Courtside, homie

Check me out, rollin' next to the court like a baller. And by "baller" I mean 8-year old kid with an Oden Trail Blazers jersey and an Oklahoma City Thunder yarmulke. Don't parents instill local team allegiance anymore?



I also took this well-timed photo of the opening tip. I did not take a picture of Damian Lillard's back-breaking last-second game-winning bomb.

The Downtown Report: 2012 in Cleveland and Ohio Sports

First up, a little housekeeping. For years I've called this semi-regular feature "The Downtown Report" so I could talk about our favorite teams and give some perspective from my perch downtown, in the epicenter of the action. However, I've now moved, and unless you're one of those suburbanites who thinks everything with a Cleveland address is "downtown," the term is no longer accurate. I'm in Ohio City, or Detroit Shoreway if you prefer - still only three miles away from Cleveland sports glory. I think I'll keep the name for this feature, though.

On to sports. I began my Downtown Report 2011 review of Cleveland sports with the simple phrase, "That was tough," referring to the difficulty of enduring collective fandom of the Cleveland professional teams and The Ohio State University.

2012 was also fairly tough, in case you didn't notice. In fact, the whole situation is and has been kind of dire. For perspective, consider a piece I wrote last year documenting how 2011 and 1991 were the two worst seasons in aggregate since I started watching in the mid-80's. This past campaign wasn't quite as awful as those for OSU-friendly Clevelanders, but it wasn't far off:

- The Cavs remained buried at the bottom of the Central Division, though they moved up from 15th in the East to 13th (yay) and improved their win percentage from .232 to .318 (fyi: it was .805 and .744 the two years prior). That's pretty much holding steady since the club's nightmarish first season post-LeBron. They're at .226 in the 2012-13 campaign so far, in case you were wondering.

- The Indians totally collapsed after a solid start, posting a dismal 68-94 record and barely edging Minnesota to avoid the worst record in the AL. That's a significant drop from their 2nd-place 2011 campaign.

- The Browns are 5-10 and at the bottom of the AFC North following up a season where they went 4-12 and ended up at the bottom of the North. Business as usual.

In total, for a fan of only the Cleveland clubs, 2012 was even a rawer deal in total than was 2011, and frankly, things aren't exactly looking up. The Cavs' roster is painfully thin, the Browns' rookie QB is almost as old as me, and the Indians are mired in small-market purgatory.

But how about those Buckeyes! Ohio State had a banner year in athletics, as the basketball team led by Jared Sullinger made a Final Four appearance and the Renegade Buckeyes football squad posted a sparkling 12-0 perfect season despite a postseason ban. I'm glad the scarlet and gray were around to alleviate some of the misery caused by the blue, red, white, brown, orange, wine, and gold.

But hey, sports are supposed to be fun, so let's try to have ourselves a nice little retrospective and hit some of the high points, such as they were. We'll also see how my quick predictions for the teams worked out.


Tribe
It's hard to tell what to expect from the 2012 bunch, but as presently constructed I don't see them besting [80-82] by much....some of the questions will probably resolve themselves positively and others negatively, so I see the Indians probably treading water in 2012.

Well...this now looks a bit like wishful thinking, given the actual end result. It wasn't all bad - the Wahoos were sitting at 44-41 at the All Star Break, and were very much in competition for the AL Central and the expanded Wild Cards. Then, the wheels just completely came the hell off, with the hapless Indians unraveling to the tune of 24-53 after the break. At one point, from July 27 through August 31, the Tribe was a preposterous 5-28. Yes, you read that right: 5-28. They went 13-17 the rest of the way out for a final record of 68-94, placing 4th in the division and greasing the skids for manager Manny Acta's exit.

I'm sorry to see Acta go, because I think he generaly did a good job and was a likeable personality, and I think stability can be a good thing for a team. On the plus side, being able to replace him with a top-flight manager like Terry Francona softens the blow a bit. Of course, and I can't stress this enough: the manager doesn't matter much in Major League Baseball.

Unlike the comically dramatic 2011 campaign, 2012 was pretty light on signature moments, at least the good ones. The opening series didn't portend well, as Chris Perez coughed up a three-run lead in the opener in a game the Indians eventually dropped in 16 innings. The next day, with my crew and I making our first appearance at Progressive Field on the year, the Indians lost another game in extras. At least I got to play like three hours of pop-a-shot against Canadians after that one.

The bulk of my excursions to Tribe games were less than thrilling this season - I missed a lot of time because I couldn't fit in a stadium seat for a while after each of my two knee surgeries, and was something like 2-8 at the park this season when I did make it. That mark included thrilling 8-1 and 9-0 losses at the hands of the hated White Socks. Blah. I actually can't remember seeing a win in person, now that you mention it. Hell, the Indians couldn't even be bothered to even reply to FCF's application for the Social Suite. That's lame.

But back to baseball. From a numbers standpoint, Shin-Soo Choo (OPS+ 131), Carlos Santana (121), Asdrubal Cabrera (115), and Michael Brantley (113) were the Indians' best offensive players, though Jason Kipnis (107) had a solid season and Travis Hafner (121) and Lonnie Chisenhall (108) contributed in limited appearances.

Finding positives among the pitching staff is more challenging - our six main starters posted ERA+ numbers of 79, 72, 92, 71, 61, and 65. Our best starter was Zach McAllister, and his ERA was 4.24. That's no kind of way to win ballgames. In case you were wondering, all five of the Nationals' chuckers had ERA's below four. I know it's the NL, but still. Closer Chris Perez was more erratic than in past seasons, though he did post a 3.59 ERA and saved 39/43 games. The Indians' two best relivers were Joe Smith (132) and Vinnie Pestano (152) - Pestano, in particular, was fantastic this season.

Despite a distinct lack of flash (and pitching), the Indians ended May at 24-17 just a game and a half back of the AL Central lead. That was fun. The rest of the season was: not fun. Part of this is because I was basically on hiatus this summer and didn't really document the Wahoos so much, but I honestly can't remember anything fun or good or exciting that happened during the second half of the year. You know what? Let's just pretend this year didn't happen and start looking forward. Agreed?

I like the off-season moves the Tribe has made so far - they got a solid return for Choo in Drew Stubbs and Trevor Bauer, and the Nick Swisher and Mark Reynolds signings really fill some needs for the club. Still, they seriously lack depth and quality in the rotation (unless Ubaldo Jimenez returns to form), and aren't exactly an offensive juggernaut just yet. Don't underestimate how bad the Indians were in 2011: this was a season where they scored fewer runs than every team except Seattle and gave up more runs than every team in the league.

The Indians look like they're a long way from being competitive, but hopefully they can at least start moving in the right direction. Go Tribe!


Browns
you'll be able to knock me over with a feather if they improve the talent (and coaching) enough to get above .500 next year.

