Chief Wahoo: "Make The Bad Man Stop!!!"

From McWire reports...

Well, chalk up another Cleveland Indian who got "scalped" by Mark Shapiro and his merry band of misfits! Second baseman Ronnie Belliard is on his way to greener pastures with The St. Louis Cardinals after being traded for "a can of corn and a Cory Snyder rookie card."

I don't know what The Cleveland Indians are thinking right now. Save some cash, fleece some sheepish fans-? Anything is possible here in Thunderdome!

I honestly thought that Mark Shapiro was a good General Manager for The Tribe - but now I'm not so sure. But, one thing's for certain, I'm not going to bash him like some Mel ("Get thee to a nunnery!") Gibson on drunken holiday (We drunken leprechauns - although sarcastic - are a peaceful people).

To his credit, Shapiro has brought Grady Sizemore and Cliff Lee to Cleveland - but I don't know how much of that was just "dumb luck" in a trade that showcased the long-gone Brandon Phillips.

To be sure, there is a lot of BLAME to be handed out to this Tribe team of 2006 that has gone awry. But who, you have to ask, is ultimately pulling the strings of this Tribe trainwreck-? Is it the owner, Larry Dolan-? Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge-? Slider-? Or a combination of bad decisions based on their cumulative indecisiveness-?

This is all beginning to feel like a scene from A Few Good Men:

Lt. Daniel Kaffee: "Did you order the Code Red-?"

Col. Nathan R. Jessep: "I did the job. I..."

Lt. Daniel Kaffee: [shouting] "DID YOU ORDER THE CODE RED-?"

Col. Jessep: [shouts] "YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!"

I truly believe that the blame (no signal) for "This Plan" (no signal) falls soley on the hands (no signal) of the owner - Larry Dolan (no signal). He has yet to prove he his willing to "spend the money" (no signal) which he is so shamelessly making from (no signal) Sports Time Ohio - while those other "poor middle-market teams" like The Detroit Tigers and The Minnesota Twins are running away with the AL division and wildcard.

It's bad enough that we got the rug pulled out from under us by that no-talent Ben Affleck and his whining Boston Red Sox! (You've got Jennifer Ganrner sleeping in your bed - How much is TOO MUCH, Ben!) Now we don't even have a future to mortgage - or hold on to anymore.

You, as fans, need to stop "waxing your dolphin" down at The Jake - even if it's "Drew Carey Bobblehead Night" - and start asking some tough questions of Larry Dolan, Mark Shapiro and Eric Wedge. You, as fans, deserve nothing less from them as they continue to take your money for "services NOT rendered."

As for me, in the meantime, I'll keep holding onto hope that The Tribe will someday turn things around like I hang onto The Sports Time Ohio antenna high above Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back:

Darth Dolan: "Fluke, Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father-"

Fluke Skyblogger: "He told me enough! He told me YOU traded him away for some cash considerations and a player to be named later!"

Darth Dolan: "No, Fluke. I am your father!"

Fluke Skyblogger: "No - NO! It's not true. IT'S NOT TRUE!"

Darth Dolan: "Search your feelings - you know it to be true! Fluke, join me and together we can rule The Sports Time Ohio universe (no signal) ...as father and son!"

Well sorry, Your Highness, but you failed - I'll never join you. I'll never be one of your "media muppets" - and I'll never believe in your "Plan."

May The Force be with you, Cleveland!

The id and I - "Made with my very own Fisher-Price computer!"