Happy 2011

As it's been more than a week since my last post, I'll try to put together everything I've been thinking about that's sports-related. ... Nah, that's impossible. OK, here are a few thoughts:

* Eric Mangini is done in this town, win or lose against Pittsburgh on Sunday. He will have compiled a 10-22 or 11-21 record in two seasons, and that's just not going to do it. Mike Holmgren expected improvement this year. This team has improved some, but not where it counts -- wins and losses. Mangini is scheduled to meet with Holmgren on Monday, and Holmgren will fire him then. I don't know this for sure, of course, but I can't see it going any other way.

* As I said, the Browns did improve this year. They had chances to win almost every game. And I believe they would have won a few of those games that they lost if they'd just been able to punch the ball into the end zone, rather than settle for field goals. That was a key failure of the Browns' offense this year, and much of that ultimately goes back to Mangini. I haven't counted, but I know there were multiple times when the Browns had a fourth-and-goal inside the 5 and settled for three instead of going for six. Three is more than zero, but six is more than three.

* Peyton Hillis has missed practice all week and is questionable for the Steelers game. There's no reason to rush him back if he isn't ready, but he is currently 10th in the NFL in rushing yards. It would be nice to see him stay in the top 10.

* Moving on to the Buckeyes, Jim Tressel says the players who got suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season have been told they must commit to playing next year before the school will allow them to play in Tuesday's Sugar Bowl. It wouldn't be fair to the NCAA to allow them to get away without some sort of penalty, he said. But how Ohio State University can stop a Terrelle Pryor from leaving at the end of this school year, I have no idea.

* The Cavaliers are just plain awful. I can hardly believe how bad they are. On Saturday, Nov. 27, they beat Memphis to raise their record to 7-9. Since then, they've lost 15 out of 16, and at 8-24, have the NBA's second-worst record. A few of those losses have been tight, but most have been blowouts. They've become a very difficult team to watch. The best we can hope for right now is that the Cavs get a very high pick in the 2011 draft, so someone like Perry Jones, Terrence Jones or Jared Sullinger can give them a spark. Sullinger's from Ohio, so he'd definitely want to stay in Cleveland when free agency comes up. (cough)

* The Baseball Hall of Fame vote is coming up, and there are a few former Indians who have a good shot at getting elected this year. Roberto Alomar came up eight votes short last year, in his first year of eligibility, possibly because he spat on an umpire during his Baltimore years. The umpire forgave him; not sure why Hall of Fame voters can't. Anyway, I'll be shocked if he doesn't get in this time. Bert Blyleven, who pitched for the Tribe from 1981-85, missed it by five votes last year, in his 13th year of eligibility. If he doesn't get in this year, he'll have one more shot before his candidacy is turned over to the fickle Veterans Committee. I'll also be shocked if this isn't Blyleven's year. The third former Indian with a decent shot is Jack Morris, who only pitched one season in Cleveland (1994). I would not vote for Morris, if I had a vote. He was a fine pitcher for a long time, but just not up to Hall standards. And I'll never forget how he asked Mike Hargrove to change the order of the starting rotation so he could go to his farm in Montana a little earlier, with the Indians in the middle of a pennant race.

* Have a save and happy New Year, and see you in 2011!

OK, this is ridiculous

Starting with excerpts from the AP report:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four other Buckeyes were suspended by the NCAA for the first five games of next season for selling championship rings, jerseys and awards, and receiving improper benefits from a tattoo parlor. All can still play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas.

Along with Pryor, running back Daniel Herron, wide receiver DeVier Posey, offensive lineman Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas must sit out and repay between $1,000 to $2,500 to charity.

---

Lennon said a game was added on to the usual four-game penalty "because these student-athletes did not immediately disclose the violations when presented with the appropriate rules education."

---

Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his Big Ten ring, Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 gold pants, a trinket given to players who are a part of a team which beats rival Michigan.

Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring.

Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discount services worth $150.

Posey sold his 2008 Big Ten ring for $1,200 and also received discount services.

OK, I understand that college football has rules for a reason. The NCAA feels the need to preserve the amateur status of its athletes, and when an athlete is caught trying to profit from his or her athletic prowess while playing a sport at an NCAA institution, the NCAA perceives this as a threat to other member institutions whose athletes do not profit thus.

But seriously, who did this really hurt? Show me the victim of the sale of Terrelle Pryor's Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award. Is it a player at Boise State? How exactly is he hurt? And does the NCAA believe that the only memorabilia sold by its athletes this year was sold by these particular football players at Ohio State? And how can players be expected to report their own violations when they know the probability is great that they will be punished so severely for them?

Here's the thing that bothers me the most about this. If these players had waited a couple of years to sell these items, they'd be out of college, and the NCAA would be unable to touch them. By then, a Terrelle Pryor or a Daniel Herron won't need the money from such a sale, because they'll be drawing NFL paychecks. Now they're expected to pay this money to charity, with very little means of raising it without drawing further penalties from the NCAA.

These suspensions will cripple the Buckeyes' chance at a national championship next year, and even seriously impact their chance at a Big Ten title. The first two games these players will miss are against Akron and Toledo, and Ohio State could win both those games with their fourth-stringers. But then they've got Colorado, Miami (Fla.) and Michigan State. Those would be tough games even at full strength. Without their quarterback and those other key players, they'll be that much tougher.

It will also cost Pryor a shot at a Heisman trophy. And for what? Other than the fact that dictators are irrational, I don't see any real lessons being taught here. I would imagine that rather than play half a season at Ohio State next year, Pryor will enter the draft and play a full season in the NFL.

Yes, rules are rules, and people are responsible for knowing and following them. But this is ridiculous.

Have the Cavaliers shamed Cleveland?

Today's post originates in the old mailbag, courtesy of our friend Jeff Brown:

Barely seven months ago, your hometown heroes otherwise known as the Cleveland Cavaliers were the toast of the town.

They had the megastar, LeBron James.

They had just won a team-record 61 games and were cruising through the playoffs by crushing the Chicago Bulls (a pretty good team themselves) 4-1 in their first-round series.

They were up 2-1 against the Boston Celtics, and then the bottom fell out and basketball in Cleveland will never, ever be the same:

* They proceeded to lose three consecutive games by an average of 17 points to lose their playoff series.

* The best player in Cleveland basketball history signed as a free agent in Miami (and punked the City of Cleveland with his infamous one-hour TV special).

* Future first-ballot Hall of Famer, Shaquille O'Neill, also packed his bags and went to another title contender.

* The most popular player in recent franchise history also signed with Miami (Z), still bitter the Cavs used him as trade fodder in mid-season to acquire Antawn Jamison. ('Z' gave his heart and soul to the franchise, and the best they could do is use him as fodder).

* The starting guard, Delonte West, got messed up with the law and also departed.

* Their owner angrily fired back at LeBron and proclaimed that the Cavaliers would win a championship before LeBron would.

Steve, what's left is a disastrous display of basketball, with the team recently experiencing a 10-game losing streak and shaming the fine fans of the Cleveland Metropolitan Area.

Do you agree with Dan Gilbert that the Cavs' are going to win a championship before LeBron does?

Do you think the Cavs will EVER win a championship?

Do you think that ANY Cleveland sports team will EVER AGAIN win a championship?

Help me, Steve...

Jeff makes some good points, though I think he overstates things a bit. It doesn't take a psychologist to figure out that's due to a lifetime of rooting for teams that have never EVER climbed the summit, at least not in his memory (or mine).

First, we'll address Jeff's direct questions. No, the Cavaliers will not win a title before LeBron James does. He's part of a great collection of talent in Miami, including one player who's been the top star on a team that's won a championship, in Dwyane Wade. The Cavaliers don't have one player to build around right now; Miami has three. Gilbert's assertion was ridiculous on its face, borne purely of anger and frustration.

As for whether the Cavaliers will ever win a title, that I cannot say. There's no reason to suspect they've got the makings of a championship team right now, but I would remind you that many of these players were here last year and formed much of the nucleus of a title-caliber team. The only major difference is LeBron, and while LeBron is a great talent, there are other comparable players out there. We don't have one now, but that doesn't mean we'll never get one again.

And yes, a Cleveland team will win a championship someday. Of our three teams, the one that appears closest to a champagne celebration is the Browns, which is of course a depressing thought given that they're currently 5-9 and likely to finish 5-11 for a second straight year. But they've got a promising group of players, and things can turn around in a hurry in the NFL. Nevertheless, unless Cleveland continues to die off and our teams start moving, we'll see a title someday. The laws of probability almost guarantee it.

One thing I must take issue with is Jeff's assertion that the Cavs' recent 10-game losing streak "shamed" their fans. This is something that I see from a lot of fans, the idea that their team's performance is a reflection on them somehow. This past Sunday, we had a birthday party at our house for my eldest stepdaughter, who just turned 17. It started at 4, so most people arrived after the Browns game but during the Steelers-Jets game that followed it. My brother-in-law's fiancee's oldest son is a big Steelers fan, and was flapping his gums the entire game about how great the Steelers are. People called him a front-runner (correctly, in my view), and he thanked them for saying the Steelers were great. I don't quite understand how people take compliments or criticism directed toward their team so personally. The Steelers have never won a game because of him, any more than the Cavaliers lost any of those 10 games because of me.

One man's tribute to the greatest Cleveland Indian of them all

There probably isn't a whole lot I can say about Bob Feller that you haven't read or heard. He was with little question the greatest Cleveland Indian of them all -- and unlike Cleveland's greatest football and basketball players, Jim Brown and LeBron James, he was worthy of unqualified respect.

I know I'm not the first person to point to Feller's military career, but reportedly, when he was asked what his greatest victory was, he didn't name his Opening Day no-hitter in 1940, or the 1948 World Series -- he said World War II, and clearly meant it. And when you consider what he gave up to help stop Hitler and Mussolini, it means that much more. Feller was 23 years old when he enlisted, and had already won 107 major league games. (Incidentally, that's still the all-time record for major league wins through age 22.)

