday. They improved by trading one of the better hitters of our generation, but a guy who was starting to blow up the team’s clubhouse with his antics. Apparently, there is even a limit to “Manny Being Manny.” If it does not seem like the Boston Red Sox had had it with Ramirez’s whining and mysterious injuries, read this interview with Curt Schilling, one of the more honest guys in baseball. Ramirez’s act had worn thin. So the Red Sox got rid of him and brought in Jason Bay, a very nice player the Indians tried to acquire last offseason. On paper, the numbers indicate Ramirez is far superior to Bay. But when you add in what Manny was costing the team, Bay will be better for Boston. The proof? According to Peter Gammons, the Red Sox will pay Ramirez’s salary the rest of this year. Talk about being eager to send a guy packing. Ramirez quit on the team, period, and a guy who does that is not welcome on a team. As Gammons said: “When you’re making $20 milion a year and say you don’t want to play, and you sit out games and say I might play or might not, what does that do for the integrity (of the game).” He added: “The happiest man in America right now is Terry Francona.” Let’s be honest. Manny is out for Manny, which he showed when he showboated after hitting a home run in the playoffs in Cleveland last year when his team was getting waxed. The guy can hit, but all the peripheral stuff means that Boston is better without him.

Chris Duhon averaged 22.6 minutes, shot 38.7 percent and averaged 5.8 points per game last season in Chicago. This means he was to the Bulls what Devin Brown (22.6 minutes, 40.9 percent shooting, 7.5 points). Didn’t matter to New York, which gave Duhon a contract worth the full “mid-level exception” (who comes up with these ridiculous phrases?), which means he’ll make more than $5 million the next two years. Many in the NBA see this deal as “out of line” (my phrase) with the going rate. No matter, Duhon’s contract now is being used in the Delonte West negotiations. As in West’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, claimed it’s a comparable situation – in fact less than comparable because West starts and Duhon will not. So Goodwin says the Cavs are not being fair by offering West just more than Daniel Gibson received (Goodwin’s “they’re not being fair” rant appeared in the News-Herald). Which only proves that these contract things become an exercise in tedium and boredom. At what point do we all get sick of rich folks arguing over how much money they’re going to make? To the Cavs, Duhon’s contract is inflated. To West’s camp, it’s the new barometer. Please. Just work it out and let us know when things are over. Last year it was Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic. This offseason it’s West. If West wants to play in Cleveland, he’ll sign. If he doesn’t, he can sign a one-year qualifying offer for $2.76 million and take his chances after this season in free agency. If he’s good enough, it will work out, right? Just spare us the histrionics that mean something only to those who are in the middle of the mess.

Speaking of contracts, SI.com reports that “(Manny) Ramirez has been unhappy with the $20-million team options in his contract for 2009 and '10.” Now THAT will sure ruin a day.

CC Sabathia is 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in Milwaukee, but in a key game against the Cubs this week he gave up nine hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings in a Brewers loss. Sabathia is a great pitcher, and he’s shown it by improving his record to 10-8 and brining his ERA near 3 after a horrible first month. He didn’t exactly pitch badly against the Cubs – the loss was aided by an error and a ninth-inning Chicago comeback when he was out of the game – but until he actually wins a game like that questions about his ability in those games will come up. Fair? The playoffs last year come to mind. He quite simply got himself too worked up for those playoff games, and it might have cost the Indians a World Series spot. One interesting thing about CC in Milwaukee – he’s thrown three complete games, and he threw 124 pitches in the other. Have to wonder if Sabathia can pitch that much the rest of the season – complete game after complete game. The old rented mule line comes to mind. Obviously the Brewers are thinking only short-term with him. Any pitchers who throws that much – even a guy with the fluid motion of Sabathia – takes risk, and it’s a risk that might not show itself in the short-term but over time if his arm wears down. Don’t worry about his contract, though. Somebody is going to give him $140 million this offseason.

Our own Marla Ridenour wrote an interesting story in today’s paper where some PGA Tour players balk at the fact they now have to undergo random drug testing. Who can blame them? Professional sports is one aspect of our society where one must prove their innocence. Kind of goes against the entire grain of our legal system, if you ask me, where one is innocent until proven guilty. Drug testing without cause presumes a problem, and makes an individual prove he or she is not doing something.

Personal aside to RedHawkRick: Don't blame me; I do not smoke.

