Overreaction Monday: Bigger Disappointment – 2008 Cleveland Browns or 2009 Cleveland Indians?

Living in Dallas, one of the most famous local sports radio segments of every week during the NFL season is Randy Galloway’s “Overreaction Monday” on 103.3 the day after Dallas Cowboys games. Overreaction Monday is especially entertaining after Cowboys losses as the hosts and fans completely and unabashedly overreact in counting out the many reasons why this particular Cowboys team is horrible and will never win another game. (Tongues are often planted firmly in cheek, but there is still plenty of legitimate overreacting going on.)

Seeing as how it is Monday, and my beloved Chicago White Sox are currently riding a three game winning streak that has them back in their rightful spot atop the AL Central standings with K.C., allow me to indulge in a little bit of my own Overreaction Monday. But first, allow me to set the stage.

I hate the Cleveland Indians.

Not a little bit, but a lot.

You see, during my formative years as a Chicago White Sox fan, the mid- to late-90s, the Cleveland Indians were unbelievably good. They had guys like Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, and Jim Thome, and they dominated the White Sox seemingly every season. At that time a guy that my dad worked with was also a big Indians fan, and an annoying one at that. (My apologies for being redundant.) The Indians’ on-field superiority over the White Sox the majority of that time, combined guys like Paul Sorrento, and mixed in with my dad’s co-worker’s complete arrogance all coalesced to form a severe hatred for all things Cleveland Indians that continues to this day.

To put it into perspective, I don’t hate them as much as the Cubs — but it’s close.

So it is with great joy that I look at the current AL Central standings and see the Cleveland Indians, many experts’ preseason AL Central favorite, sitting at 1-5. The White Sox, last year’s AL Central champion and a World Series champion this decade, got no love heading into this season. The Indians, however, a franchise that consistently underperforms expectations and that has proven itself incapable of winning a championship, was fawned over all offseason as an up and coming AL contender.

If the Indians end up losing tonight and fall to 1-6 (currently they are down 4-0 to the Royals as I write this) you can stick a fork in them. I know it’s early and that there are still over 150 games left and blah blah blah. Cleveland may very well win a bunch of games again in August and September when they already have a double-digit deficit in the standings to get close to .500 (sound familiar?), but the odds say they won’t be sniffing the playoffs.

With all of this being said, this post is about to take a decidedly depressing turn for me.

You see, as much as I cheer against the Indians, that is how hard I cheer for the Cleveland Browns. And as much as it pains me to relive the awful memories of last season, I am about to delve into a comparison of the eerily similar 2008 Cleveland Browns and 2009 Cleveland Indians. In fact, you may have noticed that up and to your right in the sidebar we have begun a 16-game countdown to see if the Indians can outperform the Browns’ putrid 4-12 season from a year ago. So far, as bad as the Browns were in 2008, the Indians have been worse.

Call them the anti-Cavs. Seriously, what would Cleveland do without LeBron and the Cavaliers?

Anyway, let’s go through some of the reasons why the 2009 Indians are much more like the 2008 Browns than they would ever want to be.

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Lofty Preseason Expectations that Came Crashing Down Immediately

The Browns were a trendy pick to compete with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North heading into 2008, on the heels of a surprising 10-6 2007 season that finished on the doorstep of the playoffs. However, the Browns opened up the season with a trouncing at the hands of the Cowboys, then lost a close, disgusting game to the Steelers, and then got absolutely dominated by the Baltimore Ravens. Not even four weeks into the season and the Browns were already doomed to playing an unwinnable game of catch-up for the entire season.

The Indians were a trendy pick to compete with the White Sox, Indians, and Twins in the AL Central heading into 2009, on the heels of a strong second half in 2008 that saw them reach the .500 mark after a horrible start. However, the Indians opened up the season losing 9-1, 8-5, and 12-8 in a three game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, one of the worst teams in baseball for the last half of this decade. Then the Indians laid a 13-7 egg in their home opener against Toronto, followed up by a 5-4 loss to fall to 0-5. Not even a full week into the season and the Indians were already doomed to playing an unwinnable game of catch-up for the entire season.

Cliff Lee is Derek Anderson

Derek Anderson entered the 2007 season for the Cleveland Browns as a lightly regarded former Ravens cast-off who had a strong arm but a future as a back up QB at best. After Charlie Frye looked like Soliel Moon Fry in the Browns’ first game of the season, and then was subsequently traded, Derek Anderson stepped in and proceeded to author one of the most unexpected Pro Bowl stories in the history of the NFL. For all of his efforts though, he faded a bit down the stretch and the Browns fell short of the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Anderson and Browns fans, 2008 had to start. In 2008, Anderson looked like a shell of the player we all saw in 2007 and ultimately lost his job to Brady Quinn after being booed off the field in his home stadium. From rags to riches and back to rags, and now he enters the 2009 season locked in a QB battle with Brady Quinn that very few Browns fans hope he wins.

