Redneck Harvard

Last night I had a chilling thought, when I considered Duke graduate Danny Ferry is now the general manager of the Cavaliers:
Duke never does right by Cleveland.
Think about it: Ferry as a player, Mike Junkin, Carlos Boozer, Trajan Langdon. The fact that the Cavs passed over Corey Maggette to take Langdon in the 1999 draft.
Duke never does right by Cleveland. It's an oil-and-water relationship.
North Carolina's own Redneck Harvard has added more strife for Cleveland to deal with, certainly this Clevelander.
For the second straight year, Redneck Harvard has ruined my NCAA brackets for no good reason. Last year, they were upset by Michigan State in the Sweet 16. Duke was my national champion.
This year, it was Louisiana State. Duke was one of my national finalists.
Stop picking Duke then, you say? How can I? They are routinely one of best programs in the country. Duke has a better chance of making the Final Four than missing it in a given year.
They didn't let me down in 2004, making the Final Four and getting eliminated, just as I had predicted.
But just like Loser Boozer's 15-point, 11-rebound season for the Cavs a couple years back, that was merely a taste of honey, setting me up for the fall.
Last night, Redneck Harvard came out with all the fire and intensity of the Cavs playing the Charlotte Bobcats. They lost by just eight, but I don't think it was even that close.
The final score was 62-54. How does a team with J.J. Redick manage only 54 points?
Oh, that's right. Redick plays for Duke, which means he's probably vastly overrated, which means we can look forward to the Cavs drafting him.
Ferry's just like the rest of us. He can't help but pick Duke.

Look below

For those of you not into scrolling down, I might point out that I have published my first "master list" of the Top 20 athletes in Cleveland sports two posts below. Unfortunately, I posted it out of order with the LeBron shot post.

The shot

For all of you who want to play up LeBron James' lack of Jordan-ness, he has extended you an olive branch.
With time winding down in tonight's 120-118 win against Charlotte, LeBron took matters into his own hands, faded back at 20 feet and launched a game-winning shot. And made it.
Yessir, Charles Barkley. Your eyes don't deceive you, B.J. Armstrong. A genuine dagger that slipped through the net right before the buzzer.
Nevermind that it was in overtime against a team the Cavs should have cruised past. That's a whole other story.
The point is, LeBron proved that he can do more than dish with the clock winding down. He now officially has a game-winning shot on his NBA resume.
And actually, LeBron had it both ways. With the clock winding down in regulation, LeBron found a wide-open Flip Murray with a cross-court pass. Murray drained the three to tie the game at the end of regulation, 114 all.
So LeBron dished to save regulation and shot to win the game. He had his cake and ate it, too. A finish fit for the King.
The Cavs win, combined with Chicago's loss at Indiana, drops the Cavs' magic number to clinch a playoff berth to four. Cleveland's magic number to clinch the fourth seed in the East is at 12.

The Master List

Today, for the first time, I am publishing a master list of the 20 most valuable players in Cleveland sports. It is a list I hope to update several times a year.
The list is limited to professional players. With the demise of indoor soccer's Force and the fact that the Barons are a minor-league hockey team, that means this list will almost always be exclusively comprised of Browns, Indians and Cavaliers players.

I've come up with three basic criteria categories for the list:

What does the player mean to his organization?
Is this the type of player the team thinks they can build around? Does he help them win games? Does he increase the legitimacy of the organization? How much would losing this player hurt his team?

What does the player mean to the fans and city?
How much does having this player boost Cleveland's collective morale? Is he a fan favorite? Does the player give back to the community in any way?

What is the player's marketability?
Does the player get the name of himself, his team and the city out in the regional or national spotlight? More importantly, does he do it in a positive way (call this the Albert Belle rule).

Without further ado, the inaugural master list...

1) LeBron James, Cavaliers
Answers to the above questions: Yes. Most certainly. By a mile. Fatally. Like chugging Prozac. Of course. He's starting a basketball camp in Akron this summer. Every time he pulls on a jersey that says "Cleveland" across the front, it's like pure gold.
In a sentence, no one in Cleveland approaches this guy's value.

2) Grady Sizemore, Indians
It might seem like a bit of a stretch to place a second-year outfielder this high, until you count the fact that productive leadoff hitters don't grow on trees, and the fact that no one in Cleveland sports, save LeBron, is more marketable.
Sizemore, a former University of Washington quarterback recruit, has five-tool talent. In his prime, he projects as a 30-homer, 30-stolen base man who can hit over .300, complete with Gold Glove-caliber defense. The Indians view him as an organizational stallion, otherwise they wouldn't have dealt Coco Crisp.
His looks take care of the rest. Armed with matinee-idol cheekbones, his face will continue making smitten females buy "Mrs. Sizemore" shirts.

3) Travis Hafner, Indians
Grady gets lots of ladies. Hafner gets lots of dudes.
Don't take that the wrong way.
The type of fan base Sizemore has built up with women, Hafner has built up with men. The motivations, of course, are quite different.
Guys love the nickname: "Pronk." It's weird. It's cool. It's nonsensical. It's monosyllabic. It can be purchased on the back of a T-shirt for $24.99. Guys love the fact that Hafner looks like some cross between Paul Bunyan and Vin Diesel, like someone who isn't above having a beer or six after the game.
The nickname would mean nothing without a bat to back it up. Hafner earns his money to that end, hitting .305 last year and cementing himself as the best DH in the game not named Papi.

4) Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cavaliers
The Cavs' 7'-3" center has struggled for recognition throughout his career. He's gangly, European and plays a style that is not camera-friendly. But none of that diminishes what he means to the Cavs and Cleveland.
In all the years Z missed with foot injuries, we saw what he meant to the team on the floor. His absence is a big reason why we've been waiting on a playoff berth since 1998. And if you think he's not marketable, I'd ask you to talk to a member of Cleveland's Lithuanian community. If Joe Blow thinks Z a stiff, Lithuanian immigrants think Z is an icon, a homeland boy who's made it big.

5) Reuben Droughns, Browns
Impending DUI trial aside, Droughns is the one proven commodity the Browns know they have. With little help available, the Browns hitched Droughns to the wagon and he pulled them to at least half of their six wins last season.
A Pro Bowl would do wonders for Droughns' national image, and with a pair of 1,200-yard seasons to his credit, it's not outlandish to think he might be playing in Honolulu in February 2007. Right now, he's one of the best-kept secrets in the NFL.

6) Willie McGinest, Browns
He hasn't done a darn thing for Cleveland yet, but by his mere presence, McGinest sharply ramps up the talent and leadership levels on defense.
Phil Savage likened this signing to what might have happened had the Browns landed Reggie White in 1993. It might not quite be like lassoing the "Minister of Defense," but with his hardware and reputation, McGinest certainly makes Cleveland more than fly-over country for NFL defensive free agents now.

7) Victor Martinez, Indians
Much like Ilgauskas, Martinez is beloved in his homeland of Venezuela, but largely flies under the radar in the U.S.
If Martinez could guard against his habitually-slow starts, he would be untouched as the best offensive catcher in baseball, certainly as Mike Piazza nears retirement.
For the Indians, Martinez is a rock. Boasting the best second-half batting average in baseball last year, he ended the season at .305. If he hits .280 in April and May, he could feasibly finish a season with a .330 average, and all sorts of bells and whistles would be going off.
It would behoove the Indians to find a new position for Martinez to save his body.

8) Larry Hughes, Cavaliers
The only caveat concerning Hughes is a big one: he can't stay healthy.
But when he is healthy, he is just what the doctor ordered alongside LeBron. Hughes excels at just about every phase of the game. He passes well, he drives fearlessly, he plays energetic (if not always textbook) defense. The only possible shortcoming is his shooting, and even that proved not to be a liability in November and December.
Not to mention he does it all with a personality that allows himself to accept his supporting-cast role alongside LeBron.
With a healthy Hughes, the Cavs would probably be challenging the Heat for the second-best record in the East right now.

9) LeCharles Bentley, Browns
Having a weak offensive line sets up a domino effect: line can't protect, quarterback gets rushed, gets hit, makes bad throws, confidence is shattered, and the next thing you know, you have Tim Couch.
Bentley's arrival automatically increases the chance that Trent Dilfer or Charlie Frye will be able to consistenly succeed. Bentley won't get a lot of face time once the season starts, but the foundation of the Browns' offensive line just went from play sand to granite.

10) Cliff Lee, Indians
Hands down, Lee is the best returning starting pitcher for the Indians. Time may prove him the ace of the staff, though C.C. Sabathia is the knighted one.
He won 18 games last year, and was on the outskirts of Cy Young Award consideration. Twenty wins isn't out of the question this year.
It might not be 2006, but Lee is a strong candidate to become the first Tribe Cy Young winner since Gaylord Perry.

11) Phil Dawson, Browns
A good kicker is like a good plunger. You don't need one until you need one. But when you need one, you really need one.
Other than an injury in 2000 and a late-season slump in 2004, Dawson has always been there for the Browns since 1999. In 2005, he made 27-of-29 field goals. In his career, he has six game-winners. This is one guy who deserves the test of a postseason game in late January. He is one of the best kickers in the league.

12) Bob Wickman, Indians
Whether you or the Indians want to admit it or not, your baseball team needs Wickman.
Without Wickman, the Tribe bullpen would take a giant leap in the direction of the 2004 'pen.
Wickman saves games. It's not pretty, but it's something he consistently does. When Wick's body finally betrays him, the Indians had better hope Fernando Cabrera is ready to close, or the Tribe is going to be set scrambling for someone.

13) Ted Washington, Browns
The mere fact that so many new additions are on this list shows just how threadbare the Browns were prior to this winter's free-agent feast.
Washington should do for the defensive line what Bentley will do for the offensive line. For a defensive front that was 30th against the run last season, Washington will take up a lot of space and force opposing quarterbacks to pass more. Taking away the run is more than half the battle for an NFL defense.