A few folks wrote to say I shouldn’t have been so negative about Moscow when I wrote about playing pro basketball there. One of my regular readers pointed out how beautiful the Moscow subway is, and this proves he’s right. It’s not the RTA of course … but who knew?

The negative? Apparently it can get crowded there ..

Then there’s my friend Bob, a fellow St. Ignatius alum who is grandfather to my daughters’ best friend and father and father-in-law to my girls’ Godparents. Bob regularly visits the upper reaches of Canada in the summer. He writes that his cabin is in Atlin, British Columbia, on the Yukon border just south of Whitehorse. He’s got a lot of good stories about being there, and this week he sent some pics, which I’ll share. Click on the picture to get the full effect. Memo to self: See if an Alaska vacation is feasible next summer.

Made my way out to Browns camp on Monday and caught most of the morning practice. The conclusion after watching one workout: The dog days are hitting. This was not the crispest of workouts, though Travis Wilson did make a nice over-the-shoulder catch of a pass thrown by Brady Quinn. Yes, that was Travis Wilson who made the catch – he’s been a guy I’ve picked on a bit, so I thought it important to point out his good play.

This sloppy practice should not be a surprise. Every team has them. The only concern with the Browns and their sloppy practice is they bounce back and not let it be a sign they are allowing the excitement and fervor get in their heads. Things can change in a hurry with a team (see the Indians, Cleveland) and the Browns are not good enough yet to just be good because they want to be. They have to work to make sure they are good.

Spent a good amount of time talking to Jamal Lewis for a story that will appear in Tuesday’s Beacon-Journal. The more I talk to Lewis, though, the more I’m impressed. There’s a lot to be said for a guy who looks you in the eye and answers a question. I had heard for years that Lewis was a good player, good teammate and a pro. It was hard to believe all that when he went to jail for a few months in 2005 for allegedly using his cell phone to set up a drug deal. Folks in Baltimore thought it was a vendetta based on the flimsiest of evidence, but Lewis did go to the hoosegow, which made some of the positive stuff hard to swallow.

But seeing Lewis up close and dealing with him on a professional basis has made me wonder if I was wrong to judge from afar. Lewis seems as professional as they come, and his teammates have a great amount of respect for him. His offseason work (the subject of tomorrow’s story) and his effort to come to camp the lightest he’s been since he was in college show a guy who understands himself and his craft. Lewis has the right approach, and the right attitude. He has to be one of the shrewdest pickups in the Phil Savage era.

Couple more thoughts on Lewis –

A great many years back, the story was circulated by some Browns that Lewis guaranteed he’d set a single-game rushing mark against the Browns. In truth, he didn’t. He merely responded when Browns linebacker Andra Davis told him the Browns wanted him to carry the ball 35 times in an upcoming game in Baltimore. If I get that many carries, Lewis said, I’ll set a record. Hearing him now makes it easier to hear him then. Lewis speaks with a matter-of-fact honesty that is impossible to make into anything other than what it is – a statement of fact on his part. One can hear him chewing through some grapefruit or Grape Nuts or other healthy food and saying what he said.

Lewis also is a guy who recognizes what happened before him. He mentioned he plays for a team that had Jim Brown, and how he wants to live up to that legacy and how he knows Brown is often watching practice. Which makes a person think back to when he ran for 2,066 yards in 2003 and had a chance to break Eric Dickerson’s single-season record. Dickerson openly rooted against Lewis in the season finale (a true show of class that few have matched since). Lewis shrugged when he came short, said it was more important his team won and he had had a great year. Lewis also said Monday that he knows Cleveland is just more than an hour from Canton, home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When the likelihood that he would top 10,000 yards this season was mentioned to him, Lewis said it would mean he has “about 8,000 more to go.”

Why do I tell those stories? Because I think they illustrate why Lewis is so impressive.

A long time ago, I heard an NFL coach say that players typically enter the league wanting fame. That’s their first motivation. Second, they want money. But the coach said when they get the fame and money and realize something is missing, they start to play for championships. Lewis is at that point. He knows he can be successful, but after eight years in the league he now freely admits he’s playing for success, but also for a championship.

One of Lewis’ offsseason hallmarks is his work in a sand pit that he himself built at an Atlanta high school. When the sand pit was mentioned to Davis, who has worked with Lewis the past two offseasons, Davis exhaled deeply and rolled his eyes. And he talked not about how tough it is to run in sand, but how hot the sand is and how he has to run fast just to get through it.