Cliff Lee entered the 2008 season coming off of a 5-8 season in 2007 in which his ERA was 6.29 and he spent time in the minors. Yes, Lee had won 14 games or more for 3 straight years (including a very solid 2005 campaign in which he went 18-5), but many in Cleveland were ready to write off Lee’s future as a front end of the rotation starter. Then, out of nowhere, Cliff Lee put together a 22-3, 2.54 ERA season, authoring one of the most unlikely Cy Young stories in the history of Major League Baseball.

Unfortunately for Lee and Indians fans, 2009 had to start. In his first two outings of this season, Cliff Lee is 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA and looks a hell of a lot more like Derek Anderson circa 2008 than he looks like Cliff Lee circa 2008. Lee certainly has a chance to turn things around, and very likely will. But let’s remember that Derek Anderson’s worst start of the year was his third, against the Ravens. How will Lee’s third start go? Indians fans better hope it’s a lot better.

Grady Sizemore is Braylon Edwards

This one is sure to piss off all of the Indians fans.

Braylon Edwards was one of the 20 or 30 best players in the NFL in 2007. After steadily improving from his rookie to sophomore campaign, Edwards exploded with 80 catches and 16 TDs in 2007. Then in 2008, inexplicably, Edwards turned into…

***We interrupt this post for a special bulletin. At this very moment, as I write this, Joakim Soria just struck out Jhonny Peralta looking to close out a 4-2 Royals victory over the Indians, dropping Cleveland to 1-6 on the season. Be right back. Time to go update the sidebar.***

…Travis Hafner circa 2008. (You remember Travis Hafner right? The guy who hit .308 with 42 HRs in 2006 and then hit .197 with 5 HRs in 2008?)

Entering 2008, Braylon Edwards was a can’t-miss future superstar who had supposedly only scratched the surface of his potential in 2007. He was being talked about in the class of WRs just below Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald. He was a sure-fire Pro Bowler and a rock for the Browns to build upon for the future. Now, after 2008, the Browns seem to be just waiting for the best offer before unloading Edwards and his massive ego and stone hands.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

So all of the Indians fans are now wondering how exactly their beloved pretty boy Grady Sizemore is like Braylon Edwards. Well, have you seen Grady Sizemore’s stats so far this year? He is hitting .207 with 12 Ks and an OBP of .324, which is far less than his career OBP of .370.

Hmm…Grady Sizemore is a 26-year old, can’t-miss, sure-fire superstar. Braylon Edwards is a 26-year old, can’t-miss, sure-fire superstar. Edwards was pathetic (by his own standards) in 2008, especially at the start of the season, and his team severely underachieved. Sizemore has been pathetic (by his own standards) in 2009 at the start of the season and his team is severely underachieving. Notice a trend?

In all actuality, I don’t think Grady Sizemore is anything like Braylon Edwards. I hate Grady Sizemore because he’s an Indian, but I respect his ability and would take him on my team any day. Braylon Edwards? Not so much. He is certainly talented, but with far too big an ego for so little professional achievement. (Truthfully, the more apt comparison for Braylon Edwards would have been Travis Hafner, but he’s actually having a halfway decent start to this season…and it’s more fun to piss off Indians fans by going after the Golden Boy.)

I am sure there are probably more comparisons I could make between the 2008 Browns and 2009 Indians that might get Cleveland fans riled up, but what’s the point? The purpose of this exercise was to create a long and drawn out way to say that the Indians suck and appear poised to follow the 2008 Browns in woefully underperforming expectations, and I think I accomplished that. (And, for what it’s worth, my next comparison was actually going to be a positive one for the Indians: Shin-Soo Choo is Jerome Harrison — get this guy at bats! — and I don’t feel like being positive about the Indians. They suck, are diminishing the reputation of the AL Central, and made me think about the 2008 Browns season. Screw the Indians.)

The question now becomes can the 2009 Indians win more games in their first 16 than the 2008 Browns won in their 16-game slate? And after that, can the Indians actually make a run to get back in the playoff race? I don’t know the stats on 1-6 teams making the playoffs, but they can’t be good. You can say it’s early in the season, and you’d be right. You would also be saying the same thing that Browns fans were saying early last year, and the Browns actually battled back to be 3-4 after 7 games. 1-6 sucks no matter how you want to rationalize it.

All I know is that I can’t wait for May 11-13. Sandwiched between a tough home series against the mighty Texas and a road tilt against AL East stalwart Toronto are four off days for the White Sox players to get a little rest, recovery, and relaxation; and, on three of the days, a little record and stat-padding.

Ah yes, that first series against the Indians will be nice.

Thoughts?

How many of their first 16 games will the Cleveland Indians win?

• 4 - Same as the '08 Browns
• 5 or more
• 3 or less

View Results

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After six losses in their first seven games, are the Indians' hopes of competing in the AL Central already buried?

• No (19%, 3 Votes)
• Whoever wrote this garbage post is dumber than Eric Wedge. (38%, 6 Votes)
• Yes (43%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 16

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Grady Sizemore photo credit: Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer

Tags: AL Central, braylon edwards, cleveland indians, Cliff Lee, derek anderson, grady sizemore, MLB

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