Isn't baseball a funny game?

When Rays manager Joe Maddon summoned Kyle Farnsworth from the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game last night with nobody out and the bases loaded, he probably figured it wasn't likely that Farnsworth would get out of the jam, but at least he would make the Indians earn it by getting the bat on the ball. After all, Farnsworth had yet to walk a batter all year. Surely he could put it in the strike zone with the game on the line.

Farnsworth got Orlando Cabrera to ground into a fielder's choice, putting him within a double play of sending the game to extras. And then he got ahead of Michael Brantley 0-2. Rays fans must have felt like things were going their way. But then he missed the zone four times, Brantley went to first, and Carlos Santana pranced down the third base line to end the game.

The old walk-off walk. You see it about 10 or 15 times a season around the majors. You'd think any major league pitcher worth his salt would be able to avoid walking a guy with the bases loaded to end the game, but apparently even a guy like Farnsworth who almost never walks anybody can lose the strike zone sometimes. On the same evening, in Miami, the Phillies' Roy Halladay -- arguably the best pitcher in the game -- lost in part because he walked Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson. It was the first time in Halladay's career that he'd walked a pitcher. Johnson would come around to score the first run of a 2-1 Florida victory. I guess no matter how good a pitcher's control usually is, he's bound to lose it once in a while. Throwing a baseball in that small area, while making it hard to hit, is not an easy task.

The win was the Indians' 14th in a row at Progressive Field, giving them their best home start in the team's 111-year history. At 23-11, the Tribe has baseball's best record. And I'm starting to think they really are this good.

Falling in love with these 2011 Cleveland Indians

In the afterglow of the Indians' second straight walk-off win and 12th straight win at Progressive Field, I find myself starting to wonder if this team is really this good. And you know what? I think that maybe, just maybe, they really are.

How can this be? A team that started the season expected to finish fourth in a fairly weak American League Central Division has set a team record for wins in the month of April, with 18 against just eight losses. Many of us thought when they lost three straight last week that they had started their downward slide into mediocrity, but they've followed that up with five straight wins.

How have they done it? In a word: Defense. These Indians played a phenomenal defensive game tonight. Jack Hannahan, Austin Kearns, Michael Brantley and Orlando Cabrera are among the Indians who made particularly fine plays tonight. Lou Marson threw out a runner at second base. Carlos Santana started a fine double play from first base. Even Shin-Soo Choo almost threw somebody out at second, from right field. (I know, horseshoes and hand grenades, but still.) I think this is the best defensive team I can remember the Indians ever having.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fine performance turned in by Alex White, who went six innings in his major league debut, giving up just the two runs, both on solo homers. And let's not forget the Tribe bullpen, which shut the Tigers out for seven innings to give the offense a chance to win it.

For the second straight series, the Indians have turned back the team that started the series in second place in the division. The Royals have bounced back with two straight wins against the Twins, and have returned to second place, 4 1/2 games behind our Tribe. That's a pretty good-sized lead heading into May, though of course there's still a long way to go. But if we keep seeing this kind of defense, anything can happen.

I'm starting to love these 2011 Cleveland Indians. I don't know yet if they really are this good. But they're sure fun to watch right now.

Is this actually happening?

OK, the season is only a tenth of the way through. Still, the Indians have played as many games as the Browns play in a full season, and you'd be thrilled like crazy if the Browns finished 12-4 this year.

I don't get much time to watch Tribe games these days, but I did watch the last few innings of last night's game. What I saw was a team that plays smart and provides strong defense.

Michael Brantley made a great catch out in left field that saved a one-out double or better off the bat of Alcides Escobar in the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at 3. On a potential double-play ball to first, Matt LaPorta made a bad throw that Asdrubal Cabrera fielded on a hop and failed to keep his foot on the base before throwing to first, but the runner, Billy Butler, assumed he was out, and Cabrera alertly and quietly called for the ball back in time to tag Butler out. I can't say I've ever seen that before.

And when the Royals' defense gave the Indians a break in the top of the tenth, our boys took full advantage of it. The Indians' first run came unaided by the defense (Shelley Duncan smoked a double to left to knock in Carlos Santana, who had drawn a leadoff walk), but after that, it was thanks to a gift by Escobar on a bad throw that would have ended the inning with a double play that opened the door for more scoring. Adam Everett scored on that play, and then Jack Hannahan and Grady Sizemore followed that up with back-to-back RBI hits. And what would have been a razor-thin one-run lead going into the bottom of the tenth became a nice four-run cushion.

And by the way, how awesome is it to have Grady back? He homered in his first game back on Sunday, and went three-for-five in last night's win. When healthy, he's been one of baseball's best center fielders, and he appears to have immediately returned to that form.

Have I suddenly reached the conclusion that these Indians are contenders? No, don't be silly. They're probably just on a hot streak. There are still 146 games to play.

But I'll tell you what, they've sure been fun to watch so far.

Go civil engineers

This post started as an assignment for my Tools for Civil Engineering class at the University of Akron, and you might not think civil engineering has much to do with sports, but in this case, it definitely does. Since I had already written some stuff for class, I thought I'd expand it a little for the blog. I hope my professor doesn't mind.

Akron is hosting the local region's American Society of Civil Engineers competition this weekend, and as my Tools professor is Akron's chapter adviser, he canceled class this week and told us to attend one of the competitions and write a paragraph or so about it. I chose the concrete canoe race, basically for no other reason than that it was held on Friday afternoon and I was already in Akron for Friday morning classes, so I wouldn't have to make an extra trip.

It was fascinating, though. Akron was one of eight schools involved, and three of them -- Ohio State, Kentucky and Pittsburgh -- are national powers in the traditional sports. Those schools cowered before the engineering might of the Zips, along with Western Kentucky and Youngstown State.