A couple different topics —

Enjoyed this take on training camp quarterback competitions from Ross Tucker, who spent a training camp with the Browns. Tucker was a bright, engaging guy, and his words on quarterback competitions make sense. Like when he says deciding a quarterback based on training camp “is at best flawed, at worst negligent.”

The more that comes out about Brett Favre, the more nutty the Packers and their management sound. Sorry, but there’s just no way a team tells a player like Favre he cannot come back and compete for the starting job. But that’s what happened. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen talked to Favre, and Favre said of a recent conversation with GM Ted Thompson: “I asked Ted [Saturday], 'Am I welcome in the building if I report?' And Ted was just about shattered. He said, 'Brett, you can't do that — you'll get me fired.' I told him I'm not trying to get anybody fired. So Ted asked me to let the guys report and let's try to resolve this over the next two or three days." What in the world kind of sense does that make? In the five months since the NFC Championship Game, Favre has become a liability? I would tend to agree with the opinions in this column, which basically states that the guy whose legacy is going to be ruined by this is Thompson. The day Brett Favre cannot even COMPETE for his job is the day one has to wonder what they’re putting in the cheese in Packers headquarters. Be an interesting season in Green Bay if the Packers go 6-10 and Aaron Rodgers struggles or is injured. Probably be a more interesting offseason watching the cheese-head fans run the management team out of town.

So now word breaks that Cavs guard Delonte West is mulling a two-year offer to play in Moscow. West is a restricted free agent, and according to Yahoo.com he is pondering a $10 million deal. Gee, I wonder who (the agent) leaked that information (negotiating ploy), and for what reason (to get the Cavs to blink). Here’s a thought: If this report is true and if West wants to go to Moscow, well he should just go. Just leave. Now. West was not starting or playing a lot in Seattle when Cleveland traded for him. He became a starting point guard. He played on the same team as LeBron James. He’s on a very good team, and James now trusts him (which showed when James gave him the ball in that game-winning situation in Washington). He played for fans that embraced him. He’s playing in the NBA, with the best players in the world. He’s not going to find a situation that’s a whole lot better. Cleveland isn’t Paris, no, but it sure as hell isn’t Moscow either. Wouldn’t you love to see how beautiful Moscow is in mid-January? There’s a reason they wear those ridiculous hats and drink all that vodka, right? If West thinks Moscow with a bunch of new guys is a better place to play basketball than on a team that likes him and respects him and helps him and has LeBron, if money is all that matters to him, well then he should just go. Otherwise, just work out a deal and leave this other laughable stuff out of things.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com says the Indians are about to trade Casey Blake to the Dodgers for a hard-hitting catcher and hard-throwing pitcher. It would be a shame to see a good guy like Blake go, especially because he’s hitting and having a decent year. This is a trade I scratch my head about a little bit. Winning teams have guys like Blake on the roster, and if the Indians plan to win next year it might be a good idea to have him on the roster.

The optimism at Browns camp really is bubbling over. Part of me says that’s great, that the fans deserve optimism and the Browns are coming off a 10-win season. But another part of me says that I’ve seen a lot of “optimistic” openings to training camp since 1999, and that optimism went south in a hurry. So let’s be optimistic, but let’s also give it some time – like until a game is played – before putting the bubbly on ice.

Hear that the Packers made it clear to Brett Favre soon after the season that they did not welcome him back. So Favre has been operating under the impression since February that Green Bay wanted to “move on” (as if he has rabies or something). This notion baffles a lot of inside-football folks, who think it’s poppycock to think that the Packers will be as good with Aaron Rodgers as they were with Favre. As was mentioned, Mike McCarthy brought in a brand new offense and new terminology when he was hired three years ago. Favre struggled the first year, got better the second and showed he understood things last year. He should be able to pick right up this year, yet the Packers tell Favre they do not want him back? Makes no sense. Zero. Zip. Nada. There’s one concept in professional sports: Win. Teams try to win, fans cheer to win. I don’t know anyone who buys a ticket to see a team try. They buy to see the team win. Period. Somehow in five months Aaron Rodgers became a better quarterback than Brett Favre. I repeat: Makes no sense.

Anyone see what Washington’s Gilbert Arenas had to say about losing to the Cavs two of the past three years in the playoffs? Here is is, according to the Washington Post sports blog: "It's kind of when you think about it. Everybody says we can't get past Cleveland. Cleveland beat us one year, that was three years ago. The other years they've just been beating up on some hurt dogs. We just want to get our fair shot when we're healthy at the right time, because two years we showed what kind of team we are….We were rolling, we were top five in the league, and that's what kind of team we are when we're healthy. When we're healthy that's the kind of team we are, we're a top five team in the league." Arenas was asked what he told his teammates after the playoffs: “You guys played the whole season without me and you guys made it to the playoffs. Tell Cleveland to play without LeBron. I don't think they won a game last year."