14) Flip Murray, Cavaliers
Murray is far from a franchise cornerstone, the reason why he's not higher on the list. But when you talk about a safety net, they haven't come much better in the history of Cleveland sports.
The Cavs' acquisition of Murray last month is right up there with the Indians' 1995 deadline deal for Ken Hill in terms of giving a Cleveland team just what they needed. Since coming over from Seattle, Murray has hit a game-winning three-pointer, a game-tying three at the end of regulation, and has sparked a mammoth come-from-behind rally against the Lakers.
The Cavs might be hovering around .500 without Murray. He has been everything the Cavs could want out of stretch-run rental.

15) Jhonny Peralta, Indians
Omar who? Well, not exactly. But you can't overshadow Peralta's breakout season last year by measuring him against his predecessor.
Once Peralta was placed in the third spot in the batting order, the final piece seemed to fall into place, and the Indians' offense took off. Peralta might not duplicate his .292 and 24 homers this year, but he will go on to become an upper-echelon offensive infielder with a competent glove. Like the other Indians on this list, Peralta is one of GM Mark Shapiro's favored "core players."

16) Braylon Edwards, Browns
A decent rookie season was derailed by a torn knee ligament in November. No one knows if Edwards will be ready for the start of training camp in July, but that doesn't diminish his long-term impact.
For the Browns to be an elite team in several years, Edwards will need to break through and become a star receiver. The talent is unquestionably there. It's a matter of proper nurturing and staying healthy. He can't help but be a foundation player for what the Browns are trying to build.

17) C.C. Sabathia, Indians
He was unfairly branded an ace by an Indians organization hungry to promote itself in the pits of rebuilding. What C.C. actually is, however, is a innings-eating mid-rotation guy. If he were a bit more consistent and could get a grip on his conditioning, he'd be a true stud. He certainly has showed the ability is there in stretches.

18) Ronnie Belliard, Indians
Belliard arrived amid weight jokes. He was a paunchy hole plug signed to a one-year deal in 2004. But since then, he's cemented himself as a pretty darn good second baseman with both the bat and glove.
He plays the game at 100 miles per hour, hustling out every ground ball and making sliding stops in the field. He looks too chubby to be fast, but if you've seen him play his position, you know it's not true. His arm is good enough to allow him to play 10 to 15 feet into the outfield and still make throws.

19) Drew Gooden, Cavaliers
He lacks consistency, still prone to having nights where he disappears. But Gooden is the only Cavs player who brings any semblance of low-post defense to the table on a nightly basis. if coach Mike Brown ran the offense through him, he could average 18 points per game. But he has humbled himself, deferred to LeBron and Z, and has gleaned most of his points off rebounds.

20) Eric Snow, Cavaliers
His stat line is withering with age, but Snow still brings a worthwhile presence. Fans might not truly realize how valuable his leadership is until the playoffs.
Snow is also one of the most active Cleveland athletes in the community. His full-court fathers program encourages inner-city dads to get involved in the lives of their children. He routinely offers tickets to Cavs games through the program.

Knocking on the door...
Andy Marte, Indians; Gary Baxter, Browns; Donyell Marshall, Cavaliers; Joe Jurevicius, Browns; Kellen Winslow Jr., Browns; Aaron Boone, Indians

Tagliabue retiring

Paul Tagliabue has never found the middle ground of public opinion in more than a decade as the commissioner of the NFL.
He has ardent supporters. He has vehement detractors. When he steps down in July, he will be missed by many, and bade good riddance by others.
That probably comes with the territory when you consider he's presided over a league that sometimes seemed bipolar during his tenure.
There have been unquestionable high points: TV revenues have skyrocketed, a salary cap was implemented and the NFL handled the advent of free agency better than baseball might ever hope to. A financially-level playing field has been achieved through the cap and revenue sharing, a field that allows the micro-market Green Bay Packers to compete with the big boys on the East Coast.
Fans pack stadiums in record numbers, buy tons of merchandise and fawn over star players. The NFL Network was established several years ago, ramping up the NFL's global profile even more. The Super Bowl is now a weeklong event, with the game serving merely as the punctuation.
In short, the NFL is star-quality, rolling in dough and rivaled only by the NBA as the most successful major sports league in North America. It all happened on Tagliabue's watch.
But the league delivered itself a major black eye during Tagliabue's tenure as well. And the commissioner was part of the problem.
In 1993, the NFL could have placed expansion franchises in football-starved St. Louis and Baltimore. Instead, Tagliabue helped steer the franchises to a pair of untested small markets: Charlotte and Jacksonville.
Tagliabue might have had expanding the league's coverage on his mind when he aimed at North Carolina and northeast Florida, but he helped set in motion a chain of events that blackened the league's image to many fans for years.
Without expansion franchises, St. Louis and Baltimore were left to lure existing franchises. In 1995, Baltimore reeled in a debt-riddled Art Modell and his Cleveland Browns. A year later, St. Louis grabbed the Rams from Los Angeles.
At the same time the Browns bolted for Baltimore, the Oilers moved to Tennessee. At the same time the Rams left Los Angeles, Al Davis packed up and moved his Raiders back to Oakland.
The moves left the nation's second-largest market (Los Angeles), another Top 10 market (Houston) and a city with a historically rabid fan base (Cleveland) without teams.
Not since baseball in the 1950s had so many franchises moved in such a short amount of time.
Tagliabue didn't exert his commissioner's authority when the league had the chance to put expansion franchises in the biggest markets available. By not acting, he let the NFL regress to a state of franchise upheaval that normally exists in indoor soccer leagues. For that reason, he will never supplant Pete Rozelle as the greatest NFL commissioner.
But Tagliabue was a benevolent leader. He fought for what he thought was best for the league, whether we agreed with him or not, and for that reason, his tenure should be remembered as a positive one overall.
Locally, Tagliabue recovered from the musical-teams fiasco of the mid-'90s and helped broker a deal that forced Modell to relinquish the name, colors and history of the Browns. That gave birth to the Baltimore Ravens, and spared Clevelanders the indignity of watching the Baltimore Browns take the field. He then worked to award Cleveland an expansion franchise for the 1999 season.
In 2002, a new Houston franchise took the field, meaning Los Angeles is the only city Tagliabue will leave without a team. There is some speculation as to how much impetus the "bring the NFL back to L.A." movement has, anyway.
Tagliabue has had Everest highs and Death Valley lows as a commissioner. For better or worse, he impacted the league in an indelible way, and will leave it, by and large, in better condition that he started with. And that's the primary job for any commissioner.

Perking up

Sunday's LeBron James-Kobe Bryant matchup arrived with all the requisite LeBron-Kobe hype. The game was a nationally-televised matinee, the fact that the Cavaliers and Lakers are both treading water in the standings be damned.
To be any streakier, the Cavs would have to play naked. The .500-ish Lakers, meanwhile, might not even make the playoffs in the tough Western Conference. At the outset, Sunday was most definitely all about LeBron and Kobe and not their semi-adequate supporting casts.
But that was early on.
Kobe went off for 38, LeBron for 29. Kobe was untouchable in the first half as the Lakers nearly melted The Q's support trusses by shooting 70 percent from the floor. LeBron hit his share of tough fadeaways, proving once again that he can rise to any challenge when he puts his mind to it.
It was Battle of the Network Superstars for three quarters. Then came the fourth quarter, and suddenly the game showed its true colors.
This wasn't an exhibition showcase for LeBron or Kobe. This was an ugly slugfest between two teams desperate to reach the playoffs.
The Cavs clamped down well enough on defense to muster a 15-0 fourth-quarter run sparked by Flip Murray, who is quickly becoming the best deadline acquisition by any team.
The 15-0 run erased a double-digit Laker lead that had existed for most of the game, putting Cleveland up 95-91 with two and a half minutes left. The Lakers fought back and tied the game at 95 with less than a minute remaining.
The deciding moment wasn't a poster photo for either superstar. It was a questionable reach-in foul Kobe committed on Murray with 3.4 seconds left.
Murray went to the line, clanged the first and hit the second. On the ensuing inbound pass, the Lakers responded with the type of late-game mental breakdown the Cavs have become famous for. Luke Walton had a timeout to call when the play wasn't developing, but instead forced a pass to Kobe near halfcourt.
Kobe drove and hoisted the type of long fadeaway three he has made many times in the past. This one, however, drew rim and nothing else, and the Cavs escaped with a 96-95 win.
LeBron gathered his teammates for a postgame huddle. Usually, wins over .500 teams in March shouldn't provoke unbridled relief, but this win, Cleveland's 38th of the year, might have finally convinced this team that they are indeed headed to the playoffs.
Kobe, meanwhile, was left to air out his frustration to the media. He called the reach-in foul on Murray "very clean," telling all the microphones that he touched nothing but ball.
This is March basketball in the NBA. Prettiness and poster dunks take a backseat to the dog-eat-dog reality of winning any way you can. To the Cavs' credit, that's what they did Sunday.

Brackets: Part 4

Let me get this out of the way right now: I had Ohio State going to the Final Four.
Might as well let the world know my homerdom got in the way of my good judgment. The Buckeyes, though five up on Georgetown in the seeding Sunday, were thoroughly outclassed and overmatched by a taller and far more athletic Hoya team.
I hadn't had a chance to pick Ohio State in an NCAA Tournament for so long, I was like a kid that gorges himself on Halloween candy and pukes his guts out an hour later.
Oh well. Mop and bucket time.

NCAA Tournament second round:

Damage assessment

Record 9-7

Hits: Duke, Texas, Memphis, Gonzaga, UCLA, UConn, Villanova, Boston College, Florida

Misses: Illinois (lost to Washington), Tennessee (lost to Wichita State), Ohio State (lost to Georgetown), four dead games

Damage to Elite Eight: Ohio State

Damage to Final Four: Ohio State

Sweet 16 picks
Note: "dead game" means I have neither team advancing

Atlanta Bracket

(1) Duke over (4) LSU
(2) Texas over (6) West Virginia

Oakland Bracket

(1) Memphis over (13) Bradley
(2) UCLA over (3) Gonzaga

Washington Bracket

(1) UConn over (5) Washington
(7) Wichita State vs. (11) George Mason: dead game

Minneapolis Bracket

(1) Villanova over (4) Boston College
(3) Florida vs. (7) Georgetown: dead game

Up next: Sweet 16 damage assessment and Elite Eight picks

Brackets: Part 3

The second round is set. Here's what I did in Round 1:

Damage assessment

Record: 23-9

Hits: Duke, George Washington, LSU, West Virginia, N.C. State, Texas, Memphis, Bucknell, Pitt, Gonzaga, Alabama, UCLA, UConn, Kentucky, Washington, Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee, Villanova, Boston College, Florida, Georgetown, Ohio State.

