Coughlin Unplugged

Cleveland

Dan Coughlin Talks Browns, HS Football Championship and Much More

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Mon, 12/07/2009 - 5:09pm

Lotta things to cover. I'll do it quickly.

The Browns scored nine points in the last two minutes to make the score look close against San Diego Sunday because the Chargers relaxed and had some defensive backups in there. The Browns scored only seven points when the Chargers were serious.

When I was driving to Channel 8 in the afternoon to anchor the Sunday night shows, there was virtually no traffic headed into town. In the old days there would be traffic jams on the Innerbelt Bridge an hour before the game, lined up to exit at Ontario and E. Ninth St. None of that this past Sunday. Then I saw why. The Stadium was only half-filled. They called it a sellout. What a charade! Tickets may have been sold but went unused. They couldn't even give them away.

The Bridge to Nowhere

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 9:29pm

I read in The Plain Dealer that the City of Cleveland will waste $5 million to build a pedestrian bridge at the opening of North Coast Harbor and I ask, why a bridge hardly anyone will use?
This is to span a little bit of water behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, from the tip of a pier on the west to Voinovich Park on the east. Not many people go back there, a few in the summer, none in the fall, winter and spring.

There are a few concerns about the height of the bridge because it will open in the middle and rise 135 feet high to allow boats to pass through. Among the concerns is that it will reach into the glide path of Burke Lakefront Airport.

I'm guessing that it also will be a gathering spot for gulls, whether the bridge is open or closed. Be careful walking across that bridge. You might slip and fall off due to the gull droppings.

Browns-Bills -- A Disgrace

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Sun, 10/11/2009 - 9:06pm

A waste of three hours. Another day ruined.

Worst quarterbacking in NFL history.

There should be no rejoicing over that abomination. As a matter of principle, the Browns should protest the victory over the Buffalo Bills. Like a Christmas sweater, they should return the win to the league and declare it a loss. It should be a loss for both teams.

The Bills were the worst-coached team I have ever seen. Both teams had the worst quarterbacking.

Coughlin Unplugged Top 25 & Other Things

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:11pm

Here's the latest medical report on my old friend, Dick Zunt, 77, who covered the high school sports beat at The Plain Dealer for over 40 years until retiring a few years ago. They tell him he has an advanced case of malignant melanoma, a pretty bad cancer. They'll try radiation. He's been told chemo is not the answer.

Bill Hickey, 82, another old Plain Dealer writer, got a good report on his cancer. His recent series of chemo treatments showed positive results.

I'm feeling OK. I just got a flu shot. I can't imagine anyone out there gives a darn. Nevertheless, I'll let you know if there are any changes.

John Telich of Fox 8 sports is really feeling good. He'll get the Chuck Heaton Award at the Press Club Hall of Fame dinner later this month. It rwards a lifetime of class, dignity, compassion and saintly lifestyle. Here's what they say about Telich: He never said a bad word about anyone.

Now, to some high school football. Here's what they really mean by pay to play. Hawken visiting Independence. They're both 6-0. Tuition at Hawken is over $20,000 per year.

A sweet win for Cleveland Heights High football coach Jeff Rotsky, beating his old school, Maple Heights, which totally stunned me. Great upset.

Somebody tell The Plain Dealer they've got the wrong day and location for the St. Ed vs. Erie Cathedral Prep game. It's Friday night at Bay High School. Lakewood Stadium was busy and the Bay people agreed to rent their field to St. Ed's. Bay's artificial turf field is as nice as any I've seen.

Here's your new Cleveland area top 25 through six games.

The Time Machine

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Fri, 10/02/2009 - 10:51am

Cast Your Vote -- Randy or David

The Devil You Know or the Devil You Know

I've always blamed former Cleveland mayor Mike White for running Art Modell out of town. It was White and the entire Gateway movement and their smug attitude toward Modell that led us down the primrose path.

"Don't worry about Modell," White said. "He's not going anywhere. Take care of the Indians and the Cavs."

Organized Baseball repeatedly threatened us that we would lose the Indians if a new ballpark were not built. Over the years Seattle and New Orleans almost stole them. So the Indians, a franchise that had not even tried to win under several owners for 30 years, got its new ballpark and Modell, who won a championship and came close several other times, got nothing. Even worse, Modell had his prime tenant taken away from him.