Akron’s teams did very well, running a canoe named the Bootlegger, finishing first in the men’s sprint and the ladies’ endurance competitions, and second or third in all others. It seems that the engineering aspect was a much larger component than the athletic aspect, as schools like Akron, Western Kentucky and Youngstown did well no matter who was rowing the canoes, and schools like Ohio State and Ohio U. were always bringing up the rear – especially OSU’s Matta Armada, which must make the Buckeyes’ basketball coach ashamed to have it named for him. I noted that one of the canoes actually snapped in half at one point, though it did not appear to be one of the competition canoes.

Maneuverability was a huge component. In the sprint races, the boats had to go down past some buoys and back to the original starting point. Akron's boat won the first men's heat because its canoe turned around much faster than Western Kentucky's, which was faster on the straightaway.

I'll tell you one thing -- the engineering students who attended were every bit as much into it as if they were at a football or basketball game. Four Akron students went shirtless with "ZIPS" painted on their chests, and they were chanting "Z-I-P-S, Zips, Zips, Zips!" There was much rejoicing whenever the Bootlegger came in first.

I also caught some of the root beer stein race, which was also pretty interesting. I’m not sure I see the tie-in to civil engineering, but it was fun anyway. It seemed that most of the competitors were much more interested in getting to the finish line in a hurry than keeping their root beer from spilling. I saw one guy from Kentucky wipe out just before the finish, leaving less than an inch of pop in his cup. I didn’t see how the scoring is done, but I’m sure than cost him, both because it took him more time to get there and because he lost most of his beverage.

What to make of Tribe's hot start?

OK, so the Indians aren't going to go 160-2 or 159-3. Dan Haren blanked them on one hit Tuesday night, and the Angels managed a victory in the rubber match of the series last night on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th that would not have scored the run if it had been hit about 10 feet shallower.

Still, the Indians are off to a pretty darn good start. The obvious question is, is this really how good this team is? Or are they just on a hot streak? I received this email from Jeff Brown three days ago, when the Tribe was 7-2:

As I have reported previously, the Tribe has had many fast starts over the past 25 seasons which have been a "flash in the pan" -- they ended up being a big loser by the end of the season.

That's what's happening again this season -- an impressive 7-2 start will, before, long, fade into the woodwork and they will become big losers once again.

Mark my words, Steve -- the 2011 Tribe will finish 15-20 games under .500!

Well, I don't know about all that. Do I think these Indians are a playoff team? Probably not. But if you think they were fundamentally a 15-under-.500 team at the start of the season, then you must revise your expectations based solely on the fact that they're four games over .500 right now.

This morning, I had this from Jeff:

Once again, as in the past, the Tribe zoomed out to a fast start at 8-2, however their precipitous decline has already begun.

They've lost two in a row to fall to 8-4, and just watch, Steve -- they are on a race to the bottom, and it's only a matter of time until they are in last place again.

They stink Steve, and no smoke and mirrors are going to cover up that fact over 162 games.

I anticipate they'll be in last place in their division no later than May 29, and as I have stated, they'll finish the year 15-20 games under .500.

Are you with me on this one?

Well, no. Jeez, talk about reading too much into two games. We're talking about two losses by a total of three runs. And to predict they'll finish last is to predict not only that they'll finish behind the Twins and White Sox (which is pretty likely), and the Tigers (which is about 50-50), but the Royals. Come on, Jeff! You think the Kansas City Royals are going to finish ahead of us this year? Have you looked at their "talent"?

In any case, to fully examine whether the Indians are for real, you have to take a look at the reasons for their hot start. The starting rotation has been really, really good. Fausto Carmona laid an egg on Opening Day, but he's gotten his ERA down from over 10 to 6.11 since then, with two strong outings. He's the only starter without a win now. Carlos Carrasco has been serviceable, and the other three starters -- Justin Masterson, Mitch Talbot and Josh Tomlin -- all have ERAs under 3, after two starts each. Can they keep this up? ... Well, probably not. These are all young pitchers who have not tasted this type of success in the bigs before, and they will get banged around from time to time. But I don't think it's unrealistic to expect any or all of them to finish with ERAs around 4, and 12-15 wins. Fausto has been a 19-game winner before, and could do it again. I would expect that Carrasco will finish with an ERA around 5 (it's currently 5.03). If all that happens, this will be one of the AL's better rotations.

They're helped by a solid defense behind them, strengthened by the off-season additions of Orlando Cabrera and Jack Hannahan. Asdrubal Cabrera -- who unexpectedly leads the team with four home runs and 10 RBIs -- is a solid glove man at short too. And this team is going to have to win with pitching and defense, because they're not going to keep up the offensive numbers they've posted. Asdrubal is no power hitter. I've heard talk about how he's changed his approach at the plate, and bravo for him, but he's currently on pace to hit 54 home runs. You're not going to convince me that the guy who hit three dingers all last season is suddenly a primo power guy unless he proves it to me. And I don't see that happening.

Anyway, the Tribe's fast start is encouraging. When the season started, I felt I'd have been happy with about a 76-86 record. I felt that was a realistic goal. Now? I think .500 is a possibility. It's going to require people to stay healthy and play well all year, but it could happen. Sorry, Jeff. I think you're wrong.

Take that, "King"

I don't want to get too carried away about the Cavaliers' 12-point victory over Miami yesterday, but darn it, it feels good to have our guys beat LeBron James and the Heat. (Incidentally, someone held up a sign at the game that said "Welcome to North Beach." Love it.)

