Icon Sportswire
Traina Thoughts: Browns Exec Unnecessarily Besmirches Josh Rosen in Ridiculous Story
1. The NFL draft is over, but the nonsense surrounding it continues.
Browns vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith, who admittedly did not have Josh Rosen on his radar for their first overall pick, felt the need Monday to knock the former UCLA quarterback who was drafted by Arizona while also exposing himself for sounding completely incompetent. Here's the story Highsmith told at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club:
"I was at an airport. UCLA’s volleyball team was in front of me. You heard so much about Rosen. He’s this or that. We all know how people talk.
“So I asked one of the volleyball coaches, ‘What’s Rosen like?’ He said, ‘Aaaa, you should probably ask his girlfriend. She’s one of the players. She’s over there.’
“I’m like, ‘All right coach. That’s good enough.’ I don’t know what all this means, but there was something about him that bothered me.”
What the hell? Something about Rosen bothered Highsmith because a volleyball coach told him to talk to Rosen's girlfriend? Huh? Does any of this make any sense? THIS is how the Browns are evaluating players?
Even if you want to defend Highsmith's logic, why is he publicly trying to damage Rosen's reputation? He's a 21-year-old kid who hasn't played a down in the NFL yet and an exec from another team, which, by the way, won zero games last year, feels the need to raise these bizarre suspicions about him?
Bush league all around by Highsmith.
2. Chris "Mad Dog" Russo appears on the newest episode of the SI Media Podcast. The Dog talks about his partner of 19 years Mike Francesa returning to WFAN, where his relationship stands with Mike, why he thinks Boomer Esiason is a hypocrite, the challenge of doing radio at SiriusXM, the worst trend in radio, the Internet’s impact on sports radio and much more. You can listen below or download the podcast on iTunes.
3. James Harden is having the best week ever. On Sunday, he scored 41 points in a blowout win over the Jazz. On Monday, he took in the Yankees-Astros game while enjoying a helmet sundae. And on Tuesday, he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
4. After the Celtics beat the Sixers last night, Shaquille O'Neal chased Charles Barkley around the NBA on TNT studios with a fish.
5. If you didn't see what Brewers reliever Josh Hader did last night, catch up on it because it was bonkers. The lefty tossed 2.2 scoreless innings to record a save. All eight outs that he got came via strikeout.
6. Jimmy Kimmel has given us an Avengers: Infinity War edition of Mean Tweets and it's very solid.
7. RANDOM SOPRANOS VIDEO OF THE DAY: This was my favorite murder of the whole series.
Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here.And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.
IN CLOSING: Just because of the line and only because of the line, I'm taking the Cavs +170 to beat the Raptors in the series. Can't pass up LeBron as an underdog.
