Short & Quick

Stay with me this time – I’ going to move quickly between traffic.

Stan the Man (Moron)
General Stanley McChrystal was recently relieved of his duties in Afghanistan for criticizing his civilian boss – the president. That’s a no no and he deserved to be canned for it.

However, what is more shocking is McChrystal and his staff giving this kind of access to a reporter from Rolling Stone Magazine. What did they think he was going to write?

Why not just let Osama Bin Laden in your weekly strategy meetings Stan? And by the way, don’t frisk him and his body guards as they enter the briefing room. They don’t mean any harm to Americans.

McChrystal deserves canned for stupidity alone. No wonder the war in Afghanistan is taking so long. We have morons in charge.

Then we find out McChrystal actually voted for Obama. What? Did he think that would ingratiate him and his staff with Rolling Stone?

Hey Stan, you wear a military uniform for pete sake – an American military uniform. They (Rolling Stone) wanted you’re ass and you served it up on a platter. Did you really think letting the world know you voted for Obama was going to lead to a fluff piece from a group of people who would like to see this country’s military embarrassed?

In all seriousness - this man served his country with honor for many years and we are all indebted to him. However, being naive can be a deadly weakness.

In this case, it (being naive) did McChrystal more harm than any bullet he ducked during his long and distinguished service to the nation.

I just wish he had someone around him with some PR common sense when the request from Rolling Stone came in. All this could have been avoided.

Speaking of Common Sense
While we are on the subject, I’m not a military man and never played one on television, but I hope David Petraeus’ first order is to loosen up the ridiculous rules of engagement in Afghanistan.

Make it simple – if you see a bad guy, shoot. If he drops his weapon but doesn’t surrender, shoot. If he goes into a crowd of locals, you are allowed to go get him. If bad guys go into a mosque, go in after them and forget offending the locals.

If these simple rules of engagement can’t be applied, then I say let's pack up and come home. End of story.

Erkel In Charge
Has anyone besides me noticed we have Erkel running our country?

President Obama is lauded by the Washington press corps for being a good athlete because they saw him put a basketball in a hoop – something none of them could ever do.

Most of those media members earned varsity letters in backgammon in high school you know.

The truth is Obama looks like the friendly, slightly retarded kid who always got picked last in recess when I see him running up and down the basketball court (aka: Obama with the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill).

And when he went bowling, he couldn’t come close to breaking 100. We mentioned at the time, no one, absolutely no one, should be president with that kind of game.

There’s a fat, drunk midget women out there with a stump for a leg who could break 100 a t your local bowling alley.

And did you see him when he threw out the first pitch back in April?

And I’m not a golfer, but I’ve seen his swing, and I am pretty sure with a couple weeks of practice, I could probably give the guy a game.

What’s next – are we going to see him strike out in slow pitch softball?

Again, I like the guy personally. I’m on record with that. However, if I were advising him, contrary to the morons who he has around him, I would tell the man, stay away from sports photo-ops, they aren’t helping.

The dud really needs my advice.

World Cup
The Italians giving up multiple goals in a game is like a solid Steelers’ defense getting torched for 40. My Azzurri were really bad – not advancing out of the first round.

As for the U.S. losing to Ghana, several U.S. media members were surprised with Ghana’s speed advantage over the USA. Really?

Next you’re going to tell me the sky is blue or that Al Gore expects his masseuse to play with his “Johnson” when she arrives to give him a rub down in an Oregon hotel room.

Did someone forget to tell these “sports experts” that our best athletes don’t play soccer?

Regardless, I liked the effort and solid team play from the U.S. squad. Overall, it was a decent showing for the U.S. on the world stage. And yes, I, unlike the other morons commenting on soccer, know of what I speak.

And no, I don’t have an opinion on replay and the officiating. Everyone is missing the point anyway. They don’t need replay as much as they need a second official on the field of play. You have one dude chasing the ball and having to keep an eye on 22 players. That’s ridiculous.

The side refs (dues with the sily looking flags) are there mainly to watch for off-sides, so their area of focus is narrow and doesn't really permit them to watch the rest of the action.

Think about it, in the NBA, you have three guys watching 10. Hell, even in the women’s game, they have three officials – although it’s not needed since the pace is so much slower.

Add another official who covers his half of the soccer field and you cut down on some of the missed calls. There, I fixed it. And yes, that’s the last time I will give this much space to soccer. Most of you don’t give a $#@! I know.

Baseball
Lefthanders nationwide should be mandated to donate 10% of their Major League checks to Jaimee Moyer. Here’s a soft-tossing lefty who didn’t figure it out until his early to mid-30s.

So now every manager/general manager is afraid of giving up on the soft-tosser too early for fear he’s the next Moyer. Right.

Speaking of soft-tossing lefties, if I ran the Indians, I would cut Aaron Laffey solely for this quote following his shelling after being called back up to the bigs to replace fellow soft-tosser David Huff.

“It’s kind of tough to do (go deep into the game) when you go back and forth for two years. I don’t expect to be 100% (ready to start) at this point in the season.”