Misses: Syracuse (lost to Texas A&M), Iowa (lost to Northwestern State), Kansas (lost to Bradley), San Diego State (lost to Indiana), Michigan State (lost to George Mason), Seton Hall (lost to Wichita State), Wisconsin (lost to Arizona), Nevada (lost to Montana), Oklahoma (lost to Wisconsin-Milwaukee).

Damage to Sweet 16: Syracuse, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan State

Damage to Elite Eight: Michigan State

Damage to Final Four: none

Second round picks
Note: "dead game" means I have neither team advancing

Atlanta Bracket

(1) Duke over (8) George Washington
(4) LSU vs. (12) Texas A&M: dead game
(5) West Virginia vs. (14) Northwestern State: dead game
(2) Texas over (10) N.C. State

Oakland Bracket

(1) Memphis over (9) Bucknell
(5) Pitt vs. (13) Bradley: dead game
(3) Gonzaga over (6) Indiana
(2) UCLA over (10) Alabama

Washington Bracket

(1) UConn over (8) Kentucky
(4) Illinois over (5) Washington
(3) North Carolina vs. (11) George Mason: dead game
(2) Tennessee over (7) Wichita State

Minneapolis Bracket

(1) Villanova over (8) Arizona
(4) Boston College over (12) Montana
(3) Florida over (11) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(2) Ohio State over (7) Georgetown

Up next: second-round damage assessment and Sweet 16 picks

Just too bad

I have a confession to make: When it comes to basketball in March, I am a Kent State fan.
For 49 weeks a year, I wear my Bowling Green colors on my sleeve and, as such, can't stand Kent State. Anybody who read my posts on the MAC Tournament probably got that vibe.
But whenever the Kent men's team advances to the NCAA Tournament, as they regularly do, I suddenly follow them with the verve of a lifelong fan. They hooked me with their fantastic run to the Elite Eight in 2002.
That's why I'm a bit down after watching Pitt dispatch the Golden Flashes 79-64 tonight.
Kent hung around, but this was one 5-12 matchup that wasn't ripe for an upset. Pitt was just too fast and too talented, and Kent didn't have enough of the shooting magic that propelled them into previous tournaments.
Even though Kent remains the class of the MAC, I think it isn't much of a secret that this team wasn't as strong as Kent tournament teams of previous years. Nate Gerwig was the only holdover from the '02 team, and now his career is finished.
Sure, I still have Ohio State to watch, and with any luck, they'll dispatch Georgetown and reach the Sweet 16. But we expect the Buckeyes to win regularly.
For these three weeks, Kent is much closer to my heart. I watched them in person for two years covering BG men's basketball. I got to know those great Kent teams. I loved the fact that they represented my school's conference in the NCAAs, and put that conference on the basketball map by coming out of nowhere and taking the nation by storm, ending within a win of the Final Four.
Philadelphians might wax poetic about Villanova in '85. But Kent State, they're my favorite underdog story.

I told you so

The World Baseball Classic has claimed its first victim. Unfortunately, it wasn't Roger Clemens, so no one's really going to notice or care.

If you're going to go, go

As ESPN.com points out, tonight start in the World Baseball Classic could be the last of Roger Clemens' career.
The last one? The very last? This could very possibly maybe be good-bye for one of the game's all-time great pitchers?
Certainly maybe? Maybe certainly?
The entire population of St. Petersburg, Florida isn't milking retirement like this.
The 2003 World Series was supposed to be Clemens' farewell. Then he un-retired to pitch for Houston. Then 2004 was the end for Clemens, but he hemmed and hawed and decided to return for one more year.
Then the 2005 World Series was supposed to be Clemens' swan song. But then he heeded the patriotic call and suited up for Team USA in the WBC.
So how about the end of the 2006 season, when Clemens inevitably decides to suit up for Houston for one more year? Or Boston? Or the Yankees?
It's like "Night of the Living Dead." How many more times is Clemens going to be exhumed?
The East Coast media certainly isn't complaining. Perpetuating the Clemens rumor mill generates interest and drives up sales. But I find it irritating.
Sure, Clemens still has the ability to pitch in the bigs, even as he closes in on 45 years of age. Sure, Nolan Ryan was still pitching at Clemens' age. But Ryan made up his mind, retired once, and that was it.
Persistent retiring and un-retiring is in vogue among superstars, it seems. Magic Johnson was the trendsetter. He un-retired twice, with a coaching stint mixed in.
Michael Jordan also un-retired twice with a soiree with baseball and a stint as an NBA executive mixed in.
Dennis Rodman un-retired twice, and probably would again. Rickey Henderson un-retired at least once. And now Clemens could very well un-retire for the third straight season.
So pardon me if a take ESPN.com's claim of Clemens' last start with more than a grain of salt. I'll try a salt mine.

Sonar Challenge

The single most frustrating computer game I have ever tried.

Loot in hand

With the addition of former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest today, the Browns have closed the door on their big-game free agent hunting. In the span of six days, the Browns have added six frontline players who figure to play big roles with the 2006 team.
GM Phil Savage is eyeing some of the players as franchise cornerstones. Others are short-term upgrades who will need to serve as mentors to younger players.
Below are capsules on each of the Browns' free-agent acquisitions, and their potential long-term or short-term impacts.

LeCharles Bentley, center
Impact: long-term
Young, charismatic and with hall-of-fame potential, Bentley was signed with the expectation that he will be the glue that holds the offensive line together for years to come.
Bentley's presence will be expected to help jell a veteran unit that sometimes seemed like a hodge-podge of mismatched parts last year. Once Joe Andruzzi, Cosey Coleman and Ryan Tucker have come and gone, Bentley will need to be the rock that younger offensive linemen can lean on for stability.
Bentley has an opportunity to take a sub-standard offensive line and make it an excellent unit. He has the talent to be the linchpin. In short, Bentley is the most important free-agent acquisition the Browns have made in quite some time.

Kevin Shaffer, left offensive tackle
Impact: long-term
Shaffer may never be a perennial Pro Bowler. At his position, it will be difficult to do when he is now sharing a conference with the likes of Jonathan Ogden.
But the Browns aren't necessarily looking for greatness out of Shaffer. They are looking for stability, and that's the tag Shaffer arrives with.
Shaffer has started 39 of the past 40 games at left tackle for the Falcons. That's the type of player Savage envisions. Someone whom coach Romeo Crennel can plug in at left tackle and leave there for five to seven years.
Shaffer's arrival should finally stabilize a position that has been tossed and turned about since the Browns were re-launched in 1999. If he suits up for every game and does B-level work in terms of a letter grade, Savage and Crennel will probably be very pleased.

Dave Zastudil, punter
Impact: long-term
It has been a long, strange trip for the Browns' fourth-down unit since Chris Gardocki was given the quick hook by Butch Davis. After Derrick Frost crashed and burned in 2004, Kyle Richardson was signed as a stopgap and performed like one.
Zastudil, who has nimbly handled the punter duties for Baltimore since their Super Bowl season of 2000, is another player the Browns want to be able to plug in and forget about for the next half-decade or so.
Strong-legged and still in his mid-20s, the Bay High School graduate should be able to keep his net yardage well-inflated for a long while. A drop in net yardage was the excuse Davis gave for booting Gardocki out of town. We know what happened next. Gardocki, now a Steeler, will have a Super Bowl ring to polish later this year.

Ted Washington, nose tackle
Impact: short-term
The soon-to-be 38-year-old is still one of the best sides of beef you can find for your defensive front seven. But 38 is still 38, and it is unlikely Washington's stay will last more than the two-year duration of his contract. That's hardly long enough to help the Browns all the way back to Super Bowl contention.
The onus is on Savage to draft a stud defensive tackle this year or next and let Washington, a four-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion, mentor him. If Savage doesn't take full advantage of Washington's experience while he can, that will be a major organizational whiff.

Willie McGinest, linebacker
Impact: short-term
McGinest is three years younger than Washington, but his situation is very similar. At 34, his athleticism could start to wane rapidly. There is no guarantee he will be able to do the things in Cleveland that he did in New England, where he made it to a pair of Pro Bowls and helped win three Super Bowls.
If the Browns get two years of top-flight play out of McGinest, they'll be doing well. Once again, Savage is charged with finding talented young linebackers for McGinest to mentor while he is here.

Joe Jurevicius, wide receiver
Impact: somewhere in-between
Jurevicius is 31, so he's entering the back nine of his career. Many of the waning-athleticism issues that McGinest could face could also plague Jurevicius after a couple of years.
Having said that, he also plays a position where the biggest hazard is getting your lights knocked out by Ray Lewis on a crossing route. Wide receiver is generally not a rough-and-tumble position that wears players' bodies down, like linebacker or running back. Receivers usually have longer shelf lives, and can be impact players well into their 30s.
Jurevicius is capable of being a No. 1 receiver for the next couple of seasons. After that, his legs might slow and he could be recast as a possession receiver. But hopefully by then, Kellen Winslow Jr. and Braylon Edwards will be fully healthy, fully adjusted and ready to shine.