He served for three full years, and most of a fourth, then came back and was again the best pitcher in the majors. He won 25 games in 1941, served in World War II, won five games in 1945 at age 26, then won 26 in 1946. Feller finished his career with 266 wins; if you interpolate what he might have done in the years he was serving our country, it might have been somewhere around 380, which would put him third on the all-time list. We'll never know. Of course, he might have hurt his arm if he'd pitched all those years, but I doubt it. Feller averaged more than 300 innings a season from 1938 to 1941, at ages 19 to 22. If his arm was going to give out, it would have done so by then.

When I was a young lad in love with baseball myself, playing as well as watching the grand old game, I had immersed myself in baseball history. I had already read probably a couple of dozen books on the subject. So even though Bob Feller was out of baseball for nearly 20 years by the time I was born, I knew exactly who he was what he meant to Indians baseball by the time I was about 8 or 10. My dad, an ex-Amishman with a strong work ethic, had installed a wood-burning stove in our house as a means to save on heating bills. Of course, a wood stove requires wood, which has to be chopped and stacked. My dad, my two brothers and I did that work -- my dad, voluntarily; the three of us, compulsorily. We boys would whine and belly-ache about how hard it was. But my dad got me motivated, at least temporarily, by telling me that he heard Bob Feller talk about working on his dad's farm as a boy, and how the ceaseless labor made his arm strong and made him the pitcher he was. When I heard that, I wanted to work harder. Until I realized I was never going to be Bob Feller anyway. There was only one of those.

I could go on and on about Feller, about his encyclopedic memory of his playing career; his high school graduation being nationally broadcast on the radio; his blunt opinions about things ranging from steroids to politics; his tireless autograph signings (which of course were rarely for free). But there are no doubt literally hundreds of writers pounding out tales like that today, many of whom are getting paid for their words, and I will leave that to them.

Rest in peace, Robert William Andrew Feller. You were the greatest Cleveland Indian there ever was, and likely ever will be. Cleveland will never be quite the same without you.

Browns lose to bad team; other things

As I stick my head above the snow and ice long enough to blog ... and get my face frozen off ...

* I don't have a whole lot to say about the Browns' loss to Buffalo. As the offense moved the ball steadily down the field in its first drive, it seemed like there was no stopping us in this one. But then they stopped hanging onto the ball, and couldn't move it down the field even if they did hang on to it. Did you realize the Browns never got past midfield the entire second half? Pathetic.

* Jake Delhomme has had success in the National Football League, but at this point in his career, he has no business running an NFL offense. If Colt McCoy can't come back next week against the Bengals, I want to see Seneca Wallace. I know he hasn't had a great career, but he can't be much worse than Delhomme.

* On the plus side, Peyton Hills topped 1,000 yards rushing for the season, and he's also the team's leading receiver in terms of number of receptions. On the minus side, Hillis fumbled three times, one of which was recovered by the Bills. Hillis is a beast, and I'm glad we have him, but we've got to be able to trust him to hold on to the cockadoody ball. The fumble he lost came at a critical time, right after the Browns had gotten a turnover and had a chance to score a touchdown, or at least a field goal. Not that there's ever a good time to lose a fumble.

* The Cavaliers ... yeah. They're bad. A couple of weeks ago, I had what seemed like legitimate hopes they could be a playoff contender. They've now lost eight straight, and at 7-17, have the fourth-worst record in the Eastern Conference. All this while the cotton-pickin' Miami Heat have won eight straight. It makes my soul hurt.

* But hey, how about that Akron Zips soccer team? They beat Louisville 1-0 yesterday to win the national championship -- the first national title ever for a team from the U of A, a year after losing in the title game.

* Another Ohio school is making noise in another non-marquee sport. The Miami Redhawks hockey team is ranked #6 in the nation. Like the Akron soccer team, Miami's icemen went deep into the post-season last year, after losing in the title game in 2008-09. And come January, I will have attended both those schools. Not that I have anything to do with their success, of course, but hey, that's what makes a fan a fan.

Rounding 'em up

* OK, so it looks like the Cavaliers aren't very good after all. After last night's 20-point loss to Philadelphia, they've lost five straight, each by double-digits, and now stand at 7-14. That puts them on a pace to finish 27-55, which would be their worst record since they went 17-65 in 2002-03. That record, for those who may not remember, enabled them to get a bunch of lottery balls, one of which gave them the first pick in the 2003 draft, which they used to select some yahoo who now plays in Miami.

* These Cavs are doing fine on the offensive end of the floor, but they are just terrible on defense. Just terrible. Byron Scott made some remarks after yesterday's debacle about how the players are showing no pride in playing defense, and he's right. Nobody seems to care if he gets beaten for a layup, or if somebody makes a wide-open 3-pointer when he had a chance to get a hand in his face. Scott's got to find a way to get through to these guys that defense is important, or they'll never get better.

* The football Buckeyes are set for a Sugar Bowl matchup against Arkansas, which constitutes Ohio State's sixth straight appearance in a BCS game. You know who else has done that? Nobody, that's who. If Jim Tressel wanted to run for governor, he'd win, and you know it. But he doesn't need a demotion. Anyway, any season that ends in something other than a national championship is at least a slight disappointment, but Tressel is surely very proud of the program he's built in Columbus, and he should be.

* The basketball Buckeyes are 6-0, ranked #2 in the nation, behind Duke. I don't usually follow college basketball until March, but this is an exciting team. They've only played one game against a ranked opponent, but trounced #10 Florida in that one, 93-75. Their schedule is all cupcakes until the Big Ten schedule opens against Indiana on Dec. 31, so it'll be awhile before we see what this team is really made of, but I'm looking forward to then.

* I don't know how many people have noticed this, but Cleveland State, the university from which I am posting this blog at this very moment, is 11-0 after last night's win over West Virginia Tech (which I will admit I'd never heard of). They do have wins over Akron and Kent State, so there's reason to believe this CSU team has real potential this year. Should be interesting.

* In a non-sports-but-Cleveland-related topic, the members-elect of the Cuyahoga County Council who met in secret last week are arrogant jerks who don't deserve their positions. Because their meeting apparently didn't break any sunshine laws, they probably shouldn't be forced to resign, but they should certainly apologize. Sorry to get off sports, but I feel strongly about this.

Winning is fun

The Browns' 13-10 win over the Dolphins yesterday was their second in a row, and this one was far more satisfying than the previous week's win over the terrible Carolina Panthers. The offense was not very impressive, but at least they didn't turn the ball over, and they did manage to take at least some advantage of the turnovers the defense got them. Jake Delhomme threw a pass that should have been returned for a pick six (that's an interception taken back for a touchdown, for the uninitiated), but he caught a break there. And he did engineer one nice drive, ending with a touchdown pass to Benjamin Watson. Watson was the brightest light on the Browns' offense, catching 10 passes for 100 yards. That was great to see.

The non-interception notwithstanding, it would be incorrect to say Delhomme played mistake-free football. He made a pretty big mistake toward the end of the second quarter when he failed to get rid of the ball on a third-and-four and took a sack for a nine-yard loss. If he'd thrown it away, Phil Dawson would have had a relatively easy 38-yard field goal attempt. Instead, Dawson had to try a 47-yarder, which of course bounced off the upright. That could easily have been the difference in the game.

In any case, the defense obviously won this one. The Browns picked off Miami quarterback Chad Henne three times, the last of which Mike Adams returned to the 2 to set up Dawson's game-winning field goal. They held the Dolphins to 281 yards, which is more than the Browns' offense got, but when you throw in the three turnovers, it's a very solid effort. And Shaun Rogers' field goal block was obviously huge.

I have to quibble with coach Eric Mangini's strategy after Adams' interception. He had Delhomme kneel on the ball three times before letting Dawson attempt the game-winning field goal. It obviously worked out -- as it would at least nine times out of ten -- but why not try for the end zone? Mangini wanted the field goal attempt to be the last play on the clock, which it was. But what if the snap had been fumbled? What if Dawson, reliable though he usually is, slipped or something? No field goal is guaranteed. If the Browns had put the ball in the end zone with, say, 40 to 50 seconds left, that would have meant the Dolphins had less than a minute to take the ball all the way in for a touchdown. Given how their offense was performing, that seems a nearly impossible task. I say the Browns would have been better off letting Peyton Hillis pound the ball at the line three times and seeing what would happen.

Regardless, the Browns did it. They have matched last year's win total, with four games to go. They even have an outside shot at a winning season. But if they win half their remaining games and go 7-9, I'll be happy with this season. They will be favored next week in Buffalo and the following week in Cincinnati, then will be underdogs for their last two, at home against Baltimore and Pittsburgh. So 7-9 is probably the most likely outcome for this season. But don't be surprised if they knock off the Ravens or Steelers. This team is capable of that sort of thing. Especially if Colt McCoy is healthy by then.

Not much to say ...

The Cavaliers got trounced by ex-hero LeBron James and his Miami Heat last night. Full disclosure: I watched the first half, decided I wasn't enjoying it, and changed the channel. So I missed James' 24-point outburst in the third quarter.

But from what I did see, it seemed to me that not only did the Heat players care more about who won or lost than the Cavaliers players did; the fans at the game cared more. I felt like if you pulled five guys out of the stands, they'd have played the Heat tougher than the players whose job it is. And what was up with LeBron's former teammates being so friendly to him? I understand their outlook on this is different from us fans, but it was a little bit disrespectful to you and me for players like Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams giving LeBron handshake-hugs when we fans all felt like punching him in the junk. Word is Anthony Parker was the only Cavs starter who didn't acknowledge LeBron before the game. Good for Anthony Parker. He's apparently the only one who understood that his job was to make LeBron feel uncomfortable, not comfortable; to afflict him, not encourage him; to defeat him, not befriend him.

Williams said something after the game about wanting to win very badly. I don't doubt that he meant it. But this game meant more to LeBron James than it did to any Cavalier, and it showed on the floor. LeBron's the one who came in wanting to prove his decision to leave Cleveland was the right one. As such, his new teammates rallied around him. The Cavs just seemed overwhelmed by the whole thing, and were the ones who couldn't overcome their nerves.