Okay, I get it. So he got knocked around after coming back up because the Indians have jacked him back and forth from starter to reliever. Never mind the fact that he’s been lucky to draw a ML check at all based on past performances.

It’s someone else’s fault. Why, that post-steroids era 4.59 career ML era he has amassed deserves applause. Hell, why don’t we just make you the #1 starter and leave you alone Aaron. You’ve earned it. Moron.

How about "I just stunk tonight and didn't take advantage of my first opportunity after being called back up."

And by the way, as the Indians spend the next two months trying to dump salaries, let’s hope they don’t go off the cliff and deal Fausto Carmona. It seems like he’s figured it out – with some credit needing to go to new pitching coach Tim Belcher. Carmona is signed through 2014.

Listeb closely - there is NO good baseball related or economic reason to dump him. Period.

If you see this guy go, you should panic if you are an Indians’ fan. It would tell you the Dolans have absolutely no intention of putting a competitive team on the field anytime soon.

Hafner, Peralta and Wood should be gone. The main objective, as stated in previous posts, should be to add back of the bullpen help.

As for Westbrook, I would need to get in return a quality young Major Leaguer with skills to move him (Westbrook) right now.

Why?

A 2011 starting staff that features Carmona, Talbot and Westbrook is a decent starting point to work from in a mediocre division. You add a couple lefty bullpen power arms and move Justin Masterson to the back end of the pen, and you have the start of a decent staff.

I will keep beating that horse (Masterson to the pen) until they figure it out.

Great Thinking
I am told MLB is considering re-aligning the leagues based on market size. Really? Why not just admit the game is rigged? Could you imagine the outcry the first time the Kansas City Royals, winners of the small market league, beat the Yankees in a best of 7? Come on.

Just address the issue in the next collective bargaining agreement.

How do you do that you ask. Simple.

The mid and small market must force a lockout until this is address. They will need to stand, not only against the players and their union, but against the Yankees, Red Sox and the Dodgers of this world.

If handled correctly, public sentiment would be on their side. They just need the will and coordination to do it.

I’m available for consultation of course.

Speaking of player/management negotiations, did you ever wonder how ridiculous it is when you hear a professional sports union rep state he’s telling players to save up and prepare for a long strike/lockout?

These players are so stupid, even after being told trouble is coming, most of them couldn’t go more than six months without getting paid.

How the hell do you not have money saved if you’ve been making seven figures or close to it for several years?

Amazing.

Browns
Did you know that in 9 of the last 10 years, an NFL team has gone from 5-11 to 10-6 or better? I’m just reminding you, again, how much easier it is to run an NFL team.

Look – you can’t lose money the way it’s set up. You can re-sign most of your top players regardless of the market you are in without fear they will skip town. You can cut players a year after giving them a huge deal. And if you have half a brain in terms of talent evaluation, you should be able to turn a bad team into a good team relatively quickly.

This of course begs the question – why can’t the Browns do it?

Hey, we’ve been over this.

Let’s just remember to set the bar higher around here this year. There is no reason why this team, with some decent player personnel moves and solid coaching, can’t get into the playoffs in a couple years.

It starts with adding a couple quality veteran receivers before they break camp. It includes naming Seneca Wallace as your starter. And it involves giving Jerome Harrison the rock 22-25x a game – something they were finally forced to do at the tail end of last year.

Basketball
I can’t wait until the LeBron signing frenzy comea and goes. I’m already bored by it at this point. Here’s my advice to LBJ:

Sign with the home team that coddled you and surrounded you with enough talent to post the best record in the sport the last two years.

Sign with the city whose fans have embraced you and kissed your #@$# at every turn – even after you did the unforgivable in my book and tanked it in game #5 versus the Celtics.

Sign with the team and city you said emphatically you would bring a championship to.

Let me put it a different way LeBron– do you really want to be hated and despised in your hometown more than Art Modell is?

That would be some legacy.

By the way, why the hell would any superstar want to go to Chicago and play in Jordan’s shadow? That makes absolutely no sense.

And as for going to play with Wade in Miami – does LBJ really want to be his Scottie Pippen, because that’s how it would be seen? That’s his team and he already has a ring. You have jack!

And if you end up in New York or New Jersey, we know you’re more interested in being seen than winning titles.

One final thought. If the Cavaliers do resign James, the work isn't over. No, they don't need an verhaul lke everyone says. Again, the won more game sthan anyone the past two years.

You desperately need to get a 6-3/6-4 guard that can keep the opposing point out of the lane - one that can truly defend. And then you add a Marcus Camby type defensive presence in the post. A little toughness around the edges would also help.

One more thing, several of you have commented that I need to post more often. Fine, perhaps I will. However, please provide feedback as well so I know what is liked and disliked. And I don't mind constructive criticism. We can all learn from others.

I prefer feedback at my private home e-mail address most of you possess. Robert Jampo likes his low profile you know.

Be good!

Till next time. Be good.