A bit nervous

Remember what I said about the Cavaliers having to fight last season's collapse until they finally clinch a playoff spot?
Look no further than the past two games to find prime examples of the Cavs wilting under the expectation of winning. A collapse is less likely than last year, especially since the Cavs have already achieved 36 wins and now play seven of their next nine at home, but the knotted stomachs -- for both players and fans -- remain from a year ago. And they probably won't disappear until a little "x" appears next to Cleveland in the newspaper standings.
After taking a second-half spill and losing in Miami on Sunday, the Cavs headed to Dallas to take on the powerful-but-shorthanded Mavericks Tuesday night.
Much like against Miami, it was Jekyll-and-Hyde, and the horrific transformation occurred at halftime.
Cleveland looked like a team on the cusp of elite status in the first half, when they took a 19-point lead and looked ready to cruise to a big road win.
Then came the second half, when the winner is decided, and the Cavs suddenly turned weak-kneed. To use a sports cliche, they started playing not to lose. And the Mavs, even battling the injury bug, smelled the blood in the water.
Cleveland's double-digit lead had been vaporized by the end of the third quarter, when Dirk Nowitzki canned a jumper to tie the game at 61. During the quarter, the Cavs were outscored 27-8 and shot 18 percent from the floor.
Cleveland then proceeded to give up the first seven points of the fourth quarter, and never recovered, losing 91-87.
The Cavs can add players to get more physically tough. But mental toughness is an in-house issue that must be addressed by coach Mike Brown and his players. Right now, that area between the ears is costing them games.

A confused analyst

FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry doesn't seem to know what to think about the Indians.
One month, he's patting them on the back for a "solid" off-season and the acquisition of prime prospect Andy Marte.
Then the first edition of his 2006 baseball power rankings come out, and he has stuffed the Indians in the middle of the pack, predicting a "disappointing" season.
Why am I telling you this and not Perry? Because FoxSports.com makes you mine the deepest parts of their Web site to find a e-mail address for feedback. Man, I wish my paper operated like that sometimes. My phone number and e-mail are attached to every article I write.
Yeah, I'm an Indians fan. Brand me a homer if you want. But what really peeves me is that Perry has the Indians listed 11th, one spot below the Tigers.
The Tigers! He has far more flattering things to say about the them than the Indians, too. He calls them a "dark horse" in the American League, possessing a fearsome offense and some peppy young pitching. He calls them "a team worth paying attention to."
And the Indians aren't?
Perry seems to think there has been too much fawning over the Indians this winter for having won 93 games last season (how on Earth could he get that idea?), and apparently wants to take them down a couple of notches.
He cites a dismantled bullpen, loss of Kevin Millwood, and sophomore slump for Jhonny Peralta as the reasons the Indians are doomed this year.
The whole "Indians are crap without Kevin Millwood" movement should serve as bulletin-board material for Paul Byrd, who, like the Indians, continually makes solid strides and has little notoriety or respect to show for it.
Peralta might not hit .292 this year, if only because scouting reports on him will be more detailed now. But even if Peralta falls a bit, is it unreasonable to think other guys might pick up the slack? I don't think Aaron Boone will be hitting below .200 in May.
Even if Boone does, Perry's boy Andy Marte, whom he drools over like a lovesick schoolgirl, might be able to come up, hit .350 and author a nuclear disarmament treaty while he's at it.
So what's all this head-shaking over Peralta's bat?
As far as the bullpen goes, it remains a question mark. I don't deny that. But bullpens get rebuilt on the fly every year. Bullpens are the most changeable area of a baseball team. Every year, bullpen pitchers fall in to roles, fall out of them, lose their effectiveness, get hurt, reclaim their careers, fail to reclaim their careers, and other possibilities I haven't thought of.
Sure, it would have been nice to keep Bob Howry and maybe Arthur Rhodes. But Howry's replacement, Guillermo Mota, can be as effective, if not as durable.
Fernando Cabrera came on strong at the end of last year and deserves the chance he's getting this spring to be a major cog in Cleveland's bullpen. He can help absorb some of Howry's role as well.
In short, the Indians might not have the great bullpen of a year ago, but the bullpen should still be good. They aren't patching holes with pitchers like Jose Jimenez or Scott Stewart.
So come on, Dayn. Lighten up. There are plenty of local fans and media members already ragging on the Indians. We don't need more of it from afar.

Brackets: Part 2

On to the other half of the field...

Atlanta Bracket

(1) Duke over (16) Southern
Reasoning: The "Redick-ilous" sign at the ACC Tournament is hands down the best use of a last name in wordplay since "U can't beat R Johnson" from the 2001 World Series.

(8) George Washington over (9) UNC-Wilmington
Reasoning: First in war, first in peace, and about ... oh, 40th or so in the NCAA Tournament.

(5) Syracuse over (12) Texas A&M
Reasoning: Syracuse is doing a really good job of shutting up their critics at the moment.

(4) LSU over (13) Iona
Reasoning: Dammit, Iona, get a different name. I almost mistook you for Iowa and put you in the next round.

(5) West Virginia over (11) Southern Illinois
Reasoning: We should allow ourselves to be Pittsnogled for as long as possible.

(3) Iowa over (14) Northwestern State
Reasoning: That's a "W", right? Just double-checking.

(10) North Carolina State over (7) California
Reasoning: This is what passes for an upset special with me.

(2) Texas over (15) Penn
Reasoning: If you're like me, you can't get enough of optical illusions that look like Daniel Gibson's wiener.

Oakland Bracket

(1) Memphis over (16) Oral Roberts
Reasoning: If you watched "The Colbert Report" Tuesday, you'll know that Oral Roberts has a 900-ft. Jesus on their side. But Memphis was the home of Elvis, who is the king of rock 'n roll, which used to be a staple of MTV, which previously aired Beavis and Butt-head, who once lampooned a video by an artist named MC 900-ft. Jesus. So as far as I'm concerned, it's a push. But I'll take Memphis on a whim.

(9) Bucknell over (8) Arkansas
Reasoning: With memories of last year's upset over Kansas still fresh, Bucknell still makes big schools a bit nervous. They just won't admit it.

(5) Pittsburgh over (12) Kent State
Reasoning: Yeah, like I'm going to pick Kent.

(4) Kansas over (13) Bradley
Reasoning: Kansas and Bucknell are two wins away from facing each other again this year. Take a cold shower, Bucknell.

(11) San Diego State over (6) Indiana
Reasoning: I am just questioning the Hoosiers' motvitation to play for a lame-duck coach. Several players have reportedly made no bones about their desire to transfer after the season.

(3) Gonzaga over (14) Xavier
Reasoning: The 'stache. Only for the 'stache.

(10) Alabama over (7) Marquette
Reasoning: In all honesty, I was getting close to finishing, and I didn't think I had enough upsets.

(2) UCLA over (15) Belmont
Reasoning: Belmont? Davidson? Winthrop? Hampton? Monmouth? Do smallish, expensive, upper-crust liberal arts schools have first refusal rights on the 15 and 16 seeds? Heaven help us if Vassar starts admitting guys.

Up next: First-round damage assessment, and picks for the second round.

Brackets: Part 1

This year, I am going to give you, the valued blog reader, a unique opportunity.
I will let you follow along with my NCAA Tournament brackets as they either A) lead me to my second Gazette office pool title in three years or B) pull a Hindenburg.
You can follow along through all the triumph, tragedy, consternation, tragedy, nail-biting, tragedy, swear words, crumpled brackets in the bottom of a urinal at BW3, and tragedy.
Or my greatest moment ever.
Use these picks to bet on anything, and I will see to it that you are branded a complete and utter moron for the rest of your life.

I now set the stage with my picks for the Round of 64:

Play-in game: Hampton over Monmouth.
Reasoning: No idea why. Hampton won a game as a 15 seed a few years back, I guess.

Washington Bracket

(1) Connecticut over (16) Albany
Reasoning: It's a 1-16 game. I'm not going to outsmart myself like that.

(8) Kentucky over (9) Alabama-Birmingham
Reasoning: Ever since that whole Tayshaun-Prince-is-too-skinny-to-make-it-in-the-NBA movement blew up in everyone's face, I never bet against Kentucky when they are the favorites. UAB could be playing a bucket of KFC and I wouldn't bet against the chicken.

(5) Washington over (12) Utah State
Reasoning: The dreaded 5-12 matchup. Once again, I'm not going to attempt to outsmart myself. Which means I'm probably outsmarting myself by attempting to not outsmart myself. Which means I'm screwed. Or not.
This was the last first-round game I filled in on my bracket. I'm serious.

(4) Illinois over (13) Air Force
Reasoning: My mind was polluted by way too much Clark Kellogg and Jim Nantz on the CBS selection show. After hearing "How did Air Force make it in and Cincinnati didn't?" for 60 minutes, I can't in good conscience pick Air Force to win a foosball tournament at the moment.

(6) Michigan State over (11) George Mason
Reasoning: Last year I equated Big Ten basketball with White Castle as the stoner food of college sports. No nutritional value whatsoever. Wisconsin and Michigan State made me pay dearly for my arrogance. Not this year.

(3) North Carolina over (14) Murray State
Reasoning: I absolutely cannot pick the defending national champs to get bounced in the first round. Having said that, I have a bad feeling.

(10) Seton Hall over (7) Wichita State
Reasoning: Like I'm going to pick a baseball school in a basketball tourney. That's like picking Argentina to win an Olympic gold in basketball ... What's that you say?

(2) Tennessee over (15) Winthrop
Reasoning: I can't help but contemplate the athletic superiority of Tennessee against a school with a name that suggests they serve strawberries and cream at sporting events.

Minneapolis Bracket

(1) Villanova over (16) Hampton
Reasoning: You twisted my arm

(9) Wisconsin over (8) Arizona
Reasoning: See Michigan State above

(5) Nevada over (12) Montana
Reasoning: Let's play "Which State Has Less To Do?"
Nevada: desert
Montana: grass
Nevada: blighted landscape
Montana: vast stretches of wilderness
Nevada: Legalized prostitution and casinos
Montana: Horse poop and anti-government wackjobs
Winner: Nevada

(4) Boston College over (13) Pacific
Reasoning: If Boston College loses to Surf U., I don't want to be Boston College when they get off the plane at Logan International. Bostonians won't let that ride.

(6) Oklahoma over (11) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Reasoning: Wisconsin-Milwaukee used to make Cleveland State their bitch on a regular basis. So they can go home and dig their cars out of snow drifts as far as I'm concerned.

(3) Florida over (14) Southern Alabama
Reasoning: this pick is for Urban Meyer. It's also blatantly obvious.