Admittedly, I wasn't out on too far of a limb here predicting a sub-.500 season for the Cleveland Browns. I should say that my actual pick was 6-10, and if the Thaddeus Lewis Era kicks off the way I expect it to, we will see that lofty ambition realized this Sunday.

The narrative for the Browns' 2012 has been one of progress - sure, they haven't won a lot of games, but they've been in almost all of the ones they've played, they're young, the new guys like Weeden and Richardson are coming along, and the defense has stepped it up. It has certainly seemed like the team has been more watchable, less dire and hapless than the 2011 edition.

Unfortunately, they aren't really a whole lot better, other than collecting one or two more wins. Let's look at some summary statistics for the 2011 and 2012 Browns using pro-football-reference's Simple Rating System. The easiest way to think of SRS is as a point spread vs a league-average opponent on a neutral field; a perfectly average NFL team will score 0.0.

Overall SRS
2011: -5.4
2012: -4.9

Offensive SRS
2011: -7.2
2012: -4.4

Defensive SRS
2011: +1.8
2012: -0.6

According to SRS, the Browns have improved slightly - instead of getting 5.5 points from an average opponent, they now only get 5. Good times! On an SRS basis, the offense has improved about a field goal a game and, perhaps surprisingly, the defense has given that field goal back. Now, maybe this is because they actually are more competitive, and their opponents need to score more points to defeat them instead of rushing the ball for entire second halves and leaving with wins against the Browns without having to worry about scoring additional points. I'm not entirely sure how that can be untangled.

Last year, the Browns scored just 13.6 points per contest, 30th in the NFL, which was frankly awful and hard-to-watch. The defense was 5th in points allowed at 19.2 per, but as I suggested earlier, that might be tied in part to the offensive ineptitude. This year, they're scoring 19.5 per game (23rd) and allowing 22.9 (19th). Their point differential has improved from -5.6 a game (27th) to -3.5 per contest (23rd), which is a good trend, but along with SRS, suggests that the whole thing about them being more competitive has been overstated a bit.

The thing that concerns me most about the franchise going forward is, not surprisingly, the quarterback situation. Brandon Weeden has shown some promise in spots, but overall hasn't been a strong performer. Yes, he's a rookie, but so are Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Bobby Griff, and those guys have been pretty good this year, no? But perhaps the better comparison is to Colt McCoy's performance in 2011. Yes, McCoy was a second-year player in 2011, but it was his first full season behind center for the Browns, his 2010 and 2011 numbers are virtually identical, and he's still four years Weeden's junior, so the comparison is apt.

What we see is that, even with what seems to be a clearly superior set of complemetary pieces, from pleasant surprise Mitchell Schwartz bolstering the line, to speedsters Josh Gordon and Travis Benjamin, to wrecking ball Trent Richardson behind him, 2012 Weeden hasn't outperformed 2011 McCoy. Take a look:

McCoy 2011 (13 games): 210 ypg, 57.2 comp %, 14 TD, 11 INT, 74,6 passer rating, 40.1 QBR
Weeden 2012 (15 games): 226 ypg, 54.7 comp %, 14 TD, 17 INT, 72.6 passer rating, 26.6 QBR

If anything, I'd take 2011 McCoy, which isn't a very strong endorsement of Weeden's performance so far. I'm also slightly concerned about Richardson going forward - he's shown that he can ram ahead for three yards pretty much any time he wants, and has a real nose for the end zone, but he's broken very few runs past 10 yards this season, with a long of just 32. I don't want to take away from what he's done - 950 yards and 11 TD on the ground is nothing to sneeze at. Maybe it's injuries - we'll just have to see.

Phil Dawson is awesome.

What should we expect from the 2013 Browns? Well, we're going to suck again, I would imagine. For all the depth we've assembled, especially on the defensive line, we still don't have playmakers, and the organization will once again be in a state of flux as Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner relieve Pat Shurmur (and probably Tom Heckert) of his duties and start rebuilding the organization their way.


Buckeyes
Optimism is high headed into the New Year for both the hoops and gridiron squads. The basketballers are loaded and should make some noise in the NCAA tournament, while the football team will benefit from Braxton Miller's development and the addition of a top-flight coach in Urban Meyer.

Well...yes.

The Buckeye basketballers posted a 31-8 record on the campaign, including a 13-5 mark good for a three-way tie with michigan and Michigan State atop the Big Ten standings, marking Ohio State's third straight season with at least a share of the Big 10 regular season hoops crown. It was a true tie, as OSU split their series with both rival schools from the state up north, and MSU and um did likewise, the home team winning all six contests. OSU was paced all season by two-time All-American Jared Sullinger, senior leader Willian Buford, and newcomers Deshaun Thomas and defensive ace Aaron Craft.

The Buckeyes entered the Big Ten tournament as the #3 seed thanks to a tiebreaker of them having the worst record of the three co-champions against 4th-place Wisconsin. Whatever. The two-time defending champion Buckeyess smashed their way into the finals, pulling away late for a convincing 88-71 win over Purdue and an absolute pummeling of the school up north, 77-55. Wow did I ever enjoy that game. OSU wasn't able to three-peat, unfortunately, as the Spartans toppled them 68-64 in a quality game.

The Buckeyes secured a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, their fourth straight bid, and dispatched Loyola (MD) and perennial bracket buster Gonzaga to reach their third straight Sweet Sixteen. Unlike the previous two seasons, the Buckeyes were not to be denied in the third round, ousting in-state rival Cincinnati and regional top seed Syracuse to reach the Final Four. The Buckeyes' title dreams ended with a hard-fought 64-62 loss to a tough Kansas team, a loss soothed someewhat by the knowledge that OSU probably would have gotten hammered by that ridiculous Kentucky team in the championship game.

So, although another strong Buckeye season ended in an NCAA Tourney defeat, it was a hell of a run. It was also much better than the run michigan had, where they were bounced (and confused by the Ohio Bobcats. Wow did I ever enjoy that game.

Facing a one-season bowl ban in the inaugural season of head coach Urban Meyer, the football Buckeyes knew they wouldn't suffer the same end as their basketball counterparts. So, they did what any self-respecting Renegade Buckeye squad would do - went out and won all 12 of their games. Done and done. Incidentally, the "Buckeyes" label will take you to all of Figgs' excellent game recaps here on the site.

After sleepwalking through a 4-0 non-conference start, the Bucks passed their first real test with a 17-16 win over Michigan State in East Lansing. They returned home and just firebombed Nebraska 63-38 before winning a surprisingly close 52-49 shootout over Indiana to move to 7-0.

