Curses with Rice

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"The Cleveland Curse Continues"

Having been raised in northeastern Ohio, I grew up with the "Cleveland Curse". While not commonly spoken of, this curse is more potent that the "Curse of the Bambino" and the "Billy Goat Curse" at their primes - combined. Why? Because it applies to all Cleveland teams at once.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Cleveland Curse, it actually functions in two ways. Here is how it works.

Way #1 - Any player, new or old, who been never been better that mediocre will immediately become a superstar the season after being traded or released by any Cleveland team.

Way #2 - Any superstar (potential or established) acquired by any Cleveland team will immediately turn into a significant underachiever, or will be lost to injury.

I first learned of the Cleveland Curse back in 1969 when the Indians acquired heralded Red Sox 1B/OF, 105 RBI man, Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson. Harrelson, who came with his own TV special (including his performance of "Don't walk the Hawk") was going to be the answer to the Indians' prayers. "Alright! Things will be great again in Cleveland! Yeh!" Well, not exactly. After a so-so year in '69, the Hawk played in only 69 games over the combined '70 and '71 seasons generating a pathetic 15 RBIs total.

You can track the curse over the years, the names are too numerous to count. For the Clowns (errr Browns) the most recent examples are Jeff Garcia and Kellen Winslow.

In keeping with the curse, StatLeader is predicting that, having left Cleveland, Mr. Garcia will have a banner Fantasy Football year and should be a top QB pick.

As for Mr. Winslow, the saga of his latest injury continues. While the Clowns have now learned the extent of the Miami Mouth's injury, the Winslow family will not give permission for that information to be released. The fear keeps popping up that it may be season ending ACL damage. Given the curse, we wouldn't be surprised if it is.

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"I'd like some Rice with that combo please"

GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) WR Jerry Rice may be headed to Denver and a reunion with old friend Mike Shanahan, Why? Simple.

Denver did not draft a WR and as such carries vet Rod Smith with some young-uns, most notably Ashley Lelie and Darrius Watts. Adding Rice to that combo would provide backup for Smith and a teacher for Lelie and Watts. Also, the Broncos are expected to use a lot of four and five receiver sets this year. Combine this with the fact that Rice averaged 14.3 yards per catch (best since '95), it seems like a natural fit.