Oh, well. In the grand scheme of things, this is just one game. But it sure would have been sweet to have the outcome reversed.

A win is a win ... but ...

So the Browns managed to hold on for a 24-23 win over Carolina yesterday. Hooray and what not. Wins in the NFL are not always easy to come by, especially for the Browns the last few years. But let's not get too giddy. The Panthers are possibly the league's very worst team; certainly one of the worst. They have the league's worst record, at 1-10, and finished dead last in the ESPN power rankings. And the Browns should have demolished them, but instead had to rely on a missed 42-yard field goal on the game's last play.

Oh, there were some things in this game for Browns fans to be thankful for. Peyton Hillis, for example. Hillis was the clear MVP of this game, rumbling for 131 yards on 26 carries to bring his season total to 905, with five games to go. Looks like he'll comfortably top 1,000 yards, and has a chance to beat Jamal Lewis' expansion-era team record of 1,304, set in 2007. And of course, Hillis scored all three of the Browns' touchdowns in this game, on the ground, and even added six catches for 63 yards.

Jake Delhomme, returning as the starter, was serviceable, but he really gave the Panthers life with the interceptions he threw on his first two passes of the second half. The latter of those was returned for a touchdown that brought the Panthers within one at 21-20. But he did complete 24 of 35 passes for 245 yards, which is a perfectly acceptable performance.

But the Browns' defense was a weak point in this game. How many missed tackles were there? Where was the coverage? Brandon LaFell made a good catch on the play that set up the last field goal attempt, but why was he that open? (Incidentally, I believe the officials made an error on that play. It was clearly a catch, but he came down in bounds with five seconds left, and the Panthers were out of time outs. The clock should have kept ticking, and they'd have never been able to get lined up in time to spike the ball before it hit triple-zeroes. It was reviewed for whether he actually caught the ball, but they didn't look at the issue of whether he came down in bounds or out of bounds. I suppose there wouldn't have been much they could have done about it.)

Anyway, this game goes in the books as a win, because that's what the scoreboard said at the end. But if not for a miss on a fairly easy field goal by an experienced kicker, it would have been a loss to the NFL's worst team. So take it with a grain of salt.

I'll leave you with a thought about the pressure of being a kicker in the NFL, or really at any level of football. I was just telling my wife the other day about how that would be the last position I'd want to play on a football team, because you so often come in on situations just like that. If you make the kick, you just did what was expected of you; but if you miss it, you go home feeling that the loss was your fault. (Which, to be honest, it was, at least to some degree.) And John Kasay, the kicker who is wearing goat horns in Carolina today, made postgame comments that reinforce that idea. From the Associated Press story:

"I was the one who failed," Kasay said, accepting blame for Carolina's fourth straight loss. "This is one of those days where they did everything they needed to do to win. I was the one who let them down. There's no other way to cut it."

To the extent that I can feel sorry for a professional athlete for something that happened on the field, I feel a little sorry for him.

Quarterback carousel gets back to Delhomme

With Colt McCoy the third Browns quarterback to sustain a high ankle sprain this season, coach Eric Mangini has no choice but to give the starting job back to the guy who had it coming out of training camp. Jake Delhomme was pretty unimpressive in what little action he's seen so far this year, and I don't have high hopes for him now. I'd rather see Seneca Wallace, frankly. But Mangini knows his players better than I do, so I've just got to hope he knows what he's doing. The game is against Delhomme's former team, the Panthers, so maybe his inside knowledge of their system will be of some benefit.

Mangini says he doesn't think McCoy will miss as much time as Delhomme and Wallace did. My above statement about how he knows his players better than I do doesn't apply to this situation. I'm not saying I know much about high ankle sprains, but my point is that Mangini is a football coach, not a doctor. With just six games left in the season, I wouldn't be surprised if the next time we see McCoy in uniform is in 2011. That would be a bit of a shame, because I'd like to see him get some more experience under his belt this year; but it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world. It's a whole lot more important that McCoy is healthy in '11, '12 and beyond than it is that he's healthy the rest of this year. The Browns aren't going anywhere in 2010 anyway.

Cavs lose again; more thoughts

* OK, so maybe the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers aren't the second coming of the Showtime Lakers. The Cavs have been very up-and-down in the early season, which I suppose can be expected of a team that is trying to find its identity after losing its all-world superstar in the offseason. After last night's not-nearly-as-close-as-the-final-score 100-89 loss to the Pacers, the Cavs are now 5-8 and in a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Obviously, there's still a long, long way to go, and there's still plenty of reason for hope that the Cavs will get this figured out.

* Ohio State goes into Saturday's game against Michigan with a very slim chance of taking the Big Ten's spot in the Rose Bowl, despite the fact that they've only got one loss. That loss is to Wisconsin, which also has just one loss; and Wisconsin has Northwestern this week. Michigan State, also with one loss, has a tougher game than the others, against Penn State, and also the weakest tiebreaker. The bottom line for the Buckeyes is, they need to beat Michigan and for Wisconsin to lose to Northwestern. I just don't see that happening. They might get an at-large spot in another BCS bowl, but we almost certainly won't see Terrelle Pryor clutching a rose between his teeth this year.

* Speaking of Ohio State, university President Gordon Gee has weighed in on the whole TCU-Boise State quest for a national title. As we all know, those schools come from lesser conferences, and while their undefeated (so far) seasons are impressive, they have compiled those records against decidedly inferior opponents compared to the schedule a school from the Big Ten or ACC or one of the other major conferences has to play. Gee's opinion: TCU and Boise State don't deserve a shot at the title, even if they win out. My opinion: Gee is right, at least under the current structure. Were there a 16- or even eight-team playoff, you could make the argument, but I'm sorry, going undefeated in the WAC doesn't prove you're one of the two best teams in the country.

* Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful Of Fair Hooker readers. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I was listening to Wills and Snyder this morning on WTAM, and they were talking about how the show's producer, Scott "Scooter" Reese would be giving his tips on deep-frying a turkey, for those who might be trying it for the first time. Bill Wills mentioned in passing the importance of keeping a fire extinguisher on hand for the job. Then they went to commercial, so I switched it over to Mike & Mike in the Morning on WKNR. Mike Golic at that very moment was talking about how if you're going to deep-fry a turkey, be sure to look at some online videos of people doing it, because you don't want to start a house fire. So let me reinforce that message: Don't start a fire deep-frying your turkey tomorrow.

Browns should have won

Ladies and gentlemen, the Browns team we saw in the early part of the season is back. Remember how it seemed like every week, they'd hold tough the whole game before blowing it in the end? They did that last week against the Jets, and they did it yesterday against the Jaguars -- who were trying their hardest to lose that game.

The Jags turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions in the second half, and the Browns only managed to turn that into 10 points -- seven of which came on Abram Elam's touchdown on a fumble recovery. The Browns' offense only converted one of those turnovers into points, and even then, all they got was a field goal.

Apart from the turnovers, Jacksonville really outplayed us in this one, especially in that second half. Had the Browns defense been a little better, they'd have forced a few three-and-outs instead of having to get the ball via turnover. The Jaguars were moving the ball pretty much at will, and you had to just know that if they could hold onto the ball, they were going to put some more points on the board. That's what wound up happening, of course, when Maurice Jones-Drew scored two plays after his 75-yard catch and run down to the 1/2-yard line. Joe Haden's touchdown-delaying tackle on that play just gave the Jags a chance to run nearly another minute off the clock, giving Colt McCoy just over a minute to work with on the Browns' last drive.

And McCoy and the Browns' offense weren't doing dookie. They finally started moving the ball after the Jaguars tied it at 17, but McCoy pulled up lame on his 18-yard run that set up the field goal that gave the Browns a short-lived 20-17 lead. And they got some nice gains on the ill-fated final drive too, but it was too little, too late.

Incidentally, I haven't heard anyone else mention this, but even if Ben Watson had caught McCoy's pass around the 5 on the Browns' last offensive play, the Browns would still have lost. He was falling down as he tried to make the catch, there were less than 10 seconds left, the Browns were out of timeouts, and there was no way they could get up to the line of scrimmage in time to spike the ball and stop the clock.

Well, as I said a week ago after the loss to the Jets, the goal for this season was improvement, and we've definitely seen that. So I can't complain too much. But it would be nice to pull out a game or two like these.

Cavs are hanging tough

I don't know if any of you have noticed this, but after last night's 101-93 win over the 76ers, the Cavaliers are back to .500 at 5-5, and if the season ended today, they'd be the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. This despite the fact that many of their better players have missed some time with injuries: Mo Williams has missed five games, Antawn Jamison three games, Anderson Varejao two. This is really not a bad team at all, ladies and gentlemen, despite all the predictions that they'd be one of the NBA's worst.

By the way, can you think of anyone who predicted they'd be about this good before the season started? I can. Me. Not to toot my own horn, of course ...

How have they done it, despite the lack of a superstar? Balance. J.J. Hickson is currently the club's leading scorer, at 15.2 a game, but Williams has averaged 14.6 in his five games, and Boobie Gibson is putting in 14.2 off the bench. Jamison and Ramon Sessions are also in double figures. Varejao is leading the team in rebounds, at 8.9; and we're also getting solid contributions from guys like Anthony Parker, Ryan Hollins and Jamario Moon.

Can you guess without looking who leads the Cavs in player efficiency rating, the complex calculation developed by ESPN's John Hollinger to take into account everything a player contributes to his team? I would have guessed Williams or Jamison, or possibly Varejao. Hickson and Gibson would be next, if those were wrong. Probably about the eighth guy I'd have guessed would be Ryan Hollins. But that's who it is.

I'm starting to get kind of excited about this team. I don't think they'll contend for a championship or anything like that, but this is a pretty good team. If they stay healthy, they've got a chance to do some special things.

Can't be too disappointed

The Browns lost a game yesterday that they could (arguably should) have won, against one of the NFL's best teams. It would have been their third straight win, all against teams that are considered top contenders. From that standpoint, it's disappointing that they lost to the Jets.

But just look how far this team has come. Remember when the Browns were 1-11 last year, and there seemed no reason for hope? Then they started this season 1-5, and though they had chances to win almost all of those games, they couldn't pull any of them out.