Then came the craziest game of the year, an improbable 29-22 overtime win over unranked Purdue that needed the services of an insane last-minute rally drive engineer by backup QB Kenny Guiton. Not only did this contest keep OSU in the ranks of the unbeaten, it also broke a rather unfortunate string of losses Figgs and I had suffered watching Buckeye games together.

Wins over Penn state and Illinois moved Ohio State to 10-0, and a thrilling OT win over Wisconsin (in Madison) left them with just one game in their way to claim the undefeated mantle: michigan. There was no fucking way we were losing this game, and we didn't, winning 26-21 as can't-tie left The Game hungry for the 3rd time in 4 years. Good riddance, pal.

Oh, and OSU has Braxton Miller for the next two years. Can someone say "11 of 13"?


Cavs
Expectations are low, and I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the club. This season is really about Irving and Thompson, and seeing if one or two other guys emerge as potential contributors. They'll very likely be a lottery team again, and that's alright, but in the meantime I'll enjoy the action and bask in the wins when they do happen.

I haven't done a whole lot of the "bask"ing I talked about, as the Cavs have continued to limp along winning one out of four games or so while providing very little of the entertainment value that the 2010-11 club was so rich in, despite its poor record.

I was right about the season being about Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson, just as this season is again about that duo along with 2012 draft picks Dion Waiters and Tyler Zeller.

The good news is: Irving is a star, already among the top point guards in the NBA. Irving put up 18.5 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.7 rebounds a game in his rookie campaign, bumping those to 23.5/5.5/3.9 this season. His shooting percentages have stayed basically the same (47%/40%/87% a year ago, 47%/41%/80% this season). This is all on a team where he's not getting much support and has really no one else who can create shots. The only flaw in Irving's game is that he spends too many of them in streetclothes, missing 14 games a year ago and 10 so far this season.

Thompson, well, the jury is still out on this kid. He clearly has some athletic gifts, and is averaging just under 9 points and 9 rebounds a game this year...but that's not quite the value a club wants to see form the 4th overall pick. My concerns with him are that he doesn't seem to have the strongest grasp of how to play the game, and that at 59% from the line he's a liability late in games.

The other new fellows, #4 overall selection Dion Waiters and #17 pick Tyler Zeller, haven't quite set the world on fire yet. Zeller puts up 8 points and 5 boards a game but seems a bit overmatched at this early stage in his career. Waiters is scoring 14.6 a contest and makes some dazzling plays that bode well for his future, but doesn't have a complete, efficient game yet, connecting on just 37% of his attempts from the field and 33% of his threes.

As for the rest of the roster...there's Anderson Varejao, who is having by far his finest season at the age of 30 and is deserving of an all-star spot. Varejao is scoring 14.1 a game and pulling down an NBA-best 14.4 rebounds a contest. The guy is simply amazing. As with Irving, the only problem with Varejao's game at present is when he's not on the court to ply it.

After those five players, the Cavs roster is really, really shaky, with no one else who could even be a role player on a decent NBA team. Between the early development stage of the young players, injuries, and the total lack of bench depth, it's not hard to see why they're 7-24. It is hard to see, unfortunately. how to turn that mark around.


FCF Racing
Pro and college sports aside, there's the matter of FCF's participation in distance racing events, which has been off-and-on over the past few years. This season was again a mix of off and on, with the gang unable to get together for too much action.

On the good side was what Nick has modestly described as "The Rise of Allburn," as he got his career back on track by completing his first half-marathon and placing 4th overall in the Cleveland Triathlon. Nice work! I believe Figgs posted some career bests as well.

For me? Not so much. I did knock down the greatest game-winning shot I've ever seen, but http://forestcityfanatics.blogspot.com/2012/06/downtown-report-rehabbin-again.html injury problems kept me out of the game for most of the year. I'm unlikely to ever play basketball, softball, volleyball, or anything like that ever again.

I can run again, at least, and my athletics career might be back on track, but who knows. I managed to work in two so-so 5k's and a 10k before the year closed, so hopefully I can rejoin Team FCF for a successful 2013. Hopefully our teams do the same.


Thanks for reading anything any of us at FCF wrote in 2012, and here's to a prosperous new year in Ohio sports.

Mega-sports blowout all-rivalry super-weekend

Among the many, many things I had to give thanks for during this Thanksgiving holiday season was just a humongous dose of sports. My goodness did I watch a lot of sports over the past four days, and I loved it. I'll try my best to recap the whirlwind action, highlighted of course by another magnificent Ohio State Buckeye victory over the dastardly michigan wolverines and a rare, satisfying win over the demonic Pittsburgh steelers. This was one to remember.


Thursday
First on the list: a plate of NFL action piled high on Thanksgiving day. Without cable, I haven't followed the NFL as closely as in years past, and it was nice to have the opportunity to catch all three games (and spend time with friends and family, of course). I was psyched enough at the concept that I even made a mediocre return to our weekly NFL picks article.

First up was Detroit's amazing botching of a golden opportunity to claim their first T-Day win in nine years, eventually losing 34-31 in OT to the Houston Texans. As someone who wanted nothing but ill fortune to descend on the entire state where the game was being held, I was pleased by this result, taking it as a positive sign of things to come.

Next was the Redskins taking the Cowboys in Big D, and as I suspected, Bob Griffin ran wild on the hapless Cowboys in a 38-31 win. Better luck next time, America's team. In another positive development, my hangover from Blackout Wednesday was fully erased by the tie this one kicked off.

The night game was great for Patriots fans, not so great for Jets fans or anyone else who likes even vaguely competitive football. I mean, with 10 minutes left in the first half, the Patriots were on offense at their own 20, holding a 7-0 lead. In less than seven minutes, the Patriots were up 35-0 (no, really), and TV sets across the nation were retuned. I think maybe I tried to be a bit too fancy with my Jets pick, huh?


Friday
After a tedious eight hours of driving, much of which was self-imposed by me forgetting some stuff at my Dad's, I managed to traverse some windy highways and get back in time for the Lake Erie Monsters game at the Q.

The once-again-so-so Monsters were taking on the mighty (?) Rockford Icehogs, and managed to fall behind 2-0 in the second period. With the help of two power play goals, the Monsters knotted it up in the third, though a Rockford goal on a superb individual effort put the visitors back up by a tally. Lake Erie's last best chance was an extended 5-on-3 power play where, I believe, they didn't get a shot on goal despite having the puck in Rockford's end the entire time. Way, way too many blocked shots. Rockford added an empty-netter for the final 4-2 margin. Oh well.

I wondered if perhaps the quality of AHL play would be improved with the NHL lockout ongoing, an I believe that it was. It's typically a good on-ice product, but you can tell it's a clear step below, as passes aren't as crisp, skating not as fluid, shooting not as sharp. I wondered if perhaps the presence of a lot of upper-level AHL'ers who might otherwise be filling out NHL rosters would improve the level of competition, and I think that it did. That having been said, wow is the NHL ever inept at actually getting teams to play. Two lockouts in a decade? Lame.


