Coughlin Unplugged

Rants

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.

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.

Quit Whining and Enjoy the Music

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 3:02pm

I wanted to write this a couple of days ago, but my damnable machine locked me out of my own blog. I hate this damn thing. I truly do. I yearn for the good old days when I wrote my story on a mechanical Underwood or Royal typewriter that went tappetty-tap as each letter was imprinted on paper. Then I would personally hand that paper to a copy editor who would use a pencil to correct any typos before rolling it up into a cannister and sending it up a vacuum tube to the composing room where it would be set in lead type on a Linotype machine that went clackety-clack.

Alumnus or Alumni and Other Grammar Rants

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 3:33am

Let me congratulate The Plain Dealer. It's been a few weeks since anybody has screwed up alumnus/alumni and alumna/alumnae. At least, I haven't come across it lately and I read the paper cover to cover.

I damn near had a heart attack a few months ago when Ohio's largest hit the jackpot in a story about a lady who donated several million dollars to Oberlin College, a celebrated bulwark of arts and letters.

Horn Blowers

Submitted by Dan Coughlin on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 11:11am

The idiot behind me honked his horn the other day because he didn't like the way I slid over into his lane on Lorain Rd. in Fairview Park. Translated, he was giving me the finger.

I'm not a big fan of horns. They're for dire emergencies only. For instance, when the light changes and the moron in front of you doesn't move, allow five or six seconds and then give a light tap on the horn to wake up the stupid SOB. Or, if you're driving 100 miles an hour through a residential neighborhood, you probably should lean on your horn to warn people that you're coming in case they can't hear the police siren behind you. Other than that, shut up.