Anyway, this game doesn't change anything much for either team. Miami is going to the playoffs, and if the season ended today, they'd be the Eastern Conference's third seed. And the Cavaliers are going to the lottery. At 15-58, they still have the NBA's worst record, a game and a half worse than the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Still, this was sweet. Remember LeBron's first return to Cleveland? When the Cavs came in at 7-9, seeming to have legitimate hopes to contend for a playoff spot, and the Heat ripped them apart and sent them spiraling? Maybe this one will turn them around in the other direction. ... OK, probably not. But let me enjoy this anyway.

Welcome back, Taiter

I didn't realize until this morning that the Cavaliers even had a game last night, much less that Joe Tait, the longtime voice of the Cavs, had returned for it. That, of course, is a function of the relentless patheticity of the Cavaliers this year, combined with the fact that I'm now an engineering student with a wife and kids, and not much time for such things. I haven't even watched much March Madness this year. (No, patheticity is not a word. So I guess I made it up. But I'm not going to compare myself to Shakespeare.)

Anyway, I'm glad to see Tait's back behind the mic. He is in many ways the greatest Cavalier of them all, even though he's never contributed to the Cavs winning (or losing) a single game -- because he HAS contributed to our enjoyment of those games, which is worth an awful lot. And he's been in the broadcast booth for all but a couple of years of the team's four-decade history. He's called the Miracle of Richfield, the 2007 Finals, The Shot, and a whole lot of terrible, terrible basketball. And more important than the fact that we get to hear him call four more games (he will not travel with the team) is the fact that he's able to work again, five months after heart surgery.

It's somehow fitting that the Cavs got awful again just before Tait retired, considering all the lousy teams he's had a front-row seat for. There is no question that he will deliver the same professional, high-quality play-by-play he has always given us, regardless of how crappy the product on the floor is.

Mixed day in Buckeye-land

As the Ohio State hoopsters prepare to start their expected deep NCAA Tournament run this afternoon, the football team suffers another setback as the five-game suspensions of the five players involved in Tattoogate are upheld by the NCAA, and Jim Tressel volunteers to sit out the same five games as punishment for knowing about their transgressions and not reporting them.

I've already expressed in this space what I think about the rule that ensnared the players, which is basically that they didn't hurt anybody, so what's the big deal. But the rules are in place, and Jim Tressel, who is supposed to be this great integrity guy, knows what they are, or at the very least SHOULD know what they are. On the one hand, I find it hard to fault him for not wanting his players to be punished for not hurting anyone; on the other hand, he knows darn well he and they are all subject to NCAA rules.

Of course, his volunteering to sit out five games doesn't mean he'll serve a five-game suspension and then show up for the Nebraska game in week six. The NCAA is still investigating, and could make his punishment more severe. All this over a few tattoos and trinkets. Crazy.

In other doings:

* The basketball Buckeyes haven't broken any NCAA rules lately, so long as anyone's aware, and are about three hours from starting play as the top overall seed in the Big Dance, against 16-seed Texas-San Antonio. They will of course cruise through this first-round matchup; the next 16 seed that beats a 1 will be the first ever, and these Buckeyes aren't going to lose to some pipsqueak upstart in their home state. That said, there are some potholes waiting for them in the later rounds. Likely opponents within the East Regional include Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina, all of which have won national titles in the last 15 years (albeit with different players than they currently have).

* Akron, the college I'm currently attending, is almost certainly about to be eliminated by Notre Dame, but it's nice to see a Northeast Ohio school in the tourney. It looked earlier in the season like Cleveland State might be the real deal, but they foundered right around the time I transferred from Cleveland State to Akron. Hmmm ... (By the way, don't ask me to name any players on either team. I don't want to embarrass you.)

* The Cavaliers won Wednesday night in Sacramento. That's the good news. Hey, there's been precious little of that for this team this year, so we might as well savor it. ... But the bad news is, they followed that up with a never-competitive, absolutely shameful 41-point loss in Portland. They were losing at various points by scores of 24-2, 35-6, 56-18, 74-33 ... you get the idea. It was only because the last three-eighths of the game were considered garbage time that the Blazers didn't double our score for the game. Had they kept their proverbial foot on our throat, it would have been even uglier. This is one of the worst teams in Cavaliers history, and that's not a small feat.

* The Indians' regular season starts in exactly two weeks, and while there's little reason to think they will contend this season, there are reasons to watch. I'm particularly excited about young catcher Carlos Santana, who was just mentioned on ESPN's SweetSpot blog as a potential breakout player for 2011. Some things I didn't know before I read that: Santana walked more than he struck out last year, between Columbus and Cleveland; and his combined AAA-MLB on-base percentage was .529. That's right, .529! Do you have any idea how good that is? Well, I'll tell you. The only players ever to post better OBPs over a full major-league season are named Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Barry Bonds. Obviously Santana's feat is not in the same league as theirs (both literally and figuratively), but still, this is a special player. And he's not a corner outfielder, as all three of those men were. He's a catcher! A catcher who can get on base with great regularity is a rare find indeed. Joe Mauer's about the only one I can think of, among current major leaguers, and even Mauer doesn't walk that much.

Jeff Brown thinks the Cavaliers stink

Of Fair Hooker correspondent Jeff Brown weighed in with this today:

The Cavaliers had a nice little stretch there between Feb. 11 - Mar. 4, when they went 4-4, including two beatdowns of the Knicks.

Alas, they have reverted back to their old ways, losing four in a row by an average of more than 16 points.

And of course, prior to their 4-4 stretch, they had lost 26 in a row, meaning they are a mere 4-30 over their past 34 games! (a winning percentage of .117 !)

Steve, don't allow yourself to get seduced by a short 8-game streak in which the Cadavers managed to eek out a .500 record!

I'm wanting to protect you from too much disappointment and overblown expectations -- you see, Steve, the Cavaliers still really stink.

What do you think?

Well, yes. Of course they do.