Saturday
The main event was, as always, The Game, Ohio State vs michigan, being played this year for the 108th time. Prior to that was, as is my tradition, the Pigskin Classic 5k and Tailgate Party. I posted a 21:39, breaking a 7-minute pace for the first time in a while (despite blustery conditions), and good enough for a 38th-place finish out of 328 runners and 8th of 54 in my age bracket. Not bad for a guy with shaky knees who missed six months of training this year.

During the race, I noticed a girl sporting ugly um blue and yellow garb who was running off to the side, the wrong way, away from the course. I thought, of course: typical michigan fan, can't even figure out the course. Amazingly, she turned out to be a friend of a friend, we talked at the tailgate, and that was exactly what happened. I love when things work out like that. She actually watched the game with my crew and turned out to be a nice enough person, other than the whole um thing.

I'll let Figgs have at the Buckeyes' 26-21 win over the weasels, though I did make some post-game remarks in a post-game article, but in this space I'll just say: what a performance by the defense. In a game where an astounding number of questionable calls went against OSU and the offense struggled to convert its opportunities, the once-maligned defensive unit shut out the michigan offense for the entire second half. Solid.

I also was able to put the bow on a season-long tradition; txting Figgs after each game that "We're [# wins]-0, and we're not michigan fans." Saturday's was the sweetest.

Oh, and we have Braxton Miller for two more years. Maybe you'll have a shot in the 2015 game, michigan fans!


More good news from the Saturday gridiron! This wasn't technically a rivalry game, since my high school New Philadelphia was eliminated from the postseason weeks ago, but I'm not too old to enjoy watching a rival lose a postseason game even if my alma mater isn't involved.

Thus, I was pleased to learn that dover was dispatched by a humbling score of 48-13 by Saint-Vincent-Saint Mary high school. Wait, haven't I heard of that school from somewhere? Don't they have a famous alumnus that sports fans are familiar? Oh yeah...


After I woke up from a post-tailgate nap, I saw that the Cavs were hanging in there against the hated Miami Heat and former Cavalier #6. Could they do the improbable and waltz into South Beach on the second night of a back-to-back and topple the defending champions?

Nope.

But damned if they weren't close, leading by seven points with less than two minutes to play. Then, I think, the Sporting Gods remembered hey, we like to fuck with Northeast Ohio more than anything, and a late Ray Allen three-pointer sent Los Caballeros to a 110-108 defeat. I tried (and mostly succeeded) in not letting this put a damper on what was otherwise a day to remember.


Sunday
With the Buckeye game in our back pocket, FCF turned their attention to the pro game, where the Browns were taking on the hated pittsburgh steelers. It was hard to turn it around less than 24 hours after the OSU win, but that's why we're Browns fans.

The narrative all week leading up to the game focused on the steelers' injuries, especially to QB Ben Roethlisberger and his backup Byron Leftwich, forcing Charlie Batch into the starting role. This generated two storylines: 1) a rare golden opportunity for the Browns to snatch a win from the rivals that have dominated them over the years, and 2) that Batch is a veteran who won't be expected to do too much but is smart and won't lose the game for the steelers. Only #1 turned out to be correct, as Batch's three interceptions complemented five steeler fumbles as Pittsburgh handed Cleveland a 20-14 win, the first for the Browns since the Ice Bowl in 2009.

I'm sure "steeler nation" is already concocting excuse after excuse for the loss - Big Ben was out, the turnovers cost us, Richardson's carry late in the game should have been a fumble. To all of those I say: whatever. 20-14.

I'm not going to worry about any of that - the Browns not capitalizing on many of their chances, the injury situation, none of it. I'm just enjoying this win. The Browns are 3-8, but hey, they beat the steelers, and today, that's good enough.

Downtown Report, Rehabbin' Again

Well, here I am, sitting on my couch, recovering from an arthroscopic knee surgery.

Again.

The first one didn't quite take, despite a once-promising rehab, so I had to get some more "work" done on the old knee. Non-invasive as they've gotten this game to be over the years, I still have to park it for a few days, so here I am with some time to bang out some commentary about our favorite clubs.


Tribe
I've spent more time on the DL this summer than Travis Hafner!

No good? How about: I've spent more time on the DL this summer than Grady Sizemore!

Enough injury jokes - even without the services of their two one-time stars for most (if not all) of the campaign so far, the Tribe has managed to claw its way to a 37-32 mark and first place in the AL Central, with more than 40% of the season in the books. This, despite some team numbers suggesting that the Indians are really, really fortunate to be where they are:

- Run differential of -27 (13th of the 14 AL teams, only bettering abysmal Minnesota)
- SRS of -0.3 (again, 13th/14 clubs - Minnesota is awful)
- Pythagorean W-L of 32-37 (an actual mark which would drop them to 12th in the AL in W-L)

Fun fact on the run differential stat: every AL East team is in the positive, three of four AL West teams are >0 ... and then only one AL Central club (the White Socks) have scored more than they've allowed. The Indians owe a good of part of their first-place status to the underperforming white socks (only 2 games up on .500 despite a +33 differential) and the surprisingly mediocre Detroit Tigers. This division is there to be run away with...and no one has bothered to do so thus far.

A fair question to ask is just how the Tribe has managed this feat. As a team, the Wahoos haven't been too bad at the plate. Their team OPS+ is 101, and they've scored 4.38 runs a game, 6th in the American League and just under the league average of 4.44. They've been paced by Asdrubal Cabrera, the team's MVP so far in my view (and who just now hit a HR as I typed this) who owns an OPS+ value of 145 from the shortstop position. His infield partner Jason Kipnis has shined as well, posting a 114 OPS+ number. Even Shin-Soo Choo has had a resurgence, upping his on-base (.365 from .344) and power (slugging at .444 from .390) numbers from a year ago and giving the Tribe good production from the leadoff spot.

The Captain Jack/Chisenhall tandem has been decent at 3B (OPS+ 0f 105), while Carlos Santana (100) and Michael Brantley (100) have been good as well, though in the backstop's case I think we all expect more. Santana's OBP has held steady at .350, where it was a year ago, but his power has fallen considerably, with his SLG dropping from .457 last year to .354 this year. This confirms what I think we all see when we see Santana approach the plate: a guy who doesn't really seem like a threat to crush one anymore. Let's hope this shift reverses itself.