Suddenly, the Cleveland Browns seem to be able to go toe-to-toe with anybody in the National Football League. Given a fortuitous bounce here or there -- if Chansi Stuckey hadn't fumbled, Phil Dawson might have had a shot at a game-winning field goal; if Joe Haden hadn't intercepted that pass, the punt return team might have given the Browns better field position on their last drive; if either of those replay calls had gone the Browns' way; if, if, if ...

That didn't happen. And now the Browns are 3-6 and have basically zero chance to go to the playoffs. But seriously, did you think at the beginning of the season that they might get there this year? What did you realistically want to see out of the Browns this season? Personally, I thought I'd be happy with steady improvement. And we've seen plenty of that. With Colt McCoy calling the signals, the Browns' offense is clicking pretty well, and the defense is holding its own too.

We won't see playoffs here in 2010. But the way this team is playing right now, I have hope that we'll see it in 2011. And that's enough for me right now.

Where have the Browns been hiding it?

As we all know, the Browns went into their game two weeks ago against New Orleans with a 1-5 record. They were competitive in those games, even leading in the fourth quarter of all but one, but there was little reason to believe they could hang with the likes of the world champion Saints. And if you peeked ahead on their schedule, you'd see New England on Nov. 7 and the Jets on Nov. 14. You'd have been forgiven for assuming the Browns would go into their Nov. 21 game against Jacksonville with a 1-8 record.

But a funny thing happened on the way there. The Browns have now, in their last two games, upset two of the NFL's elite teams. And in convincing fashion, too -- yesterday's game against the Patriots was never in doubt. The Patriots came in with the league's best record, having lost just once. And the Browns beat them by 20.

How did they do it? Creativity and mistake-free football on both sides of the ball. And when I say creativity, I'm not just talking about the trick play that led to the Browns' second touchdown -- genius though it was. I've always loved gadget plays, and this one was a classic. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like it. Quarterback Colt McCoy walked away from the line of scrimmage while the linemen stood straight up, acting like the play was not going to start any time soon. Josh Cribbs sneaked up to the line of scrimmage and took the snap, then stuck the ball in Chansi Stuckey's ribs nonchalantly as he appeared to wander as aimlessly as McCoy. Stuckey went off-tackle to the left as the linemen suddenly snapped to life and started blocking, and ran it in for an 11-yard touchdown. It was a thing of beauty.

But the Browns did a lot of good things on offense, starting with Peyton Hillis, who rushed for a career-high 184 yards and two touchdowns. Hillis was an animal out there. My dad told me he reminds him of Ron Dayne when he was at Wisconsin -- not an overly fast runner, but a guy who has good moves and can run over a defender every now and then. I think that's a pretty apt comparison.

McCoy didn't produce any eye-popping numbers in his third NFL start, but he didn't have to. Considering he only had to throw the ball 19 times, thanks to Hillis and the running game, he acquitted himself quite well. He completed 14 of those passes for 174 yards, and most importantly, he didn't throw any interceptions. He didn't pass for any touchdowns, but he did run for one, after dropping back to pass and not finding anyone open. Young quarterbacks are sometimes too quick to scramble, but that was certainly not the case here. McCoy saw an opening and took it. And perhaps the strongest compliment to McCoy is to simply look at the Browns' record with each quarterback starting: Delhomme, 0-1; Wallace, 1-4; McCoy, 2-1.

On the defensive side, the Browns kept Tom Brady and the Patriots offense off-balance all game long. To hold a Tom Brady-led offense to 14 points is a real accomplishment. He threw for 224 yards, but because they were behind all day, had to throw the ball 39 times to get there. The Pats only gained 283 total yards on the day, compared to the Browns' 404. This wasn't the usual type of game in which a 2-5 team upsets a 6-1 squad, in which the winning team gets a few breaks but really didn't outplay the losing team. The Browns genuinely outplayed these Patriots.

Are the Browns suddenly one of the league's best teams? Do we have a real shot at the playoffs this season? I don't know the answer to either question, but I can hardly wait to see how we do next week against the Jets.

How about that, Cavaliers faithful!

The post-LeBron Cavaliers are undefeated, ladies and gentlemen! They just beat the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics, the team that beat LeBron, both last night and in the playoffs last year.

Sure, it's just one game, and you don't want to read too much into a 1-0 start. The Celtics were likely a little bit worn out, it being the second night of a back-to-back for them, and that likely contributed to the Cavaliers' 27-14 edge in the fourth quarter. But the Cavs were playing without Mo Williams, arguably their best player (I would say second-best). So this was still pretty big.

J.J. Hickson, who has shown flashes of brilliance before but was usually overshadowed by the bigger stars on this team, put on an impressive 21-point performance on 8-of-11 shooting. Daniel Gibson, who also fits the description I gave Hickson above, contributed 16 off the bench. But this was a total team effort. The Cavs had six players in double-figures, and that doesn't include their leading rebounder, Anderson Varejao, who got 10 boards to go with his eight points, along with his usual sterling defense.

This Cavaliers team has a lot of the same players they had last year, but they're a totally different team. Tonight's game proves they're not necessarily very much worse.

Some optimism for Cavaliers' season

The Cavaliers open their first post-LeBron season tonight at the Q against the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics, and since I haven't really weighed in yet on their outlook, this seems like the right time to do so.

The obvious thing to point out is that the Cavs had not one, but two future Hall of Famers (LeBron and Shaq) on their roster last year, and none this year. At this point in his career, Shaq isn't such a great loss, but he does leave a pretty big hole at the center spot. As I've mentioned in this space, Ryan Hollins is the only true center we have this year; Anderson Varejao is more a power forward type, but will have to step up to the center spot, where he'll be routinely out-heighted by three or four inches.

Still, this Cavaliers team has some talent. Antawn Jamison is no superstar, but he's certainly no slouch. Mo Williams has been an All-Star in the recent past. Varejao will finally get a chance to show what he can do with regular starter minutes. Anthony Parker is 35, but seems to still have something left in the tank. Jamario Moon is a nice player to have. Guys like J.J. Hickson and Daniel Gibson will have more opportunities to prove themselves. I'm looking forward to seeing how guys like Ramon Sessions and rookie Christian Eyenga fit in. With Byron Scott at the helm, and no more "pass to LeBron and let him do something while the other four guys stand around" offense, I think this team can win about 42 to 45 games and reach the playoffs.

The national media seems to think otherwise. ESPN.com has the Cavs as the 24th-best team (up from 27th in their initial power rankings), SI.com has us finishing dead last in the Central Division, and so on and so forth. Have they actually looked at our roster and compared it to anyone else's? OK, so we won't be as good without LeBron. That doesn't mean we're going to be terrible. We're not better than Detroit, who finished 27-55 last year and whose top addition is a seemingly 90-year-old Tracy McGrady? Really?

Opening against the Celtics is a tall order; I don't expect them to win tonight. But this is not a bad team. Lord knows we've seen some awful Cavaliers teams. This team does not look like one of those.

It's a miracle! ... Or is it?

On Saturday night, my wife, Lisa, and I were sitting on the back porch, enjoying the lovely evening after having dined at Lola Bistro downtown to celebrate our one-year anniversary. (Incidentally, that restaurant is pricey, but very, very tasty. Michael Symon isn't an Iron Chef for no reason.) I mentioned that I couldn't remember who the Browns were scheduled to play on Sunday, and my wife told me it was the Saints.

"Ah, yes," I said. "They'll lose."

"That's what everyone's saying, but I don't know," she said. "I think they'll win. They seem to do that; lose to the crappy teams and beat the best."

My wife had a point. Each of the last two years, though the Browns have been one of the worst teams in the NFL, they've managed to defeat the defending Super Bowl champions. Last year, it was the Steelers, as part of the Browns' season-ending four-game winning streak that followed their 1-11 start; in 2008, it was the Giants, in an early-October Monday nighter that gave us false hope that the Browns could turn their season around. The Browns are likely to finish under .500 this year as well, and I wonder how many times a team has finished under .500 while beating the defending champions each of three years in a row. It's a highly unlikely feat, to be sure.

Anyway, like those wins, this was very sweet. The Browns beat the Saints despite being out-gained, 394 yards to 210; despite giving up 356 passing yards to Drew Brees, compared to just 74 puny yards by Colt McCoy in his second NFL start; despite the fact that the Browns' leading rusher was their punter until Peyton Hillis' last run got him up to 69 for the game. And they did it by getting four turnovers and surrendering zero -- and by using trick plays and executing them perfectly.

David Bowens was the obvious MVP of this game, in one of the most unlikely performances you'll ever see. You don't very often see a guy with a number in the 90s intercepting a pass, much less two in one game, much less returning both for long touchdowns. Yes, Bowens is actually a linebacker, not a defensive lineman -- still, he came into the game with a grand total of two interceptions in his 12-year career, and both of his interceptions yesterday came right around the line of scrimmage, not in coverage. As a side note, I generally don't care for showboating on the field, but I have to admit, his hot-dogging performance on the second pick-six was pretty entertaining. With no Saints around him, he had the luxury of slowing down gradually as he got closer to the end zone, then stopping at the goal line before falling in. I wouldn't have liked it if I played for the Saints, but it's their fault for not being close enough to stop him. In any case, Bowens is the first Brown to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a game since 1960.

And the trick plays were enormous. The Browns' first score, a field goal that gave them an early 3-0 lead, was set up by a trick return play in which Josh Cribbs caught the punt, started to run it back, then threw it across the field for a lateral to Eric Wright, who ran it all the way back to the New Orleans 19.

Then, in the second quarter, the Browns pulled off one of the most beautifully executed fakes I've ever seen in my life. On fourth-and-8 from their own 23, the Browns lined up in punt formation, snapped the ball to Reggie Hodges, and opened up a hole that Olivia, my five-year-old stepdaughter, could have run through for a first down. Hodges, who runs a little bit better than Olivia, took it 68 yards to set up a field goal that made it 13-3. He actually made some nice moves down the field, too.

