The “Friends of Lebron” tag makes its debut on With Leather today as we discuss this bizarre story of Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards allegedly punching out Edward Givens, who works as an events promoter-slash-Friend of LeBron. I have no idea why I spelled out the slash there.
A police report gives these details: Givens was talking to the suspect outside the club when the suspect started an argument. The suspect then punched Givens with a closed first on the left side of his face. Givens told officers he would seek treatment at Lutheran Hospital.
The suspect’s name on the police report is redacted. But multiple sources and the victim say the suspect is Edwards. via.
Givens wasn’t surprised that the NFL’s droppingest receiver came after him outside of View Ultralounge & Nightclub early Monday morning.
“Everyone knows Braylon has a problem with LeBron. So I had to speak up for myself. The conversation started to escalate. As some of his teammates started to pull him back, he punched me. I have a black eye and a cut. I’m not a violent guy.
“As long as I’ve known Braylon, I’ve allowed him and his friends to come into our events free of charge. Whatever jealousy he has with LeBron, he felt he needed to take it out on me.”
Braylon would probably do well for himself to get to bed a little earlier and stop dropping so many passes. But this…this is just weird. Dude PLAYS IN THE NFL. And not well, either. Why’s he punching out club promoters? Why not punch out somebody that deserves it? Like Larry Dolan. Or Eric Mangini. Or anyone living in Cleveland that’s not friends with LeBron.
Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini is 0-4. He’s the aberration of the Parcells-Belichick pedigree, who already has alienated his players faster than a ex-stripper widow from a Charlie Sheen movie. But things were looking up in Cleveland yesterday… He managed to take the Bengals, who had been playing very well of late, to overtime. Guess how that turned out?
After Palmer and his teammates convinced their coach to gamble on fourth-and-11 with just over one minute left, Palmer scrambled for 15 yards to set up Shayne Graham’s(notes) 31-yard field goal on the final play of overtime, giving Cincinnati a 23-20 victory over the winless Cleveland Browns on Sunday. via.
This was after Cleveland blocked a field goal and an extra point earlier in the game. And then the other opposing coach HAD TO BE CONVINCED BY HIS QUARTERBACK TO PLAY FOR THE WIN IN OVERTIME. The Bengals, longtime authors of The Suck Book in the AFC North, are 3-1 and have a realistic shot at the wildcard, if not the division. Cleveland, however, seems to have nowhere to go but down. If you enjoyed watching the Lions go 0-16 last year, watching Mangini and the Browns do it will be even better.
Life hasn’t been going too great for Brady Quinn. After being named the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns prior to the first game of the season by head coach Eric “Respect My Authori-tah!” Mangini, Quinn was unceremoniously benched at halftime during last week’s 34-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and was replaced by Derek “Horse Balls” Anderson. Brady was 6-8 for 34 yards with an interception when he was pulled. Oh yeah, then Anderson came in and crapped the bed even worse, going 11-19 for 92 yards with three interceptions.
To add insult to injury, Mangenious elected to go with Anderson as a starter today against the Bengals (at the time of writing, Cleveland was losing 14-7 at halftime and Anderson is 6-16 for 130 yards with a touchdown).
But even after the benching, Quinn’s week got so much worse. Rapper Common was in Cleveland Thursday night to perform a concert. First of all, who in the heck is Common? I’m not too hip on the hip hop. Is he a good rapper, like that Fresh Prince guy?
Anyway, here’s what happened:
During a performance at Cleveland’s House of Blues Thursday night, Common dissed Quinn during a freestyle. He rapped that he “won’t mess up like Brady Quinn,” and then mentioned Derek Anderson in the next verse. After the audience reacted to the diss, it was noticed that Quinn was actually in the house along with several teammates. Ouch. via. via.
Yowsers. That was probably the most embarrassed Quinn has felt since he had to tell his parents he wasn’t gay.
Now his folks don’t know what to think. And here his dad had his “I love my dead gay son!” speech all ready. You know, if something unfortunate were ever to happen to his confused boy. I do not mean to imply that somebody wants Quinn dead, but how else was I going to be able to incorporate that Heathers reference? Blogging ain’t easy, kids. Sometimes you have to fly by the seat of your leather chaps.
In a turn of events that will shock no one, Brady Quinn will start for the Browns when they open their season against The City Of Minnesota, according to reports:
Anderson was asked if it would be difficult to keep the starting QB a secret until Sunday’s kickoff of the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings.
“No,” Anderson said, “because after this next two minutes are over I’m not going to be talking to you guys. It’s pretty easy. Obviously, the rest of us have to go about our regular preparations and continue to do what we always do and just not talk to our families.”
By “the rest of us” Anderson seemed to mean the Browns backups, a group it looks as if he belongs to once again. via.
The Browns were probably the only team in the league with a genuine controversy at quarterback. With the Lions and Jets both featuring lottery-pick rookie QBs and first-year head coaches, those situations were presumed to be in the bag. But really, head coach Eric Mangini’s choice at QB would be as signifcant as the shade of lipstick one would put on a pig. Some people have a thing for pigs. Don’t be offended. It’s just an expression, you big pig humper, you.
Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth has received his punishment from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: he’ll miss the entire 2009 season without pay.
Stallworth, 28, who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter in Florida in connection with a March 14 crash in which he struck and killed construction worker Mario Reyes, will be reinstated after the Super Bowl in February 2010, the league said.
Portions of a letter Goodell had written to Stallworth were released by the league earlier today:
“In my view, the essential facts are that you had alcohol in your system well above the legal limit, made a conscious decision to drive, and struck and killed a man. As you recognize, this conduct and the loss of life has caused serious damage to the NFL and NFL players generally. Legal arguments that focus on criminal liability under Florida law do not diminish that damage or your responsibility for your conduct. via.
Serious tangible damage to the NFL and its players? I doubt it, and I think this suspension is too heavy-handed. Unlike the state of Florida, Goodell isn’t bound by inconveniences like the presumption of innocence, for example. He can do whatever the hell he wants, and he is. Stallworth, for all intents and purposes, has paid his debt to society, and there’s no tangible evidence, other than drawing the ire of a few bitchy columnists, suggesting that Stallworth’s conduct has hurt the NFL’s bottom line.
I can appreciate Goodell’s position that he doesn’t want to be the guy that trots out a skill-position player for everyone to cheer on after he ran over “an innocent man” in his Bentley. While he was legally impaired. But considering that Stallworth is under contract with the Browns, he might come out ahead on that deal. It’s funny because the Browns are godawful, see.
If you didn’t hate Browns quarterback Brady Quinn before, you might after you hear what the former Notre Dame star did to try to sabotage teammate Derek Anderson and help his own standing in Cleveland’s quarterback competition.
Coming off a 4-12 season, the Browns obviously have a lot to work on. Derek Anderson said the radio receiver in his helmet wasn’t working Sunday, so he had to work with hand signals. Anderson said Brady Quinn, who was quarterbacking the White team, schooled White defenders on those hand signals, which made it harder for Anderson to work a drive filled with short passes. Details, details, details. via, via.
C’mon, Brades. Even Nathan Lane thinks that’s catty. All we heard about during the 2007 NFL draft was “what a great person” Brady Quinn was. I didn’t buy it then and I don’t now. Quinn is just Nick Lachey with a stronger arm. Which probably means Mangini will start him every game this season.