Oh, sure, we've got some useful players -- J.J. Hickson, in particular, has shown real flashes of brilliance from time to time, and Baron Davis has done well in his limited Cavalier action. But in terms of building a successful team down the road, there aren't many useful pieces here. Anderson Varejao has been hurt most of the year, but he's a fine player. Outside of that -- well, let's see, Christian Eyenga might develop, and fellow rookies like Samardo Samuels and Manny Harris could become nice players too. But not one of the guys listed here is a cornerstone-type player. We're going to have to hope we get one of those in the 2011 draft.

The good news? We'll probably have more lottery balls than anybody else.

If only the Cavs could play the Knicks 82 times

I don't have time to blog much these days(1), obviously(2), but I'm home alone on a Saturday night(3), and my fingers still work(4), so here goes:

* The Cavaliers have now broken two 26-game losing streaks in the past month: A 26-game overall losing streak, and now a 26-game road losing streak. And somehow, the over-.500 New York Knicks cannot beat the NBA's worst team, even in their own building. How is this possible? As a Cleveland sports blogger, I should probably try to come up with an answer, but I don't have one. The Knicks have no obvious weaknesses that the Cavs seem particularly suited to exploiting. I'm inclined to think it's just a coincidence that the Fighting Byrons have played three of their best games of the year against the Knicks. But if our boys beat them again on April 3 ... well, it'll probably be another coincidence.

* In a somewhat related note, the Cavs are now 1-0 with Baron Davis on the floor. My friend Jeff Brown(5) had his doubts about the Baron's dedication when we acquired him, as evidenced by this e-mail from March 2:

So here are a series of questions relative to our beloved Cleveland Cavaliers, in reverse order of relevance:

Q: Will Baron Davis thrive with the Cavs, sign an extension, show leadership, play hard, and be a model citizen and role model for the other players?

Q: Will Baron Davis play out his remaining 2 1/2 years of contract with the Cavs?

Q: Will Baron Davis play at all the rest of this season?

Q: Will Baron Davis ever wear a Cavaliers uniform?

Q: Does Baron Davis really have an injury that's preventing him from playing right now?

Q: Has Baron Davis even arrived in Cleveland yet?

Q: Does Baron Davis have any intention whatsoever of playing for the Cavs?

Q: Has Baron Davis earned enough money in his career to simply tell the Cavs to shove it?

Q: Did Baron Davis get the shaft by being traded from glitzy Los Angeles, where he was having fun throwing alley oops to phenom Blake Griffin, and sent to the basketball purgatory of Cleveland, Ohio, the "mistake on the lake?"

Q: Was Baron Davis the most unhappy person in the universe on the day he found out he was traded to the team that set an all-time NBA record for most consecutive losses? (and recently found out their best player, Jamison, is out for the remainder of the season)

Do you have answers to any of my questions, Steve?

Then, today, he sent me this:

OK, Steve, maybe Baron Davis is going to a positive influence on the Cadavers after all.

(he hit a big 3 pointer to put the Cavs up)

The Cavs own the Knicks, Steve!

I have nothing to add to that.

* The Buckeyes clinched the Big Ten regular-season title today, despite not having played. Iowa somehow beat Purdue today. What does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Very little. The Buckeyes are the top seed in the Big Ten tournament. Big whoop. We all know OSU is going to get a #1 seed in the Big(6) Dance, unless they lose two or three more games, and does anyone really care what happens until then?

* Jason Donald got hit by a pitch today. That was the lead on the Associated Press' story about their 8-3 spring training win over the White Sox(7). That should give you some idea how much spring training games matter. Still, I'm pretty excited about the season starting. Yeah, the Indians are probably going to be lucky to finish about 75-87, but still, it's baseball. And no matter how badly the real-life Indians suck, I can always watch Major League(8) again.

Footnotes(n):

1. I've mentioned several times in this space how busy I am, but for any strangers who may have wandered onto this site, I am currently enrolled in a civil engineering curriculum at the University of Akron, in addition to working part-time at my dad's construction company and being married with four kids at home. I am quite pleased with this situation, regardless of the resulting posting frequency.

2. I haven't posted since February 24. That's a total of nine days. Please see footnote 1 if you think I should post more often.

3. My wife has taken our three 12-and-under kids to her cousin's in Pennsylvania for the weekend. I had to stay home to practice evaluating integrals so I can pass a calculus exam on Tuesday. The oldest "child" (at 17) has gone to a friend's house for the night. So out of six residents of our house, I'm the only one here. I should throw myself a one-person party.

4. I guess this one doesn't really need a footnote. I haven't broken my fingers or gotten terrible arthritis or anything, but that probably is taken as a given unless I say otherwise. Kind of silly to have even mentioned it in the first place.

5. Jeff has become fascinated with the Cavaliers' overwhelming crappiness this year, and has emailed me after almost every Cavs game since the Great Losing Steak of '10-11 was in its middle stages. I haven't had time to respond to him(1), but I do appreciate them all.

6. That's my fourth capitalized use of the word "big" in one paragraph, but I think they're all appropriate, and I'm not changing any of them.

7. They didn't put it in those words. It was somewhat prosaic, actually. I should probably provide a link to it. ... Nah. You can find it if you want.

8. I'll bet you want me to say something about Charlie Sheen, since I mentioned one of his movies and he's been in the news. I'm going to leave you wanting on that. Sorry.

n(o). Apparently blogger.com doesn't provide a way to make superscript. It does, however, provide small text, so I improvised. These footnote references have to be done in small type on the same line as the regular text. So I've put them in parentheses to help set them off. It looks crappy, I know. Take it up with blogger.com.

o(p). I have labeled this footnote "n" for the time being, because I don't know yet, as I'm writing this particular footnote, how many footnotes there will actually be, and "n" is the first letter in the word "number." And I probably won't feel like going back to change it, so I'm explaining it now instead.

p. I have labeled this footnote "o" since it's the next letter after "n." I probably don't have to explain why the footnote explaining the previous footnote is "p," based on the established pattern established by footnote "o."

