3-0; NOW what do we do?

Well, dear blogfan, it's been a wonderful and strange week in Dan's sports world; my 7th-grade "A" team is 3-0 and tied for first place in the district, and my beloved Browns actually won a game, beating the despised (pronounced dE- SPIZE- eD) Steelers and essentially knocking them out of any hope they may have had for the playoffs this year (snicker...snicker...). Strange and wonderful, no?

My "A" basketball team is special. They don't look it, but they're absolutely the most athletic bunch of kids I've ever coached! Even better, they put the ball in the basket when they get and take a shot! I've had teams in the past who worked really hard, got a good look at the basket, but actually put it in the hole at an alarmingly pitiful rate! Well, this bunch gets the good looks AND sinks the shots they get! AMAZING!!!!! They scored 64 last week and 53 this week. I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but that's a LOT of points in only 28 minutes of basketball especially when you consider that on the night they scored 64 the clock ran for the whole 4th quarter!

This past week, we built up a 21 point lead before we had to stop pressing (league rules prohibit pressing with a 20+ point lead) only to finish with only a 5-point margin of victory. Having to take our foot off of the gas took us out of our rhythm.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

This week, we face a team that lost last week to the only other undefeated team in the district, so this is going to be another tough week in basketball! Fortunately, the team who made such a valiant come-back on us this past week faces the other undefeated team; maybe (good Lord willing) WE'LL be the only one left standing after the week is over! That would be AWESOME!!! I hate to hope for someone else's demise, but we don't face them ourselves until the final week of the season, so what's wrong with hoping that someone gets to them before WE do?

On the other front, it sure is nice to see my Browns play well for a change!

Well, it may have been more of a function of Pittsburgh playing poorly, but who (outside of Pittsburgh) is going to look this gift horse in the mouth? Certainly not I!!!

The Browns sacked Rothlisberger (sp?) 8 times overall, I believe. Uhhh....how about a little protection for Big Ben, what do you say Steeler's O-line? Didn't he just recover from a concussion? Seems to me like you'd want to offer a little more protection for your franchise quarterback than that........I'm just saying!!!

I'm not complaining, mind you! It was really nice to see Brown and Orange all over that black and yellow, not to mention the pain and bewilderment in his eyes, but, were I a Pittsburger, I think I'd be looking for a little more "max protection" calls from Mike Tomlin and a lot fewer "everyone in the pattern" calls......I'm just saying!!!

What was really nice was the fact that the Browns seemed to be able to run on Pittsburgh almost at will, especially in the first half. Josh Cribbs did to them what he usually does; slice and dice like a vegamatic on steroids! Why would anyone wearing black and yellow EVER punt a ball to Josh Cribbs? Do they have game tape in Pittsburgh? Has anyone seen what Josh Cribbs ALWAYS does to Pittsburgh? Maybe they should consider NOT punting the ball to him anymore...I'm just saying!!!

Well, that's enough advice for the evil empire. They have enough else to worry about, what with searching for a new head coach and all. Maybe they can bring Chuck Noll back; he was such a breath of fresh air, wasn't he?

He made Bill Belichick look like Robin Williams in comparison!

I'm just saying!!!