(7) Georgetown over (10) Northern Iowa
Reasoning: Do we all remember Jimmy Chitwood's magical 60-point game for Northern Iowa in the '56 Tournament? As soon as we figure out a way to go back in time and splice fiction with reality so that game actually happened, I'll pick Northern Iowa to win.

(2) Ohio State over (15) Davidson
Reasoning: I am a shameless homer. Scold me.

Up next: the Atlanta and Oakland brackets.

Tough enough?

I watched the Bowling Green women's team manhandle Kent State Saturday afternoon. It was a wonderful catharsis, a vicarious pouring-out of any frustration I had.
Then I came home and watched the Cavaliers on Sunday. And I was transported back to the world of the gangly and easily-overwhelmed.
For three quarters, the Cavs played with poise and purpose, at one juncture having a 15-point lead over the Heat. But then the Heat did what elite teams do and got tough in the fourth quarter.
Some sportscasters like to call the fourth quarter "winning time." It's when great players are supposed to take over, when great teams are supposed to stop screwing around and focus on the task at hand. And that's what Miami did.
The Heat lived up to their name for those final 12 minutes. You could physically see the Cavs sweating, then wilting, then losing, 98-92.
It all came down to what the Heat bench did versus what the Cavs bench did. And for the second straight game, the Cavs bench did absolutely nothing, scoring five points.
The Miami bench, meanwhile, brought scoring and energy. Alonzo Mourning spurred the Heat's fourth-quarter rally, and the Cavs couldn't match the intensity. When it came down to a competition of intestinal fortitude, the Cavs barfed all over the floor.
That's how LeBron scores 47 and the Cavs still lose.
It was LeBron's fourth-highest point total in a game. In three of those four games, Cleveland lost. Blame it on the bench.
LeBron and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had to carry this team through Florida, not coincidentally an 0-2 swing. This can't continue. Nobody is expecting the Cavs' bench to be world-beaters, but they have to do something.
If the Cavs' bench turns up as mush against Dallas Tuesday night, they might lose by 40.
I am starting a campaign now: re-sign Flip Murray. The Cavs need at least one starter-caliber player coming off the bench in future years, not to mention the ever-present need for an insurance policy on the fragile Larry Hughes.

LeBron or Dwyane?
ESPN, in their typical controversy-stirring way, posed a question on ESPN.com this morning: is Dwyane Wade better than LeBron?
I answer it this way: Give LeBron Shaquille O'Neal, Mourning, Antoine Walker, Gary Payton and Udonis Haslem as a supporting cast and see where it gets him. Give Wade Drew Gooden, Damon Jones, Eric Snow and Donyell Marshall and Sasha Pavlovic, and see where it gets him.
My guess is Wade wouldn't be the burgeoning superstar in Cleveland that he is in Miami. He'd be closer to a poor man's Carmelo Anthony.
Wade stepped into a well-run organization looking for talent, kind of like when Tim Duncan was drafted by the Spurs. LeBron stepped into a unmitigated disaster of an organization, and while the Cavs are far better than they were in the spring of 2003, climbing out of that muck takes years of trial and error.

Browns update

The Browns added two more free agents today, both on the defensive side of the ball.
Punter Dave Zastudil should help wash the bad taste of the Derrick Frost and Kyle Richardson experiments out of fans' mouths. He's not quite Chris Gardocki, but he has a catapult for a leg and can sand wedge it inside the 20 about as good as any punter besides Gardocki.
Defensive tackle Ted Washington gives the Browns their biggest D-line ox since Jerry Ball. And he's probably a bit more athletic than the 400-pound Ball was.
Though he is soon to turn 38, Washington is still good at eating up blockers, which should make life a lot easier on Orpheus Roye and the guys playing behind him in the linebacker corps.
In speaking of the linebackers, the Browns are also reportedly eyeing Lions pass rusher Kalimba Edwards. He might be a Brown by Monday. Once again, stay tuned.

Keys to the Bentley

My friend Marc called it on the phone last night.
The Browns "hit a grand slam out of the park" in free agency on Saturday. But it might not look like it to the fans stuck in Browns-will-eternally-suck mode.
Outside of Joe Jurevicius, some fans might not know much about the trio the Browns signed, which also includes offensive linemen LeCharles Bentley and Kevin Shaffer. But they are worth getting to know.
Bentley might be one of the top two or three interior offensive linemen in the league. The Cleveland native and Ohio State grad went to a pair of Pro Bowls as a member of the Saints, once as a guard in 2003 and this past year as a center. He was the offensive Rookie of the Year for Sports Illustrated in 2002. ESPN's Len Pasquarelli listed him as the top free agent on the market this spring. For a center to garner that type of hype is incredible.
You wanted a franchise offensive lineman. You have him now.
Kevin Shaffer will replace L.J. Shelton in the left tackle's slot. The former seventh-round draft pick is not the caliber of Bentley, but he brings consistency. Shaffer has started 39 of the past 40 games at left tackle for Atlanta.
For an offensive line that has been repeatedly derailed by injuries, the value of a left tackle who can suit up 16 games a year and do his job can't be underscored enough.
Jurevicius is the name everybody knows. A Cleveland-area native, he has a Super Bowl ring from the Buccaneers and two more Super Bowl appearances with the Giants and Seahawks.
It's not just a matter of luck. Jurevicius makes his teams better.
Last season, when the Seahawks receiver corps was wading through injury problems, Jurevicius stepped up and assumed the lead receiver's role, snagging 55 catches, 10 of them for touchdowns.
The arrival of Jurevicius greatly solidifies a Cleveland receiver corps waiting to see when and in what condition Kellen Winslow Jr. and Braylon Edwards will return.
Next on the Browns' plate appears to be punter Dave Zastudil, another Cleveland-area native, who could be in the corral by the end of today, The Plain Dealer reported.
Nabbing Zastudil, one of the league's elite punters, away from the Ravens, would go a long way to smoothing over a punter-fueled sore spot with fans that dates to the day when Chris Gardocki signed on the dotted line in Pittsburgh.
And the Browns will have more cash to spend after that. Stay tuned.

Take that, Kent State

When Joel and I watched the Bowling Green women's basketball team dismantle Kent State in Saturday's MAC women's final, two things quickly became apparent to me:
1) After years of watching good BG men's teams that were unable to overcome great Kent teams, it was wonderful to watch a Kent team be overmatched by BG.
2) BG coach Curt Miller has succeeded in fielding a frontcourt of female Rasheed Wallaces.
A photo in today's Plain Dealer summed up the 64-39 thrashing. A fierce-looking Carin Horne is raking the ball away from noticeably-strained Kent player Sarah Burgess.
Burgess' ponytail couldn't save her.
"Go on, ice princess, come inside again," Horne's expression seems to say. "I'll put you and your no-drip mascara in the fifth row."
After following finesse Cavaliers and Ohio State teams all year, the ferocity and muscle of the BG women was refreshing to watch.
They got to just about every loose ball, grabbed the bulk of the rebounds and excelled in the low-post mosh pit.
The mere fact that there was a low-post mosh pit in a women's basketball game speaks volumes as to the type of team Miller has put on the floor. They beat Kent last year, too, and lost a close first-round game to Kansas State in the NCAAs.
This year, armed with that experience and an even more dominant team, BG is a good candidate to win a few games.
We'll know their bracket and seeding Monday. Seven, in my humble opinion, is a worthy seeding. Anything less than 10 is a travesty.

Peralta's contract

The Indians must think the world of Jhonny Peralta.
Friday, owner Larry Dolan opened up his notoriously small wallet and came up with enough cash to give Peralta a five-year contract extension through 2011.
A five-year contract is something that rarely happens in Dolanville. Five years is more than Travis Hafner got last year, more than C.C. Sabathia got, and equal to Victor Martinez, if you factor in the option year.
Five years is something a free agent on the open market will never get from the Indians in a million years.
Five years is a huge vote of confidence in Dolan-speak. A big, fat "we know we didn't let Omar leave for just anybody."
While the fans were howling last spring as Omar Vizquel was suiting up in Giants gear for the first time, Peralta had the unenviable task of replacing one of the most beloved players in the history of Cleveland sports.
The vultures were most definitely circling, waiting for Peralta to flop. Not because of Peralta himself, but so fans could give the Indians front office both barrels for letting Omar leave.
Peralta committed four quick errors, then composed himself and made everyone shut up and take notice.
His glove steadied, and his bat was as advertised. The 2004 Class AAA International League MVP hit .292, drove in 78, and eclipsed the Indians' club record for home runs by a shortstop, hitting 24.
In July he settled into the third spot in the batting order. Once he produced there, he was a heart-fo-the-order major league hitter in the Indians' book.
Peralta proved himself in his first full big league season, and Dolan has rewarded him. Now it's up to Peralta to produce without the element of surprise working in his favor. He is no longer unknown. Pitchers will adjust to him, and Peralta must adjust back.
The ball is once again in Peralta's court to prove he's worth his new deal over the next five years.

Spaghetti baseball

Zach has a point. Just how many honest-to-goodness Italians are playing for the Italian team in the World Baseball Classic?
We can safely assume fewer citizens than, say, the Dominican or Korean teams.
A quick glance at the roster shows some players from Bologna and Grosseto, among them Claudio Liverziani, Riccardo De Santis and Jairo Ramos Gizzi. Those guys are probably legitimate Italian baseball players.
But when we start getting into Mike DeFelice, Jason Grilli, Frank Catalanotto and Mike Piazza, we all know they are about as Italian as Totino's Pizza Rolls.
Having an Italian team with a roster prerequisite of "last name must end in a vowel" makes the WBC look all the more contrived. It almost looks like a vehicle to get roster spots for more American players under the auspices of playing for their heritage. Which is a load of mularkey.
Your average American of Italian descent, just like your average American of Irish, German, Polish or African descent, hardly knows their ancestral land from a black hole. That transition, whether by immigration, indentured servitude or slavery, occurred between 100 and 300 years ago.
Incidentally, what would have happened had the baseball powers decided to have a Kenyan team and filled it with black players from the U.S.? How loud would the outcry of racial insensitivity have been?