Brantley, on the other hand, has recovered from a slow start, boosting his on-base to .320 (and posting a SLG of .392 that trails only Cabrera, Hafner, Kipnis, and Choo) and continuing to play a solid CF. You'd like to see him walk more, but his progress this year has been notable. On the topic of those walks, here are the walk percentages for Indians hitters this year:

Santana: 16.1%
Hafner: 15.7%
Lopez: 14.8%
Left fielders Duncan + Damon: 12.0%
Cabrera: 11.1%
Choo: 10.2%
Hannahan: 9:8%
Kipnis: 7.3%
Kotchman: 6.7%
Brantley: 5.3%
Chisenhall (just for fun): 1.6%

My point is that, to really join the ranks of the Indians' top players, Brantley needs to "put the ball in play" a little less and be a tad more selective. In that department, unlike the others, we're not yet seeing upward movement from past years.

Oh, and I don't feel like talking too much about our "production" from LF or 1B. So let's get to the pitching.

It's no surprise to people who have followed the Indians thus far this season that the pitching staff, especially the starters, has been the team's weak point. With a club ERA of 4.44, the Indians rank next-to-last in the AL (surprise! the Twins are dead last) and have put up a dismal ERA+ of 86. A lot of the "credit" goes to the Indians' woeful starting staff:

Masterson 96
Lowe 89
Jimenez 83
Gomez 77
Tomlin 75

With not one starting pitcher even above league average in ERA, it really is a miracle that the Indians still find themselves atop the division. This is remarkable, and I would have to say unsustainable through a full year. Someone - and Masterson and Jimenez have shown flashes recently - needs to step up and start giving Cleveland quality starts, or this first-place adventure will start to crash and burn.

The reason why the Indians have won so many games with so-so hitting and poor starting pitching? Mr Vinnie Pestano and Mr Chris Perez. Pestano has been absolutely lights-out, dominating the 8th inning with an ERA+ of 208 and striking out almost 11 men per 9 innings. Perez has been almost as good, posting 23 consecutive saves since blowing one on Opening Day and striking out almost exactly one batter an inning, a rate improved by 50% from last year.

Simply put, the Indians have been able to score enough to get leads through 7 innings despite weak starting pitching...and just haven't lost those games, ever. Eventually they'll drop a few close ones, and will need their starters to come through (and to get some production from 1B and LF) to balance things out. Go Tribe!


Cavs
I'll defer to my colleague Doug on the CaVs, as he's promised some basketball comments in the upcoming days. I will offer a few thoughts on the NBA Finals, though.

Someone asked me prior to the series who I thought was a better player: James or Kevin Durant. I just sort-of laughed. James is a better player than everybody right now, and by a lot. He's historically good. There is no stopping him. Durant can fill it up, and Derrick Rose does tremendous things in Chicago, but no one has the all-around game and complete package like #6 does at this moment.

And with his first NBA title, he's achieved, at 27, everything significant in the basketball universe. Rookie of the Year. Six-time first-team All-NBA. Four-time first-team All-NBA Defensive Team. Scoring champion. Three-time NBA MVP. Finals MVP. NBA Champion. There isn't anything left to check off. Oh, and he'll be the best player in the world for a few more years, at least - his incredible run in these playoffs hinted at that.

And I've softened a bit on #6, because I really think he developed as a person and player this year. He doesn't appear outwardly to be nearly as much of a douche, seems to genuinely feel remorse about the way he stiffed Cleveland, and has a renewed focus and approach to team play. He simply isn't as villainous anymore.

All that having been said, it's not like I have any intention of rooting for the guy. The fact remains that he quit on and then sold out the Cavaliers (both in the '10 playoffs and in taking so long before The Decision), and then constructed the awful-to-watch Heat so he could play in front of a bunch of non-fans in Miami. And then he won everything, the latest chapter in Cleveland's unfortunate sports history. It's a tough hand for Cavaliers fans to be dealt, but at this point what can you do? I still don't want him to win - I want the Cavs to win - and I still hope this remains his only title because there are far worthier players who haven't crippled my favorite franchise who I can root for in the NBA.

But I have a sinking feeling he isn't done yet.


Browns
I gotta tell you, football is pretty far off my radar at the moment.

I know a lot of sports fans like to follow the Buckeyes' spring practices and the Browns' OTAs...but I can't feign a lot of excitement for those warmup practices. The lack of meaningful football activities in the spring and summer means we're treated to non-stories like the Jim Brown/Trent Richardson press sniping (Brown, apparently, felt that he hadn't been a douche in pubilc recently), and that's as uninteresting to me as the Jerry Sandusky, car racing, and golf headlines I see on ESPN each day. This lull between the end of the winter sports and the start of the fall ones is a slow time of year.

There seems to be an undercurrent of optimism around the Browns this year...and I'm still worried about them. They had a serious shortage of talent the past four years, posting a pair of 4-12 marks and two 5-11 campaigns, and they're starting 2012 with a rookie quarterback at the helm. Sigh.

The Renegade Buckeyes could be something interesting, though. Hoepfully we'll hear more about them from Figgs as the season approaches. It's been a year and a half since we beat michigan, and I'm ready to get back in that win column.

Cavs draft just another step in larger plan

The 2012 NBA draft order has been set and Cavalier message boards are on fire with the angst of losing the opportunity to steal the number one pick in the draft for the second year in a row. Anthony Davis, the consensus number one and franchise cornerstone, is likely headed to New Orleans and with him go the dreams of a dynamic point guard-center combo not seen in Cleveland since Price and Daugherty last took the court.

The disturbing reality is that there is a strong possibility that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bradley Beal will also both be off the board as well by the time the Cavs select at number four. This leaves "2nd tier" prospects such as Thomas Robinson, Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes, and Perry Jones III on the short list of players poised to don the wine and gold when they take the court next fall.

Of course, Beal or Kidd-Gilchrist could still be available if Washington or Charlotte chooses one of the aforementioned players. In the world of the NBA, nothing is certain except for uncertainty.

The safest play for any franchise, it seems, is to accrue multiple selections in the hopes that a late first-rounder or a second-rounder will turn into another Michael Redd (pre-injury) or Carlos Boozer. This is why the Cavaliers have positioned themselves with four overall picks in the draft.

The number four pick is going to be an NBA starter with all-star potential - let's get that out of the way. The above draft list is full of possibilities and the Cavs will be a better team with any one of these players on their roster than they are today. Chris Grant is going to make his money from pick numbers 24, 33, and 34 and the hope is that the Cavs manage to find another starter, role-player, or at worst, depth.

Lost in the excitement of the current deep draft is that the Cavs' blueprint for success is a marathon, not a sprint. Having four of the top 34 picks feels outrageous until you consider that they could have up to five picks, including three first-rounders, in the 2013 draft.

This, of course, is contingent on Sacramento improving to the point where they are no longer a lottery-bound afterthought. Even if Sacramento is not able to improve enough in 2013 to avoid the lottery, one of those first-round picks will move to the 2014 draft. Eventually, Sacramento has to find somebody who can play quality basketball to catapult this team out of perennial awfulness and into the playoffs. When that happens, the Cavs will receive their reward of the Kings' first round pick in the following summer's draft.