Cleveland Barons return ... well, one of them

OK, that was a bad pun, and probably nobody reading this even remembers the Cleveland Barons. For those who do not, they were an NHL team that played here from 1976 to 1978. Still ...

The Cavaliers have traded Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the Clippers for Baron Davis and a first-round draft pick. My initial impression was, gee, I hate to lose Mo, and Baron Davis is definitely on the far side of the hill.

But then I thought about it a little more. The Clippers currently have the eighth-worst record in the NBA, which means the Cavs will have two lottery picks. If they use them wisely, this could be the way to build another contender down the road. Remember how Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, Hot Rod Williams and Ron Harper were all rookies at the same time for the Cavs? They don't necessarily have to have four super rookies to build a good team, but stockpiling draft picks sure can't hurt.

So yeah, I like the move. Good job, Cavs.

Yes, that really happened

The Cavaliers did actually beat the Los Angeles Lakers last night. I didn't actually watch it -- I rarely watch the Cavs anymore, partly because I'm so much busier than I used to be, and partly because watching the Cavs rarely brings me any pleasure -- but I saw the highlights on ESPN this morning, and there are enough witness accounts to corroborate the story that I feel comfortable going with it. (In case you're wondering, the last Cavs game I actually watched was the one in which they beat the Clippers to break their losing streak. I didn't watch the whole thing, but saw about the last three-eighths of it.)

Our boys went into the game with an NBA-worst 9-46 record. Not only that, they had lost 39 of their last 41 games, a stretch during which they set an NBA record by losing 26 straight. One of those was an embarrassingly terrible 55-point loss to the Lakers in L.A. The Lakers came in on a two-game losing streak, but please compare that number to the one affixed to Cleveland's earlier skid. They were 38-18 coming in. They're the two-time defending champions. They have Kobe Bryant, not to mention Pau Gasol and a bunch of other players that would beat any Cavalier in a game of one-on-one. No way they lose to this bunch.

It's been said many times, but it bears repeating: That, my friends, is why they play the games.

I will note, for those who care about such things, that the Cavaliers have gone 2-0 at home against Los Angeles-based teams this year. Hey, you've got to look for positives where you can find them.

Don't look now ...

... but the Indians' pitchers and catchers report to spring training in just five days. With the Browns going through the process of rebuilding their coaching staff, the Cavaliers not having won a game since the Browns were actually still playing, and the weather outside making me wish I was part penguin, baseball season is extremely welcome.

Obviously, the 2011 Indians are not going to be contenders. But there are plenty of reasons to watch them this season. First of all, Carlos Santana, one of the hottest catching prospects in baseball, is back with a clean bill of health. Grady Sizemore is healthy too. Shin-Soo Choo is one of the best in the business, and while we may not be able to keep him very much longer, we've got him now. Guys like Matt LaPorta, Jason Donald, Luis Valbuena and Asdrubal Cabrera could do big things this year.

There are pitchers to be excited about too. Fausto Carmona has obviously done huge things before, and the rest of the projected rotation (Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco, Mitch Talbot and Josh Tomlin) has plenty of upside. And Chris Perez is at least a second-tier closer, and could turn out to be one of the best.

Baseball season is almost here. I can hardly wait.

And about the Cavaliers ...

Who would have thought the Cavaliers, losers of 24 straight going into last night's game in Dallas, would actually keep it close and have a chance to tie it with a three-pointer in the closing seconds? Anthony Parker even managed to get off a pretty good-looking trey that clanged off the rim, and the Cavs got the rebound in time to try another one. But Boobie Gibson chose to pass the ball to Antawn Jamison, who had just enough time to get a shot off. He'd have had a hand in his face, but you can't make a shot you don't take. He passed, and the buzzer sounded. This is a pretty strong indication of why the 2010-11 Cavaliers have the longest losing streak in NBA history. Not only do they lack talent, they lack game smarts.

It was a pretty impressive performance. Too bad it ended the same way the previous 24 did.

Thank you, Green Bay Packers

I hope all you people out there in Of Fair Hooker-land can forgive me for the scarcity of my postings lately. I'm a very busy man these days, what with working a job, tackling an engineering curriculum at the University of Akron, and the fact that my wife and I have four kids at home. I trust you will understand that those are all much, much higher priorities than a silly old sports blog.

So it took me two days to write anything about Super Bowl XVI. I'm sure you still remember the game. It was a good one, probably one of the 10 best ever. And I don't have much to say about the game itself; anyone who's interested in reading thoughtful analysis about that has surely already done so, and there's not much I can say that can add much to any of that. Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers, and to Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers, who has obviously stepped out of Brett Favre's shadow.

It was nice watching the Steelers lose, too. And not just because I'm a Browns fan and the Steelers are our most-hated rival -- though that played a role. I watched the game at a friend's house, along with maybe 20 or so of my closest friends. And it just annoys the crap out of me how many people in Northeast Ohio are Steelers fans. There were about five of them at the gathering in question. If someone is from Pittsburgh and roots for the Steelers, I consider them a friendly rival. If I were from Pittsburgh, I'd probably be a Steelers fan too.

But if you're from Browns territory and root for the Steelers, you're rooting against your own city. That makes no sense to me. Sure, Steeler fans have had a better team to watch than Browns fans over the last ... well, 40 years or so. In fact, the Steelers are without much doubt the single most successful team in the Super Bowl era. They've won six Super Bowls, played in eight, and reached the AFC championship game 15 times. It's painful to admit it, but that's just a very well-run football organization, and the Browns could learn a few things from them. But that's a terrible reason to root against your own city.

