Swept!

How do you follow a 10-game winning streak? By being swept at home by the American League's worst team, of course.

The Indians' 6-4 loss to the Mariners today is perhaps more indicative of the way the season has gone than their 10-game winning streak was. But, it should be mentioned, the Tribe is now 10-3 over the last 13 games. Hey, that's still pretty good.

Zach Jackson, acquired in the Sabathia deal, had his worst start in the bigs (out of 4), giving up six runs on seven hits in five innings. Hey, it's his fourth major league start. He'll have much better ones than this, and of course, he'll have a few that are even worse. This is baseball, and everybody's up some days, down some others.

Get well, Beanie

As expected, Ohio State demolished Youngstown State yesterday, 43-0. But that's not the story. Sure, if the I-AA Penguins had upset the mighty Buckeyes, that would have been a story, but Ohio State beating any other team from Ohio is a footnote at best.

The story, as we all know, is that Heisman candidate Beanie Wells hurt his foot after taking a handoff in the third quarter. The Buckeyes have a lot of talent, but they play USC in two weeks, and that would be a tough enough game without your Heisman candidate running back. X-rays were negative, but that doesn't mean there's no ligament damage.

I know it's easy to say this in hindsight, but why was Beanie still in the game at that point? It was halfway through the third quarter, Ohio State was up 26-0, and against that Youngstown State defense, Maurice Wells or Daniel Herron could have done the job the rest of the way (as they did after that play). Yes, your regulars need some game time to get ready for the battles ahead, but Beanie had already run for 111 yards on 13 carries. I don't often second-guess Jim Tressel -- and I'm sure Tressel's second-guessing himself now too. I just hope he'll be close to 100% for the Trojans.

As always, there were some upsets on the college football season's opening weekend, and the biggest involved an Ohio school. Bowling Green knocked off No. 25 Pittsburgh, 27-17, after being down 14-0 early on. So not only did they pull off a big upset, they beat a team from Pittspuke while wearing brown and orange. I certainly hope that's not the first time we see that this season.

Baseball finally steps into the 1990s

So Major League Baseball has finally decided to allow instant replay to help decide home run and fair/foul calls. And I say, it's about time. I've covered a lot of this ground before, but to recap briefly, there's been a lot of talk about replay "removing the human element." That's absolute rubbish. I can accept the fact that players make mistakes; heck, that's an essential part of the game. But errors by the umpires can mean that a particular game wasn't decided by the players.

ESPN's Tim Kurkjian explains how replay will work, and colleague Rob Neyer put together a very interesting list of big games that might have gone differently had the umpires had access to replay. It includes Game 1 of the 1948 World Series, which our Indians lost 1-0 to the Braves. That one run was scored by Phil Masi off Bob Feller, after Feller may or may not have picked Masi off second base. The second-base umpire said Masi was safe, but Feller insists to this day he was out. That being 60 years ago, there's no replay that definitively solves the mystery one way or the other, so that call was made using all the tools available to the umpires at the time, which one has to accept. And anyway, the Indians would go on to win that World Series in six games, so all's well that ends well, though the great Bob Feller never did win a postseason game. It should be noted, obviously, that the newly implemented replay system would not have corrected that call, since it was not a home run or a fair/foul call, but just as replay has evolved in football, it will evolve in baseball.

John Kruk said a bunch of incredibly stupid things on the subject of replay last night on "Baseball Tonight." I like John Kruk; I find him entertaining, and he seems like a generally nice guy. But I also think he's kind of an idiot. He was railing about how it's wrong to put "a rule change" in place in the middle of the season, because it's not fair to teams who were affected by bad calls earlier in the year. The reasons why this argument is ridiculous are obvious to me, but I will put them forth nonetheless. First of all, there is no rule change here. It's simply giving the umpires a new tool to enforce the rules that are already in place. Second of all, teams that were hurt by bad calls earlier in the year will not be helped by bad calls later in the year, unless those calls should happen to go in their favor. But those teams are just as likely to be hurt again by bad calls, and I really don't see what good that would do.

