Since no one follows me and I follow no one at the moment, I thought this might be a good time to introduce myself to an audience of zero…

I’m caught up on sleep, back at it on the 9-to-5, and ready to get back on the air Tuesday night at 10p (PDT) on sportsbyline.com

The Florida State playoffs didn’t work out logistically, I didn’t catch a Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp game as planned, the Browns got decimated in Week 1, my wife had to put the cat down 2 days before I returned home, and I felt like I was waiting out impending doom for 2 hours in Tampa Bay, but it went another way. Overall, it was a good trip to Florida

11 days in Florida is crazy. I appreciate that the NFL made it a thing by putting the #Browns in Jacksonville Week 1 and in Tampa for Week 2. I’ve seen the Browns lose and (seldomly) seen them win but never experienced anything like this 2-week sequence to open the 2026 season. I live in Phoenix and know extreme heat. I grew up in Northeast Ohio and know some depths of extreme cold and win chill. Boot camp at Parris Island and a year in Athens, Georgia gave me a taste of nasty humidity. However, 3 hours of watching the Browns get their asses kicked by the Jaguars was only secondary in torment, given the punishing Week 1 North Florida sun. The torrential downpour that immediately followed the rout cooled things down, while we waited for our water taxi to our hotel across the river but it was hardly a pleasant change. We would not have been any more wet (while fully clothed) if we had simply jumped in the river, and we still had another week to spend in that state. Slipping ahead to the following Sunday, things were ideal for about 3 hours and 58 minutes of gameplay, with the home team sucking slightly more than the Browns but one does not simply watch the Browns win. I hung out on the concourse at Raymond James Stadium, waiting for an announcement that play will resume with the Buccaneers down 4 at the Browns 28 with 120 seconds on the clock. You know the rest by now; Cleveland makes a stand to get the turnover on down and Deshaun Watson takes one snap from victory formation. Everything that seems perpetually wrong with our lives gets to feel right for at least a week, and we permit ourselves to feel good. 11 days in Florida is crazy.

Today marks 25 years in the Valley of the Sun. It was a Sunday afternoon and I pulled out of Sky Harbor in a rented Mitsubishi without any semblance of a plan.

I’m going to go on the air tonight and discuss a few things related to the world of sports, mostly based on events from this past Labor Day weekend. What I’m not going to do is join the choir in bellyaching over the final minute of the Western Michigan-Michigan game from Saturday. I see it like this; win some, lose some—be the bug or the windshield on any given day. There’s probably a decent crossover between Detroit Tigers fans furious over the would-be 27th out of a would-be perfect game in 2010 (or should-have-been 4th down stop in Columbus in 2016) just tickled pink over catching benefit of the doubt this one time. Win some. Lose some. Anyways, the usual early September rankings and ravings—September rankings are pointless, juggernauts vs Cupcakes are a waste of my time and your’s, and there are too many participants in the MLB playoffs but it makes for great fun, so who cares! And more! Tune into Sports Byline at 10 to hear it. Www.sportsbyline.com

The Ohio political ads on these Guardians games are obnoxious

Cardinals 2027 1st Round draft position Over/Under 3.5

I threw out some fairly pessimistic props on the show last night, Over/Under 3.5 Browns Starting QBs in 2026 .5 Browns Staring QBs not currently rostered Probably should have gone 1.5 on the latter

The Yankees had a lot of 9/11 love from the public in 2001 but they were villains post-2003 even without winning the WS. They were the first to shop for titles. I think the 2010-2011 Heat created a villainous image for themselves. USC and Miami football at the peak of their powers, due to bravado. Early 2000s Red Wings, present day Dodgers make an argument.

Grateful the Suns are on 3TV. That’s channel 3.1 and all it costs you is a $15 digital antenna (per TV). When they’re not on 3, you can find them on 32-dot-something. When we had an NHL team, they were on 15.2 but I think they put Utah there and VGK is on another over the air channel in Phoenix.

There’s a lot of sticker shock these days so when it goes the other way, it’s worth pointing out. 89¢/28 oz Powerade Zero at Safeway is my jam. It all evens out if I pay $1.67/gallon for water and $11/lb for beef, but I still celebrate the small victories

The 2Pac murder was during Las Vegas’s experiment with being family friendly. How many other cases went unsolved/unresolved by the state of Nevada in the late 90s if this high profile (in plain sight) murder took 27-30 years?

Since 2Pac was killed, Davis lived free longer than Shakur’s total time on this planet.

When certain actors pass away, my wife decides to binge watch their movies or TV shows. I’ve recently been present for Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson’s Creek, EuroTrip, Ice Princess, and we’re now on Season 2 of Heroes. I’m glad to have circumvented Charmed, Buffy, and Nashville, but I like I’m owed Varsity Blues and Remember the Titans at this point.

Considering Gainesville for a Gators football game, AAA baseball, and Single A playoff baseball. The fact that everyone of relevance schedules Cupcake U in September isn’t great.

I’m going to miss the Browns viewing parties in Tempe, but I’ll be there Week 3

13 days til Jacksonville, 20 til Tampa. Flights booked, hotels reserved, game tickets purchased. #HWGBHWG #Browns #NFL2026

Now isn’t the time to boycott the Browns over Watson. That time was 4 years ago, when they broke the bank to bring him on the first place, before you knew how poor he would play* *objective opinion, which honestly doesn’t give too much weight to that one half of football against the Ravens that some fans confuse with the Super Bowl