DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• Having a ticket giveaway contest to see Father John Misty live at The Agora Theatre on September 22nd is a big deal for this podcast, and not just because Father John Misty is awesome. (Part 1 of the Podcast only content)
• Browns find another seemingly improbable way to lose a game, and why it's all so very funny. 
• The violent nature of the NFL and its culture of crazy doodle dandy fans can obviously be a tough sell, for sure, but being a Cleveland Browns fan often makes it all seem much worse than it already is.
• Josh Gordon is gone, finally.
• Women have all the fun... Playing pinball. (Part 2 of the Podcast only content, begins at the 1:09:00 mark)
• Anyone want to see Father John Misty live in concert at The Agora Theatre, Sunday, September 22nd, 2018?
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan MacKinnon’s “Second String” (begins at the 1:24:00 mark)
• The difference between absolute nutcakes and some asshole who's sense of entitlement just makes him seem crazy.
• When there's nothing you can do to change something, what can you do? (Part 3 of the Podcast only content, begins at the 1:54:00 mark)
• Apparently Mike needs caretakers.
• Rob Riggleman is like Pauly Shore in the 90's, someone who people understand to be considered funny but no one actually thinks he's funny.  
• Mollie’s PuhFooFuh Spotlight Part 2: "Da Pope" of the New Orleans Saints (Part 4 of the Podcast only content, begins at the 2:33:00 mark)
• Shaming negligent baseball writers and death to the overuse of antiquated stats!
• Why the Yankees, Astros and Red Sox were absolutely right to cry foul, and how the Cleveland Indians and/or Toronto Blue Jays got away with breaking the rules to trade former MVP Josh Donaldson at the waiver wire deadline.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

For your chance to enter the Father John Misty ticket giveaway contest offered in this episode of the podcast, please include your full name and secret phrase in a message to Defend Cleveland via Facebook, Twitter, or directly to: [email protected]  

Good luck!

Check out Lachlan MacKinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

• 10 Week League
• Play 6 games/week

https://www.facebook.com/events/2290735307821428/

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• Not all sponsorship is created equal, celebrating 52 more episodes with Kidforce Pinball, and then wondering aloud if Nike might now be interested as well. (Part 1 of the Podcast only content)
• The Browns have been so bad that if you weren't laughing your ass off at them ending a 17 game losing streak with a tie, then you might just be mentally unhealthy and a danger to yourself and those around you.
• Figuring out too late that some topics might be very difficult to joke about, and when is it necessary for there to be an intervention when it comes to fan hobos?
• Just when you though their season was over, Mollie discovers one extra juicy item about the complete and utter zaniness of Minor League baseball. (Part 2 of the Podcast only content, begins at the 1:28:00 mark)
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan MacKinnon’s “Little League Of Horrors” (begins at the 1:39:00 mark)
• The bad, the ugly, and then the good about your Cleveland Browns after Week 1.
• Did you know that Mike spits on Mollie's face and his saliva endows her with the power to peer into the future? True story. 
• The 4th Annual Cleveland Pinball And Arcade Show was a fantastic and fun time, and pondering what can be done to make competitive pinball just as fun and inviting. (Part 3 of the Podcast only content, begins at the 2:27:00 mark)
• Rotund offensive line coaches who loathe stretching and were last seen coaching a losing team in Canada can't be that good at what they do, right? Real questions Browns fans should be asking after seeing how offensively bad the offensive line looks.
• Two more reasons to truly hate the Pittsburgh Steelers, and their names.
• Mollie's PuhFooFuh Spotlight Part 1: Introducing us to the wonderful insanity of "Pinto Ron". (Part 4 of the Podcast only content, begins at the 3:26:00 mark)
• Nike's campaign is incredibly good and it's nice to see a huge corporation standing up for the right side of history, now if only we can just get more people in this nation to do the same we might actually get to see this better tomorrow.
• Enough singing and dancing, let's get to October and postseason baseball already!

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan MacKinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

• 10 Week League
• Play 6 games/week

https://www.facebook.com/events/2290735307821428/

The intro and outro to Lachlan’s segment is the song “My Summer In Traction” by the band Ohio Civil War , and it’s used with permission. 