As it is currently constituted, replay will not pop up very much. MLB has said it would have been used on about a dozen plays up to this point in the season, so that's about once every 10-12 days or so. I look forward to seeing the first bad call an instant replay turns into a good call.

That's 10

Ten games ago, the Indians were in last place, 12 games under .500, at 55-67.

After tonight's 7-5 win over the Tigers, they're in third place at 65-67, and just 10 1/2 games out of first place. Granted, 10 1/2 games back with 30 to play is still pretty insurmountable, but stranger things have happened. But I'm not about to suggest the Indians are suddenly contenders. I'm just happy to enjoy this streak.

For anyone who missed it, Cliff Lee is now 19-2. Jensen Lewis, though he gave up two runs in the ninth tonight, is now a legitimate major league closer. Fausto Carmona appears to be on his way back, even though he struggled at times tonight. Grady Sizemore is the Indians' second 30-30 man, showing that rare combination of speed and power that we haven't seen since Joe Carter. Kelly Shoppach has proven to be a regular-quality major-league catcher, which is a good thing if we want to play Victor Martinez every day next year, whether at first, DH or whatever. Ben Francisco and Franklin Gutierrez are good enough to play every day, too. And if they need a rest, Shin-Soo Choo is a viable option. Jhonny Peralta is quietly having a good year. Asdrubal Cabrera is about as good as they come in the field, and has started to come around at the plate. Even Andy Marte finally got his batting average over .200 tonight.

In many ways, this is a lost season for the Indians, and I know they can't keep playing like this. I predict they go about .500 the rest of the way, maybe a little better. They might finish about 83-79. Hey, I'll take that, after all those injuries.

Put him in a Chinese prison!

The above photo speaks for itself. The man on the left is Cuban taekwondo athlete Angel Matos, and the man on the right is Swedish taekwondo official Chakir Chelbat. Just before this photo was taken, Chelbat had disqualified Matos from the bronze medal match against Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov because he Matos had taken more than one minute to nurse an injury. That's not a judgment call on Chelbat's part, those are the rules of Olympic taekwondo. If you're hurt, you get one minute, and if you can't continue, you're done. It's harsh, but nobody gets an Olympic medal if they're injured too badly to compete.

Matos kicked the official in the head for the unpardonable offense of enforcing the rules. He'll get his due process, but he's going to be banned for life from international taekwondo, and rightly so. But that's not enough. Do you know what would happen if you were to kick a police officer in the head? Not only would you spend some time in jail, you'd "accidentally fall down the stairs" first. And you'd have it coming. Kicking a taekwondo official in the head is basically the same thing. I don't mean to imply that taekwondo officials have as dangerous a job, but to assault an authority figure for properly enforcing the rules? That should be punished not only by the taekwondo authorities, but by the Chinese court system. Because dammit, that's assault.

This offense brings to mind Orlando Brown shoving an official after being hit in the eye with a penalty flag. That was also completely unacceptable, and I also think he should have been prosecuted in court. The fact that it happened on the field of play doesn't make it any less egregious. This was not a player shoving another player. It's a little bit more understandable in Brown's case, because that flag actually injured Brown, causing him to miss three seasons.

Getting back to the current case, it's possible that Matos' coach, Leudis Gonzalez, will also be banned for being unapologetic afterwards. He claimed Chelbat was "too strict," and wondered out loud to a reporter whether the Kazakhs had paid him off. I'm a little bit more inclined toward leniency in this case, because I doubt whether Gonzalez, who has probably spent his whole life in Communist Cuba, has any concept of free press. This is probably the first time any reporter's even noticed him before, much less interviewed him. I'd bet he's surprised his remarks have even been reported. He must apologize, but if he does, I say let him off with a six-month suspension or something like that.

18-2!