NFL cap pact

The NFL has been saved from itself, as owners and player reps have hammered out a collective bargaining agreement extension through 2011.
The league is indeed going to have a salary cap next year, and for the ensuing five years.
In a purely selfish vein, I have to say "darn."
If the NFL and its players association had held out for just a few more days, we would have reached a critical-mass breakdown. That would have meant a drastically scaled-back cap for this season and no cap for 2007.
As it stands, the owners gave a ton of ground at the negotiating table (reportedly about $1 billion) to ensure that there would be a salary cap. NFL owners know the struggle small-market baseball teams face against their big-market competition, and did not want the same for football. I can't blame them.
But this is one situation where it could have benefitted Cleveland not to have a salary cap. While the financially-limited Indians are always fighting an uphill battle against the gold-ringed Mafia dons from New York and Boston, the Browns are a big-market team in the NFL.
Sure, TV revenue is split 32 ways even in the NFL, so don't even think in terms of that. What the Browns are sitting on is billions from owner Randy Lerner and a fan base that sells out every home game and keeps the merchandising revenue flowing, regardless of how bad the product on the field is.
In short, much like the Yankees, money shouldn't be much of an issue for the Browns, who still have a lot of clout in the league despite having only one winning season since 1999.
But the Browns won't be able to exercise all of their money muscle with a salary cap in place. And for the good of the league, I'm OK with that.
The Browns will still have over $20 million to spend in free agency this spring, and in the coming years, the cap will probably balloon over $100 million.
It's not a perfect situation for some of the league's small-market teams, as demonstrated by the lower-revenue Bengals and Bills, the only two teams to vote against the extended collective bargaining agreement. But without any type of cap, the NFL would go down the road of baseball, and the Packers wouldn't be able to survive in a market like Green Bay.
I don't think anyone wants to see that. Even in Chicago.

Mota's debut

Let the dice-rolling begin. The Indians turned setup man Guillermo Mota loose for the first time this spring in Wednesday's 7-1 loss to the Mets.
Media reports said he looked good, pitching a scoreless fifth inning, and had no pain in the right shoulder that has so many of us biting our nails.
Mota is a big, fat, red X-factor for the Indians this season. A healthy and effective Mota setting up closer Bob Wickman means the Indians will probably continue to have one of the top bullpens in the American League. An injury to Mota, Wickman, or both, and suddenly the Indians are using Danny Graves to set up Fernando Cabrera.
Mota reportedly babied his injured shoulder this winter, declining to play winter ball and maintaining a workout regimen that allowed him to gain overall strength for the upcoming season.
That he reported no pain in his first spring training outing is a good sign. Hopefully he's reporting no pain once the games start counting.

All is forgiven

Hey, Damon Jones. Remember all those not-so-nice things I said about you? That whole puppy-who-needs-to-be-housebroken crack?
I take it all back. For now, anyway.
Now, you are a smooth criminal. Robbing the Raptors of a victory with an assassin's touch. Tonight, you coolly took the feed from LeBron James and made that ball slip right through the net when your team needed it most.
You are the Iceman. The buzzer-beater. The sole reason the Cavaliers fly out of Toronto tonight with a 98-97 win, once again 10 games over .500 at 36-26.
LeBron once again passed up a chance to tie or win the game when he found Jones wide open in front of the Toronto bench with less than two seconds on the clock. He could have driven to the hoop to tie, and maybe even draw the foul for a go-ahead free throw.
But slashing to the hoop with no regard for life or limb does not define fearless in LeBron's book. He makes that look easy. Driving into the paint, then wilfully giving the ball up to a notorious streak shooter camped out in the corner with the game on the line, now that takes grapes.
Tonight, LeBron's selfless play made him look like a clutch-situation genius. If only we could have the confidence in Jones that LeBron has.
If Jones makes more plays like he did tonight, maybe we will.

Broken Bonds

Barry Bonds will probably try to slant the release of the new book, "Game of Shadows," as another media witch hunt.
Granted, the media does go on their share of witch hunts. We get overzealous, we make snap judgments, we drag names through the mud when it's not warranted.
This isn't one of those times. For the sake of posterity, for the sake of intergrity, for the sake of one of the most cherished records in sports, this story needs to be told. By someone.
The pathetic part is that two San Francisco Chronicle reporters have to do what Major League Baseball's front office should have done a long time ago: rat out one of baseball's most blatant steroid abusers. But Bud Selig and his cronies are far too ineffectual to do that.
Rafael Palmeiro and Jason Giambi nothing. Bonds is the fish that needs to be fried.
Prior to 1998, Bonds was far more Kenny Lofton than Babe Ruth. He was a 40 homer/40 stolen base man. He was a Gold Glove outfielder. Since then, he has bulked up to gargantuan proportions and has turned into a slow, lumbering slugger with a 73-homer season to his credit. All this as he approached and passed 40 years of age.
Now, he has 708 home runs, six shy of Ruth and 47 shy of Henry Aaron. The likelihood of Bonds passing Ruth and staking his claim as No. 2 on the all-time homer list is a near-certainty. If he stays healthy, reaching Aaron by season's end is not out of the question.
If Bonds hits 48 homers during this season, purportedly his last, baseball will be faced with having a ratted-out 'roid freak as its all-time home run king.
Without steroids, it is entirely possible that Bonds could have reached 500 career home runs, still part of an elite club. But Bonds wanted the biggest prize of all. He apparently subscribes to the widely held notion in sports that "if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying."
Bonds is far from alone in holding that notion. But nobody appears to have embraced it to the degree of Bonds. "Game of Shadows" alleges that Bonds absorbed steriods in almost every form imagineable: injected, swallowed, drops under the tongue, skin cream, and then some. The book's authors apparently have the BALCO records to back it up.
If it's all true, I shudder to think what type of health problems Bonds will develop in the next 10 years. We all should remember former Brown Lyle Alzado, taken way too soon by brain cancer that likely had its roots in steroid abuse.
Baseball goes out of its way to try and stay true to its wholesome image. They celebrate father-son outings to the ballyard and the shoeless Dominican boy who becomes a big-league star.
But Bonds, I fear, is the real baseball. They'd rather turn a blind eye to a man who is singlehandedly delivering an indelible black eye to the sport, in the name of a home run chase that makes the turnstiles click and ad revenue stream in.
Everything about this seems manufactured. The home run chase, the propaganda, and above all, Bonds' body.
Baseball fans tend to grow up with a romanticized image of the game. It the reason why change is largely viewed as an enemy. Baseball is supposed to be pristine, religious, like James Earl Jones described it in "Field of Dreams."
But behind the dreamscapes are men in suits and a slew of 'roided-up players counting their dough. It's hard to tell whether Bonds is the cause or the result. What is known is that he's a huge cog in the system, and it's time we knew that for certain.

World Series handicapper

It's only March 7, but I want to talk baseball, gosh darn it. So I am going to look ahead to October and handicap what I think are the top seven teams that have a chance to reach the 2006 World Series. These are just my picks, don't bet money on them.

1. Chicago White Sox
I still think this team caught lightning in a bottle to an extent last year. They won two-thirds of their one-run games, stayed almost completely healthy, and virtually every single one of GM Ken Williams' moves worked like a charm. That's not likely to repeat itself.
Having said that, the White Sox are still a very formidable team with quite possibly the best starting rotation in baseball. Manager Ozzie Guillen demands the White Sox excel at small ball, and they generally respond, playing base-to-base with the best of them.
DH Jim Thome could be the best acquisition made this off-season if he stays healthy. If he doesn't, he's an unstable building block for an offense that was statistically mediocre last year.
Having been to the top helps this team. They went from green to grizzled playoff veterans in one season.

2. New York Yankees
For the first time in about four years, the discord and bad moves that have ruled the Yankees seems to be subsiding. We know that Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter can co-exist peacefully. Jason Giambi finally worked his way back to health last season, Hideki Matsui was re-signed, and Johnny Damon gives the Yankees their first legit leadoff hitter since Chuck Knoblauch.
The biggest question mark is the entire pitching staff sans Mariano Rivera. Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson are aging staff aces. Behind them are young upstarts Aaron Small and Chien Ming-Wang, unproven over an entire season.
Kyle Farnsworth will be Rivera's primary setup man heading into the season. Joe Torre can use him at his own risk.
The Yankees' offense is so good, however, that they might only need lukewarm pitching to reach the Series.

3. New York Mets
Sooner or later, all this spending is going to yield something good. Either that, or a dysfunctional clubhouse.
The Mets have made sure their roster is a who's who of National League players. This off-season alone, they've added Billy Wagner and Carlos Delgado to go with last year's additions, Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran.
Beltran flopped in his first year as a Met. But he's still relatively young. Depth is the primary concern with the Mets, but they are loaded with guys who can carry a team.

4. St. Louis Cardinals
The Cards seem to be the reliable old standby. And they have the pitching to back it up. This year, the rotation is anchored by Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder and Jeff Suppan.
The St. Louis offense isn't deep, but peaks are very high, namely Albert Pujols. Jim Edmonds isn't young anymore, but seems to ratchet his play late in the season. This is a battle-tested team, coming off an NL pennant in 2004 and an NLCS appearance last year.

5. Boston Red Sox
Never before has a team gone through so many offseason gyrations to bascially stand pat. GM Theo Epstein was gone, as far away as New York, then came back. Manny Ramirez was headed everywhere from Seattle to Anaheim to Cleveland, but enters camp for his sixth season in Boston. Johnny Damon is gone, replaced by a reasonably similar player in Coco Crisp.
The biggest offseason move was the acquisition of Josh Beckett from the Marlins. Beckett is a former World Series MVP. If he truly is one of those guys that thrives on October pressure, he will be a dangerous weapon for the Red Sox.

6. Atlanta Braves
Another reliable standby, despite the fact that Atlanta hasn't advanced to the Series since 1999. Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones anchor the offense. Edgar Renteria is back in his National League comfort zone, and should rebound from a disappointing 2005 in Boston.
The pitching staff, always the concrete foundation of the Braves' ridiculous run of 15 straight division titles, is actually the area in a state of transition. Tim Hudson is the leader, John Smoltz is the old, wise owl. New pitching coach Roger McDowell will rely heavily on them to pilot a staff that is getting considerably younger.