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• Celebrating one full year of the Defend Cleveland Podcast and Happy Labor Day Weekend! Pants are optional.
• If this team were exactly the same yet any team other than the Browns we might be talking about them being good enough to make the postseason, but just because it is the Browns, it's irresponsible to say that.
• Mike went to see a Tribe game over the holiday weekend and somehow ended up really pissed off at Dan Gilbert.
• It's tough being a Cleveland football fan - reminding folks of the definition for the term "Brownsy".
•  Puh-Foo-Fuh: Mollie gets lost down a rabbit hole.
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan MacKinnon’s “Browns History Lesson Part 2” (begins at the 2:08:00 mark)
• Mike delivers the only Browns week by week 2018 season prediction you need to listen to.
• Entitled thinking and why the annual CLE death from above parade is more of an ominous display than it is an entertaining and impressive marvelous feat of engineering.
• The Josh Donaldson trade for the Indians is a worthy gamble which if it pays out might just be the final piece Cleveland needs to win it all.
• Turns out Mike isn't allergic to his own poop after all.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan MacKinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• Being hopeful the Browns will be good because they currently look pretty good is crazy, right? RIGHT?!
• Do you say "Tie-Rod" or "Teh-Rod"? Whatever. And same goes with Brogan, or Brody, or whatever that clown's name is and most other things we certainly wouldn't even know at all if not for Hard Knocks.
• You couldn't catch a cold butter ass'd naked in molasses...
• Mike's preseason Cleveland Indians predictions are looking pretty accurate.
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan MacKinnon’s “Accident Prone” (begins at the 1:24:00 mark)
• Reviewing Cleveland's inaugural InCuya Festival even though we didn't go to it.
• Having fun with Minor League Baseball team promotions, Part 5 (the final chapter for 2018): Can we interest you in a hot wiener with special spicy meat sauce, or how about we just set this wiener dog on fire?
• Just when you thought mascots were nothing but fan hobos in full costume and scary enough, now we find out they're organizing!
• Urban Meyer. His name alone at this point should cause decent people to cringe, let alone how it should make Ohio State Buckeye fans feel.
• Trevor Bauer's bizarre treatment story turned out to be a bad Twitter joke gone awry, but wait until you learn who actually faced the most legal jeopardy in this saga.
• MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is choosing to only tell you the part of the story that makes him look accurate when he says there's no significant correlation between winning teams and big payrolls, and of course that bold statement couldn't be more untruthful and inaccurate.
• It may be time to remove Cody Allen from being Cleveland's closer, however, there's more to letting him continue on than most are considering, and the reasoning goes far beyond just that of Francona being loyal to his vets.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan MacKinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• The Zach Smith is a fucking monster, that's pretty clear at this point.
• Mascots in full costume playing the National Anthem before a baseball game...? Um, where again do we arbitrarily draw the line on this whole "respecting the flag" business? It's getting even more confusing.
• Never piss off a resourceful journalist by calling them a liar, they'll crush you: The Brett McMurphy story.
• If your shoe collection is your the bulk of your persona then you need to stop buying shoes.
• Browns "Victory Fridges". Yeah, you just know this is going to end badly.
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan MacKinnon’s “Browns History Lesson Part 1” (begins at the 1:35:00 mark)
• Mike might be going insane but he's really started to believe the Browns are building a winning team right now.
• Further explaining fan hobos.
• Having fun with (UNBELIEVABLE) Minor League Baseball team promotions, Part 4: Your Akron Rubber Ducks.
• Turns out Carl Nassib is stupider than he first appears and Jarvis Landry is not only a fevered ego, he's also a cheap shot bully.
• The only problem with Hard Knocks.
• The MLB Network, ESPN and some clown on Twitter must have believed Trevor Bauer was getting treatment for his broken leg in Wakanda or some shit, and now they seriously owe him an apology.
• Fuck Trudy and the backwater state of Louisiana she crawled out from.
• The one Tribe concern that has Mike totally freaked out.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan MacKinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• Opinion facts are merely opinions based in fact, and it helps when you art the fuck out of it.
• Hard Knocks Episode 1 Review: Everything you need to know about the Browns being the focus of Hard Knocks this year that no one else is talking about.
• Being a believer - Baker Mayfield might just be this team's savior after all. 
• Oh great, they've gone and humanized Hugh Jackson... Does that mean I'm going to be sad when he's fired?
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan MacKinnon’s “The White Magic Johnson” (begins at the 1:28:00 mark)
• "Hobo Fans", yeah, it's a whole thing.
• Carl Nassib uses simple math and blows peoples minds with it. He also gave us one of the best quote's ever.
• Having fun with Minor League Baseball team promotions, Part 3: Your Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
• Yeah, but have you ever seen a women bend a horseshoe between her ass cheeks?
• Have you looked at the rest of the Tribe's schedule and how easy it is? Yeah, they got this. They might even catch Houston...