A chance to run over a Steelers fan

Before I start telling you this story, I want to make it abundantly clear that I would never truly consider hitting someone with my car just because he roots for my team's arch-rival. So when you read the below, don't go thinking I'm really some bloodthirsty Pittsburgh-hater. I'm not bloodthirsty at all.

That said ...

I was running late this morning. My first class at the University of Akron was at 8:55, and after I dropped off my stepdaughter at kindergarten -- getting a late start because of my 17-year-old stepdaughter's absent-mindedness -- I punched my usual parking deck into my GPS. It said I would arrive at 8:48. Given that it usually takes about 10 minutes to walk to class from that parking deck -- and it's the closest one to my class -- I shifted into "everybody get the %@*$ out of my way" mode. I had pretty good luck with traffic most of the way there, until I actually got off the exit in downtown Akron. Akron may not be as big a city as Cleveland, but hey, city traffic is city traffic. I inched along with the traffic until I turned off Exchange Street onto the little side road that leads to the parking decks on the southwest end of campus, then waited and waited and waited for the car ahead of me to turn left into the deck I use, as cars continued to come toward us from Carroll Street. A pedestrian blocked the path of a car that would otherwise have blocked the path of the car in front of me, and she finally turned in. I followed hot on her heels.

But no, I was unable to hurry up the ramp because just as I was pulling in, some yahoo wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jacket chose that moment to walk into the garage from the sidewalk, ignoring the pedestrian entrances that are all over the place and going up the vehicle entrance, thwarting my attempt to get in. I did make the left turn, but had to go at walking speed until that moron got out of my way. He finally did, and I hit the gas and made my way up to the fourth level, where there's a walkway onto campus. I did get to class in time, but barely.

Now, I don't know what was on this guy's mind. Perhaps he was so preoccupied with Sunday's Super Bowl that he forgot to look where he was going. Maybe he deliberately got in my way so I'd notice his Steelers jacket and get agitated. Or maybe -- just maybe -- the dude has a death wish, and was hoping that his behavior coupled with his attire would goad some unsuspecting Northeast Ohioan into committing an unspeakable act.

All I know is, I've never been more tempted to run somebody over in my life. I'm not saying I truly considered it, of course, but I can honestly say I've never been more tempted.

The prolific Jeff Brown

Today's post is courtesy of my good friend Jeff Brown, who has been bombarding me with e-mails the last few days about how bad the Cavaliers are. I've meant to respond to each, but before I get a chance, he hits me with another one. So I am forced to post each message, one after another.

From January 9, under the subject line "Didn't quite work out like Cavaliers fans hoped, Steve":

You might recall that on December 2, 2010, LeBron James and his Miami Heat visited Cleveland for his first game in an opposing uniform.

The matchup was highly anticipated, and was an opportunity for the Cavaliers to send a message that they were still a good team even without LeBron.

Well, Steve... it didn't exactly work out that way, did it?

The punchless Cavaliers got shellacked by LeBron and the Heat, who have now won 20 of their last 21 games (20-1).

On the other side of the coin, the Cavs are now the joke of the NBA, supplanting last year's New Jersey Nets as the worst team in the Association.

The Cavaliers have lost 19 of their last 20 games (1-19), and at the rate they're going, they might not even reach 20 wins on the season!

That, my dear Steve, proves one point in flawless fashion: Namely, that the Cavs success was entirely to do with LeBron after all.

Not that everyone didn't know that already on some level.

However, the degree to which that statement is true is exponentially more than even I could have imagined.

With LeBron, they win 61 games and a first seed in the playoffs.

Without LeBron, they slip to a laughingstock team that loses 19 of 20.

Steve, the Cavaliers of 2005-10 were the classic definition of a "one man band" or a "one trick pony."

If it wasn't for David Stern rigging the draft lottery that enabled the Cavs to draft LeBron, Cleveland might not even have an NBA team any more.

Do you agree?

Well, no. First, I don't believe David Stern rigged the draft lottery. Remember that no one had more balls in that lottery than the Cavaliers that year, courtesy of a 17-65 season in 2002-03. Second, I don't think it's likely that the Cavaliers would have moved. Possible? Sure. You never know. Likely? Doubtful. And with a later pick, the Cavs might have gotten Carmelo Anthony, or possibly LeBron's new teammate Dwyane Wade, who might have shown Cleveland more loyalty than LeBron did if he'd happened to land here.

From January 12, under the subject line "Steve's known Jeff a long time":

You've known me a long time (longer than most people I still know), and I imagine you've noticed an occasional tendency toward exaggeration.

So perhaps you thought I was exaggerating a few months ago when I wrote and told you that the Cavaliers were going to be an absolutely atrocious team.

And perhaps you felt I was being a little bit too hard on them lately.

Well now, they've hit rock bottom, and they're trying hard to drill down even further: a 112-57 loss where if the Lakers would have made one more basket, they would have literally doubled the Cavs scoring!

* The Cavs have lost 21 of their last 22 games
* Franchise record-low scoring of 57 points
* starters combined for a measly 23 points against the Lakers
* leading scorer was Alonzo Gee (who the (heck) is that?)
* worst record in the NBA (has any team ever gone from "First to Worst" like this?

They won 61 games last year Steve, and they're on pace to LOSE 65 games this year! (and the way they're going, they'll lose 70!!)

Steve, this team makes the Ted Stepien-owned teams of the early 80s look like champions.

I'm starting to remember Keith Lee, Ben Poquette, John Bagley and the crew with fondness compared to these guys.

How many wins do you predict the Cavs will have this season?