In 2014 the Cavs have their own first-round pick, their own 2nd-round pick, and the 2nd-round pick of the Orlando Magic.

In 2015 the Cavs have their own first-round pick, the first-round pick of the Heat, and their own 2nd-round pick.

Impatient fans want to win now, but a plan is securely in place for the Cavs, a team intent on continually building this team through the draft. The next three years are packed full of extra picks and there is still plenty of time to stockpile additional draft assets.

It would have been phenomenal to see Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis running the floor together, but the Cavs were not going to win the 2013 NBA Championship even with Davis. The payout comes from patience, youth, skill, time and assets. The Cavs are doing their part to provide all of the above.

The fans just need to be patient a little bit longer.

Of panels and heat

Last week I attended an interesting event here in Cleveland at the Happy Dog. Here was the promo:

They don't call it a "beat" for nothing. Aaron Goldhammer of WNKR's "The Really Big Show" moderates this panel discussion on the thankless task of writing the first drafts of Cleveland's uniquely tragic sports history. Panelists include Peter Pattakos of ClevelandFrowns.com, Vince Grzegorek of Cleveland Scene, Tom Reed of the Plain Dealer and Zac Jackson of Fox Sports Ohio. The event is part of the Write to Assemble series, curated by Ohio City Writers and hosted by Happy Dog. Admission is free.

Seems interesting, right? It actually was, in spots, though it had its flaws. Unfortunately, the discussion slipped far away at times from the stated goal, and by the end had little to do with writing about Cleveland sports. We'll get to that.

I liked the panelists pretty well. Goldhammer rubs some people the wrong way, but I thought he did a really good job moderating the discussion and offering fair-minded points. Reed seemed the most professional on the panel, perhaps befitting his status as the Plain Dealer rep. He also seemed to be the one with the most losing experience (Blue Jackets, Browns, Cavs) as a writer and understood the locals' plight even better, being married to a Pittsburgh fan. Jackson was interesting as well - he clearly saw too much when he worked for the Browns and can't get the bad memories out of his head. I feel for you, man. Grzegorek did an excellent job - I met him briefly and also thought he offered some of the most insightful points, though his quietness shut him out of a lot of the conversation.

After the conversation ended, the panel challenged the audience to stump them and win a book. I didn't want to be too esoteric, so I asked them if they knew Manny Harris' real name. Jackson came close ("Copperdale"?) but not quite (it's Corperryale L'adorable Harris). Still, I feel like maybe I inadvertently cut off Grzegorek when revealing the correct answer, which I still feel sheepish about. I returned the book.

Some of the discussion eventually turned to #6, and I maintain that I don't want him to return to play in Cleveland, ever, nor do I want #23 hanging from the Q's rafters. I believe the phrase is "positive reward for negative behavior." It still sucks the way he left with that douchey TV show, and I feel like I'm entitled to continue to root against the guy. You remember him - the guy who quit on the Cavs in the 2010 playoffs? And please, I know he was well within his rights to leave in free agency (though perhaps not within his rights to collude) - that doesn't mean I have to suddenly be cool with "The Decision" and with a guy leaving my favorite team and city.

I saw a bit of Pacers-Heat tonight (78-75 Indiana, love it), and wow, I just cannot stand watching that Miami team play. Their horrible late-arriving fans. Dwyane Wade and his single skill of flying towards the basket and hoping for a bailout call that he usually gets. The way none of them can EVER believe that a foul call didn't go their way. Juwan Howard looking ugly while cheerleading from the bench. It's just a grotesquerie.

The worst part is, of course, #6 himself. I've never enjoyed something less in sports than watching him play, and that's too bad because I can of course objectively realize that he's by far the best player in the league and one of its all-time greats. Incidentally, this is a lot like my experience with Jordan - people frequently and ever-helpfully reminded me how great he was, as if my disdain for him was based on some sort of criticism of his ability rather than general distaste at his habit of routinely dispatching the Cavaliers in the playoffs. Don't people know what it means to be a fan?

Kyrookie of the Year

Big congratulations to Cavaliers PG Kyrie Irving, who won the 2011-12 NBA Rookie of the Year award in a landslide. Irving was superb for Cleveland in his inaugural campaign, averaging 18.5 ppg and 5.4 apg and almost single-handedly dragging the Cavs to mediocrity. Really excited to have this kid on our club for a few more years, because I think we've only seen the beginning. I'm stoked enough about the win that I don't really even feel the need to take a potshot at the only other Cav ever to win the league's RoY award.

78-75 Pacers (OK, a small one).

Irving was the CLEAR winner, garnering 117 of a possible 120 first-place votes, and if you know me you know where I'm going: who are these dummies who got it wrong? Jebus do I ever hate anonymous incompetence. What's interesting is that Ricky Rubio placed second (that's where I had him as well), but yet three other, different players garnered a single first-place vote. What is going on here?

My first suspicion is that the sportswriters guilty of this idiocy are doing the same thing that MVP voters do, insisting that the winner of an individual award have experienced team success as well. Forgetting how dumb that is in general, consider how incredibly inappropriate that is for the NBA Rookie of the Year award, given how the NBA's top rookies are all but assured to play for the leagues's worst clubs. Yet there are Kenneth Faried (Denver), Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio), and, unbelievably, Iman Shumpert (New York), all playing for playoff teams and headlining some weirdo's ballot.

Before I get to the numbers, did you see Kyrie Irving play this year? I'm not big on anecdotes, but wow did he ever pass the eye test. The fourth-quarter scoring, the court awareness, the ability to get to the rim and finish - yes sir, that's your top rookie. If you don't believe me, please look below at some statistics I've prepared with the help of ESPN and Basketball Reference (click to enlarge)



Irving vs Rubio
Look, this one is less close than people think. Rubio missed 10 more games than did Irving, scored eight points a game fewer, and posted a true shooting percentage 90 points lower than Irving (10% lower overall). Rubio was good, no doubt, and he racked up almost three more assists a game than Kyrie (thanks in some measure to Kevin Love), but in virtually all standard and advanced metrics (Irving's O rating, D rating, and PER were all way ahead of the Timberwolf's) Irving was the clear winner. Fortunately, it does appear that none of the voters put Rubio ahead of Irving, so we're good.

Irving vs Shumpert
Are you fucking kidding me? This writer should admit his or her mistake, and then be stripped of all voting rights for the rest of his or her life. I don't even mean just NBA award voting rights, I mean anything, no matter how trivial.

I mean, was Iman Shumpert better at anything this year than Kyrie Irving? Lok across the board - half as many points, half the assists, roughly half the PER, 80 points lower in TS% - what the fuck? I honestly don't even know what to say about this. Absolutely ridiculous.

