导出博客文章BEREA, Ohio -- Brandon Weeden had a lot to prove. Before his second NFL season
began, he had to convince some teammates, a new coaching staff and front office
and many skeptical Cleveland fans he deserved to start. He desperately wanted to
be their quarterback, the guy. On Tuesday, Weedens efforts were rewarded. Browns
coach Rob Chudzinski selected Weeden as his starter, an announcement that erased
any uncertainty -- and there wasnt much -- that the second-year QB would be
behind centre for the Sept. 8 season opener against Miami. Weeden has spent the
past few months doing everything he possibly could to win the job, and he did --
fair and square. "Brandon has earned this," Chudzinski said, "and thats
extremely important to me that he did. He has gained my complete trust. He has
gained his teammates complete trust and this organizations trust. Were all
behind him and well all be behind him to support him." Weeden, who survived a
bumpy rookie season, took the news that he had beaten out veteran Jason Campbell
in typical stride. Unlike a year ago, when he was essentially anointed as
Clevelands No. 1 from the moment he was selected in the first round of the
draft, Weeden had to fight for this. He immersed himself in the playbook to
learn the Browns new system and performed at a high level during spring
practices and summer training camp. If there was any doubt, Weeden removed by
completing 18 of 25 passes for 229 yards with three touchdowns and no
interceptions in two preseason games. Case closed. "Ive taken the steps that I
needed to take to better myself," Weeden said. "But I have to keep continuing to
work, keep continuing to do the things that Ive done all along up until this
point to become that player that I want to be. Im not satisfied. I feel like I
have a lot of work to do, and thats kind of my mindset moving forward." While
there was widespread speculation outside of Clevelands locker room about whether
Weeden should remain the starter, the Browns were certain he was up to the
challenge. "I cant really say I had any doubt," wide receiver Josh Gordon said.
"It seems as though hes the guy whos been here. Hes shown improvement ever since
he got here, every day, every week, his commitment and work ethic. Hes
definitely stepped up into that leadership role that everybody expects him to
be. Hes doing a great job and were glad to have him. "Ive got 100 per cent faith
in him." Chudzinski does as well. The 29-year-old Weeden has impressed his coach
with every aspect of his game -- on and off the field. "I have been very pleased
with how he has gone out," Chudzinski said. "He has taken the opportunity,
seized the opportunity and produced. So I have been pleased from that standpoint
and I think that he has garnered a lot of respect from, not only me, not only
the coaching staff and the organization but from his teammates, as well." Weeden
is just the fourth Browns quarterback -- and first since Charlie Frye in 2007 --
to open consecutive seasons as the starter. Tim Couch (2000-01) and Kelly
Holcomb (02-03) are the others. "I knew I had to impress the people that
ultimately make the decisions," Weeden said. "Thats all 90 of us that are out
here. My mindset didnt change. My mindset was getting better focus, just doing
the things that I need to do to become a better player." Weeden now believes
everyone within the Browns organization has his back. "I do. Absolutely," he
said. "I feel like I have the support from players on up." While others wondered
if he would succeed, Weeden said self-doubt was never a factor. "Ive always put
the pressure on myself that I was going to be the guy," he said. "I was going to
do everything I could to be the guy. I cant say that I ever doubted it. My
mentality was that I was again going to take the bull by the horns and be the
guy and do everything in my power to make it where they had no choice but to
name me the guy." Hes the guy. NOTES: Chudzinski said RB Dion Lewis will likely
be placed on season-ending injured reserve with a broken leg. Lewis had surgery
on Monday to repair the fibula he broke during Thursday nights win over Detroit.
... As expected, LB Barkevious Mingo will sit out Saturdays game at Indianapolis
with a bruised lung. Chudzinski said Mingo s medical evaluation "is an ongoing
thing." Mingo was spitting up blood on the sideline Thursday night with the
unusual injury. The Browns still arent sure when he was injured.
Parris
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Peyton
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.C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in
the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does.
Ben
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Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like
the dead-ball era.
Johnny
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first regulation home loss of the campaign on Friday night when they host a
Detroit Red Wings club that they swept in three meetings a season ago. Taking
seven wickets in 11 balls was a complete freak. Every time they nicked it, it
went to hand; every time they played across the line, they were out lbw; every
time it went in the air, it was caught. I can honestly say that I bowled much
better in a match against West Indies in Jamaica, on a rock-hard wicket that was
like marble and with a 55-yard boundary straight, when I bowled 50-odd overs and
got 0 for 152. Every player in our side came up to shake my hand in our dressing
room because I bowled so well.Colin Cowdrey was a lovely man, a fine player, but
he was not the strongest of characters and was very, very easily influenced as
captain.If I had to choose between sidespin and bounce, Id pick bounce every
time.I played in Manchester against a very strong Australian side - Bill Lawry,
Ian Chappell, Doug Walters, Ian Redpath, Bob Cowper, Paul Sheahan, Barry Jarman
- a fabulous side. I bowled 33 overs, 6 for 79, and Im left out the next game.