Well, they've already got eight, so I'd say maybe 14 or 15. They'll manage to squeak out a few that we don't expect them to win. Every team does, even a team as bad as this one. Regardless, it's likely that these Cavaliers will threaten the team record for futility. The expansion 1970-71 Cavaliers went 15-67, and the 1981-82 team matched that record.

From January 15, under the subject line "Oops! Antawn Jamison sticks both feet in mouth":

Remember way back on October 27, 2010 when the Cleveland Cavaliers opened the season by defeating the defending Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics?

Well the Cavs were proud and confident. Here's what team leader Antawn Jamison said that night:

"This was for the city. It was for the fans to let them know the Cavs will survive and this is a place where you can still watch good basketball. And most of all, you can watch a team that wins."

"Guys in this locker room believe. We've been listening to what people are predicting for us. We're going to let our game do the talking. It's probably going to take a month or so for people to realize, 'Hey, this is a team that can win and compete for the playoffs."

Even owner Dan Gilbert was still under the illusion that the Cavs could do well post-King:

"Not a lot of teams have the quality of Antawn Jamison and Daniel Gibson coming off the bench," he said. "When you think of it in that sense, and having the kind of quality coach we have, anything can happen."

--

Uh, well... Steve, you know what's happened since.

I wonder if Jamison still feels the way he did after their first game, Steve.

The Cavs showed their true colors, which is simply that the were the Cleveland LeBrons and not the Cleveland Cavaliers all those years.

Without LeBron, they would have sucked all those years.

Before LeBron, they sucked (17-65 the season before he arrived, which the King promptly turned into 35, 42, and 50 wins the next three seasons)

After LeBron, they suck (8-31 and losers of 22 of their last 23 games.

That's a lot of sucking, Steve, so Cavs fans ought to be grateful the King spent seven seasons turning a truly (crappy) team into a contender.

Let's face it, Steve -- the reason Cavs fans are so bitter toward James is because they know, deep down inside, that he alone is what gave them hope and enjoyment about pro basketball in Cleveland for seven years.

Him and him alone.

It wasn't the coach. It wasn't the complementary pieces. It wasn't the new arena. It wasn't the free agent acquisitions (remember Larry Hughes?)

It was one thing and one thing only -- LeBron James singlehandedly made basketball relevant in Northeast Ohio.

Now, what's left is the ruins of a departed superstar, the likes of which the Cavaliers will never, ever see again.

I ask Cavs fans to be grateful for what they had.

Do you agree, my good man?

Grateful for what we had? Perhaps that's the healthiest way to look at it, but it's hard to get past the bitterness. And regardless, LeBron didn't deliver what he promised. He literally promised us a championship. And we had reason to expect multiple titles. None of that happened, in part because LeBron turned out to be no Jordan when push came to shove. And of course because he left without finishing the job.

The next one is not Cavaliers-specific, but about the city in general. From Saturday, under the heading "It's official, Steve -- Cleveland 1/2 the city it used to be":

It's official, Steve -- Cleveland, Ohio is now less than half the city it used to be.

The fine city peaked in 1950 with a population of more than 914,000.

Today's estimate is 431,000, a mere 47% of what once was, my good man.

That ranks as the 43rd largest city in these fine United States, whereas at one time it was the sixth-largest.

No wonder the sporting teams in Cleveland haven't won a championship since 1964 -- that's 47 years and counting.

It's difficult to win a championship when you're not only dealing with the oppressive weight of the "Curse of Rocky Colavito," but also the generally grim and dim situation in the city in which you play for.

Adding insult to injury the recent foreclosure crisis hit Cleveland much harder than the typical city, resulting in thousands more vacant homes littering the city and an increase in the homeless population.

What is next for Cleveland, Steve?

Well, I don't know what's next, but this is the obvious result of a dying local economy, fueled by moron politicians who continue to be elected by moron voters. That's the way I see it, and I can't see any change in that trend on the horizon.

Also from Saturday, under the line "First to worst -- one comparison for Cavs":

OK, so I did some research Steve and found out this (which I kind of remember now that I see it again):

The 1995-96 San Antonio Spurs were 59-23

The 1996-96 San Antonio Spurs were 20-62

That's a reduction of 39 wins, Steve. (David Robinson only played 6 games that season)

Here's the problem, Steve -- the Spurs lucked out and got Tim Duncan the next year and were back up to 56 wins in 1997-98 and won the NBA title the year after that in 1998-99.

That ain't gonna happen with the Cavaliers. Even if they get a high draft choice in the lottery, whoever it is won't be enough to drag the Cavs out of the doldrums.

I remember that Spurs team too. Losing Robinson for most of the season was the best thing that ever happened to that franchise, because it allowed them to draft Duncan. The next few years, they had Robinson and Duncan together as twin towers, and since Robinson's retirement, Duncan has carried that team to continued success. Since drafting Duncan, the Spurs have won four titles, two of which were without Robinson. Duncan has to be considered one of the 20 or 30 greatest players of all time. I disagree with Jeff to this extent: If the Cavaliers get somebody who turns out to be as good as Tim Duncan, he will drag them out of the doldrums. He might not carry them to a title, but a player like that can turn a bad team into a playoff team in a hurry.

Finally, from late last night (technically early this morning), under "Actually, Steve's Cavaliers are improving":

Well, since the NBA situation in our hometown is so dim lately, I'm choosing to celebrate some recent improvements with the Cavaliers, Steve:

In the past two games, they have only lost by 22 and 28 points, respectively...

...whereas three games ago, they lost by 55 points!

So they've only lost by 50 points the past two games, which shows rapid and impressive improvements in their game.

Do you agree this is cause for celebration, my good man?

Why the heck not. Break out the champagne.

We're number five! We're number five!