Incidentally, that was the longest run by a punter in any NFL game since 1945, and that 76-yard run in 1945 came on first down. In those days, teams rarely carried a full-time punter or kicker, and Johnny Martin, the punter who made that run for the Boston Yanks in 1945, also played halfback and quarterback in his career. It's not known for sure, but it's entirely possible that Hodges' 68-yard run was the longest in NFL history by a punter on a fake punt.

The third trick play the Browns ran was less spectacular than either of those, but still impressive. Protecting a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter and facing a third-and-6, the Browns lined up in shotgun formation, but Hillis took the snap as McCoy ran a pattern out on the left flat and wound up catching the ball for a 13-yard gain that eventually led to another field goal.

This feels good. Yes, it only makes the Browns 2-5, but it gives us hope. The Browns won this with defensive execution and creative play-calling. Sure, I'd like to have seen more from the offense, but considering the situation, I can't complain too much about that.

And yes, my wife was right, and I was wrong. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

Sorry to hear James Harrison won't retire

I'm sure anyone reading this blog is aware of what's been going on the past week in the NFL, involving savage helmet-to-helmet hits like the ones the Steelers' James Harrison put on the Browns' Josh Cribbs and Muhammad Massaquoi on Sunday, knocking both out of the game. Several similar hits occurred in other NFL games. The NFL fined several players $50,000 each, and Harrison $75,000. Harrison sat out of practice one day this week, saying he was contemplating retirement because now he can't play the way he wants to:

"You literally have to think about changing the way you play football. Honestly, I’m truly considering if I can play football in the NFL by the rules that they’re trying to make. I’m honestly going to sit down with my coach and see if I can play football within the NFL rules and still be effective. If not, I may have to give up playing football."

This came a couple of days after Harrison said he figures he's done his job if he hurts somebody. He was careful to say he wasn't trying to injure anybody, just hurt them. There's some distinction in those words, I guess.

There's been a lot of negative backlash about the NFL's actions on this matter. People are arguing that football is an inherently violent game. No doubt, that is true. I played football myself in high school and junior high, and I know that to a large extent, football players think of their opponents not as friendly adversaries, but as sworn enemies. That's simply the nature of the game. And when you have 200- to 300-pound men trying to block and tackle each other for three hours a week, injuries are inevitable.

But there are a growing number of rules in football aimed at keeping players from getting needlessly hurt. For decades, we've had rules against certain blocks in the back or below the waist, roughing the passer and kicker, and unnecessary roughness. More recently, we've seen rules that increase quarterbacks' latitude for throwing the ball away, in an attempt to keep them from taking too many hits. And just a couple of years ago, the NFL made horse-collar tackles illegal because so many players were getting hurt that way.

This is no different. A number of players suffered concussions on helmet-to-helmet hits on one single afternoon. A concussion is a more dangerous injury that anything else that can happen on a football field, short of something involving the spine. The NFL has to protect its players.

Football fans tend to have a certain degree of blood lust, which I think explains a lot of the negative reaction among spectators. Defensive players like Harrison are saying the NFL is taking away their ability to play. I say, tough $&!*. If this new stance makes it less likely for players to suffer concussions or worse brain injuries, I'm more than happy to see a few less violent hits on the football field.

James Harrison has decided not to retire. That's probably the worst news that came out of this.

Browns' loss not all that disappointing

* OK, losing to Pittsburgh is never fun. And a 28-10 loss to anybody is also never fun. So that's a bad combination. But still, who among us can say they thought we had a realistic chance to beat the Steelers this week, with Colt McCoy making his first NFL start behind center against the great Ben Roethlisberger? Big Ben, returning from his four-game suspension for bad off-field behavior, took a while to heat up, but once he did, there was no stopping him. McCoy did pretty darn well in his rookie debut, completing 23 of 33 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown. He did throw two interceptions, but in his defense, both were on tipped balls. I'm not hoping for continued ill health for Jake Delhomme and/or Seneca Wallace, but I do hope this isn't the last we've seen of McCoy this year.

* The Buckeyes fell all the way to #10 from #1 after their disappointing loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. The Ohio State offense faltered because the line couldn't protect Terrelle Pryor, who understandably had his worst game of the season. In addition to several big-time schools that could run the table, the Buckeyes have three mid-majors ahead of them who are highly likely to go undefeated, in Boise State, TCU and Utah. At this point, Michigan State (who is not on OSU's schedule) is the Big Ten's best hope for a national title. The Buckeyes are all but out of the equation. One loss just kills you in college football, because there's no playoff.

* They were talking on WTAM's Wills & Snyder this morning about a guy named Eric Barr, who recently moved to Cleveland from East Hartford, Connecticut, because he's a Browns fan. I guess the Plain Dealer did a story about him a couple of days ago. I don't read the PD anymore -- in fact, I don't even get a newspaper, which I probably should feel guilty about because I spent 14 years actually working for newspapers, but I don't. Feel guilty, that is. Anyway, this guy has no particular ties to the Cleveland area, and he quit his job to move here, where he has no job lined up. But he'll save the drive to Cleveland eight times a year, which he's been doing for every home game. This dude and I have one thing in common, in that we both love the Browns. Where we part company is that I would never in a million years move to an economically struggling town in a bad economy with no job lined up just to follow a football team. Especially not one that's 1-5 and hasn't made the playoffs since 2002. He's apparently single with no kids, so at least he's not hanging a family out to dry. Still, as much as I love sports, I think it's incredibly stupid of him. But I wish him good luck.

McCoy opens this roundup-type post

* The Browns appear ready to start Colt McCoy at quarterback Sunday against the Steelers, and I applaud that decision. The original plan was for McCoy to spend all of 2010 understudying Jake Delhomme and/or Seneca Wallace, but now that they're both out of commission, the only other options are McCoy and Brett Ratliff. Ratliff, who spent all of last season riding the pine for the Browns, is never going to be a regular starter in the NFL. So it's time to throw McCoy in there and see what he can do. His first assignment against a tough Steelers defense is going to be really, really tough, but the kid was great at Texas, and he'll be a fine NFL quarterback in time. Might as well start now.

* What the *#&@ happened to Jerome Harrison? The dude ran for 286 yards in one game last year and was a key to the Browns' season-ending four-game winning streak, but had just 91 on 31 carries this year before he was traded to Philadelphia this week. Of those 91 yards, 39 came on one carry in the opener against Tampa Bay. If you subtract that one run, he went for 52 yards on 30 carries. That's less than two yards per. That's pathetic. No wonder Peyton Hillis has been getting the ball all the time. In return, the Browns got Mike Bell, who has 28 yards on 16 carries. Um ... OK, I'm not sure why we made this trade. Especially with Hillis hurting, I'd have liked to see if Harrison could repeat his 2009 performance if given a real shot. Maybe I just contradicted myself. I can live with that.

* The Buckeyes, who just moved up to No. 1 in the poll, are facing their second real test of the season Saturday when they travel to meet No. 16 Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin's only loss was to undefeated Michigan State, and they're always tough at home. Ohio State will have to slow down the Badgers' dual-threat running backs, John Clay and James White. And Terrelle Pryor will have to play mistake-free. Both of those things can happen, but they're not sure things. Should be interesting.

* As my good friend Jeff Brown recently pointed out in an e-mail, the Cavaliers are going into their first post-LeBron season with a serious size issue. Anderson Varejao is the only guy on the roster who's played much center in the NBA, and he's only 6'10" and is really more of a power forward type. They've got 7'0" Ryan Hollins, who will never make anybody forget Shaquille O'Neal -- not even the aging Shaq we saw here last year. These Cavs definitely have some talent around the perimeter -- Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, etc. -- but they face a real risk of getting beaten up badly inside.

* As an Indians fan, it's tough to see guys like CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee carry their teams through the playoffs. Both those guys were key to their teams' success in last year's playoffs, and even though Lee has switched teams again (and again) since then, he's the number-one reason why the Rangers are into the ALCS against CC and the Yankees. It's a terrible shame the Indians couldn't afford to keep those guys. But baseball's economic structure is what it is. The Indians will have to find a way to be competitive with the money they've got. And it can be done -- look at Tampa Bay and Minnesota. They got eliminated in the first round by Sabathia, Lee and company, but they both made the playoffs with very slender payrolls. And Shapiro's Indians have done it too, back in '07. But it's hard to look at these current Indians and see the seeds of a playoff team anytime in the near future.

Will we see Colt McCoy?

After yesterday's disappointing 20-10 loss to Atlanta, the Browns are down to one healthy quarterback -- Colt McCoy, who of course has yet to take a snap in a regular-season NFL game. Seneca Wallace was having a pretty nice first half yesterday when he sprained his ankle, going 11-for-15 for 139 yards and a touchdown. Jake Delhomme came in, clearly still hobbled by an ankle injury of his own, and was just plain awful -- 97 yards on 13-for-23 passing, no TDs, two interceptions. Both of those pickoffs were pretty fluky, but they both resulted from Delhomme not getting the ball over the hands and heads of the linemen.

I frankly don't know why we didn't see McCoy in that game. What did we have to lose? If Wallace couldn't play and Delhomme clearly wasn't able to do much, why not just toss the kid in there and see what he's got? It's not like it's going to cost us a playoff spot. We were 1-3 coming in, and there was obviously no chance we were going to get to 2-3 with Delhomme in there.

The Browns are talking about trying to pick up a veteran quarterback for next week's game against the Steelers. If the health of Wallace and Delhomme is in question, obviously we'll have to get somebody, but I want the person they pick up to be McCoy's backup for the Pittsburgh game. I really don't see the point of renting a veteran QB to hold down the spot for a 1-4 team. If Wallace or Delhomme can play, that's fine; otherwise, just toss McCoy in there and let him go to work.

Browns fail to blow it!

How about those Cleveland Browns! They've now played four games and had a fourth-quarter lead in every one of them -- and after yesterday's 23-20 triumph over Cincinnati, they've actually won one!

