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.