Irving vs Leonard
It's OK - I hadn't heard of Kawhi Leonard either.

The Spurs first-year forward actually had a solid year, averaging eight points and five rebounds a game. He also played in nearly all of the Spurs games, though actually logged fewer minutes on the court than the Cavalier guard. But seriously, this is a solid season, not a Rookie of the Year season, and he had the benefit of an outstanding Spurs team around him all season as well. Put Irving on that Spurs club and Leonard on the Cavs and see who thrives more.

Irving vs Faried
The only one on the board that is even defensible, even though Faried is a reserve who played 2/3 the minutes of Irving this season. Actually, having read the second half of that sentence, I take back the "defensible" part, but you could talk me into Faried being a close second for this award. The Manimal was an efficient player when on the court, with a slightly higher PER than Irving and averages of 10.2 ppg and 7.7 rpg. The guy was a quality contributor for the Nuggets this year.

But compared to the numbers Irving put up, the way he instantly established himself as the Cavs' best player - there's no way you can honestly look at the numbers and the situations and come to any conclusion other than: Kyrie Irving was the Rookie of the Year in 2012. I'm interested to know how three people who write about professional basketball for a living seem to have missed that.

Downtown Report while affixed firmly to my Downtown Couch

You cannot imagine the size of the bandage on my knee right now.

It has roughly the same girth as a sequoia, and extends all the way from the bases of my toes up 2/3 of the way to my waist from the knee. It is MASSIVE. I find this at least slightly odd inasmuch as all I had were two small 1-cm incisions on my knee. You cannot possibly justify this ridiculous thing covering my foot, and as soon as someone shows up here who can reach said foot more easily than I can, such justification will no longer be necessary. (Editor's note: took care of this myself after writing the Tribe portion of this post. So much better.) The whole damn thing is supposed to stay on until Sunday evening...we'll see.

The take-home message is that FCF Racing is having a temporary setback, but I'm fully expecting to rock and roll before too long. I did a triathlon 72 days after a similar procedure on my opposite knee three years ago and started wrecking PR's all over the place - I'm already walking better today than I was back then, so there's cause for optimism.

So that's me. How about our favorite Ohio teams?


Tribe
Fellas, really, as long as you need to stay on the road, by all means do so. Progressive Field wasn't too hospitable for the Tribe's opening series (series'? serieses?) against the Blue Jays and White Sox, as they couldn't hit their way out of a sack lunch (don't you want to know how they got in that sack?) and stumbled to a 1-4 mark.

FCF, for our part, represented with a 14-man crew at Game #2, the second straight extra-inning loss to the Azulejos. But whatevs - the real fireworks came postgame at the Clevelander, where we became embroiled in some hardcore contests of Pop-a-Shot against these asshole Blue Jay fans. I'm kidding, the BJ fans were really nice dudes, as Canadians typically are, and we enjoyed drinking American-style lager beer with them and wished them well against the far more nefarious yankees and red sox this season. They had good things to say about their annual visits to Cleveland, reinforcing my view that everyone who visits here likes it.

Cordiality and the world's longest peaceful border didn't stop me from looting their pockets, though - we all put $1 bills on the metal fence surrounding the hoop and I took home as many as seven extremely wrinkly bills after telling the Canucks in no uncertain terms that I would not tolerate them posting their silly "dollar" coins as collateral. Nick in particular ended up developing some real consistency by the end of our marathon shot-chucking session, routinely posting scores in the high 50's and low 60's. Then we repaired to my bungalow where I just straight wrecked shit at mini-cornhole.

After a chilly, abbreviated set against the ChiSox that I have completely erased from my memory (something I have not erased from my memory: the fact that they once lost the World Series on purpose) the Wahoos headed west, to which I say: Thank goodness for the Kansas City Royals! The Tribe rolled into Missouri last weekend and flat laid the lumber to the Reales, piling up 32 runs in sweeping a three-game set against the perennially awful Royals. They actually have some solid players on that team, and I think they'll score some runs, but oh that pitching staff. The offensive explosion for the Indians prompted all sorts of Media Guide reading, but I'll just go with this:

Runs per 9 at Progressive Field: 3.3
Runs per 9 at Kaufmann Stadium: 10.3

So there you have it. The Indians are now 2nd in the AL in runs per game, trailing only the juggernaut that is the Texas Rangers. I'm already feeling nauseous thinking about having to play them.

Can I interest you in my favorite Tom Hamilton moment of the weekend? Late in the Sunday game, a Royal hit a sharp ground ball that bounced off of 1B Casey Kotchman's glove and into right field. By Hamilton's description, it was pretty clearly a double, but the homer Royal scorer awarded the batter a double, much to Hamilton's bemusement. (By the way, what's the deal with scorers always fudging decisions to help the home club's stats? Why are we OK with this?) Later in the inning, with the Tribe comfortably on top, a Royal took second on Defensive Indifference; Hamilton opined that it would be DI, "although with the scorer here, he might end up with three stolen bases."

Regarding the beanball situation from the Saturday game...Nick correctly pointed out that Gomez could have waited longer to settle the score after KC pegged Choo, but the bullpen could have at least sort of stepped up once he exited. I'll give Gomez credit for throwing an appropriate retaliation ball - he didn't headhunt, just hit the guy in the butt where injury risk is minimal and let's move along. In fact, baseball's idiotic "warn both benches" rule made the whole situation much worse than it needed to be. Leave the players to their own devices, and Gomez's pitch ends everything and we get on with our lives. And the suspension MLB handed down to Jeanmar was totally lame.

As was the absurd $750 fine levied on Chris Perez for his relatively innocuous post-game twitter:

Huge team win tonight; time for a sweep to tell the Royals it's not 'Our Time', it's #TribeTime. P.S. You hit us, we hit you. Period.

MLB handed down the fine and admonished Perez for having "demonstrated a reckless disregard for the safety of the players on both clubs," a claim with no connection whatsoever to reality.

Cleveland kept things rolling in Seattle, rallying from a seven-run deficit to topple Los Marineros in Game 1, getting handled by Kel Varnsen and the M's in the middle game, and guaranteeing a winning roadie by stealing a rare win from Seattle in a game started by F-Her, thanks to Captain Jack's ninth-inning heroics. All of a sudden, you grab a couple of games in Oaktown behind Ubaldo, Masterpiece, and Gomez, and you're headed home with a 7-2 voyage in hand. Let's go get it.

It's way too early in the season to take anything meaningful away from the Indians' individual statistics...and that's why it's going to be fun to do just that.

- Shelley Duncan's OBP is .444. I joked on twitter a few days ago when it was .485 that it looked very much sustainable to me...and then he went out and pushed it above .500 for a day! I'd take .350 from Shelton, personally.

