Happy Monday

Today's thoughts are brought to you by the number 18.4:

* George Kokinis is the new architect of the Browns' fortunes, as we all expected. They didn't get him in time to represent the team at the Senior Bowl, but he'll be running the show at the combine next month. Kokinis and Eric Mangini are old friends and both former Belichick guys, which could be good. Or bad. All I know is they've got to be better than Phil and Romeo. (I'm not saying they are better, simply that they've got to be. They've just GOT to be!)

* I don't know how long this has been up, but I just noticed the Plain Dealer's Web site is advertising the fact that they have every Browns game story ever available now on their Web site. You can search the database here. You can search by season, or by opponent, or by how many points the Browns scored or gave up, or by whether they were at home or on the road, or by whether they won, lost or tied, or by some combination of the above. I just did a search for overtime games that the Browns won, in which they scored at least 30 points, and came up with nine results dating back to a 30-27 win over New England in 1977. How freaking cool is that?

* The Cavaliers just completed a darned nice road trip, in which they went 3-1, their only loss to the Lakers. And they're about to get one of their key pieces back, as Zydrunas Ilgauskas is planning to return to the court for Thursday's game against the Magic, in a matchup of Eastern Conference heavyweights. The Celtics seem to have righted the ship again, and the above-named trio of teams are the clear class of the conference this year. Anyway, it'll be good to get Z back. Anderson Varejao played well as the starting center in his absence, but Z has four inches on him, and believe me, that makes a difference. And I like Andy bringing the energy off the bench. Z's broken ankle has cost him 14 games this year, and the Cavs have gone 10-4 in those games. That's darned nice, but they're 24-4 in games Z has played, so they've clearly missed him.

* LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time this year. We've become so spoiled by this guy. If he didn't play for my team, I'd be sick and tired of him. But he's already a strong candidate for best athlete in the history of Cleveland team sports. Sure, I'd vote for Jim Brown right now, perhaps followed by Tris Speaker, and you have to consider guys like Otto Graham and Bob Feller, but LeBron's definitely in the conversation. And he just turned 24 last month.

* There's not much going on with the Tribe right now, but pitchers and catchers report in less than a month. ESPN's Tim Kurkjian breaks down the Tribe and the entire AL Central in this piece, and concludes that the division is up for grabs. The page includes a video clip of Peter Gammons talking Tribe on Baseball Tonight. Interesting stuff.

* Go Cardinals!