Boy howdy, it sure looked as if the Browns were going to blow this one too. The Bengals stormed back from a 23-10 deficit to cut it to three on Carson Palmer's three-yard touchdown pass to Brian Leonard with 10:44 left in the game, and a distinct "here we go again" feeling hung in the air. That feeling thickened after the Browns went three-and-out, with two incompletions by Seneca Wallace bookending a two-yard run by Peyton Hillis. The Bengals took over at their own 14 with 9:44 to go, and it seemed highly likely they'd take it down for another score. And they did move the ball: A nine-play drive gained 46 yards, but Chad "Ochocinco" Ochocinco's pass interference penalty pushed them out of field goal range on second down, and Matt Roth sacked Palmer for a four-yard loss on third down, forcing a punt. Those plays were humongous.

The Browns got it back at their own 11 with 4:41 left, so all they had to do was run out the clock. But Wallace threw incomplete again on first down, and Hillis gained just a yard on second. But the Bengals bailed us out again. Defensive lineman Pat Sims got called for defensive holding, giving the Browns an automatic first down. It was a tough call, but hey, when you're 0-3, you'll take it. From that point on, the offense consisted of giving the ball to Hillis, which is what you're supposed to do when you're trying to salt away the clock and protect a lead.

Hillis, suddenly a breakout star, went for 102 yards on the day, including a 24-yard run on second and seven that took the game to the two-minute warning. It was his second straight 100-yard performance. All it took to get him was Brady Quinn. Can you believe that?

And that's how the Browns won a game in which they were outgained 413 yards to 295, in which they gave up 371 passing yards by Palmer, including 222 receiving yards by Terrell Owens. It's not easy to win a game like that, but they did it.

The Browns have Atlanta next week. They seem likely to have a fourth-quarter lead at some point. Let's hope they can hold it.

Very quickly ...

The Browns have led in the second half of all three games this year. They have lost them all. Is this a failure of the offense? The defense? The kicking game? The coaching staff? I don't know, but if this keeps up, Eric Mangini's going to be looking for a job soon. Whether others will join him, I don't know. But Mike Holmgren isn't going to put up with this for long.

Never mind the impressive offensive performance in yesterday's 24-17 loss to the Ravens. (Impressive it was, against that Baltimore defense.) It doesn't matter if you don't win.

Seventy-three points! But ...

OK, the Buckeyes beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles by 53 points yesterday. I predicted they'd win by 50, and Vegas predicted they'd win by 44 1/2, so hooray and what not. It was certainly an impressive showing by the Ohio State offense, but let's not forget this happened against a team that hasn't won a game since 2008. When you're the #2 team in the nation playing a team that can't even win in the MAC, you should dominate, which they did.

Terrelle Pryor was nearly flawless, completing 20 of 26 passes for 224 yards and four touchdowns, rushing for 104 yards on just seven carries, and even catching a touchdown pass of his own from Joe Hall on a throwback trick play. Pryor's four touchdown passes all went to Dane Sanzenbacher, who tied an Ohio State record with the four catches for scores. Kudos to those guys, and the entire offense. They did what they should have done, which is tear that EMU defense to shreds. I'm sure everybody who cares enough to read this blog already knows this, but OSU hasn't scored this many points in a game since 1950, when I was -21.

The thing that concerns me about this game is the 20 points allowed. The Eagles even tied the Buckeyes in the second quarter, 14-14. The Eastern Michigan offense is not nearly as pathetic as its defense -- they scored 27, 21 and 14 in their first three games -- but still, they shouldn't be able to put up 20 against the #2 team in the country, whose defense had only allowed two touchdowns in three games coming in. But the Eagles put together three long scoring drives out of four possessions in the second and third quarters -- nine plays, 75 yards; seven plays, 73 yards; and six plays, 80 yards. They were three-and-out on all but one of their other possessions (the other one went five plays and ended in a fumble), so at least those were the only times they got something going, but still, that's reason for some concern.

But never mind all that. The Buckeyes are 4-0 heading into the Big Ten portion of their schedule, and that's all that really matters. They have one truly impressive victory under their belts (the 36-24 win over Miami on Sept. 11), and there's not much reason to believe they can't run the table. They've got Illinois next week, then Indiana before their next real test on Oct. 16 against Wisconsin. That's going to be a toughie.

Of goofy hats, line drives and promising pitching

The Indians suck. Everybody knows that. There are a few teams that suck harder (Seattle, Pittsburgh, and possibly Kansas City), but this is a bad Indians team. Nonetheless, they managed last night to beat the aforementioned Royals 7-3 for their 63rd win of the year -- meaning, with eight games left in the season, that they have clinched a two-digit loss total for 2010. For anyone who's curious, the Indians haven't lost 100 games in a season since 1991. And if they go at least 3-5 the rest of the way, they'll beat last year's record of 65-97. And they're a half-game behind the Royals for fourth place in the AL Central. It's not much to cling to, but it's at least something.

Josh Tomlin pitched a complete-game four-hitter for the win, his first career complete game in his 11th career start. Tomlin was a 14th-round draft pick who started the season in the bullpen at AAA Columbus, and has been a very pleasant surprise since getting added to the rotation in Cleveland in late July. He's now 5-4 with a 4.50 ERA, and has gone at least five innings every time he's taken the mound at the big-league level.

During last night's game, there was an elderly man sitting in the front row near home plate on the first-base side who was in the shot whenever the camera focused on a left-handed hitter. In the first inning, he was wearing a bright yellow ballcap that ensured that the viewer's eyes landed on him whenever he was in the shot. By the third inning, he had switched to a hot pink cap with Chief Wahoo on it, and later in the game, he was wearing a blaze orange cap. He may have changed his hat more often, but I didn't watch every inning. I can only guess what he might have been up to. Maybe he was just trying to confound people. Who knows. But I thought it notable.

Another incident in last night's game underscored the very real necessity to pay close attention when you're at the game. A line drive off the bat of Drew Sutton screamed into the seats along the third-base line, and went into the last four or five rows in the lower seating area. Several fans tried to catch it, but it was too hot, and wound up hitting a woman in the face. The fans around her alerted an usher, who immediately started waving for help, and then the screen went back to Sutton. Announcers Matt Underwood and Rick Manning were completely oblivious, as they continued their discussion about Royals pitcher Gil Meche, and I have not found any references to the woman in the media reports, but she could have been seriously hurt. You've got to pay attention at the game. A baseball can seriously injure you. That's today's lesson.

Unintentional hiatus

This post is simply meant to explain the lack of posts over the past little while, and over the next little while. I have recently made a career change, which includes going back to college and taking Calculus II at Cleveland State. I took Calculus I in 1989 at Miami University, so my skills are a bit rusty. OK, a lot rusty. Many of my classmates were not born yet the last time I took a math class. So I've been spending all my free time trying to catch up. This trend is unlikely to change any time soon, so you might have to go without my keen insights for a while.

This blog will not die, it will merely hibernate for a time. Thank you in advance for your understanding. You are beautiful people.

News flash: Indians suck

The Indians' 6-1 loss to Oakland last night was their fifth straight, and they have not been competitive at all. I have hardly been watching the games (my tolerance for pain is not what it used to be) beyond just checking in every now and then to see what the score is. Since Thursday's 7-3 win over the Royals, the Tribe has lost to the Tigers 6-0, 5-2 and 8-1, then 5-0 and 6-1 to the Athletics. When you lose five straight and opposing pitchers have exactly one save in that period, that's pathetic. Yes, this team is playing out the string.

At 50-76, the Indians have the third-worst record in the American League. The Orioles are still the worst, despite the strong burst after their managerial change, at 45-82. They've lost seven of their last 11, which is bad, but better than the Indians have done in that period. The disappointing Mariners are 50-77, so it's pretty much even money whether the Tribe will finish ahead of the M's. In the National League, the Pirates and Diamondbacks are worse than our guys. So I guess it could be worse.

There's plenty of blame to go around for this five-game skid. The offense has been non-existent, scoring a total of four runs in five games, on a total of 27 hits. That's about five hits a game. That's terrible. But the starting pitching has been bad too. Five games is, as we all know, a complete round through a starting rotation, and each and every one of our current starters -- Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin, Jeanmar Gomez, Fausto Carmona and Mitch Talbot -- pitched badly in his outing. They gave up a total of 27 earned runs in a combined 27 2/3 innings of work, which works out to an ERA of 8.78.

The only bright spot has been the bullpen, which during the streak has unfailingly calmed things down to give the offense a chance to recover. (The offense made the least of those opportunities, but that's not the fault of any Tribe relievers.) In the five games, Indians relief pitchers have gone a total of 14 1/3 innings and given up just two runs, which makes for a sterling 1.25 ERA. Would that the bullpen were not the least important part of a ballclub.

We all knew right out of the gate that the Indians wouldn't contend this year; they'd gotten rid of their most expensive veterans last year, with the exception of Travis Hafner, whose contract and recent performance make him untradable. And they've gotten rid of even more players this year and dealt with some key injuries, so the club they're putting on the field on any given day looks more like an above-average AAA team than a major-league team. But even an above-average AAA team shouldn't be THIS bad.

Of course, it's just five games. And of course, winning or losing hardly matters right now, in the grand scheme of things. But we need to see some growth. And what we're seeing right now is not growth. It's just gross.

Round 'em up, ride 'em in (or however that song goes)

• On this morning's SportsCenter, Cleveland athletes were at the center of the top two plays of the week. The number-two play was by Browns tight end Benjamin Watson, wearing Ozzie Newsome's #82, and making a Newsomesque play in Saturday's 19-17 loss to St. Louis. (Don't Google to find out whether I invented the word "Newsomesque," just assume I did.) On a pass from Jake Delhomme to the back of the end zone, Watson went up and caught it with one hand, then came down and managed to get both feet down even as his momentum was carrying him out of the end zone. The officials originally called it incomplete, but on replay, it was overturned and called a touchdown.

