Here we go again, gobs of hope, less excitement than in some years, but a feeling of, "Well, we'll see."
The Cleveland Browns have hired a new head coach. He is 57 year old Romeo Crennel. As you may have heard, he most recently was defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
You may have heard of them recently. Crennel wears five Super Bowl Championship rings. Three of them are from New England campaigns under Bill Belichick and two from years working for Bill Parcells in New York.
He is in fact, the only minority coach in the NFL with five rings. He said this week that he feels the weight of the responsibility to be successful for the benefit of other minority head coach candidates in the future.
He becomes the 11th full time coach in the history of the Browns and their third since the team was recreated six years ago.
At his introductory news conference this past week, he was wise enough to not promise a Super Bowl championship as his predecessor, Butch Davis, had done. He said only that it would take some time.
He said he wants to create a team on the lake similar to the defenses he built in New England.
Crennel began his NFL coaching career in 1981 after working up through the southern college ranks. He had been an assistant on the defensive staff in Cleveland five years ago. He had been passed over for head chairs by several teams, including the Browns.
Perhaps the biggest advantage Crennel will have over Davis is higher up in the organization. Paul Savage is General Manager of the team, a position that didn't exist under the last regime.
Savage will supervise the draft and Crennel will decide who plays.
For his staff, Crennel is expected to start with Maurice Carthon of Dallas as offensive coordinator. The Cowboys web site says it's already a done deal.
He also reportedly is trying to bring along Patriot's defensive back coach, Eric Mangini to be defensive coordinator in Cleveland.
Good Luck, Romeo.
With the Super Bowl completed last weekend, there is barely time to catch our breath before the racing season begins.
NASCAR opens this weekend with The Bud Shootout at Daytona Saturday. The twin 125 mile qualifiers for first Nextel Cup points race, the Daytona 500, will take place Thursday and the 500 itself is set for next Sunday.
Actually, racing began last weekend at Daytona in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
Other series will begin competition in March. The Indy Racing League and Formula One each open March 6th. The IRL is at Homestead, Florida. F1 hits the asphalt at Melbourne, Australia.
Champ Cars, alas, don't even have any races scheduled this year, though it claims to still exist.