Id just turned 21. I thought: what way is that to bring on a young spinner? They
brought Derek Underwood in.John Woodcock said that the three people in the world
hed seen that enjoyed the game the most were Derek Randall, Pat Pocock and Garry
Sobers.A few years ago a guy came up to me and said, Ive got a night at the
Royal Albert Hall in September. Do you fancy doing the opening spot? It was
blacked out, with two pin-spot lights into the middle of the stage. Ladies and
Gentlemen, please welcome former Surrey and England cricketer, Pat Pocock. I
walk out - 3000 people there, black-tie job - and sang For Once in Your Life by
Frank Sinatra. That gave me a bigger buzz than playing in front of 100,000 at
Eden Gardens.Getting knocked out by Unders was no crime, but in those days he
was nowhere near the bowler that he became. In those days, they used to have the
Man-of-the-Match awards split into two parts: bowler of the match and batsman of
the match. Basil DOliveira won the batsman of the match and I won the bowler of
the match [in Manchester]. We come to the next Test at Lords and we were both
left out of the side.Jim Laker and Tony Lock were great bowlers, but the thing
that made them even greater was, they bowled on hugely helpful wickets. Not only
uncovered wickets but underprepared wickets as well. They turned square. They
were masters of their craft, but even more so because of the pitches they played
on. You had Laker and Lock, [Alec] Bedser and [Peter] Loader - great bowlers,
bowling on result wickets, backed up with good batting, and because of that,
Surrey won seven championships on the trot.I got Sobers out nine times, but
never in Test matches. Id have liked to have got him out in a Test match.I went
over to Transvaal, only for one season, just to see the country. I enjoyed it
enormously. The cricket was very strong; a bit lopsided - I didnt see many
spinners - but lots of quick bowlers and batsmen.A great big thick stone hit
Tony Lock on the back of the head in Guyana [in 1967-68]. Wed just won the
series and the crowd were rioting. Gold Leaf, the sponsors, were providing
transport. I was with Locky and John Snow, and when the car eventually got
through the crowd, there was a hail of bricks and sticks and pebbles and all
sorts. We got in and the driver put his hand on the horn and drove straight at
the crowd, with everyone leaping out of the way. We got about 100 yards before
we stopped in the middle of more rioters throwing missiles toward the ground,
thinking the players were still there. We were actually right in the middle of
them, and we all slipped down under the seats and carried on.The best three
players I bowled at were Richards, Richards and Sobers. Barry first, then Viv.I
was one of the bigger spinners of the ball in the country. I used to bowl over
the top, so I made the ball bounce a lot. If you put spin and bounce, with
control, into your skill set, then youre going to do well on good wickets.The
most unfortunate thing about my career was that I didnt play a single Test match
between the ages of 29 and 37. If you interview any spinner that played for a
long time, theyll tell you those were their prime years. When I was in the best
form of my life, I didnt get picked.I never got out as nightwatchman for
England, and Im quite proud about that.Day in, day out, in county cricket, Fred
Titmus was the best offspinner I ever saw. He was a fantastic bowler, with
control and flight and a good swinger. But in Test matches, because he wasnt a
big spinner of the ball - and bearing in mind you played on pitches that were
prepared for five days, not three - you didnt often have to worry about
Fred.Since I was about five, I cant ever remember thinking I wanted to do
anything else except play cricket. But all I was at five was keen. It was only
about 12 when I thought perhaps I had a chance of playing professionally.I was
very lucky. If you think that the average person in the England side today has
probably played between 70 and 100 first-class matches - I played 554, so thats
quite a lot.I had four people who helped me on my way up: Laker, Lock, Titmus
and Lance Gibbs. Among them they had 7500 first-class wickets. I had lots of
help and advice. Who have the players got today? Is it surprising weve barely
got a spinner good enough for Test cricket?Mike Brearley was the best captain I
played under, but the person I most enjoyed playing under was David Gower, by
far. When I played under David, Id had over 500 first-class matches. He knew
that I knew more about my bowling, and offspin bowling generally, than he would
ever know, so he just let me get on with it. I didnt want to have to fight my
captain to get the field I wanted.The most important part of your body for
deceiving the batsman in the flight is your wrist. The wrist is a forgotten area
of spin bowling.When I was first picked for England I was very much aware that
there were a lot of senior players around. There havent been too many times in
English cricket history when there were more great players in the side: Colin
Cowdrey, Kenny Barrington, JJohn Edrich, Geoff Boycott, Tom Graveney, Jim Parks,
Alan Knott, John Snow.ddddddddddddDougie Walters was a very difficult player to
bowl at for a spinner.I was Titmus understudy. He was a quality bowler, but on
that [1967-68 West Indies] tour he didnt bowl very well. I played against the
Governors XI, virtually the Test team, and got six wickets for not many runs.