The Lakefront & Top Two Dozen

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:07pm

First, let me get this off my chest. There's a continual buzz about idealistic projects behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Science Museum, such as turning the precious outdoor space into parks. There's even talk of a pedestrian bridge to span the little harbor at Voinovich Park. Presumably, these public works are a good ten years in the future, after they move the Port Authority west to the area of the East 55th Street Marina.

I have two points.

First. Don't waste any public money turning that area into an outdoor playland, because it can be enjoyed outdoors for only five months a year. The rest of the time it's winter down there. This is not Miami Beach or Naples. If you stood on the end of the Ninth Street Pier during a February gale, "You will die," to quote former Channel 8 weatherman Mark Koontz. Furthermore, you will die alone because you'll be the only one down there. They'll find your body in April. Even the Irish who get a belly full on St. Patrick's Day don't go down there after the parade.

Coughlin on Casinos & Plea Bargainers

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 3:01pm

It dawned on us last night which casino proposal is best for Ohio. It's the one that won't hire Ohioans. It will import experienced casino workers from out of state, some 34,000 of them.

Workers moving into Ohio! Wonderful. It would solve several problems. It would reverse our population loss. It would prop up our real estate market because all these new residents will need homes.

Whichever casino plan that is, that's the one we want.

Cleveland High School Football Observations & Top Twenty

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Mon, 09/14/2009 - 10:22am

It's been almost a week since my last posting because I concentrated on writing two more chapters of my book. They're terrific chapters. (The book, by the way, will come out next spring. Overpriced, but it will make a nice Father's Day present.)

I was pre-occupied with other news, as well, and not everything was good. My dear friend Dick Zunt, whom you remember as the scholastic writer at The Plain Dealer for almost half a century, got a bad doctor's report. He's got cancer. They took a malignant tumor out of his right armpit last week. After some test results they'll plan their strategy. He was in no shape to attend the St. Ignatius football game Saturday night, which tells you the shape he's in.

Nevertheless, I must apologize to my blog readers -- both of you -- for the week of silence.

Now, some observations about the high school football scene before getting to the Top Twenty.

As usual, it is pure agony getting rosters for the Cleveland Senate schools. It wouldn't take much to run off a dozen copies of each roster for the media and the fans at those three o'clock games on Fridays. There's usually only a couple of television stations that shoot highlights of those games, almost never a newspaper reporter. Providing rosters is a matter of courtesy and professionalism. It's also the one opportunity to promote their pupils in a worthwhile activity, wearing football uniforms and not orange jumpsuits

Here's how we cover those games for television. When there's a good play, I ask coaches and players on the sidelines for the name of the kid. Then I try to get the spelling. Sometimes I just go up to the kid and say, "What's your name?" The kids may think that's how this is done in big time, big city television. No, it's not done this way anywhere else in the world except in the Cleveland Senate and gang fights. Covering Senate football is a joke. Most media organizations won't do it. But I'm there every Friday at three o'clock. I feel like a fool.

This has been going on for decades and I'm on the verge of saying, "I've had it. They don't care. Why should I?"

In the meantime, the media will be all over them when they have riots, beatings, murders and various other crimes on school grounds.

Two guys who stepped up for me this past weekend were East Tech athletic director Joe Dallas and John Adams football coach Gary Jackson.

Dallas bought a telephone answering machine for his school office and returns calls. Few Cleveland high school athletic offices have answering machines.

Jackson faxed me his roster and -- this was a huge bonus -- a master schedule for the Senate football season listing the field location for the games.

Then I got lucky a second time. At Rhodes Field I was actually handed a Senate master schedule. I hope they send one to The Plain Dealer. When the PD lists a game such as, John Hay at East High, it doesn't tell you much. Neither school has a field.

I'm told they're thinking of putting together packets of rosters. Let's see. Glenville plays Friday night at Collinwood field. I bet they won't have rosters for the media, much less the fans.

By the way, you can find football rosters on most high school web sites. But you know the schools that don't have web sites, don't you? I thought so.

DAN COUGHLIN'S HIGH SCHOOL TOP 20

Changing Cleveland Municipal Schools is a Family Affair

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Sun, 09/06/2009 - 11:30am

Cleveland just finished dead last in the state's annual rankings of Ohio public schools. East Cleveland put on the full court press but Cleveland nosed out everybody to win the dunce cap -- again. If Cleveland wins this once more they'll retire the trophy and put it in the lobby of the Justice Center, where many Cleveland pupils wind up.

As usual Cleveland schools' CEO Eugene Sanders blathered all over himself promising improvement and threatening teachers and administrators.