Before I get into Cliff Lee, let me start by offering condolences to the families of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and NFL players union Executive Director Gene Upshaw. They both did and said things I disagreed with, but they worked hard to get where they were, and they both died too young.

Ladies and gentlemen, Cliff Lee is going to win the Cy Young award this year. Lee won his 18th game today, in a 10-3 laugher over the Royals. He's now 18-2 with a 2.43 ERA. His nearest competitors are miles behind him. According to Bill James' Cy Young Predictor, he has only a slim lead over Francisco Rodriguez, but I think the formula has changed somewhat for relievers because the Cy voters have come to value them less (as they should). Rodriguez might break the saves record, but Lee could win 23 or 24 games. The voters aren't going to pass over that for a reliever, no matter what the reliever did.

The other star of the game was Mr. Sizemore, who hit his 29th home run, stole his 31st base, and knocked in seven runs from the leadoff spot. That's not easy to do. And with about 5 1/2 weeks left in the season, he's got a legitimate shot at 40-40. I'm betting he falls short in home runs, but we'll see.

Getting back to the Cy Young race, loyal reader Jeff Brown points out that last year's AL Cy winner, CC Sabathia, has been beyond amazing with the Brewers so far in the second half, and asked whether I think CC has a shot to follow up his AL Cy with an NL Cy the following season.

It brings to mind Rick Sutcliffe winning the Cy Young in 1984. The Indians, as you recall, traded Sutcliffe to the Cubs in the middle of that season, along with George Frazier and Ron Hassey, for Don Schulze, Mel Hall and Joe Carter. Hall was seen as the linchpin of the deal, but of course, Carter would go on to have the greater career. He won the RBI title in 1986, as you also recall. But I digress.

Sutcliffe was traded on June 13, 1984, at which point he was 4-5, 5.15 ERA, 58 Ks in the American League; and after which he went 16-1, 2.69, 155, in the senior circuit, for an overall total of 20-6, 3.64, 213. CC was traded almost a month later in the season, on July 7, after amassing a record of 6-8, 3.83, 123, with the Tribe; and since which he's gone 8-0, 1.60, 69, with the Crew, for a total of 14-8, 2.99, 192. Sabathia's six wins behind Ricky-boy, and has more losses, but by any other measure, CC is having a better season than Sutcliffe did the year Sutcliffe won the Cy. There's still about six weeks left in the season, so he'll undoubtedly pass him in strikeouts -- and he could reach 20 wins, though it's not likely.

But we must not forget that the Cy Young is a league award, and as such, must be based solely on what the pitcher accomplished in that league. And while CC has been unbelievable, he's likely to regress somewhat, and I predict he'll finish with a record of about 12-2 with an ERA around 2.00, and about 100 to 110 strikeouts. Those are great numbers, but can you give a guy a Cy for winning a dozen games and striking out about 100? In theory, yes, but only if there aren't strong candidates who spent the whole season in that league.

Brandon Webb's numbers right now are 18-4, 2.85, 145. He's the obvious front-runner for the award, and would almost have to fall on his face to lose it. And even if he did, Tim Lincecum, Edinson Volquez, Ryan Dempster and Danny Haren are also having Cy-caliber seasons in the NL.

Would I like to see Carsten Charles Sabathia win the NL Cy Young this year? You bet I would. But it won't happen. Maybe next year, when he's back in Cleveland. (A man can dream, can't he?)

Wow, did that suck!

The Browns' starters got absolutely demolished by the Super Bowl champion Giants last night. It was pathetic. I was in bed by 10, so I didn't see our third-stringers nearly pull it out against the Giants' third-stringers, but I did see the debacle that was the first quarter. Eli Manning only threw seven passes, but two of them went for touchdowns. Derek Anderson threw 10 passes, completing just four for just 20 yards, or an average of two yards per pass. Jamal Lewis did better than that -- six rushes for 13 yards, or 2.2 yards per attempt. But consider that he got 12 yards on his first two rushes, and that's an average of 0.25 yards per run in his last four.

