I do know his thesis would only be interesting to casual fans of the Browns.

Were casual fans his intended audience then he does them a disservice by making an idiotic point about Anderson’s best games and an incorrect point about Anderson’s unimpressive performances against the Steelers and Ravens.

Were rabid fans his intended audience then his column was 1) boring (because we all agree that it’s not wise to sign Anderson to a huge contract right now) and 2) repulsive (because of his mostly idiotic reasons for not locking up Anderson right now).

I don’t think it takes complex formulas to evaluate quarterbacks. QB Score is incredibly simple to calculate — certainly far easier than the NFL Quarterback Rating. On this blog I have no interest in speaking down to casual fans. I’m more interested in raising the level of discourse. With that column Livingston adversely affected casual fans and in so doing lowered the level of discourse. So I called him out for it.

Is this to say that casual fans of professional football are somehow of inadequate intelligence, as opposed to “rabid” ones? Oh, please say yes to that one. :)

I actually miss Roger Brown. His was the only piece of writing in the PD sports section I read every day (or M,W,F,Sun). As often as not I thought he was wrong — analysis was not his strong suit — but the format was so much more tolerable than the columns of Shaw and Livy. He actually did something resembling reporting, too (even if that reporting was on house prices for departing NFL players). If I found out tomorrow that Livy and Shaw have been living in Alaska the past three years I wouldn’t be surprised.

I like their Indians coverage. I think Paul Hoynes and Dennis Manoloff have been sold for a long time. Tony Grossi writes the occasional column like he’s trying to influence the decision-making in the Browns front office, leading me to believe that maybe he’s a little too involved with what goes on in Berea. But I really can’t complain about the coverage he and Mary Kay Cabot provide. The Browns are the most-followed team in Cleveland, and are covered as such in the PD.

The Cavs coverage … well, let’s just say that more Mary Schmitt Boyer and less Branson Wright is always a good thing. As long as Brian Windhorst is at the Beacon, the ABJ will blow the PD’s Cavs coverage out of the water.

The two front-page columnists are old, sullen and cranky. Livy is the poster child, and I get the feeling that given another five years, Bud Shaw will hate his job as much as Livy does. Shaw’s writing is by far the more bland of the two, and his Page 2 package that replaced Roger Brown is a joke — which is ironic, because Shaw desperately tries to be funny throughout it.

Pluto is great with few exceptions. I’m just hoping Livy and Shaw don’t rub off on him.

Also agree with your comment about Doug L. (no idea how to spell it, and too lazy to look it up). Wish the PD featured more of his writing, as he tends to have even better insight into OSU sports than the Dispatch does.