7. Toronto Blue Jays
The moves made this winter might have finally been enough to wrestle the Blue Jays free of terminal mediocrity. The Jays always had one or two good players liek Vernon Wells and Roy Halladay, but could never put it all together. This winter, Toronto ownership spent like Daddy Warbucks and brought in A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan and Troy Glaus.
Burnett and Ryan are the staff ace and closer, respectively. Neither are proven over the long haul. Ryan has never saved 40 games in a season, yet is now the richest reliever in baseball. Glaus is a rare third baseman who can truly mash, but he will have to show he can stay healthy.
Right now, the Jays are an impressive collection of raw materials. Let's see what becomes of them over the next six months.

Best of the rest:
8. Los Angeles Angels
9. Houston Astros
10. Cleveland Indians
11. Oakland Athletics
12. Minnesota Twins

BG ups and downs

As if we didn't already know whom the better Bowling Green basketball team is, the men completely abdicated the MAC Tournament stage to the women by getting bounced in the first round last night.
If that wasn't humiliating enough, it was a 25-point loss to arch-rival Toledo.
It is the first time since 2000 that the BG men's team failed to make it to Cleveland. The men's portion starts Thursday afternoon at The Q.
OK, now that we've eaten our green beans, on to dessert.
The MAC doesn't technically seed women's teams, but if they did, BG would be No. 1. I say that in all objectivity.
The Falcon women finished the regular season 25-2, 16-0 in the MAC. That's no easy feat in a conference that routinely has one of the smallest gaps between the top and the bottom. If you are a BGSU alum, you should get to know these ladies. They already have an NCAA Tournament berth under their belts, and could very well be headed for another this year -- maybe even a win or two.
Armed with the rest of a first-round bye, the BG women will take on Northern Illinois in the MAC quarterfinals Wednesday at The Q. The game starts at 5:30 p.m.
The best part is, the Falcons are anchored by three juniors -- forwards Ali Mann, Liz Honegger and Carin Horne -- who will become one of the premier senior groups in the conference next year.
It's a long way from the shoot-first-ask-questions-later Falcon women Joel Hammond and I covered for the BG News in 2000 and 2001.

Puckett update

Kirby Puckett is dead due to complications from a stroke at the age of 45. Injuries and losses be damned. This is the worst sports news I have heard in quite some time.

Puckett suffers stroke

One of baseball's most likeable stars of the past 25 years might be clinging to life in an Arizona hospital bed following brain surgery.
Just 45 years old, Hall-of-Famer Kirby Puckett suffered a stroke Sunday and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors reportedly performed surgery to relieve bleeding on his brain today.
It's downright scary to think of one of baseball's most energetic and charismatic embassadors in critical condition from a stroke less than 10 years after his career abruptly ended.
It has been a downhill slide for Puckett in the past decade. Starting with an inadvertant beanball to his left eye from Indians pitcher Dennis Martinez in a September 1995 game, he then developed glaucoma and eventually lost the vision in his right eye. The glaucoma caused him to retire in 1996.
Puckett has struggled with weight problems, and was accused of sexual assault in connection with a 2002 incident in a Twin Cities-area restaurant, charges which were later dropped.
Now, this has happened.
I don't want to remember Puckett like this. I want to remember him rounding the bases after hitting the home run that won Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, as Jack Buck said "We'll see you tomorrow night!"

Savage satisfactory

Two months into the off-season, and it appears Browns GM Phil Savage is lending -- dare I say -- stability to the team's situation.
Most of us think the Browns are still at least a couple of years away from being worth anything on the field, but this was actually a very important off-season.
Most Browns off-seasons have been rife with upheaval -- coaching changes, purging of contracts, paradigm shifts on the roster. That is almost always a recipe for losing.
But so far, Savage seems to be going out of his way to calm things down. Maybe the need for stability was driven home to him when he was almost muscled out of his job by ex-president John Collins.
The obvious players the Browns needed to keep are the ones Savage already has under lock and key. Orpheus Roye has been re-signed before he had a chance to go on the open market. Reuben Droughns has been inked to a three-year extension. Savage also made haste to sign up-and-coming corner Leigh Bodden and leading tackler Andra Davis to extensions before the season ended. Solid left tackle L.J. Shelton appears to be next on the list.
Meanwhile, the players that might not be worthy of long-term commitments are the ones Savage will probably cut ties with this spring. Butterfingers receiver Antonio Bryant is likely gone, as are linebacker Ben Taylor, nose tackle Jason Fisk and punter Kyle Richardson.
It's a combination of initiative and common sense that we haven't seen in a Cleveland football executive in quite some time.
Much like the Cavs last summer, the Browns have a lot of salary cap space (about $20 million), and might not even have to worry about a salary cap if the NFL Players Association and league officials can't hammer out a figure in the early parts of this week. That means Savage has a lot of tools at his fingertips to make the Browns better in a short period of time.
Savage could lure four or five impact free agents to Cleveland this spring. He is reportedly eyeing receiver Joe Jurevicius and punter Dave Zastudil, both Cleveland-area natives.
An impact free-agent class, a productive draft, and the return to health of receivers Kellen Winslow Jr. and Braylon Edwards, and the Browns could be (gasp!) a playoff contender in 2006.
Granted, those are a lot of "ifs," but the Browns are already coming off a 6-10 season in which they could easily have been 9-7. Maybe they aren't as far away from respectability as we think they are.
Savage might be the only one who realizes that at the moment.

Hey Johnson!

Apparently, one photo has been causing quite a stir down Texas way. In the end, it's probably an indictment of just how perverted and sex-driven our society has become.
If you examine the photo closely, you will see something peculiar as Texas guard Daniel Gibson attempts to defend a shot during Wednesday's game versus Texas A&M.
His pantleg is caught in mid-air, and apparently something else.
Oopsie, is that Gibson's manhood whipping around out there?
If you asked dozens of callers to the Bryan-College Station Eagle on Thursday morning, the answer was an emphatic "yes." They were outraged. They were mortified. They wanted the photographer fired, and some probably wanted him strung up on the center of campus.
It got so bad that the paper's executive editor wrote a commentary on the matter for today's edition, defending the newspaper and the photography staff.
I'm sure many people really want to believe that's Gibson's penis extending from his shorts because it makes for so many good "Ohmygawwwd did you see that?" conversations at the office water cooler.
But, like the executive editor of the Bryan-College Station Eagle said today, it was an optical illusion. What appears to be indecent exposure is actually light reflecting through Gibson's pants. Let me give you three items to consider:

1) The color of Texas' pants
The phallic-shaped opening near Gibson's crotch is actually his pant fabric caught in a flip. The air sailing underneath created a parachute effect, allowing the camera to capture the burnt-orange underside of Gibson's pants. When the light shined through to the camera lens, it created a color similar to dark-tone flesh. It was kind of a bad confluence of circumstances captured by the photographer: flesh-tone fabric and penis-shaped opening.

2) Photo reproduction on newsprint sometimes isn't the best
Anyone who works in the newspaper biz knows translating digital photo files to newsprint sometimes doesn't create the best picture quality. While there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the quality of the photo in question, colors get mismatched and photos sometimes appear slightly blurred. That's especially true at a smaller newspaper, where the press technology might not be cutting-edge.

3) If that really was Gibson's penis, he had to have been playing with an 18-inch erection
That's just disturbing to think about. To me, the argument ends right there. I know the stereotype about black men and their anacondas, but there were no coinciding reports about Gibson pitching a circus tent out on the basketball court.

New-wave 'stache

You think you hated Eric Wedge's mustache, the one that is now so pleasantly absent from his upper lip?
at least he isn't sporting the facial hair of Gonzaga star Adam Morrison. Every time I see him, I want to say "play some Skynyrd man!" Many others seem to feel the same way. Morrison is averaging 28 points per game, he's one of the best players in the college ranks, and yet his quasi-stache gets more run than he does.
He looks like Pedro from "Napoleon Dynamite." but next season, he might be making an NBA team's wildest dreams come true.
I shouldn't totally rail on the mustache. Larry Bird had an equally sorry caterpillar in the '80s, and he won three NBA titles.
If Morrison leads Gonzaga to an NCAA title next month, who knows. Maybe 14-year-old stoner facial hair will become cool.

Relief

The Cavs spent most of the second half fighting themselves, blowing a 25-point lead against Chicago, the team that currently has the ninth spot in the East.
The stiffened up, blew the entire lead, fell behind and came so very, very close to losing their sixth in a row.
But, in the end, Flip Murray did what LeBron James and Anderson Varejao couldn't: he came up huge when his team needed him most.
LeBron had a hand, firing a heads-up pass to Murray sitting in the corner in three-point territory. Murray took the ball and drained a wide-open three with 3.9 seconds remaining, turning a two-point deficit into a 92-91 lead.
When Andres Nocioni heaved up a short three as time expired, the Cavs escaped with a one-point win.
They are now 33-26 with a Sunday home rematch with Chicago followed by back-to-backs with Toronto. Hopefully a week from now they are are once again 10 games over .500.

Indians 5, Astros 2

On the first day of the Grapefruit League season, all hope springs eternal. I hope to be revisiting that feeling in late September and October.

Ronnie Belliard hit a three-run homer. In March, he's an MVP candidate.

Cavs and contracts

The biggest problem with the Cavs isn't that LeBron James can't do it all, every minute, for 82 games. It's that, once again, he has to.
Kind of like the Indians' bullpen last season, the Cavs have magically gone from deep to threadbare as the stretch run is approaching.
Nearly three-quarters of the way through the season, and it looks like none of GM Danny Ferry's off-season additions is making the desired impact.
How very Cleveland of them.
Larry Hughes has a cast on his shooting hand. Donyell Marshall is aging before our very eyes, missing the wide-open jumpers he was brought in to make.
Damon Jones is the Ben Broussard of the Cavs. He heats up for a game or two, then disappears for a month.
In short, nobody Ferry brought in this off-season is really helping this team's postseason cause. Nobody is really taking any part of the load off LeBron and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Deadline acquisition Flip Murray has had 17-point and 19-point games since coming over from Seattle, but he is even shorter and skinnier than Hughes, and his ability to impact a game is limited.
This is a roster that could be capped out with bad contracts to underproductive players for the next four years. The 2005 off-season that was supposed to be a turning point toward contention might turn out to be a turning point in the direction of the Knicks, who have a roster suffocating under the weight of cumbersome deals.
To combat that, Ferry should be in full-sell mode this summer, regardless of what the Cavs do for the remainder of the season. Below are some things I think he should do (in addition to offering LeBron a max deal, of course).