• The number-one top play of the week was from the Indians' 8-1 loss to the Tigers yesterday, courtesy of Jayson Nix, a second baseman by trade who was playing third base. He made two great plays off the bat of Detroit's Don Kelly, but the second was far more spectacular than the first. Kelly hit a pop foul that was headed for the camera bay down the third-base line. Nix got there in plenty of time to make the play, but it appeared to be out of his reach. But he gave it his all, and managed to make the catch even as he toppled head-first into the camera pit, risking concussion or worse. It says something very good about a player who's willing to put forth that kind of effort while playing on a team that's on the bad end of an 8-1 score and is about to fall to 50-74.

• Despite being from two different sports, those plays have quite a lot in common: They were both spectacular catches that seemed impossible until they actually happened; neither would have cost the team very much of they hadn't been made (the Browns not only were playing a preseason game, but would still have had the ball third-and-goal from the 6; Kelly would have still been batting), and both were made in a losing effort. I'm not trying to make some grand point about this, I just found it interesting.

• Remember former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett? How he led the Buckeyes to the 2002 National Championship, then was declared ineligible the following season, ran into legal trouble and then sucked in his tryout with the Broncos? Remember? Well, he wants to try out for the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League; the league will be playing its second season in 2010, the Nighthawks in their first. He has to get permission from a judge to leave Ohio, and it would seem difficult to try out for a team in Nebraska without leaving Ohio. He has a hearing a week from today, and I hope he gets permission. He's 26 years old, which is pretty old for a running back, and he obviously will never become the superstar we all had him figured for; still, it would be nice to see him suit up again, even if it is in a joke league.

• Jim Brown's wife says he tried to move some things around so he could attend the Browns' first-ever "Ring of Honor" ceremony at the home opener on Sept. 19. Word is, she was lying. Brown doesn't want to have anything to do with the Browns anymore, since they stripped him of his role as an "executive advisor" (whatever the hell that means) and stopped funding his Amer-I-Can program. I don't know the details of either decision, but I don't think the team owes him either of those things. They were both undoubtedly goodwill gestures. On the other hand, stopping them would appear to signal an end to the goodwill, so I can understand why Brown would be miffed. Still, it would be nice to see him rise above that for the sake of the Browns' legion of fans who would love to see their greatest player honored in this manner.

• The Cavaliers. I don't have anything much to say about them, it just seems like I should mention them.

If instant replay is good enough for Little League ...

So I was watching the Little League World Series today, a game between a team from Hamilton, Ohio, and a team from Toms River, New Jersey. (The Ohioans just completed a 16-6 victory, after scoring eight runs in the top of the first. Go Ohio!)

There was a close play at first base, and the New Jersey runner was called safe. Replays clearly showed that the throw beat him, and while the Ohio first baseman stretched almost to the point of taking his foot off the base, he clearly kept contact with it. The call was incorrect. If this happened in a major league game, that would be the end of it; the incorrect call would stand, and the runner would stay on first base, with no out recorded. This would happen in spite of the fact that every observer but the umpire would know it was wrong, because they can watch the replay that he is forbidden to see.

But in the Little League World Series, starting this year, coaches can challenge close calls, and if it is shown to be clearly incorrect, the call can be overturned -- as was the case here. The call was overturned, and the error was corrected. What a concept! Why didn't anybody ever think of this before? I'm sure that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was watching, and saw how successful instant replay was. And I'm assuming he will push for an expansion to instant replay in the majors, beyond its current use, limited to possible home run calls. ... OK, that was sarcasm. Bud idiotically clings to the belief that allowing an umpire's incorrect call to stand is better than pausing the game for a minute or two to get it correct.

We all remember how, earlier this year, the Indians were the victim of a perfect game that wasn't, pitched by the Tigers' Armando Galarraga, when first base umpire Jim Joyce made almost the exact same incorrect call that was made in this Little League World Series game. With no recourse, the game umpires had no alternative but to let the incorrect call stand, costing Galarraga getting his name in the baseball history books. In part because of the travesty that occurred in that game, ESPN recently did a study of close calls over a two-week period, and determined that in fully one such play out of five, the umpire clearly missed the call. I haven't done the math, but that's got to add up to hundreds of missed calls over the course of the season. How Bud Selig and the rest of Major League Baseball can live with this, I cannot understand.

In the Little League World Series, steps have been taken to ensure that all calls are correct. Somehow, they can't do the same in the regular World Series. It boggles the mind.

Favre is a butt-hat too

My wife commented on a recent post about LeBron James, calling him a "butt-hat," which I quite liked, and not just because it was my wife who said it. It inspired me to enter that term into a Google image search, and the image above requires no further explanation, at least to the extent of how I got it. I think he's holding his nose to be melodramatic, and not because the butt-hat he's wearing actually smells like a butt.

In any case, this whole Brett Favre business reminds me a lot of LeBron's self-congratulatory one-hour special, in that the guy is so full of himself (and other things) that he sees nothing wrong with stringing a team and a city along while he decides what he's going to do with the rest of his life. I can't be objective about a comparison between them, but I will say that Favre has now done this four straight off-seasons, to three different teams.

I wonder if anybody's totaled up the number of hours spent on ESPN over the years on whether or not Brett Favre is going to retire. This morning's one-hour "SportsCenter" had three non-consecutive segments on Favre's decision to play "one more season" (cough) with the Vikings, including the first 10 minutes or so. Needless to say, that left no time for highlights from last night's Indians-Royals game.

Listen, I don't begrudge the guy's right to keep playing. And I understand that he left Green Bay because they chose to make Aaron Rodgers the starter (though that was in large part because of Favre's pussyfooting around the issue of retirement). But enough is enough already. Either retire or don't. If you're waiting until training camp has already started before you tell a team you're going to join them, you have no business being there.

I never wish injury upon athletes, but there would definitely be an upside to a career-ending knee ligament tear in this case.

Of Fair Hooker

This post on our good Fair Hooker has been up for over a year, but I never noticed it until now; it contains a reference to this blog. I found it just now looking at my Google Analytics account, which can show me such things as where I'm getting traffic from, both geographically and via linkage.

I don't think I've ever actually written anything about Fair Hooker on this blog, I just used his name because he played for the Browns and had a funny name. Same reason I used Elmer Flick and World B. Free's names, representing the Indians and Cavaliers, respectively. So until I actually do that, allow the above link to serve as an introduction to the actual man whose name is the first name of this blog. I love the following story, which I'd never heard before, from a Browns-Jets Monday Night Football game:

Apparently after Hooker caught a pass, commentator Don Meredith was heard to exclaim "Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?" Keith Jackson said "I'll pass" and Howard Cosell remained silent, so Meredith continued on: "Fair Hooker...I haven't met one yet."

LeBron shows he still has no character

I've written here several times that I'm tired of talking about LeBron James ... but I just can't seem to help myself. He's on the cover of the next issue of GQ, which sent a writer to hang around him for several weeks, leading up to his infamous auto-fellating announcement special on ESPN. Here's a direct quote from LeBron himself:

"If there was an opportunity for me to return (to the Cavaliers), and those fans welcome me back, that would be a great story."

Some people might be tempted to look at that quote and dream about LeBron coming back here in a few years. I am not one of those people. First of all, if he plays out his contract in Miami and comes back to Cleveland, he'll be 31. Not an old man, by any means, but probably past his career peak. Second of all, it would have been a great story if he'd stayed in Cleveland in the first place — a much better story than him leaving — and he certainly should have known that.

Third of all, and most importantly, LeBron shows more than he realizes about his character, or lack thereof, in that quote. He just became a member of the Miami Heat, and he's already talking about what team he's going to play for next. I obviously don't give a rat's petoot about the Miami Heat — in fact, I want them to go down in flames, no pun intended — but if I owned the Heat, I'd want the players I've got under contract to be committed to winning in Miami for as long as they can imagine. I sure as shootin' wouldn't want my star max-contract signee talking about going somewhere else.

Whatever regrets LeBron might have about turning his back on Northeast Ohio, he's under contract to the Heat now. His job is to try to win basketball games for them, not to worry about going anywhere else afterward — whether it's the same place he came from or not. That's the same character he showed in mailing it in against Boston in the playoffs last year, knowing he wanted to get out of Cleveland, not caring that he was still, at that time, getting paid an obscene amount of money to help the Cavaliers win basketball games.

Here's an excerpt from an interview with the author of the GQ piece, J.R. Moehringer:

Q: Now that we've all had a chance to digest the decision, what's the biggest story going into the season?

A: I think it's LeBron being booed wherever he goes. This is not just a Cleveland problem. This is a guy who had a Tiger Woods-esque fall from grace, even though he didn't really commit any sins—cardinal or venal or otherwise. His sin was that he made a marketing gaffe. He presented himself in an unflattering light. That's not much of a sin on the scale of public sins. And yet he's become a villain. I don't think we've had anything like this in sports history. We haven't had a beloved sports icon become a villain for something so aesthetic. He's despised, absolutely despised, because of a TV special. He didn't cheat on his wife, he didn't drive drunk, he didn't take drugs, he didn't test positive for PEDs, and almost overnight he went from being a loved guy to being hated. That day-in-day-out condemnation is the story.

All of that is true. And I don't know about anybody else, but I will probably never forgive him.

Of jerseys and men

This past weekend, I attended Roverfest in downtown Cleveland along with my wife and several members of our extended family on her side. This post is not about Roverfest, but about something I noticed there. We all know this is Browns Town, and I saw numerous people wearing Browns paraphernalia at the show. The ones that I noticed in particular were the Browns jerseys with the numbers and names of individual players on them: 38, Langham; 10, Quinn; 16, Cribbs; and 32, Brown.

This got me to thinking about the mentality of buying a team jersey with a player's name on it. It's the closest thing you can get to wearing the same thing an actual player wears, short of putting on the entire uniform, with helmet, pads and all. But what of the player you're honoring?

• Antonio Langham was a decent player for the Browns, a first-round draft pick in 1994 as a cornerback out of Alabama. He went with the team to Baltimore, then wandered about the NFL a bit, even coming back to Cleveland in 1999. This makes him one of only two players who played both for the original Browns and the expansion Browns (the other is Orlando Brown). He finished his career in New England in 2000. So he's been out of the league for a full decade, and only spent three years in Cleveland.

