I got the chance to spend some time out in Berea over the weekend after dealing with the recent death of my grandmother.  I don't know what it is about such a violent game that is so soothing to me, but I won't over analyze it.

So I was there the first day to get the lay of the land to help out our beat writer, Pat McManamon as much as he'll allow and Sunday I covered for him and the media had the pleasure of given some time to chat up Braylon Edwards.

The gist of my story:  Edwards wants you to see a changed man. 

 ‘‘People don't know you, bottom line,‘‘ Edwards said. ‘‘People only have the perception of what they hear, what everybody else portrays. It bothers you because you know who you really are, but at the end of the day you can't control what anybody thinks, what anybody feels. All you can do is control what you do, what you say, what you think and how you play. Taking that into consideration, I guess I have matured from that standpoint and not worrying about what everyone else says, just being my own guy."

Personally, I'd love to believe that simply because I believe he could be an elite receiver in the NFL.  The problem:  it's a song sung by too many professional athletes.  This is a critical year for Edwards.  His occasional hands of stone will either turn to two-ton boulders this year or he'll blossom into a fluid, speedy elusive receiver.  Sorry folks, I'm not taking bets.

What about you guys?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 30th, 2007 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Braylon Edwards, Cleveland Browns, football, pro. 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.