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Toward the End: Readings, Writings, Football
Mayfield Memorandum 8: Defaming/Reclaiming
In his previous game against the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield could do little right—and the Browns won. The contrite blame-placing Mayfield called a sow’s-ear performance a sow’s ear, only he used the term “piss poor.” Sows everywhere...
Act or Your Cremains Could End Up in a Car Trunk
Hiram College photo Bonney Castle, Hiram College's English home, is perfect for Kirsten Parkinson's cremains It can be difficult to write an essay that has universal appeal. Trying to do so can cause a cerebral hemorrhaging. Or, at least a bad headache. That is...
Mayfield Memorandum 7: Wild Thing Indeed
If the Cleveland Browns wish to turn back their offense a century—and it looks as if they do—the quarterback they need is deader than Baker Mayfield’s arm looked against the Minnesota Vikings. Fritz Pollard, who quarterbacked the Akron Pros to the first National...
UA Football No Stranger to Ambition, Realignment
Author's photo Though the situations differ drastically, it can be instructive—if terrifying—to recall the first college football program to attempt to climb the rungs from one NCAA division to another, from one conference to another, with a sojourn as an...
Mayfield Memorandum 6: How It’s Supposed to Be
The opposing quarterback was so wet behind the ears that his lobes must have been dripping—if not with sweat, then from a Cleveland Browns’ blood-letting. Chicago Bears rookie Justin Fields, former Ohio State University star, learned in his first start that the...
Hudson No Laughing Matter to Muffy and Buffy
When Stuart Warner first found his true voice as an Akron Beacon Journal columnist in “Warner’s Corner,” he did so on the well-heeled backs of Muffy and Buffy, fictitious denizens of very real and quaint Hudson. Probably the richest Summit County zip code, Hudson...
Mayfield Memorandum 5: Learning from Mayfield
When Baker Mayfield earned his spurs at the University of Oklahoma and became arguably the best quarterback in OU’s distinguished history—option or passing—it seemed as if there might never be another quite like him. Then, there were two. Sort of. First Kyler Murray...
Mayfield Memorandum 4: Browns Pass on OBJ
When the 0-1 Cleveland Browns play host on Sunday to the surprisingly 1-0 Houston Texans, Odell Beckham Jr. will continue his self-assigned role as the team’s No.1 wide receiver in limbo. He’s a liminal WR1. He occupies an awkward space that is, frankly, difficult to...
A City’s Downtown is Its Heart, Image, and Lifeblood
Even in a small town—or, maybe, especially in a small town—downtown becomes a focal point of life. I grew up on the town limits of such a place and, even so, downtown was only a short, safe bike ride away. It had everything a boy needed: a couple of drug stores with...
Mayfield Memorandum 3: The Good, the Bad, the Punter
During the past season plus one game, the Cleveland Browns have cleared many of the hurdles that for years had tripped them and prevented them from becoming respectable. They have made quantum leaps—but only over the lowest hurdles. The last hurdles are high. They...