Nurse the Hate: Hate Charlie Frye

Has there ever been a greater demonstration that the initials NFL meant “Not For Long” more than the incredibly fast rise and fall of Charlie Frye? In 2004 Frye was knocking back beers at the University of Akron playing some pretty decent QB well under the radar. Like some kind of storybook, he was drafted in the third round by his hometown team as a “QB of the future” in 2005. That’s just two years ago…Then with the crowd chanting “Charlie! Charlie!” he replaced Super Bowl ring holding QB Trent Dilfer, played OK, and went into last year as the starting QB. You could buy his jersey at Macy’s, he had endorsements, and people loved the scrappy hometown kid.

Of course when you throw 17 interceptions and 10 touchdowns in your first true starting season in 2006, people start grumbling. Next thing you know, in a draft day miracle, an honest to God Golden Boy drops to the Browns at #22 and you’re all but o-u-t. Looking truly outclassed and out of his league, Frye got shipped to Seattle for basically a used George Foreman Grill and a stack of vintage Penthouse Magazines. That guy was a starting QB with upside last year. Now he’s almost out of football. It’s amazing, isn’t it? He has to be on that plane flying West right now thinking, “What the fuck just happened?”.

Random Notes: One of the goals I have this year is to go to a Browns game with a group of guys each wearing the jersey of a Browns QB from 1999-present. You would think that would be easy, right? Like if you were a Packer fan, you would go to the game by yourself in a Favre jersey. A Steeler fan needs to get a few guys together. But being a Browns fan requires more work. You need to get a group of thirteen guys together to really do it right. You’ll also need to buy jerseys of Tim Couch, Ty Detmer, Doug Pederson, Kevin Thompson (remember him?), Spergon Wynn, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Ken Dorsey, Derek Anderson, and now Brady Quinn. That’s a helluva lotta guys under center in eight years, no?…I had a really good syrah from Baldasarri out of Napa tonight. They only made 125 cases of it, so good luck in finding it. If you do, it's well worth the $30 sticker price...Is it just me, or does popular music really suck bad right now? Rock and roll is either at an ebb, or it’s going the way of jazz in the 1970s. There’s hardly any good bands playing what I consider to be “rock and roll” in this region. There’s a few in Cleveland. Columbus has a pair…maybe. I don’t know what’s going on in Pittsburgh right now. Buffalo is struggling. It’s like 1974 out there. Without ELO and El Caminos though….I went 3-0 on the picks I gave you last weekend. If you creeps didn't get on that action, it's not my fault. Uncle Greg can only lead you to the water. I can't make you take a long cool refreshing drink. But here's some good news...I will be releasing my five star lock of the week by this Friday night, so check back for a guaranteed winner. Bet as much as you want to win, because the Swami can see into the future with crystal clear vision right now.