Your “It’s Tuesday; What Now, Cleveland?” Open Thread

Title chosen because Big Daddy Drew has an excellent Funbag! response to a question about how Cleveland can avoid becoming Boston.

NFL News:

• Joe Flacco says the hardest part of his ACL recovery is the mental aspect. That doesn’t sound like a elite quarterback talking.
• Marquise Goodwin of the Bills has Olympic trials in the long jump coming. He has the full support of Rex Ryan, probably because Rex misunderstood what Goodwin meant by “28 feet”.
• Alabama junior Cam Robinson got the “insufficient evidence” tag attached to his offseason arrest in Louisiana, so expect a new Crimson-colored wing to be added to the Monroe, Louisiana courthouse very soon.
  • this comes on the heels of the admission by the DA that he let them off easy because they play football and he didn’t want to ruin their lives. Nice to see the Notre Dame excuse used in a situation not involving rape.
• What the Hell, Davone Bess?
• In the “I don’t think so” department, Matt Stafford thinks it’ll be harder for opposing teams without Megatron around. Losing what you call a “once in a lifetime receiver” tends to make life easier for opposing teams, because none of the other guys know how to bail you out.

Finally, the guy who owns this jersey says he’s going to retire it, thanks to the Cavs victory. Now that there’s been a success, he figures it’s time to stop dwelling in the past. “It’s time to let go of all that negative energy”, said a man on his first step towards becoming a Masshole.

In a couple of days, the British referendum on leaving the EU happens. As a Canadian, I have passing interest because it’s all over the damned news. You heard about the passions at play, because of that MP who was assassinated in her home riding by a nativist. It has even divided the political parties, pitting Tory against Tory & Labour against Labour.

Beyond the potential economic impact – the Pound has fluctuated wildly in the last two weeks; trade deals would have to be renegotiated – comes the national impact of the vote. A good number of the Scottish relatives have said they would want Scotland to have another referendum if Britain votes to leave, because Scotland wants to stay in the EU.

Here are some primers on what the stakes are:

• the BBC explanation
• the CNN explanation

Here’s the official question:

“Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”

Given, as a Canadian, I’m used to Quebec sovereignty questions that border on the ludicrously ambiguous, I’m delighted that it’s a simple and direct choice for people.

Tonight’s sports:

Copa: USA vs Argentina – 9:00 – NRG Stadium, Houston

The victor gets the winner of Colombia – Chile on June 26 at MetLife Stadium. The loser gets to play for third place in Glendale on June 25th. SEEMS ABOUT RIGHT!