A Long Snapper who can't snap is about as useful to a football team as a Linebacker with no legs or an aardvark.

Ryan Pontbriand, a controversial 5th Round Draft Pick in 2003, was the last remaining vestage (and one could argue best pick) of the highly disastrous Butch Davis/Pete Garcia regime.  He made the Pro Bowl in 2007 and 2008 and only missed 5 games in 9 seasons.

But NFL teams can't afford to keep backup Long Snappers any more than they can afford a Long Snapper that can't get the ball from between his legs to the Holder without bouncing it along the turf or banking it off someone's leg.  Missed FG's partially affected by bad snaps doomed the Browns 2 of the last 3 weeks and almost cost them the 3rd.  One could argue (somewhat unfairly) that if Pontbriand had done his job, Cleveland would be 6-5 right now.

Pontbriand knew it was a mental thing, acknowledging that he was "in a slump" after the Cincy loss.  But Long Snapper is not a position that gets the luxury of working through slumps.

Ryan, it sucks, but in the NFL it's a dog-eat-dog world, and you're wearing milkbone underwear (as Norm Peterson would say).  Good luck to you and thanks for the memories.

The Browns announced they will be replacing Pontbriand with a Jugs Machine.

According to agent Trace Armstrong, the Ohio State University has hired two time national champion coach Urban Meyer to be the head coach of its football team. The shocking and unexpected news has sent ripples through the college football world with many caught off guard by this recent development.

“I just can’t believe it,” one Ohio State student who requested anonymity said after the news broke. “It was like I’ve been living a nightmare for 11 months and Jim Bollman was my chubby Freddy Krueger. I guess Urban Meyer is the big breasted teenager who somehow found a way to kill him.”

The Ohio State Buckeyes just finished its worst regular season in over a decade on Saturday after falling 40-34 to rival Michigan, completing a 6-6 campaign that left many unsatisfied. While rivals and other Big Ten members laughed at the 2011 version of Ohio State, the Urban Meyer hire has changed their tone.

A gravy soaked Brady Hoke was reached for comment, “They what? They hired a football coach who knows how to run an offense? Well... damn it.”

Urban Meyer is considered one of the best coaches in college football. The Youngstown native started his career at Bowling Green before taking over the Utah football program. After unprecedented success with the Utes, Meyer joined the Florida Gators and led them to two national championships in just five years. Meyer has a 10 year record of 104-23, but health concerns and a desire to spend more time with his family fueled an early retirement from Florida.

Needless to say, Gator fans aren’t happy, “This is outrageous, what a load of crap!” one lifelong Florida fan said. “Meyer left our school in the hands of Will Muschamp and Charlie freaking Weis! That’s like expecting a Northerner to make good chili or allowing your last meal to be watched by Charlie freaking Weis!”

A press conference announcing Urban Meyer’s arrival at Ohio State is expected shortly. Stay tuned for updates.

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The last 11 months have been long and painful for the Ohio State football program. Everything from tat-gate to Tressel’s fall from grace to the 6-5 record the team currently boasts, it seems as though there’s a dark cloud hanging over Columbus.

None of that bothers Cincinnati Taft’s Adolphus Washington, a five star defensive end recruit and the top rated player in Ohio, who committed to play his college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes this afternoon. Washington fills a huge need for the Buckeyes along the defensive line by becoming the 15th member of the 2012 recruiting class.

Washington was an absolute monster in high school. As a junior, the 6’4, 245 pound defensive end racked up 119 tackles and 17 sacks while adding 90 tackles and 23.5 sacks his senior season. Many think he’ll jump right into the rotation of d-lineman next year, even with the presence of John Simon, Nathan Williams (pending a medical redshirt and full recovery), Jonathan Hankins, Adam Bellamy and Michael Bennett.

The big man also addressed the current uncertainty for the coaching staff at Ohio State. When asked for his thoughts on playing for Urban Meyer, he simply replied, “I hope so.”

The Buckeyes did miss out on Cincinnati Taft’s other big recruit, Dwayne Stanford. Stanford is a three-star wide receiver recruit with some big offers including Michigan, Alabama and LSU -- but in the end Stanford chose to play for Chip Kelly and the Oregon Ducks.

Even with Stanford's defelection, Tuesday was a huge day for Ohio State.

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D'Aundray Brown missed the entire 2010-11 season with a hand injury, but during that redshirt season he spent a lot of time working on his left hand and his mid-range jumper.

The hard work is starting to pay off as Brown set a new career-high in points for the second straight game, leading the Vikings with 24 points in Cleveland State's 86-57 victory over Rio Grande, an NAIA school located in southern Ohio.

Brown, the Horizon League Player of the Week, also added nine rebounds and seven steals against Rio Grande.

In CSU's 71-58 upset of then-No. 7 Vanderbilt on Sunday, Brown led the Vikings with 17 points. Brown came into the season with a career scoring average of 6.9 points per game and is averaging 21 points per game through two games.

He's also averaging 8.5 rebounds and seven steals a game.

"D'Aundray has put in some time. When you put in the time, you get results," said CSU head coach Gary Waters.

He's shooting 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) from the field through his first two games

"Sitting out that whole year made me hungry to get back out there," said Brown, who went 11-of-16 from the field and two-of-three from the line. "Coach Waters told me to work (on my shot) all summer, and I was in the gym taking extra shots, and it seems to be paying off."

The Vikings (2-0) played without starting center Aaron Pogue (lightheaded) and freshmen guard Ike Nwamu (concussion). Both are questionable for Friday's home game against St. Bonaventure.

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The Big Ten Conference has acted to remove Joe Paterno's name from their league championship trophy. The trophy, which has yet to be awarded to its first recipient, will now be called the "Stagg Championship Trophy", named for Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said:

“We believe that it would be inappropriate to keep Joe Paterno’s name on the trophy at this time. The trophy and its namesake are intended to be celebratory and aspirational, not controversial. We believe that it’s important to keep the focus on the players and the teams that will be competing in the inaugural championship game.”

Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters already has a nickname for his highly-touted three-player recruiting class that signed on Wednesday.

"I'm calling them the young guns," Waters said after CSU's 88-58 exhibition win over John Carroll Wednesday night at the Wolstein Center.

Signing with the Vikings were Bryn Forbes (Lansing, Mich.), Junior Lomomba (Montreal, Ontario) and Malik London (Chillicothe, Ohio).

"We are excited about this class. My goal in what I feel good about is adding these two classes together and we will be pretty dynamic," said Waters, referring to this year's freshman class and the 2012 class that just signed.

Forbes, a 6-3 shooting guard from Lansing Sexton High School, averaged 13.6 points per game last season as a junior and helped the Big Red win the Class B state title.

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A brief prelude

This is not a sports article. This is something that should never be required to be said, written or debated.

These reflections are my own, and they are based on the allegations surrounding the Penn State sex scandal. I fully realize that no one has been convicted yet, and that in this country, every one is innocent until proven guilty. But with the actions already taken by the university (the terminations of football coach Joe Paterno and president Graham Spanier in addition to the actual arrest of Jerry Sandusky), it’s safe to say there’s enough evidence here to make some accurate assumptions.

Like many of you, I’ve sat at my computer and read dozens of articles related to this story -- opinion pieces covering a bizarre range of emotions that stretch from rage toward the university to support of what is now the former head football coach.

I have a few emotions too. I’ve felt anger, confusion/bewilderment, sadness and even a little bit of embarrassment for some people involved.

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Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters announced on Tuesday that the "five starters" returning will start today's exhibition game against John Carroll.

Jeremy Montgomery and Trey Harmon will start in the backcourt, Aaron Pogue at center with D'Aundray Brown and Tim Kamczyc at forward.

"They played the best and played well together," said Waters at Tuesday's media gathering.

Questionable: Redshirt freshmen guard Sebastian Douglas (knee) is questionable for today's exhibition game.

Douglas, who missed all of last season after knee surgery, "tweaked his knee" again in practice and didn't play in CSU's scrimmage against Buffalo Saturday.

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Asdrubal Cabrera? What happened to Jhonny Peralta!?

Both the Indian and the former Indian lost out to Erick Aybar on Tuesday night in the naming of the 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove winners. Many believe that Asdrubal Cabrera was snubbed. But the real man with a gripe is Jhonny Peralta.

I mean come on now, Jhonny Peralta had a 9.9 UZR! Why did this get overlooked? It was better than both Aybar and Cabrera. The other three that had higher UZRs were not even nominated! COME ON!

Jhonny Peratla, as we all know is a stellar defender at making the routine play. In fact, Eric Wedge said he was the best shortstop at making the routine play. The routine play is so crucial. If that doesn't count for anything, I don't know what does.

I'm baffled as to why someone with a track record like Peralta's has been overlooked after turning in year after year of solid glove work at short, except for that one year he was at third, we all knew the Indians were crazy to move him. Jim Leyland rectified this wrong doing by putting Peralta at his rightful position this past season. 

And this year, he shined. 

Okay, I give up, I can't do this anymore. I was going to carry on this charade of saying Peralta was the best defensive shortstop as a satirical joke, but I cannot continue to do so. Let's be honest, what do these managers evaluate now a days? It certainly is not statistics, which I'm actually okay with. But it also seems to be preferential treatment to players who play for known teams. I'm impressed they even had a few Orioles win the awards, but there were a few grave injustices for this so called "Gold Glove" finalists thing. Let's just look at the shortstop category.

Being Indians fans, we all saw Kansas City, or at least that is my assumption that most of you watched those games. Did anyone notice how fantastic Alcides Escobar was at shortstop? Right and is anyone going to sit here and argue with me that after watching Jhonny Peralta make the "routine play" but screw up every other one for years that he is in fact a better defender than Escobar?

Make the argument. Use whatever statistic you want, you are crazy. UZR? How about no? Any statistic that says Escobar is slightly better than Peralta is not all that valid in my mind.

Which brings me to another point. Any statistic (which in many places is defined as something that can be "unreliable" from year to year) that says Asdrubal Cabrera is one of the worst shortstops in the American League (UZR actually says he's the worst) is quite simply a joke. 

I know what I've seen and while Cabrera isn't perfect and he may not be the best, he certainly isn't the worst. He certainly deserved to be nominated as a finalist for the Gold Glove and while I'm upset he did not win, I won't completely go overboard and say he was robbed. I will however for once say that I'm completely homer in this instance in defending him, but it's for the right reasons. Cabrera is a solid shortstop. Is it the spectacular plays? Partially, but if no one else can make those plays, then why discredit him for that? It should be a positive, not a negative. 

Point being, we all view defense in different ways, especially the people voting on the award. I choose to not primarily use statistics, but rather my eyes. I've seen all the American League shortstops play, because shocker, I watch a lot of baseball. Is Aybar the best? Debatable. Is Peralta? Not by a long shot.

According to team sources (i.e. Pat Shurmur) Monday, Cleveland Browns backup/sometimes starting RB Montario Hardesty has moderate tear of his right calf and will miss more games.

This in addition to the 16 games he lost last year due to an ACL, and the 6 ACL injuries he had in college, and the high ankle sprain, and the MCL tear, and the swollen patella, and the thigh warts.

In fact, the situation with Hardesty's legs has become so messy that doctors recommend that he have both legs amputated and be done with it.

Hardesty initially resisted the notion, but was forced to admit that "he wouldn't miss the bastards".  Tom Heckert and Shurmur both backed his decision, stating "It's not like we didn't see this coming."

Amputation surgery is set to commence soon.  Hardesty has opted for the more expensive and complicated staph-free method of the procedure, which must take place out of state.