Then I played against Barbados, who had nine Test players in their side, and got
another six wickets. Suddenly all the press are writing: Is Pat Pocock going to
get preferred to Fred? I thought I might be in line for a debut, and then of
course he had the accident.Apart from Illy [Ray Illingworth], theres no other
offspin bowler whos played more first-class matches than me.Playing in Madras in
72-73, I bowled a slightly short ball to Ajit Wadekar, who got back and cut it
for four. Next over, I bowled another one, slightly short, turned slowly, and
again he cuts it square. I said to Tony Lewis, the skipper, I want a man out on
the leg side in the corner. He said, But hes just hit you for two fours square!
I said, I know, but Im not going to give him any more balls to hit. Im going to
bowl a stump straighter and a yard fuller, but if I do, I want that fielder out
there. He started to grumble and shake his head. It was his third Test match and
Id played a couple of hundred first-class matches. I said, Dont argue. Just
f****** do it. Ive got a reason.The best offspinner Ive ever seen, on Test match
wickets, was Gibbs, because the spin and bounce he got were second to none. Hed
always hit the shoulder or splice of the bat.I didnt ever want to play for any
other county, but if I had done, Id have liked to have played for Glamorgan -
not only because I was born in Wales but when you play for them you feel as
though youre playing for more than a county. You feel as though youre playing
for a country.Sylvester Clarke was the most feared man in world cricket. Viv
Richards went into print saying he didnt like facing him. Viv says he didnt wear
a helmet. He bloody did: he wore one twice against Surrey when Sylvester Clarke
was playing. Fearsome, fearsome bowler. I played against Roberts, Holding,
Daniel, Garner, Marshall, Patterson, Walsh, Ambrose - all of them. I faced Sylvs
in the nets on an underprepared wicket, no sightscreen, no one to stop him
overstepping. There was nobody as fearsome as Clarkey was. And everybody knew
it.I captained Surrey because I felt I had to. Id done it 11 years before I was
given the official captains job. I enjoyed the game too much and I didnt want
anything to take my enjoyment away. But I looked around and thought there was no
one else who could do it. We came second, which isnt too bad, although I did
have a guy called Sylvester Clarke up my sleeve.Laker became a good friend. We
worked together on commentary. He didnt come up to me and say, Youve got to do
this, youve got to do that, but a few times a situation would arise and hed come
up and make a suggestion.In the first two-thirds of my career, The Oval was a
slow, nothing wicket. You could hardly ever, as a spinner, get the ball to
bounce over the top of the stumps. A nightmare. It was the slowest thing you
could possibly bowl on. If it did turn, it hit people halfway up the front leg.
Then they relaid all the surfaces and it went from one of the slowest, lowest
pitches to this rock-hard thing that didnt get off the straight. We even had a
stage with Intikhab [Alam] playing and he couldnt get it off the straight.
Sometimes we played county games twice on the same pitch to try and get it to
turn.Greigy [Tony Greig] was the only player in the side whod have done that
[run out Alvin Kallicharran in Guyana]. Umpire Douglas Sang Hue had no option
but to give him out. He hadnt called time and he hadnt picked the bails up.
There were a few in the side that thought it was beyond the pale, but no one
said it. Sobers told Greigy he should leave the ground in his car with him,
otherwise he might not make it back to the hotel in one piece.In Karachi, the
students burned down the pavilion while we were still inside. The match and tour
were called off. Tom Graveney playing a T20 game would be like entering a
Rolls-Royce in a stock car race.I got 1607 wickets and John Emburey got 1608,
both at 26 apiece, but he bowled 2000 more overs to get that wicket. His home
ground was Lords, which, in those days, was an infinitely better place to bowl
spinners than The Oval. He was a fine bowler, but he was defensive and I was
attacking, and on some wickets I felt I had the edge over him.One year, Boycott
had got 1300 runs in nine innings. We were playing Yorkshire at Bradford, and I
had Graham Roope on Boycotts shoelaces on the off side, right on top of him. I
ran up, bowled him off stump. As he walked past Roopey, he said, I cant play
that bowling, me. Roopey told me that, and I said, Roopey, that ball did
absolutely nothing. It didnt drift, didnt turn, he just played inside the
line.As soon as Id played representative cricket for England Schools - I used to
bat No. 5 - I thought I might have a chance.Kenny [Barrington] was a selfish
player, but anyone who played like he did was always going to be more consistent
than someone like Ted Dexter. He used to restrict himself to three shots, and
thats why he didnt get out, whereas Ted played every shot in the book. Kennys
going to be more consistent, but Dexter will win you more games.Closey [Brian
Close] got one run in 59 minutes [at Old Trafford in 1976] and had the shit
knocked out of him. He was in a terrible state when he came in. I got in as
nightwatchman in the second innings and I didnt get out that night. Next
morning, Im walking out with John Edrich and he asked me, Which end do you
fancy? I told him Id have Andy Roberts end as he was a bit of light relief. John
pisses himself laughing: I tell you now, if Andy Roberts is light relief then
weve got problems. ' ' '
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