If you want to see LeBron James talking about the Olympics, the "Redeem Team," and even politics related to going to China, click here.

"If we can win by 50 every game, we would love to," he said of the U.S. team, adding: "We want to destroy everybody." There's even video of him playing a pretty lame game of P-I-G with the reporter from Time. Yes, it's the interview where he guaranteed the gold medal.

My favorite moment was when a photographer said to James: "You're probably the tallest person I've ever photographed." Now that's the kind of behind-the-scenes journalism Time magazine can provide.

The NBA summer league concluded this week and Cavs first-round draft pick J.J. Hickson averaged 19.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game and shot 53 percent from the floor (he shot much lower from the stands). What does it mean? Well, the Cavs didn’t want to overdo things with Hickson in his first “professional” experience, so they just let him play. Which means let him do what he does well, which is score with his back to the basket, work hard and rebound. He did that. And the Cavs were pleased.

But they also know that it’s five games of summer league, and while Hickson did well the team is not ready to pencil him into the rotation just yet. They know he needs to work on some things, and he will sit down with the Cavs coaches soon and have that detailed to him. The one thing that jumps out to me is that Hickson had 18 turnovers. Summer league entails a bunch of guys being thrown together, but 3.6 turnovers per game for a big guy is too many. Put it this way: Only two players in the league averaged more than 3.6 turnovers per game last season. Too, Hickson had zero assists. Could be the Cavs told him to shoot every time he got the ball on the block, but zero assists in five games? Safe to guess turnovers and handling the ball will be subjects of discussion.

As for Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce, the two Akron guys who joined the Cavs summer league team, both had minimal playing time. Joyce averaged eight minutes per game, Travis 10.5. The Cavs feel the exposure will help their professional chances in Europe.

The turnover thing is interesting. LeBron James had 3.4 turnovers per game last season, the fifth highest total in the league. That’s a lot, until one considers what else James did. He had one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the league (2.11) and one of the best steals-to-turnover ratios as well (.54). Clearly, a guy who handles the ball as much as James will have some turnovers.

Speaking of James (like the transition?), one thing one never wants to hear are the words LeBron James and sprained ankle in the same sentence. But that’s what happened Tuesday when James tweaked his ankle practicing with the Olympic team. It’s supposed to be minor, but it illustrates the risk inherent in playing in China. It’s the reason Mark Cuban railed about his players being on the team. Cuban said he takes all the risk while USA Basketball gets the rewards. Trying to argue James should miss the Olympics would be like trying to stop the snow from falling in the Antarctic. It’s just not going to happen. For one, there’s too much money in China for a marketer and player like James to pass up. For two, he’s a basketball player. If he weren’t practicing for the Olympics, he’d be playing somewhere, perhaps at a two-on-two game at the team’s facility. As Danny Ferry said, it’d be nice to put James in a bubble, but the competitiveness that drives him in the NBA is the same thing that drives him in the offseason to improve. A tweaked ankle is the risk of the reward we all get to see him play for the Cavs.

Let’s see, the Cleveland Browns are a playoff-caliber team in need of an improved pass rush. They have Kamerion Wimbley, Willie McGinest and Antwan Peek to generate the “edge” rush – and when exactly did it become an “edge” rush anyway – but more pass rush is always good. There was a perennial Pro Bowl player on the market, a guy who as recently as two seasons ago was the Defensive Player of the Year. Name of Jason Taylor. Could have been acquired for less than a first-round pick. Taylor played in college at Akron, and now he plays professionally in Washington. He was traded to the Redskins yesterday.

Should the Browns have tried to acquire Taylor?

Let’s admit first that Taylor’s salary cap hit this season is $8 million. I have no idea if the Browns can fit that, but I would hazard a guess that given the increase in the cap the past two years finding the room for Taylor’s deal would not have been a major problem. We proceed here on that assumption.

Second, let’s admit that it’s easy to look back and second-guess. Taylor already is traded. It’s almost moot to discuss it now. But it’s also fun. And at various points this offseason the Dolphins made it clear they would not trade Taylor. Turns out it wasn’t that difficult a thing to do, and had the Browns wanted to acquire Taylor they might have been able to complete a deal.

