OBR News-o-rama

Browns News-o-Rama: 1/29 Posted: 29 Jan 2008 09:27 AM CST One of the little challenges of doing the Daily Newswire is weeding out all the repetitive stories once the AP gets ahold of something. It's one of the reasons that automated tickers that you see on fan sites don't work all that well - they either report only stories from a single source, or they report everything, which means a lot of duplicates. We used to run something called The.Raw.Feed, which was sort of an RSS feed for all the stories we could find. It put together all the RSS feeds we had back then, plus a bunch of our own feed scrapers. The biggest problem with it was when the AP reported something - all of a sudden there would be a spasm of forty identical stories from papers running the AP wire. So, when we do the Daily Newswire (which is mostly John Taylor's work these days), we tend to only link AP stories once, from whatever the first source is that we find that hands the story, so we don't waste your time and ours. That's a factor, because the AP has reports on the two major Browns stories from yesterday: Romeo Crennel's two-year contract extension and Ryan Pontbriand being named to the Pro Bowl. Props to Scout's Adam Caplan for actually getting the Crennel story first, and still getting details you can't find anywhere else. BROWNS NEWS FROM THE OBR NEWSWIRE (rss) Browns, Crennel Agree to Extension The OBR  Associated Press  News-Herald  Plain Dealer  Pontbriand Makes the Pro Bowl John Taylor  Associated Press  DDN  ABJ  Official Site  Other Stuff ABJ: Jamal Lewis wants to stay ESPN: To understand Belichick, look what he did with Browns ROCHESTER BROWNS BACKERS BANQUET This looks like a good one if you're in the Rochester, NY area. Here's the press release: BROWNSFEST '08 will be held on Saturday evening, April 19, 2008 at The Diplomat Banquet Center, 1956 Lyell Avenue,  Rochester, New York. Headlining this year's event:  Felix Wright and Shaun Smith Felix Wright ably manned the safety spot for the Browns from 1985 to 1990, which means he was there, in person,  for The Drive and The Fumble.  He should have some memorable stories to share!  He also had some famous dealings with David Modell, and he's promised to tell us "the REAL story behind the story" of his years with Art and David. If you read any of the season review stories by the beat writers, you noted that they recognized Shaun Smith as the Browns most versatile lineman this season, as he was moved back and forth from end to nose tackle throughout the year to help fill the void caused by injuries to Roye, Washington and Kelley. Shaun started 8 games at end and 3 at nose tackle, making 63 tackles with 2 sacks, 4 pressures, 2 pass breakups and a forced fumble. Tony Grossi wrote:  "Shaun had a breakout season ... should be moved to nose tackle ... could develop into a star." Festivities begin at 6 pm with a social hour and autograph session. A buffet dinner begins at 7, with the question-and-answer session beginning at 8 pm. "Advance Sale" Tickets are $45 for adults until March 1st, $50 thereafter, and  $25 for L'il Pups under 16.  At the door, tickets (if available) will be $60. Tickets can be reserved by calling 585-482-3641 (Howard) or by e-mail at BROWNSFEST@GMAIL.COM.

RAC Gets the Money Posted: 28 Jan 2008 10:20 PM CST It's been in the works for weeks, but it's finally done now (although not signed yet). Romeo Crennel has been given a two-year contract extension through the 2011 season. Adam Caplan of Scout.com broke the details of the contact. Click here for more via the OBR.

Earthwind Moreland: EMPLOYED! (Kinda) Posted: 28 Jan 2008 07:22 PM CST The new All-American Football League had its inaugural draft last Saturday. I didn't track it closely because, frankly, if there's not an Ohio team involved, it's a pointless league. It's as useless as International Lacrosse, or the American Curling Society. If it's not Ohio, it's crap. Especially if there's something involved called "Team Michigan". Blech. Still, I figured that there would be an opportunity here to watch the continuing antics of some of the many players who rampaged through Cleveland during the Browns' expansion years. Of course, there's no Ben Gay sighting because the league demands that all players have their four-year degrees. That's going to limit the talent pool right there. Maurice Clarett is, likewise, unobtainable. Scanning the complete list of AAFL draft choices reveals a handful of ex-Browns scattered amongst their number, with a huge focus on the many defensive backs who had called the Berea locker room home at some point in previous years. The AAFL is clearly looking to latch onto some of that Mel Tucker magic. Pete Hunter was the first ex-Brown taken, as he was picked in the fourth round. Since there are only six teams in the league, that made him the 21st draft pick. That's Brady Quinn territory there. Rarefied AAFL air. Jeremy Lesueur, another ex-Brown defensive back, was picked in the 18th by Team Michigan. A round later, one-time fourth-round draft pick and injured reserve phenom Antonio Perkins was snatched up by Team Arkansas. WR Kendrick Mosley was drafted in the 24th by Team (spit) Michigan, who also snagged S Ron Israel in the 32nd round.  Earthland Moreland, and ex-Brown and ex-Gladiator, shows up in the 36th round, picked up Team Arkansas. I think most of us could see that coming, Arkansas with their offense which uses the "forward pass" and all. I know I could. Peter Warrick, an almost-Las Vegas Cleveland Bulldog Gladiator, was picked in the seventh round by Florida. Frankly, I thought that he was signed by Florida last week. I remember writing about it... how could he be drafted if he were already signed? Weird. Something about this "draft" smells funny. Either that, or the dog's been eating garbage again. Another guy who some Browns fans wanted the team to look at in years past, Tennessee QB Tee Martin, was drafted in the 16th round. By "Team Tennessee", naturally. They're just sluts for ticket sales down there in Al Gore country. There was yet more weirdness scattered around, as Eric Crouch (QB, Nebraska) was picked as the third player in the first round, one-time Texas Tech wunderkind Kliff Kingsbury was drafted in the 20s and Rod "He Hate Me" Smart showed up in Round 36. Take that, XFL. They actually had 50 rounds (300 players) picked in this draft. Mel Kiper slept through the whole damn thing.

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