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Retire World’s number?

December 2, 2005 / Tim Russo

That seems a bit extreme.

The festivities did not include retiring Free’s No. 21, which he and many fans have wanted for years… “I look at the names up there and I say to myself, ‘It would be an honor to be in the rafters with them,’ ” Free said. “I helped revamp a franchise that was dead, completely dead. If you can do something like that, you deserve to be up there.”

I like World. I remember a time when you really couldn’t see many Cavs games on TV, and all you had was Joe Tait making those amazing calls on the radio, World B. Free right in the middle of it.

But gimme a break. World B. Free did not “revamp” anything. What brought the Cavs back to life was the draft that brought Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, and Ron Harper to Cleveland. World B. Free was a great shooter on a pretty poor team.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Roger Brown covers himself

December 2, 2005 / Tim Russo

I guess the PD likes that people talk about Brown, I plead guilty there, but what is this?

No, Cavs point guard Damon Jones was not happy about our Wednesday column, taking him to task for publicly sulking this season. (Jones didn’t think our characterization that he hasn’t handled things in a mature fashion was fair.) Yes, Jones and this columnist had a frank, lengthy and somewhat intense discussion that night in the Cavs’ locker room, following the team’s win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

I must have missed something, but…who cares? Looks to me like Roger got a few tongues wagging (specifically Damon’s) with that shot at Damon, decided that he liked being the center of attention, and decided to write another piece about Damon to keep the tongues wagging.

Cleveland Cavaliers

So is it just me…

December 1, 2005 / Tim Russo

Or does paying attention to the Browns feel like a big chore this year? Looks like Frye is gonna get a start this Sunday at home, we’re on the verge of a 1,000 yard rusher in Rueben Droughns…but that’s about all that is interesting about the Browns right now.

Plus when you’ve got the Cavs to get excited about at 10-4, a 4-7 Browns team stumbling to yet another losing season just starts to take more emotional energy than they are worth. Or is it just me?

Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers

Gut feeling watch – Dilfer’s knee makes Frye likely

December 1, 2005 / Tim Russo

Here we go.

But the convergence of a home game Sunday, Dilfer’s injury and mounting pressure to evaluate Frye makes his starting debut likely. On Wednesday, Frye had the first-team offense all to himself for the first time since he arrived as a third-round draft pick from Akron.

Could be a fun Sunday. I have a good feeling about this.

Cleveland Browns

Giles out, now what?

December 1, 2005 / JEC

Giles re-signs with the Padres, and I’m bummed out.

People said all along that Giles wanted to stay in San Diego but it didn’t look like the Pads were going to meet his contract demands. Well, scratch that. At least the Yankees didn’t get him, right?

But where does this leave the Tribe? It looks like they won’t re-sign Millwood…and they missed out on Giles…and Ryan…and Farnsworth…. Coming off a 93-win season and sporting one of the youngest, most talented rosters in baseball, it looked like the Indians were in a prime position to make some key acquisitions this off-season, just as the Cavaliers were this summer. Unfortunately, Larry Dolan is proving you can’t make much noise in the free-agent market when you’ve got a cheap owner signing the checks.

There’s still time to get something done, of course, but now that you’re not spending the money on Giles — and I hope they don’t invest a lot of money into one of the senior citizen closers out there (Hoffman or Gordon) — why not throw a little more cash Millwood’s way to get that done? What else are you going to spend your money on? Ninety-five games of Nomar Garciaparra? Please. Sure, the upside is great with Nomar, but unless you get him real cheap, the risk may be too much.

Cleveland Indians