Finally, it’s possible the Browns did try to acquire Taylor. They conduct their business in private and they don’t always call to solicit advice, so it’s entirely possible the team made a pitch or conducted some serious meetings to discuss the possibility and decided otherwise. I’m just pondering – and it’s a blog, and we all know what THAT means.

So let’s ponder …

Pro: Guy can rush the passer. Great pass rusher.
Con: He’s 33, and threatening to focus on his acting career after this season. Sound like another Browns great?
Pro: He’s a pro. Despite his desires to get out of Miami, he brings the right attitude to the locker room. Last year he won the Walter Payton Award as the league’s Man of the Year, which honors a player’s community activity as well as on-field play.
Con: He would fill the same role as McGinest – the elder statesman with a year or two left – and a team only needs so many of those guys.
Pro: He’s had at least 11 sacks in each of the last three seasons.
Con: How long can that last?
Pro: He leads the NFL with 117 career sacks.
Con: You want me to find a con for that one?
Pro: He can cut a mean rug.
Con: The Brown already have one dancing fool on the team in Shaun Rogers.
Pro: The Browns are close, very close, and when you’re close you should take your shot. Big risk can sometimes equal big reward.
Con: The Browns already traded next year’s third-round pick to Dallas for tight end Martin Rucker. Trading the second-round pick next year (which Washington did plus a sixth-rounder in 2010) would leave the Browns with one first-day pick – in the first round. The Browns had a zero-activity first day in this year’s draft. Line up too many of those in a row and suddenly the future is void.
Irrelevant thought: Washington gave up a second next year and a sixth the following? The only thing that would have made the deal more one-sided would have been to include a retired player doing nothing, a la the NBA.
Pro: Taylor could mean the Super Bowl!
Con: He could also tear his Achilles’ practicing a plie (how do you get that little funny mark over the “E” in Word anyway?).

The key question – is the possibility of acquiring Jason Taylor and adding 10 sacks going to make the difference in the Browns? This comes down to philosophy. Me, I believe the key to any successful defense begins and ends with the pass rush. Disrupt the quarterback’s timing and half the battle is won.

But I’m just a schmuck with a typewriter. I’m not sitting in Berea poring over films or discussing schemes. At one time in Berea “gap integrity” was a big issue. A colleague once quipped that when eating lobster he violated “lap integrity” by spilling butter on himself.

Alas, we digress.

The key fact about acquiring Taylor was his ability – which is a higher level than anyone’s on the Browns defense now, including Wimbley. Right now, Taylor is the kind of player Wimbley aspires to be.

But there’s his age. Joey Porter seemed like a decent player when Miami signed him a year ago; now he looks washed up. Things can go quick in football, and when they do there’s nobody waiting at the recliner to put the ability back in a body.

The other concern is the future, and how much a team mortgages for now. Some teams will do anything for now. The Browns don’t seem to be that kind of team. If a second-round pick were traded, that would mean the Browns would enter the 2009 draft with one first-day pick from the 2008 and 2009 drafts.

Travis Wilson excepted, these first-day picks are the lifeblood of a team, the heart and soul of the future. They are vital to maintaining any kind of consistent success. It’s hard to envision any team succeeding over time trading them all away. Too, once you make the first trade with a future pick, it snowballs because more future picks are all you have to trade as you go along.

That being said, the Browns also are a team that is pretty dadgum close. And if Taylor could make a difference, it might be worth it. Too, the Browns have a GM who is very adept at acquiring draft picks via trade, so perhaps he could recoup some lost picks in the future.

Tough call. Very tough call.

But if I were sitting in Berea, I’d have been on the phone with Miami. A lot.

On a separate matter … kinda miffed at Adriana Lima. Not only does she spurn dumpy Irish sportswriters for an NBA player, she has to rub our face in it. Could we not have done without this little “red carpet” show at the ESPYs? I mean, really now. Was this a sponsorship deal or something? Was this done because some of us couldn’t attend because we had to sort out the junk drawer? When’s the last time an NBA player sorted out his junk drawer? Or even HAD a junk drawer? Hrrmph. This keeps up she’s coming off this year’s Tupperware party list.