After last night's wildly entertaining national championship (I was rooting for Oregon, but not as much as I was rooting for a good game, so I went to bed happy), the pollsters rated the Ohio State Buckeyes No. 5 in the country, which is exactly where the Fighting Tressels finished last year. Obviously, a national championship is the ultimate goal every year, but finishing fifth out of the 140 FBS teams (73 in the so-called AQ conferences) is nothing to sneeze at.

With 10 seasons under his belt in Columbus, Tressel is now 106-22 at the FBS level, after going 135-57-2 in 15 seasons at Youngstown State. Under his leadership, the Buckeyes have won a national title and reached two other title games, gone 9-1 against Michigan, and gone 6-4 in bowl games -- 5-3 in BCS bowls, in which they've played more times than any other school. After ending the 2001 season 7-5 and unranked with John Cooper's players, Tressel's Buckeyes have ranked the following in the year-end AP poll: First, fourth, 20th, fourth, second, fifth, ninth, fifth, and fifth.

Tressel's OSU program has had its problems. We all remember Maurice Clarett's fall from grace after he led the Buckeyes to the national championship over Miami as a freshman, and of course five of our best players are suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season. But those could only be blamed on Tressel to the extent that he bears ultimate responsibility as head coach. His program has been cleaner than many, if not most.

Judging him purely on his on-field results, a case could be made that Tressel is the most successful head coach in Ohio State history. Woody Hayes was there for 28 years and won more national titles (one outright, two shared), but at 205-61-10, he had a lower career winning percentage at Ohio State (.764, to the sweater vest's .828). If you put a gun to my head and made me pick, I'd still give that honor to Hayes, but Tressel is off to a much better start than Woody was at this point in his Buckeye career. And I frankly wouldn't trade him for any coach in the country.

Thank you, Arkansas Razorbacks

The Buckeyes won an enormously thrilling Sugar Bowl last night. But they didn't win because they outplayed the Arkansas Razorbacks, per se -- they won because the Razorbacks out-mistaked them. (You're right, that's not a word. Sue me.)

It's not that Ohio State didn't make any mistakes, of course. Arkansas just didn't make the Buckeyes pay, or at least not enough. The obvious example is Terrelle Pryor's fumble that wound up leading to OSU's first touchdown. Two Razorbacks had their hands on the ball, but neither could corral it. When Dane Sanzenbacher came up with it in the end zone, five Arkansas players were in the shot. Ironically, had Pryor not fumbled that ball, it wouldn't have been a touchdown.

Of course, there's Boom Herron's fumble on fourth-and-1 from the OSU 38, with the score 31-26 and the Buckeyes quickly losing their grip on the game. The result was just the same as if he'd been tackled behind the line of scrimmage, but regardless, the Razorbacks were not able to turn that into points. And there was Herron getting tackled in the end zone for a safety. The initial hit came in the field of play, but Herron disengaged from that tackler in time to get swallowed up by several others. If he'd just gone down on the first hit, it would not have been a safety. That was a mental error by Herron.

But those mistakes were nothing next to the errors made by Arkansas players. Razorback "receivers" dropped five passes, including one that would have gone for a touchdown and one that looked like it would have set up at least a fourth-and-short on Arkansas's next-to-last possession of the game. And of course, Ryan Mallett made the biggest mistake of the game by throwing the ball right to Buckeye defensive lineman Solomon Thomas on what could be the last pass of his college career. Not to mention the numerous penalties the Razorbacks accumulated throughout the game. Those miscues added up to a loss for Arkansas.

The difference between the two halves was amazing. Ohio State was unstoppable in the first half. Pryor and the offense were simply toying with Arkansas. Everything they did worked. In the second half, nothing worked except Pryor's legs. He busted off a few good runs -- some on designed runs, some on scrambles -- that kept the ball in the Buckeyes' possession long enough to hold off the Razorbacks. But the offense just wasn't moving. That's in contrast to Mallett and the Arkansas offense, who didn't make many long plays, but used solid, time-consuming drives to get back in the game.

As we all know, Pryor, Thomas, Herron, Buster Posey and Mike Adams will all miss the first five games next year. I don't think anyone can deny the Buckeyes would have lost last night without those guys. Their absence will hurt. But at least they can enjoy this win. It probably put them in the top 5 in the season-ending poll. That's not too shabby.

So who's it gonna be?

Eric Mangini is out, as we all knew he would be. I don't know whether he truly got a fair chance here, as he really had limited on-field talent to work with. I heard a caller to Mike Trivisonno's show last night express the opinion that team president Mike Holmgren set Mangini up to fail this year because he wants to get his own guy in there so he can take all the credit for whatever success the team has later. That's ridiculous to me. If he were going to do that, he'd have changed coaches last year.

Regardless, it's done, and it's time to look ahead and see who's out there. There's speculation that Holmgren himself might want to be the coach, and of course he's had a fair amount of success in the NFL in that role. He won a Super Bowl with the Packers and lost two others, one with Green Bay and one with Seattle. But Holmgren says he's not interested in that job at this time, and I don't see any reason to doubt him.

So if it's not Mangini and it's not Holmgren, who is it? The first name that comes to mind is Bill Cowher, who's apparently interested in returning to the sidelines, but not with the Browns, even though he spent seven years here as a player or assistant coach. Fine. He's not the only intelligent coaching candidate out there. There's guys like Jon Gruden, who's had success in the NFL; and Jim Harbaugh, who's had success in college. Other names that have already been mentioned include Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who went 3-4 as interim head coach of the Bills last year; and Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, who's done very well as an offensive coordinator but is 5-27 as an NFL head coach.

Of those four guys, I think I'd like Gruden the most, followed in order by Fewell, Mornhinweg and Harbaugh. But Holmgren says he's going to cast a wide net, so we'll see what other names come up. All I know is, I'm getting tired of the coaching carousel around here. Whoever gets hired, I hope he stays a good, long time.