And the mistakes! One after another. Penalties, blown coverages, missed blocks, a punt returned for a touchdown, and so on. On one series late in the first quarter, the Browns started at their own 8. The series of plays:

* Anderson passes to Charles Ali for six yards, but it's called back on an offensive pass interference penalty on Kellen Winslow Jr. First and 14 at the 4.
* Lewis runs over left tackle, but never gets close to the line, losing two yards. Second and 16 at the 2.
* Anderson's pass attempt to Travis Wilson is incomplete. Third and 16 at the 2.
* Anderson's pass attempt to Steve Heiden is incomplete. Fourth and 16 at the 2.
* In punt formation, Kris Griffin is called for a false start. Fourth and 17 at the 1.
* Dave Zastudil, who cannot drop back the usual 15 yards to punt because the back of the end zone is only 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage, gets his punt blocked because his own blocker is pushed back into the ball's path. The ball bounces out of bounds in the end zone. Safety, New York leads, 16-3.
* Zastudil's free kick is fielded at the 18 by the Giants' Dominik Hixon, who returns it 82 yards for a touchdown. Following the extra point, New York leads, 23-3.

About the only good thing that happened for the Browns in that quarter was Phil Dawson's 56-yard field goal, made necessary by the offense's collective anemia. And just three plays after the above-described sequence, after Syndric Steptoe's kickoff return to the 9 and a seven-yard pass from Anderson to Ali put the Browns at the 2, James Butler returned Anderson's fumble 98 yards for a touchdown, and the Giants were up 30-3. Pathetic.

But it was just a preseason game, so let's not all burn our Browns gear. They're a much better team than this.

Also ...

The Cavaliers pulled off a beauty today, sending Joe Smith and Damon Jones to Milwaukee for Mo Williams. Smith moves on to Sea ... er, Oklahoma City. And LeBron finally gets a point guard.

No disrespect to Delonte West, who played pretty well in the postseason last year despite not being a pure point guard. But Mo had 17 points and six assists a game in '07-08. This is going to be good.

Bye, Byrdie

One of my favorite Indians got traded yesterday, basically for nothing. And I'm glad.

Paul Byrd is the only modern major leaguer who still throws his hands back before his windup, which sort of makes him the Mark Moseley of pitching. And he's a nice guy who cracks a lot of jokes. I think I'd enjoy having a beer with him. But his contract was up at the end of the year, and as Mark Shapiro said, trading him provides the Indians with some "payroll relief" -- $2 million worth. If you can avoid paying $2 million for a pitcher who's not signed for next year when your team is out of playoff contention, why shouldn't you do it?

I know it seems like they could have gotten a decent prospect for Byrd, but I'm pretty sure if there had been a better deal out there, Shapiro would have taken it. And it does suck that he went to the Red Sox. He was the last pitcher to beat the Red Sox in 2007, but we all know what happened after that. I've come to think of the Red Sox as the "other Yankees," just because it seems inevitable every year that at least one of those teams will make the playoffs. And the Red Sox are probably going to do it again this year, as they're in the lead for the AL Wild Card, and they're better than the White Sox or Twins. (Thank the stars, the Yankees probably won't get in, though I'll feel a lot better when they're actually eliminated.)

But in addition to the $2 million, this will also give some of the younger guys a chance to pitch to major leaguers this year, and that has value too. Keeping Byrd might have meant the Indians would finish 76-86 this year instead of 74-88, but letting him go might mean they'll go 91-71 instead of 89-73 next year. Yes, I plucked those numbers out of the air, but that's a reasonable guess. There's a lot of talent in this Cleveland Indians organization.

And remember, they won the World Series just 60 years ago.

Rolling along

In case you haven't noticed -- and judging by the attendance, you haven't -- the Indians have managed to win a few ballgames, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar.

