Category Archives: Indians

Kevin Hogan Should Start, Football Betting Tips, And The Tribe

October 26, 2016 Mike Leave a comment

The Bottlegate “staff” has officially grown from 2 to 3. Excited to welcome Dan Whalen to the team.

Here’s his new weekly column (we’ll think of a name for it soon.) Go give him a follow on Twitter at @dwhalen5

Like most of you, I felt no need to tune into the Browns game this weekend. Misery turned to apathy a while back-if I can remember correctly, for me it happened right around the time Johnny Manziel was drafted by Ray Farmer and the gang. So I’ll start my weekly diaTribe of five feelings here:

1. I’m not revealing anything you don’t already know when it comes to the team, the franchise, the management yada, yada…but I came instead to shed some light on the quarterback situation and how it should play out for the remainder of the year, since they, ya know, passed on the guy I touted as the best in the draft, on the day of the draft. See: @dwhalen5, dak in your closest twitter search bar. Do you know we’ve had EIGHT general managers since 1999?

The Browns have to go with Kevin Hogan as long as they can, until and maybe even after Kessler is healthy. And I’m not “stats tell the full story” guy at all, but if you go back and look at Andrew Luck vs Kevin Hogan, you get ALARMINGLY similar statistics and win/loss records when comparing the two. Except Hogan went 3-1 in bowl games and Luck wend 1-2. But WHATEVER. Point is, the kid can make plays, he learned from the best, in arguably the most pro-friendly offensive college system there is, and quite honestly, sometimes the second quarterback you draft just ends up being better than the first. So drop the ego, change the culture, and let the kid sling it while Kessler picks his fragile ass back up off the ground.

Otherwise, they may miss out on him altogether, he’ll go be a stud for somebody else, and we will draft another shitshow who sets the squad back another three years.

2. I fancy myself a bit of a football handicapper, especially when it comes to picking the correct underdogs on the money line. So here are a few picks for the weekend:

A) Va Tech to cover -4.5 at Pitt for a little Thursday night action if you’re itching to make a play before the weekend. I think the defense is too good, and Pitt’s defense is woefully bad. When Pitt plays good teams, they lose.

B) Washington -10 at Utah. Huskies are the real deal. And they’ve got a hell of a defense. I get to watch Utah every single week due to rooming up with a former Ute footballer, and their offense has a tendency to sputter at times when they get inside the red-zone. This game will have some turnovers, and they’ll all come from the red and black side of the football. Pac-12 south runs through Colorado this year.

C) Auburn -4.5 at Ole Miss. There’s a trend this week with the road favorites, but trust me that’s coincidence-like I mentioned above, I’m an underdog guy. However, if you witnessed what LSU did to Ole Miss on the ground last week (312 yds/8.6 avg), and you had a chance to see Auburn’s ground game against Arkansas (543 yds/9.5 avg), then you should see that this could be another bloodbath of sorts. Even with Chad Kelly being night and day when he plays at

home vs on the road, he ain’t getting in a 3-technique to stop the deluge.

D) Cowboys -4 vs Eagles. The Eagles are a different team when they have to travel. And not a single defense has shown they can stop Zeke. Cowboys have been money at home. Oh, and Dak.

E) Underdogs to keep an eye on straight up: Navy, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Arizona State, Redskins, Lions, Raiders

3. Also, was happy to see that Indians beat writer Paul Hoynes took this kind of chilly dip instead of this kind of chili dip for losing a bet to a clever Tribe fan. One time I’m sure he’s happy to be wrong.

4. The only thing better than being there when the banner is raised tonight in Cleveland, is being there tomorrow night for game two, which I’m pretty jacked up for.

5. That said, with respect to my most beloved franchise in town since age seven, I’m going with Indians in six games, starting with Kluber tonight. From my perch here in Chicago, Cubs fans are a bit out over their skis and are already planning their parade. And if we know anything about being underdogs, it’s that they play these games for a reason, and you shouldn’t count anyone out before the fact, because you never know when you might blow a 3-1 lead in The Finals.

PS: If you couldn’t tell this was supposed to be posted last night but Austin and I were downtown all afternoon. Stay tuned for the next installment on Tuesday.

Cleveland, Indians

The 25th of October

October 25, 2016 Ai Leave a comment

Cleveland will be the center of attention tonight for sports fans all across the country. It’s an obvious statement, we’ve been hearing about it for weeks now. That phrase, “center of attention,” is usually a subjective distinction. This time it isn’t. This time it’s a fact.

The Indians are one of two Major League Baseball teams still standing and the Cavaliers are one of two teams getting the new NBA season started, and they’re doing so 30 minutes and a couple hundred yards away from each other. So just by the numbers, out of all the people out there that have an interest in sports, a vast majority of them will be watching what happens in the Gateway District tonight.

But it’s a lot more than that.

The Cavaliers were step 1. They famously ended our city’s 52 year championship drought in June, and did so in historic fashion. Just in case any of the rest of the country had forgotten that Cleveland is an NBA Champion or that the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, there’s going to be a ceremony with a shitload of television cameras everywhere tonight to remind them.

The Indians though, they weren’t supposed to be here. A talented team, sure. But to do what they’ve done, the way they’ve done it, and the players they’ve done it without? If we win the World Series that would be like the Cavs winning it all in 2015 without Kyrie and Kevin. And LeBron. And Joe Harris putting up 20 with a buzzer beater to win the Eastern Conference Finals.

And that makes tonight even sweeter. The Cavs run was absolutely incredible and tonight will be absolutely incredible at the Q. The folks next door will be experiencing something incredible, too. But for reasons a little different.

There’s nothing more satisfying than doing something other people don’t think you can do. The Indians did it all season long, they did it by sweeping the Red Sox in the ALDS, they did it by beating the Blue Jays in the ALCS and they’ve done it by advancing to their first World Series since 1997. They’ve done it without some of their best players, and they’ve done it against some of the best teams. They’ve done it. And now they only have to do it four more times.

Tito said it best. “I just think if you look too far back, or you look too far forward, you miss what’s right in front of you.”

So whether you’re at the game or at a bar or on your couch tonight…try not to be on your phone that much. Give too many high fives. Cheers your Bud Lights with strangers. Scoot over to make more than enough room for your fellow feather heads at The Corner or in the bleachers. Just take some time to look around you and take everything in.

Conventional baseball knowledge tells you the Cubs will win this World Series. Conventional baseball knowledge also told you the Blue Jays would win the Championship series, and that the Red Sox would win the Division Series. Conventional baseball knowledge can go to hell.

We’re playing with house money. A lot of it. And our seat is on fire.

KEEP THE CHIEF

Indians

Paul Hoynes made good on his bet, jumped into Lake Erie for betting against the Indians

October 25, 2016 Ai Leave a comment

It’s World Series Game frigging 1 day so I’m not going to rehash it. You know the story. Paul Hoynes wrote the Indians off when Carlos Carrasco got hurt and has been getting shit for it ever since.

Friend of the program Matt Marron offered up a friendly wager a month back. Surprisingly, Hoynsie obliged.

It's a deal.

— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) September 21, 2016

So once the Tribe apparently did the impossible and advanced to the World Series, you better believe Matt was going to hold Hoynsie to his word.

https://twitter.com/MLBastian/status/789944930789625856?lang=en

I'll have three drones airborn circling like Hawks recording all of it.

— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) October 22, 2016

Unfortunately, well actually fortunately the drone thing didn’t work out but Hoynes made good on his bet today. Here’s the video and what he wrote about it: