Normal Sunday sports rambling
Note to Mike Lupica: If I wanted to listen to you Bush-Bash, I'd watch you on Meet the Press. Or maybe I'd read your blog. No one understands the desire for sports writers to talk politics better than me. But for you to talk about how disgraceful Bush's response was in New Orleans while you sat on TV getting paid hundreds of thousands to talk about sports -- that was irritating.
Look, I understand a lot of people are upset about the way Bush has handled things. Perhaps they are right. But Bush was in New Orleans focusing on getting help to people while Lupica was at his computer trying to come up with a fancy lede about tennis. I don't begrudge you for doing your job or having an opinion Mike. I do object to political criticism that is designed to do nothing but show the world how intelligent you are about non-sports matters.

Indians Lose
Two out of three wouldn't have been bad, but the Indians couldn't come through today. Casey Blake's error (which was scored a hit) in the seventh inning was the turning point. In one week alone, Blake has cost the Indians two games. The first was on a ridiculous base running play on Wednesday.
I'd ask why Blake is still out there, and I'm sure someone could give me some stats about how well he's been hitting lately. But for me, when the game is on the line, Casey Blake is the last person I would want at the plate or in the field.

NFL
The Panel will return Thursday, and the whole crew has agreed to come back. Nihar has said he's ready to defend his title. This struck me as odd, since we never crowned a champion last year.
As for action on the field, The Sporting News has predicted the Browns to go 2-14. While not predicting playoffs, I expect the Browns to do better than that.
In fact, if the Browns win only two games, I will wear a Steelers hat to work the day after the final game of the season.