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.

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.