Yes, that's Bob Uecker as Harry Doyle in "Major League," but it applies to the present situation as well. No, these Indians aren't going to climb over the whole division and win a one-game playoff against the Yankees, who aren't even in their division anymore, but they're riding a four-game winning streak right now, after last night's offensive explosion. They're not contenders, but there's a lot to like about this team.

Fausto was going along reasonably well last night against the Orioles, until Edward Mujica came in and threw gas on the fire. Mujica relieved Carmona with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh, and the Tribe up 7-4, and immediately gave up a three-run triple to tie it, then the run scored on a ground ball to give Baltimore the 8-7 lead. But these Indians weren't about to let that stand, putting up three in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth to win it 13-8. It's not every day you give up eight runs and still win.

Mujica, who gave up just the one run in two-thirds of an inning but allowed all three inherited runners to score, was awarded the win, and I think that's a mistake by the official scorer. Taken from the official rule book (found here on baseball-almanac.com):

(4) The winning relief pitcher shall be the one who is the pitcher of record when his team assumes the lead and maintains it to the finish of the game.

EXCEPTION: Do not credit a victory to a relief pitcher who is ineffective in a brief appearance, when a succeeding relief pitcher pitches effectively in helping his team maintain the lead. In such cases, credit the succeeding relief pitcher with the victory.

I don't know how anyone could claim that Mujica was not ineffective in a brief appearance. Brandon Donnelly, making his Indians debut, pitched a scoreless eighth to maintain the lead, and should have been given the win.

But ultimately, that's not very important. The important thing is, the Indians got 13 runs across on 13 hits, three of which left the yard. Asdrubal Cabrera hit his fourth of the year, and has hit much better since his remedial assignment in Buffalo. His season average of .211 is nothing to rave about, but keep in mind, he was hitting just .186 when he got sent down in early June. Ben Francisco's 12th of the year and Andy Gonzalez's first as an Indian (third of his career) both wrapped around the left-field foul pole in the eighth. Francisco, at .277/12/44, is having a pretty good year in just 318 at-bats, and he'll be 27 next year, which is the age at which most hitters peak. I look forward to seeing what he'll do.

And I missed mentioning this yesterday, but Cliff Lee is now 16-2 with a 2.45 ERA. SIXTEEN AND TWO. And the bullpen has blown three games in which Lee left with the lead. He could have had 19 wins in mid-August. He's probably got about nine starts left, and would appear to have a strong chance at winning 20.

Oh, yeah! The Olympics!

I just finished watching the opening ceremony from the Olympics in Beijing on my DVR, and they sure spent a lot of money on it. It reportedly cost $300 million just to put on the opening, and in a country where hundreds of millions live in poverty, that seems pretty ridiculous. It was garish, it was opulent, it was exorbitant, it was almost dehumanizing to the thousands and thousands of Chinese people who performed -- and it was spectacular. I absolutely loved what they did with the torch-lighting at the end, after 4 1/2 hours of pomp. If you didn't see it, my words won't do it justice. I may watch the whole thing a few more times. Heck, with all the money they spent on it, it almost seems like I owe them that.
I love the Parade of Nations. I think it's my favorite part of the Olympics, watching all these athletes who've come from all over the world to represent their nations, soaking up the roar of the crowd. And I love reading all the cool names of the men and women who are carrying their nation's flag. Here are my favorites, for your amusement (and I'm not making fun; I'm sure they're lovely people, and they've all worked hard for this honor):

Fatmata Fofanah (Guinea)
Soloniaina Razanadrakoto (Madagascar)
Guwanc Nurmuhammedow (Turkmenistan)
Daba Modibo Kaita (Mali)
Priscila Tommy (Vanuatu)
Souleyman Chebal Moctar (Mauritania)
Bradely Ally (Barbados)
Bose Kaffo (Nigeria)
Daniela Del Din (San Marino)
Marcel Tshopp (Liechtenstein)
Abubaker Kaki (Sudan)
Jangy Addy (Liberia)
Fiderd Vis (Aruba)
McWilliams Arroyo (Puerto Rico)
Lopez Lomong (United States; more on him later)
Hem Bunting (Cambodia)
Ahamada Feta (Comoros)
Manus Boonjumnong (Thailand)
Miruts Yefter (Ethiopia)
Tsotang Maine (Lesotho)
Jeroen Delmee (The Netherlands)
Ele Opeloge (Samoa)
Dilshod Nazarov (Tajikistan)
Phone Myint Tayzar (Myanmar)
Hastings Bwalya (Zambia)