1) Get rid of Jones and Eric Snow to whomever will take them. What you get in return doesn't matter as much. Just get rid of those contracts.

2) Draft a young, talented point guard who could start as a rookie.

3) Think about unloading Marshall -- but don't do it unless the price is right. I just have a bad feeling about his body breaking down over the next four years, but he can still do some shooting and rebounding, and could fetch something of value on the trade market.

4) Think long and hard about what he wants to do with Drew Gooden. Gooden is a nice player, but doesn't really bring the physicality and banger mentality the Cavs need in the low post. Ben Wallace and Danny Fortson could be available this summer.

5) If possible, re-sign Murray. He could provide a decent short-term insurance policy in case Hughes gets injured again.

6) Constantly re-assure LeBron that, no matter what has happened or what is going on, he is working to bring a winner to the floor and will take care of LeBron, no matter what.

The drought

I'm about to lose it. I care too much about Cleveland sports. If the Cavs indeed fall apart and fail to reach the playoffs, I might just take a mental health hiatus from being a full-time fan for a while.
Usually, you have to crawl before you can walk. But Cleveland sports are regressing. We talk all the time about our championship drought, now entering its 42nd year. But what about our playoff drought?
Three teams in this town, and the last playoff game in which a Cleveland team participated was Jan. 5, 2003, when the Browns lost to the Steelers in a wild card game.
Today is March 1, 2006. That's 1,151 days since a Cleveland team last even played in a playoff game. Not won a playoff game. Not won a playoff series. Played in a single playoff game. More than three years. Even by Cleveland standards, that's pretty bad.
By my count, the last time the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers all failed to make the playoffs for three entire years was from 1982-84. It was actually four years, going from the Browns in 1981 to the Cavs in 1985.
If the Cavs bomb, that leaves the Indians, who are always fighting an uphill battle against the big-payroll boys, and nobody seems to think the Tribe got any better this winter with the resources they had. Most seem to think they just took a giant hopscotch jump back to the 75-80 win range.
If that's true, that leaves the 2006 Browns. Playoffs? Not bleemin' likely.
Which brings us back to the 2006-07 Cavs. And it starts all over again.
You see why I might need a break from this whole Cleveland sports thing if the Cavs collapse? I'm only 26. I can't age this fast. I'm not joking.

Coming full circle

The same issues that caused the Cavaliers to miss the playoffs a year ago are creeping up again. Namely, no energy and no defense.
The Cavs wasted a 14-point first-half lead and lost to Sacramento tonight, 97-90. It is loss number five in a row, and now they must go on the road tomorrow to play division rival Chicago. The Bulls are one of the teams chasing the eighth spot in the East, one of the teams that could potentially knock the Cavs out of the playoff picture in the coming month if Cleveland slumps to that extent.
Throughout the second half tonight, the Kings got whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it, at the offensive end. They penetrated to the basket at will for easy layups and drained jumper after jumper, many from beyond the arc. The shots that didn't go in were stabbed by other Sacramento players for offensive rebounds.
The Cavs' legs looked lifeless tonight. They were outhustled at both ends and laid enough masonry for an office building at the offensive end. They were plagued by turnovers and fouls.
In short, they made you wonder how this team was 11 games over .500 less than two weeks ago.
The Cavs are dangerously toying with letting a collapse mentality sink in. They looked like a beaten ballclub tonight, a team that passed from frustration to depression sometime during the losses to Detroit. Another two or three losses in a row and the slump might become a runaway train, and another frightful March for the fans.

C.C. withrdaws

Cleveland is now 2-for-2 in star athletes making common-sense decisions this year.
LeBron James declined to participate in the NBA's tired, contrived slam dunk contest last month. Now, C.C. Sabathia has pulled out of the World Baseball Classic, as contrived as the slam dunk contest and presenting an even higher risk of injury for no good reason except money and TV ratings.
How long do you think the WBC will go on? As long as it takes for a big-name team like the Yankees to have their season royally screwed up because one of their cornerstone players got hurt and spent the summer in a cast.
But right now, the higher-ups in baseball think this is a great concept.
It's like telling your kid that riding a skateboard without a helmet is a bad idea. You tell him and tell him and he doesn't listen. Then you get called to the hospital to hold his hand while he's bawling and doctors are stitching a huge gash in his scalp. He'll wear a helmet after that, but you know it could have all been avoided.
Representing your country is a high calling in the Olympics. It is not a high calling in a manufactured event where U.S. resident Mike Piazza can play for Italy.
C.C. was wavering last week, when media reports said he was wary of spending much of spring training away from his normal routine. Today, in a statement released by the Indians, he reportedly said he couldn't participate because he would not be in competitive shape by Team USA's March 7 opener.
That's a double-edged sword. On one hand, he's right. What pitcher in his right mind would want to exert himself, even for six innings, in an early March game? Pitchers and their arms are the whole reason spring training lasts six weeks. Most position players could probably be ready for full-tilt baseball within two weeks.
On the other hand, it makes you wonder -- once again -- if C.C. has been taking care of himself away from baseball. Just what type of conditioning regimen did the paunchy Sabathia have this winter?
In recent years, C.C. has gotten off to slow starts, battling mechanical and endurance problems until he gets into good playing shape. If C.C. has to spend April sweating off pounds and improving his endurance, that's not going to help the Indians get off to the strong start they desperately need this season.

Erik's CD

This morning, I am proud to announce I arrived in the 21st Century and burned my first CD. I can already tell iTunes is going to be like new media crack for me.

What I'm listening to:

1. Crooked Teeth -- Death Cab For Cutie
2. Move Along -- The All-American Rejects
3. Flavor of the Weak -- American Hi-Fi
4. Ocean Avenue -- Yellowcard
5. Next Year -- Foo Fighters
6. Chemistry -- Semisonic
7. Light in Your Eyes -- Sheryl Crow
8. Take Your Mama -- Scissor Sisters
9. Sleepwalker -- Wallflowers
10. Heat of the Moment -- Asia
11. Don't Dream It's Over -- Crowded House
12. Gold Digger -- Kanye West w/Jamie Foxx

LeBron and the stretch run

As Aaron Rund points out in his blog, don't think for a second that many members of the national media wouldn't love to see the Cavs flame out and miss the playoffs yet again this year.
All the columns and talk shows would start whispering in LeBron's ear. Actually, they'd be screaming like 14-year-old girls trying to make eye contact with Joey Fatone at an *NSYNC concert.
"The Cavaliers will never be able to build a winner around LeBron," they will say. "He needs to go to a big-market team where he can be the next Jordan for the NBA. He can't do that in Cleveland."
"The Cleveland fans booed him! They booed LeBron!" mock-incredulous talk show hosts will exclaim. "There is no way that city deserves him! They don't know what they have!"
So Michael Jordan was never, ever, ever booed in Chicago? Not once in 15 seasons? Larry Bird was never, under any circumstances, ever booed by the notoriously-moody Boston fans, not ever?
Ohhhh, that's right. Chicago and Boston are big-market cities. When the fans boo there, they are demanding excellence. If Jordan and Bird were ever booed, it was their fault for screwing up. But LeBron misses four free throws, gets a smattering of boos that didn't even register in some parts of The Q, and Cleveland fans have just committed blasphemy?
That's not a double-standard. That's the big-market media machine working on LeBron, trying to massage doubt about Cleveland into his brain, doing whatever possible to get him into a big-market team's uniform by 2008.
What big-market team depends on what coast you live on. It's like watching single women fight over the bouquet at a wedding.
"GET AWAY YOU $%&#!! HE'S COMING TO THE LAKERS!!"
"LAKERS MY ASS!! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF HIM!! HE'S HOOKING UP WITH JAY-Z AND THE NETS!!!"
What the national media will emphatically point out, should the Cavs slump and miss the playoffs, is the fact that LeBron's extensive (maybe excessive) playing time will be the primary culprit, an indicator that the Cavs haven't put an adequate roster around LeBron.
LeBron won't admit it, but he is wearing down. Only Allen Iverson has played more minutes in the NBA this season. And every minute LeBron is on the floor is an important minute for the Cavs.
LeBron piloted himself through last year's grind by taking some possessions off, by scaling back his effort at the defensive end. As we all know, non-existent defense killed the Cavs' playoff hopes last season, so LeBron was asked to step up his effort on defense and become more involved leading the team at both ends of the floor.
LeBron works much harder at both ends now. With no Larry Hughes, the pressure on him to perform at a high level for 40-plus minutes a night is extremely high. It's like driving your Hyundai at 100 miles per hour to and from work every day. Except LeBron is no Hyundai, and the NBA season is no work commute.
LeBron has not paced himself this season. When Hughes went down, he couldn't anymore. Now, he has become prone to second-half letdowns. It is no coincidence that the Cavs' recent fourth-quarter flops have come in tandem with LeBron's late-game burnouts. As LeBron goes, so go the Cavs.
LeBron is still just 21, and even though he might be the most gifted and famous 21-year-old on the planet, like most 21-year-olds, he wants to prove himself and gain the favor of his superiors. If Brown tells him to play hard for 48 minutes, he will play hard for 48 minutes.
Only with experience will LeBron learn how to pick and choose the spots to exert himself. He will have to go through these late-season wind-sucking fits to figure out how to guard against them.
Meanwhile, the Cavs' playoff hopes hang in the balance. If LeBron doesn't have enough left in the gas tank to get Cleveland to the playoffs, Cleveland's not going. It's as simple as that.