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan MacKinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• What we know as Fact: Urban Meyer outright lied to the public and tried to cover the story up while lying about it. Another Fact we know: Fans don't seem to care because they like that Urban Meyer wins.
• OSU is allowing a rally in support of Urban Meyer on campus organized by someone called "Tennessee Jeff from Myrtle Beach"... Which is just gross. And to think people seemed to have more of an issue with an 0-16 Browns parade.
• Better understanding domestic violence, its high rate of recidivism, and how abusers in positions of power and wealth so often get away with it. 
• Corey Coleman is kicked to the curb because of all things Sashi Brown, that's why.
• Ray Lewis' God likes him way more than he likes you.
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan Mackinnon’s “Local Legend” (begins at the 1:14:00 mark)
• Tristan Thompson is a Kardashian who has been loafing through the last two years, cheated on his pregnant wife, and sucker punched a fellow player at a VIP party... Yeah, that's right, the only person you can objectively side with here isn't wearing a Cavs jersey, it's Draymond Green. 
• Tom Cruise is a damn fine actor when you get down to it, however, he's still Tom Cruise. It's complicated.
• Thanks to the church there's no more donkey dick at the Columbus Day Parade or on the front page of the Plain Dealer. Fucking church, ruining all the fun donkey dick in the world.
• Having fun with Minor League Baseball team promotions, Part 2: "Family Night" in Jupiter, Florida.
• Explaining the "save" in baseball and how it's a made up stat that really doesn't make much sense, and certainly doesn't inherently reflect the true value of a relief appearance at all... but it is how these guys get paid, and that's where it gets unnecessarily complicated.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan Mackinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• What could be better than getting Bryce Harper at the trade deadline? Leonys Martin, the CF the Tribe actually traded for. For real. Let Mike explain.
• The Kevin Love contract extension looks like the exact opposite thing the Cavs should be doing right.
• Don't let the haircut fool you, new Browns GM John Dorsey definitely loves him some analytics.
• Yes, Jim Thome definitely deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame. 
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan Mackinnon's "The All-Star" (begins at the 1:23:00 mark)
• Mike attends Pinburgh 2018, the largest pinball tournament in the world.
• Having fun with Minor League Baseball team promotions.
• The Pirates fans enjoyed something called "Faith Night presented by Chick-Fil-A"... and Mike went to a Ween concert instead.
• MLB didn't ask for all the negative social media attention its players has been getting, but it sure needs to bring attention to Washington Nationals Sean Doolittle's response to all these bad headlines his fellow players have been making.
• Thanks to Dan Gilbert's ego the Cavs are going to suck even more by not sucking enough next season, i.e., be thankful we had LeBron the last four years because nothing but prolonged misery lies ahead.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan Mackinnon’s best selling book, ‘Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family’!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• Standing ovations for a "former" teenage racist, homophobic, misogynist pitcher, and feeling sorry for his lone African-American teammate Lorenzo Cain because he sure didn't ask to deal with this outer-rim, white trash racist shit.
• When pro sports is chock full of jock culture predictability you long for crazy shit to happen just so it isn't so mind numbingly dumb.
• Bro-Harper may have won the HR Derby but he clearly doesn't know that you should repeatedly shout "Let's Do It!" before you do it, not after.
• Josh Gordon announced via social media that he won't be in Browns mini-camp, citing health and treatment reasons. So... How long do we have to wait until the NFL announces another failed drug test for him?
• Scene does a feature article on Josh Tomlin at the exact point in his career when he ming not ever pitch in the Major's again and the Tribe sent 6 other players to the All-Star Game. #Fail
• Why all coal rolling trucks are the same, no exceptions. Even if they're not diesel.
• The benefits to taking an "Angry Nap".
• The Cleveland Indians completed a trade for some relievers everyone know they needed, meanwhile, they also very much demonstrated the process being followed by a small market teams needed to compete with the big payroll teams who just throw money at problems.
• Let Me Tell You A Story: Lachlan Mackinnon's "Wild World Of Collinwood Sports" (beginning at the 1:47:00 mark of the show)
• Mike Trout is the best player in baseball and it's not up to him to better market himself, it's up to the California Los Angeles Anaheim Angels to not thoroughly suck and to actually make the postseason.
• Rob Manfred got everything he asked for in the All-Star Week, but probably not in the manner he had envisioned it.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Check out Lachlan Mackinnon's best selling book, 'Let Me Tell You A Story: Small Stories Of A Large Family'!

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.

DC’s Mike James and Mollie Ames discuss:

• The World Cup is over, and what a World Cup it was! 
• Commercials during Fox's nationally televised Yankees v Tribe game were VERY different than commercials during the World Cup Finals.
• When Budweiser, a company owned by a Belgium family, markets their, "Freedom" beer, what are they really selling?
• The Home Run Derby has literally become the most memorable event of MLB's All-Star Weekend, only problem is this year the guys who have hit the most home runs aren't apart of the festivities.
• The Tribe have 6 All-Stars taking part in the fun, their most since 1999... Are we watching the best overall team in franchise history since the 1948 squad that won the World Series? 
• Getting nachos in a helmet and hearing the "c" word yelled, yet more differences between baseball and soccer.
• Talking about records set before the All-Star break this season is very dumb. VERY!
• Ramirez has been the best position player in all of baseball and Trevor Bauer has been the best pitcher in all of baseball... Man, this team is pretty good, can't wait to watch the last 67 regular season games! (i.e., 95 games is more than 88 games)
• One of the many reasons the All-Star Game selection process sucks, meanwhile, we've discovered that players, coaches and managers are apparently worse at selecting the most deserved All-Stars than the fans are. Crazy.

All this and so much more on this episode of the Defend Cleveland Podcast. Enjoy~

Thank you to KidForce Pinball for sponsoring the podcast, 91.1-FM WRUW Cleveland for being home to the show, engineer extraordinaire Mollie Ames, and to the city that inspires us, Cleveland, Ohio.