A lot of countries gave the honor of carrying the flag to the most famous athlete representing them, which is why there were four NBA players waving flags (Dirk Nowitzki for Germany, Andrei Kirilenko for Russia, Manu Ginobili for Argentina, and of course, Yao Ming for the host country). Sarunas Jasikevicius, a former NBA-er who now plays in Greece, carried Lithuania's flag, presumably because the Cavaliers succeeded in barring his good friend Zydrunas Ilgauskas from playing in the Olympics. (I think that stinks, but that's another matter for another time.) And the world's greatest tennis player, Roger Federer, carried Switzerland's colors into the stadium.

But I like what the U.S. did. There are literally dozens of famous athletes performing in Beijing, from LeBron and the rest of the "Redeem Team" to Lindsey Davenport to Michael Phelps, and so on. But none of those people got the honor of carrying the Stars and Stripes. Instead, it went to Lopez Lomong, a 1,500-meter runner who emigrated here in 2001, at age 16, as one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan." His story is particularly gripping -- he was abducted from a Catholic Mass at age 6, and his parents were so sure he'd been killed that they held a funeral for him in absentia. He almost did die in captivity, but he and three others escaped to Kenya, where he spent the next decade in a refugee camp before Catholic Charities paid his way to the U.S. He assumed his family had been killed, but they had moved to Nairobi, and he was reunited with them in 2003. Lopez was an excellent choice to carry the flag, and he's already done our nation proud, whether he medals or not.

Some thoughts from last night's Browns game

Apparently, Channel 3 never told Time Warner Cable it had the Browns last night, so the channel lineup didn't say the Browns were on. So I had to set my DVR to record "Entertainment Tonight," "Last Comic Standing," "America's Got Talent," Channel 3 News, and "The Tonight Show." And I don't know when "Last Comic Standing" is being replayed, which stinks, because I've been following it. I'm rooting for the bald British guy who plays the cello.

What a catch by Braylon Edwards in the first quarter! He was clearly expecting the ball to be in front of him, but when he turned around, he saw that Derek Alexander had put it behind him. And it was way too far behind him for him to catch it, but he caught it anyway, with one hand. He's a special talent. I almost forgive him for going to Michigan.

That one-hour lightning delay gave everybody a chance to FINALLY talk about Brett Favre. Yes, that was sarcasm. Don't get me wrong, I understand that a future Hall of Famer changing teams at this stage of his career is a huge story, but that doesn't mean I can't be sick of it. It will be strange seeing Favre in that color. Sure, it's still green, but it's a lighter shade.

I think Josh Cribbs is my favorite Brown. In fact, he's one of my favorite Browns of all time. He came out of Kent State as an undrafted quarterback, and has made a career as a gung-ho special teamer, and he's now seeing some action as a wide receiver. He's the kind of guy who'll do anything he can to help win football games. How can you not love a guy like that?

Alexander looked pretty good in limited action. The one TD pass he threw was a better play by Edwards than it was by Alexander, but in his defense, he put it where if his guy didn't get it, nobody would get it, and that's worth plenty.

Brady Quinn was just OK. He made a bad throw on the interception. Syndric Steptoe was open, but Quinn threw it too hard and put it where Steptoe couldn't reel it in.

It's a bit unsettling to watch a bomb thrown against your defense, even in the preseason. But it was a nice moment for David Clowney of the Jets. And right after catching the touchdown, he made the tackle on the kick return. I really like that.