Why did James Posey go to New Orleans instead of back to Boston or to Cleveland? New Orleans gave a 31-year-old role player a four-year contract. The Celtics and Cavs were not willing to go that far. Was it right? Well, Danny Ferry constantly stresses the need to be flexible in his contracts, and adding that much money for a guy who would be 35 in the final year would reduce flexibility. Many folks believe that NBA guys are on borrowed time when they get to 33. Posey is a very good player for what he does, which is be a part-time backup who can shoot and defend. He's also an excellent pregame hugger, he wrote, rolling his eyes. He would be valuable on the Cavs, no doubt. But it does not seem like losing him now means the Cavs championship hopes are dashed. It would have been a nice get, but it’s not a gigantic loss.

I heard some folks on the radio chattering that the Indians could get back in the race after the All-Star break. Well, never say never, but let’s do the math. Cleveland was 41-53 at the break. That’s 94 games, meaning there were 68 left (impressive math, eh?). If the Indians won 40 of 68, they’d finish at 81-81. That would not get them back in the race. Ninety-one wins would, which only means the Indians would have to go 50-18 after the All-Star break. And since they lost the first game in Seattle, they now have to go 50-17. It can happen, yes, but the math indicates just how slim the chances really are.

Paul Pierce seems to be enjoying his celebrity.

Fox’s Charlie Rosen assesses the Lebron James-will-sign-with-New-Jersey saga here.

And … let’s go back to Yellowstone … hope this does not offend anyone, but here are some animals and their … umm … young. First elk, then antelope. Can anyone explain why it’s so interesting to see animals in their natural environment?

Finally, here is a sunset view (hope it comes out) in Lamar Valley, which has to be one of the most beautiful spots in the United States of America. The first one looks into the sun. The folks in the foreground are looking up the hill at a pack of wolves.

This one points in the direction the sun is shining. The colors continue to amaze me, but then again I've got a pretty simple mind. When I die, though, I want to come back as a buffalo in the Lamar Valley. There simply are very few places where it would be better to wander aimlessly and eat grass for the rest of eternity.

So I crossed paths with my friend Frank. Online that is. This is an example of journalism of the zeroes. Instant messages, that kind of thing.

Anyway, Frank is quite the sports guy. He probably knows more than I do about this stuff, which really isn’t saying much. He’s also a top-notch smart aleck, which you’ll find out soon enough. Frank’s not his real name. It’s been changed to protect the innocent.

At any rate, we both watched a healthy portion of the All-Star game (not together), and we had this conversation online Wednesday about the Game. For some reason I found it interesting.

In addition, there’s really not a lot going on in sports right now. It’s that midseason baseball lull, when there are no games, football has yet to start and ESPN is close to showing the ESPYs, the greatest waste of time in our generation.

Me: Quite the midseason classic eh?
Frank: I was hoping for a tie
Me: Game 7 (of the World Series) on a neutral site?
Frank: Could have it here
Me: Sure.
Me: League Park?
Frank: Rubber bowl. It would be a sellout with CC pitching for the Brewers.
Me: He'll pack 'em in … and probably win with 14 Ks
Frank: Game winning homer too.
Me: Second and third RBIs.
Frank: Whiffs Manny to end game
Me: After knocking him down.
Me: In his postgame he does an Art Modell and thanks the city of Cleveland.
Frank: Modell blows. … A friend of mine wants to know why you hate CC so much
Me: I don’t hate him. I like him. He just wants the money. His words that he loved it here were a sham. And … I don't believe you have a friend.
Frank: Well, this guy isn't really a friend. Let's say he's a guy I know. … I don't remember CC using the words ‘I love it here.’
Me: He said it in spring training … ‘Everybody knows how much I love it here.’ Something like that. So there.
Frank: I must have been sleeping when he said that
Me: That’s not surprising … I heard some talk show guys last night saying that the Indians can get back in the race … be down five by end of August .
Frank: Five behind KC?
Me: Matt LaPorta will be on the Olympic team
Frank: He'll be the star
Me: Until he tears his Achilles.
Frank: He'll still be back before Hafner
Me: I’d like to talk with Jake.
Frank: Westbrook?
Me: Yea. The pitcher who got hurt.
Frank: He'll be back before Hafner, Time to go cut the grass

Yes, it may be lame. But For some reason that conversation seems to sum up the feeling of the fan base these days.

Various reports out state that James Posey has left the Boston Celtics and will sign a four-year, $25 million deal with the New Orleans Hornets. The Cavs had been interested in Posey, and he would have been a solid addition because of his three-point and defensive skills. Alas, he'll go to New Orleans.

The biggest question revolves around Boston: Now who will do those annoying pregame hugs of Celtics starters?