The Downtown report

Checking in from my perch in Downtown Cleveland, trying to stare the leaves into turning colors...

- The sports scene here Downtown is absolutely dead, at least for the moment. The Indians are playing, yes, and the ballpark is as nice as ever, but it's hard to imagine there being any less enthusiasm for the club. As I begin this post, the Wahoos are leading 2-1 in the 9th and my stomach is starting to churn.

- A while back, I ranked the sports months of the year. July placed 11th and August 12th. Fallow times for sports fans.

- I think most people are sort of trying not to think too much about the Indians right now, keeping loose tabs in case they go crazy and win two games in a row or something. In the meantime, there's sort of a cautious underbubbling of excitement for the upcoming Browns and Cavaliers campaigns.

- In the case of the Browns, it's not so much that anyone (except, maybe, Nick) thinks they're going to be anything but lousy, but more that damnit, we like professional football. I, personally, am of the mindset that the Football Gods can't beat me. 10 years of terrible football, and I'm ready as ever to break out the beers, jerseys, and game-day text messages in 2009. Bring it on.

- The Buckeyes, on the other hand, should be pretty solid this year. I think Figgs touched on this earlier, but their season looks, on paper, pretty easy to map out: lose at home to USC and on the road to Penn State, take down everyone else and beat the tar out of michigan, and maybe score a BCS berth. You know what? I'd take it.

- Expectations for the Cavs this year will be the highest they've been since...um, last year. Even more so in 2009-10, though, you get the feeling they're going for broke this season. LeBron's final year of this deal, Shaq - anything less than a title is a disappointment, and that's all there is to it. Incidentally, I love the Jamario Moon signing (provided Miami doesn't match the offer sheet). Not just because I like his package of skills, but because I saw him play as a member of the Albany Patroons when I was a resident of the Capital District. He was a fan favorite then ("Mooooon!") and I was happy to see him finally break through in the NBA. Now he's got a chance to get himself some fancy jewelry.

- Triathlon season kicks off for Nick and I this weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. 10 weeks off my knee surgery, I'm still not running too fast, so my times are going to be pretty pedestrian this year. Some days I still can't run at all; let's hope this Sunday isn't one of those. We'll also be participating in the Cleveland Triathlon the following Sunday, August 2.

- Hated listening to the TV broadcast booth this past weekend, for a number of reasons. First of all, can we stop lionizing Ichiro Suzuki because he gets a lot of infield hits? They're not any better than walks. Second, can we stop pretending that pitching and defense are somehow "old school"? Yes, teams are scoring less now than in the home run era, and runs were hard to come by back in the day, but teams always needed strong pitching and defensive play to win. This annoys me.

- 2-1 Tribe. Winning gives me a chill even when it pulls us to within 13 games of first. There will be other seasons.