The Jets technically won the game, but the Browns' starters outplayed the Jets' starters. Then again, it's worth mentioning that the guy who's going to start at QB for the Jets watched from the sidelines because he'd only been traded there the previous day.

And another thing ...

I'm sick and tired of Brett Favre leading off SportsCenter every day. I watch SportsCenter to get highlights, not soap opera updates.

Come on already, Jim Brown

Let me start off by saying I've never been a big fan of Jim Brown. Sure, he's the greatest Brown of all time, arguably the greatest running back of all time, and quite probably the greatest athlete Cleveland has ever seen. I love watching footage of him slashing his way through defenses, running between, past and through very large men as if they were little children. I'm glad he played for our team, even though I'm not old enough to remember it.

And I also give him his due for his acting work. He was fantastic in The Dirty Dozen, and I loved his scenes with Isaac Hayes in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Nor do I deny he is doing positive things with gangs in Cleveland and L.A., through the Amer-I-Can program.

All that said, I think the guy's kind of full of it. He sees himself as a role model -- and to be sure, many others do too -- but let's not forget he's been accused of throwing a woman off a balcony, threatening to snap his wife's neck, and raping another woman. In fairness, he was never convicted of any of those crimes, but I have a hard time believing a man accused of three acts of violence against women has never committed a violent act against a woman. If he has done that, I can't imagine why anyone would care about his opinion on anything. And he does have his opinions, and will share them with anybody who will put a microphone in front of his face, all the while wearing that ridiculous hat-thing.

But none of this has anything much to do with the reason for today's post. Today's post has to do with Brown's recent lawsuit against EA Sports for using his likeness in a video game. Taken from the Bloomberg.com story:

The character, part of the "Real Old School Teams and Players'' series, is a muscular, African-American running back wearing the number 32 jersey who is featured in the game's "All Brown's Team,'' Brown said in a complaint filed yesterday in state court in New York.

Brown, who wore number 32 for the Cleveland Browns, said in the complaint that he "never signed away any rights that would allow his likeness to be used.''

Professional athletes now typically sign agreements allowing the use of their names and likenesses, according to the complaint. Brown said in the complaint that, when he played football, "The NFL had league wide policy that players shall have no lawyers or agents when negotiating compensation. Video games were not invented yet and no union to obtain rights from existed.''

Professional athletes DO sign agreements that allow their names and faces to be used ON THE FRONT OF THE BOX. I have a very hard time believing EA Sports got signatures from every NFL player to put them in Madden 2008. That would be a pretty steep burden to impose.

Regardless, I'm sure EA Sports is doing irreparable damage to Jim Brown's reputation by allowing video gamers to maneuver a computer image that looks like him up and down a computer-generated field substitute. But maybe he'll feel better if he throws the game off a balcony.

Today in sporting history

The late Rod "Shooter" Beck would have turned 40 today. Beck is 24th on the all-time saves list, saving 286 games for the Giants, Cubs, Red Sox and Padres between 1991 and 2004, and is tied for the eighth-most in a single season, nailing down 51 saves for San Francisco in 1998. Beck was a three-time All-Star, and won the National League's Rolaids Relief Man award in The Season With No Champion. He remains the Giants' all-time saves leader.

Beck was well-known for his electric stuff, his ridiculous Fu Manchu mustache, his long, flowing locks, and his death by cocaine overdose in 2007, at age 38. He was by all accounts a nice guy and a good teammate, but had struggled with the white powder since at least 2004, when he abruptly left the Padres in midseason to enter a rehabilitation program.

And he was against the designated hitter rule, which earns him my admiration. Growing up in Southern California, he followed the Dodgers, but didn't watch the Angels, due to his opposition to the DH. Lifted from his Baseball Library page:

"If there's an American League game on TV, I'll turn it on mute and play pool," he told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1999. "I didn't like the American League going to the designated hitter. I always wanted to be a pitcher, but I wanted to hit, too."

Rest in peace, Rod Beck. Wherever you are, I hope you're having a happy birthday.