• Brady Quinn, we all remember, was supposed to be our savior as quarterback of the future. He grew up in Ohio as a Browns fan, and that endeared him to us that much more. Only problem is, when he got a shot as the starter, he wasn't very good. We can argue about whether he got a true opportunity, as many quarterbacks struggle in their early careers before finding their way later; it won't change the fact that he got traded to Denver last off-season. So that guy was wearing the Browns jersey of a guy who currently plays for the Broncos.

• Joshua Cribbs is another guy with a Northeast Ohio background, having played his college ball at Kent State; and he's one of the favorite players of every Browns fan I've ever talked to. He has been with the Browns since they signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2005, and has done absolutely everything that's been asked of him on the field. His primary job is returning kicks—and he is sensational at that, holding the NFL record for touchdowns on kick returns—but he also covers kicks and has shown absolutely no hesitation to make a tackle; and plays wide receiver and occasionally wildcat quarterback on the offense. I remember when he was a rookie, and said words to the effect that he would play on the line if he was asked. If I were to wear any jersey worn by a member of the current Browns roster, it would be this guy's. ... But who's to say that in 2014, you won't be wearing the jersey of someone who plays for the Jets or the Titans or the Ravens or Steelers or anybody else? Remember that Cribbs and the Browns had a contract dispute just this past offseason, before the Browns got him to sign a three-year deal worth $20 million. There's no guarantee he'll finish his career here.

• And that brings us to Jim Brown, the greatest Brown of them all, and in fact the greatest athlete ever to play for a Cleveland team. (LeBron's departure ensures that Brown will keep that title for the foreseeable future.) He was the NFL's all-time leading rusher for 19 years after he retired, until Walter Payton broke his record in 1984. He has now been passed by several other running backs in terms of total yards, but none have topped his career average of 5.2 yards per rush. And he'd have certainly held that record longer if he'd played longer — the dude retired at age 29 to become an actor. In 2002, the Sporting News named him the greatest football player of all time, at any position. And best of all, he played his entire career, 1957 to 1965, with the Cleveland Browns. The team paraphernalia I wear is usually limited to a team T-shirt or sweatshirt, with the occasional team hat thrown in, because I root for the name on the front of the uniform, not the back. But if you're going to wear a jersey for an individual player from Cleveland, this is the guy whose jersey you want to wear. He will never, ever be anything else but a Cleveland Brown, and he will probably always be the greatest ever to wear that jersey. I have not always liked him as a person, but at least he never killed anybody, and I did enjoy his performance in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

In case anyone's wondering, I didn't see any Cavaliers jerseys at all. Probably a number of attendees used to have #23 jerseys with James on the back, but got rid of them a few weeks ago. And that only proves my point. Cheer for the uniform, not the player. And if you're going to try to identify with a player, make sure it's one who can't break your heart.

That's better; more thoughts on other topics

• So the Indians pulled one out yesterday against the allegedly woeful Orioles, thanks to a strong performance from 22-year-old rookie Jeanmar Gomez. Gomez, making his fourth career start, went six innings, giving up just one run, striking out three, walking none, and keeping the ball in the park. He is now 3-0 with a sterling 1.54 ERA, and has yet to yield more than two runs in a game.

• Michael Brantley, in the leadoff spot, got four hits, to raise his batting average from .174 to .198. He's hitting .375 over his last six games, with three walks. Brantley, who's 23, has a long way to go to show he's a legitimate major league regular, but it's nice to see him starting to hit.

• You will note that both the above players are still trying to establish themselves as major leaguers, as is true of a very large portion of the Indians' roster these days. As a matter of fact, in a quick review of the current Tribe roster, I count exactly five players who have spent the entire year on the major league roster. Everybody else has spent time either in Columbus or on the disabled list. And every one of those five players (Fausto Carmona, Justin Masterson, Chris Perez, Rafael Perez, and Tony Sipp) are pitchers. That's right — not one position player has spent the entire season in a Cleveland Indians uniform. Yes, we're rebuilding.

• Don't forget, the Browns open their preseason tomorrow against the Packers. As seems to be the case perpetually with this team, the biggest question I have will be how the quarterback (currently Jake Delhomme) looks. I'm sure we'll see Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy at some point as well. McCoy's the one I'm really looking forward to seeing. And I will also be interested to see how the starting defense looks — as well as running back Jerome Harrison, who broke out at the end of last season.

• I have always been a fan of Charles Barkley, at least from a personality standpoint, and he has solidified his position in my good graces with his recent comments about our former hero, LeBron James. Taken from the Fox Sports story:

"I heard about LeBron's little tweet today that he's remembering everybody who said anything bad about him," Barkley said Thursday on ESPN Radio 103.3 Dallas/Fort Worth. "And he said 'everybody.' Well, I want him to make sure that he puts my name on that [list]."

Barkley took particular issue with the one-hour "The Decision" special on ESPN, where James announced he was going to sign with the Heat to play with friends and fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

"I thought that his little one-hour special was a punk move," said Barkley, who earlier in the summer said James would never be Michael Jordan.

"I thought them dancing around on the stage was a punk move, and I thought he should've stayed in Cleveland. Him joining Dwyane Wade's team was very disappointing to me."

None of this changes the fact that LeBron is gone, obviously, but it's still nice to hear.

• As I approached I-77 this morning on the Ohio Turnpike on my way to work, I was driving in the center lane, and this dude came up behind me, tailgated me for about a mile, and then came right up on my bumper as he passed me on the left — even though there was no traffic in that lane at all at any point during the whole event. As he went past me, I noticed that he had Ohio plates but a Michigan Wolverines bumper sticker. That shows you what kind of person lives in Ohio and roots for Michigan.

What the *&#%, Baltimore Orioles?

The erstwhile worst team in the major leagues, the Baltimore Orioles, have suddenly won five in a row and eight out of nine, the last two against the Indians. Despite this hot streak, the O's still have the American League's worst record, and still had the worst record in the majors until last night, when they passed Pittsburgh by half a game.

The obvious thing to point to is the managerial change—Buck Showalter is 8-1 with a team that was a putrid 32-73 when he arrived—but no manager can make that big a difference, at least not permanently. He's probably provided some sort of spark, but a manager can't turn the worst team in baseball into the best. It's simply not possible. The Birds simply have a bunch of players who are playing much, much better at the same time than they were all season. They can't keep this up.

Last night's result was a perfect example. Brad Bergesen took the mound for Baltimore with a 3-9 record and a horrendous 6.26 ERA, having not won a game since May. (It's now August, in case you've lost your calendar.) You may think he probably got sent down or hit the disabled list in the meantime, but I just looked at his game log — while he appears to have missed a start here and there, he'd made 14 starts since his last victory, entering Wednesday night's game.

So what does he do? He pitches a complete game two-hitter, and beats the Tribe 3-1. Last night was the highlight of Brad Bergesen's career to date. The Indians came into the series against the Orioles having gone 13-11 against the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Tigers and Twins, contenders all. So it's not like this is a team that was ripe for the picking.

How do you explain it? Seriously, I'd like an answer, because I'm just baffled.

Please excuse my recent absence

My wife and I took the kids on a long weekend trip to Pittsburgh, where we visited Kennywood and the Carnegie Science Center, and did some shopping on Penn Avenue after eating breakfast at an excellent restaurant called DeLuca's, which we saw featured on the Travel Channel's Man v. Food.

Kennywood is quite an underrated amusement park. It's got five or six roller coasters, all of which were pretty good, a couple of which were very good, and the lines were at most half as long as the lines are at Cedar Point. You could ride all of Kennywood's coasters at least three or four times in a day; at Cedar Point, you probably couldn't get through them once. I know Cedar Point has more roller coasters than Kennywood, but you see my point.

The Carnegie Science Center was really good too. There's a World War II-era submarine parked there that you can walk through (I got a bit claustrophobic in there, but still found it fascinating), and there's a side building that houses sports-related activities. You can find out how fast you can throw a baseball, try to figure out which of two bats was corked, see what your vertical leap is, and many more such activities. We'd have had more time to do them if we hadn't gotten to that part of it less than an hour before closing.

Oh, and don't worry, we didn't all turn into Steelers fans—although our 11-year-old decided it would be fun to count how many people she saw wearing Steeler paraphernalia on Penn Avenue. I think she lost count around 40.

Anyway, that's the main reason I haven't posted for a week. I hope both my regular readers will forgive me.

• The Browns have posted their first depth chart of the season, ahead of Saturday's preseason opener against the Packers. There's not much of note here. Top draft pick Joe Haden, who just got into camp last week, is listed behind veterans Eric Wright and Sheldon Brown at cornerback, but Wright just hurt his leg during practice today, so Haden might get the start. We don't yet know how serious the injury is, but this is football, and these things will happen. Anyway, the depth chart isn't the part that interests me. The part that interests me is that the Browns will take the field on Saturday, and this town is set to shift into football mode. I'm pretty excited to see how they look, even if I'm considering an 8-8 season to be a best-case scenario.

• Ohio State is ranked #2 in the opening AP poll, and quarterback Terrelle Pryor is on every list of Heisman hopefuls. Obviously, none of that is important until Sept. 2, when the Buckeyes open the season against a pretty weak Marshall squad; on the other hand, it can't be bad. Maybe this team will give Jim Tressel his second top-level national championship. Their first true test comes Sept. 11 against the #13 Miami Hurricanes at the Horseshoe. That should be very interesting indeed. The only team ranked higher on Ohio State's schedule right now is #12 Wisconsin.

• The Indians are playing decent baseball these days. They lost two of three to the Twins after splitting a four-game series with the Red Sox, but those are both contending teams. They open a three-game set tonight against the suddenly red-hot Orioles, who are 6-1 since Buck Showalter took over as manager. Showalter was the guy I wanted the Indians to hire instead of Manny Acta, but what's done is done. In any case, this Orioles team at its core is a terrible, terrible ballclub, and they will surely come back to earth sometime soon. Maybe starting tonight, when Justin Masterson faces off against Jake Arrieta.

• LeBron James appeared in Akron last weekend and went to Cedar Point on Monday, and nobody beat him up. Is it wrong that I'm disappointed?