- Hafner is sitting at .314/.415/.542 (OPS+ 167). Keep those fingers crossed.

- Carlos Santana in 2011: .239/.351/.457. Currently: .256/.408/.539. I think this kid will be OK.

- Shin-Soo Choo is getting on base (.389) but not doing much else. I, for one, am ready for the old Choo to come back.

- Kipnis (76), Brantley (74), Kotchman (56) - season already started, guys.

- Starters' ERA: 4.68.
Relivers' ERA: 4.98

Justin Masterson has struggled early in ballgames and Tony Sipp just hasn't gotten anyone out, but they both have quality track records so I'm not as worried about our staff (11th/14 in the AL in ERA curently) as I might otherwise be. Go Tribe!


Cavs
Whew. This is NOT a good team. Injuries, particularly to their two best players (Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejão), have just crushed this team, as they have put together a 4-18 stretch of basketball to plummet from a season-high 16-23 to their current 20-41. But hey, they've dropped to the 5th-worst record in basketball, so bring on those ping-pong balls!

I am a little worried, however, at how non-competitive even a short-handed team like this has become, a situation epitomized by the comical 116-77 pasting handed them by the sub-mediocre Detroit Pistons earlier this week, a game in which Los Caballeros trailed 100-50 at one point. Yikes. Antawn Jamison posted a -47 for the game, which is (a) the worst single-game +/- in the NBA this year, (b) almost theoretically impossible, and (c) the only thing keeping Donald Sloan (-46 in the same game) from holding that mark.

I went to the game Wednesday with a buddy, and it was not a pretty thing. The game went from a 57-all tie to a 22-point deficit in 5:21 of game time, and for a fan a few Smithwicks deep into the evening, it felt like about 1:00. We decided to bolt shortly thereafter when I saw the Penguins (facing elimination from the hated Flyers) were up 4-3; they'd pushed the advantage to 7-3 by the time I made the 15-minute walk back to my home bar. Sweet. Not to make this entire post about my prowess at meaningless bar games, but I did claim my third straight punching game victory with a closely-contested victory over Bucko. I know he'll be back, though, and I'll be ready.


Jammin' Jalapenos

In the interest of providing some more positive basketball-related notes, can I interest you in a recap of the single most exciting basketball game I've ever seen, let alone played in? Great. As you see from the photo from right, my team is indeed the Jammin' Jalapeños, and we are named after a BW3 hot sauce. A coworker of mine from South Africa was visiting and we went out to trivia night at BW3 and he ordered said sauce for his wings. My team's captain, Fanuc, was registering our club via smartphone, needed a name, and I saw the hot sauce and presto, we're the Jammin' Jalapeños. None of us can dunk.

Now, about this game. We were already in the Elimination Bracket (aka the Loser's Bracket) of a double-elimination tourney, so you win or you're out, it's that simple. We were playing the Ballers, a team who, how shall I say this, I do not like. They had five players, three of whom were ringers - we had seven but were without a key guy as well. I got the pleasure of guarding this douchebag kid with semi-spiky hair - what a treat. You know how when people have amputations they experience "phantom pain" from the missing part even though it isn't there? Well I sometimes still feel him grabbing my jersey. So much jersey-grabbing. But onto the game...

We started pretty slow - as usual, we started in a 3-2 zone, found out that it wasn't working, and had better success when we switched to man-on-man defense. No one on our team really knows why we don't just start in man. Anyway, we were behind 10 before I even entered the game, but we closed to within 5 at the half and felt lucky to be there.

We scored the first 7 of the second (with me on the bench) to take our first lead, and it was back and forth from there. We kept a slim advantage into the late stages of the game - they were fouling when the clock got below 90 seconds, and we were struggling from the line (I was a mediocre 3-6 myself). Up by two with 20 seconds left, I got fouled and split a pair, so we're up 55-52. Come on, Francis, lock it down. In my defense, spiky-haired douche was clapping at me obnoxiously as I shot, which is supposed to be a lane violation but legality aside, is so incredibly bush league that I'm almost out of words to describe it.

The Ballers then take posession, down by three with 20 seconds on the clock...the longest 20 seconds of basketball I've ever experienced. It was very much Cavs-Pistons in Game 6 in 2006 - a flurry of shots, scrambles for loose balls, and such, and this time their best guy somehow got free with the ball. I was on the weak side and could see both him and the clock in my field of vision. He got it off with 0.4 on the clock...nothing but net, overtime. Ugh. You have to appreciate how deflating this is for a team that close to victory, to have to regroup and drag yourself back on the court for a game you already should have won.

The game played along those same lines in OT, with the Jalapeños struggling from the line, but still maintaining a narrow lead. We're up by two (again) and they have the ball (again) with limited time. One of the Ballers launches a three from straight on at the top of the key, BANKS it in, and we're down 62-61. You have got to be kidding me. We called a quick a timeout to figure out what to do with our last 2.9 seconds.

It's worth pointing out here, in case I haven't already, that this kid I was guarding was not an individual with whom I wish to spend much additional time.

One of our players draws up this awful play where Fanuc takes the ball at the baseline (yes, we still have to go the whole length of the court - it's not NBA rules), baseball-passes it to our tallest player Neal, near center court, and has a couple of other guys streak by our center to get a quick pass from him and put up a shot. I'm not in love with the plan, but it's reasonable considering our limited time.

I line up about halfway between the inbounds and halfcourt, in case Fanuc can't get it to center court and so I can start my attack run, and he indeed chucks it to midcourt. Our lanky big man Neal just Megatron-style outleaps three of their guys, and manages to corral the ball. Good so far.

Neal passes it to me just after I cross the timeline - good patience and presence of mind not to give it up early and commit a backcourt violation. Finding myself surprisingly open, I toss up an off-balance 35-footer just before time expires and the buzzer sounds...

It's good.

We win, gym goes nuts. I can't believe no one had their camera phone out! I can only imagine what being a NBA player and hitting a game-winner must feel like - the reaction sounded deafening to me and there were maybe like 50 people there. It's still a bit of a blur to me - the shot felt good as I released it, and I thought I had a 1/3 chance of it dropping once it was in the air. The ball felt like it hung up forever and I didn't know what to do once it rattled in. I put one finger in the air for a second and put my head down and walked over towards my bench, all of whom I discovered were sprinting at me full speed. I managed not to jump around and punch the air like that jerkface for Chicago in '89.

Our season ended the next day, but we'll always have the Brunswick Bomb.


Browns
Will you look at these fucking things the steelers are going to wear for two games in the 2012 season? Unbelievable. Serves them right, having to wear those hideous things. Goodness.

My NFL Draft prediction remains as before: the Browns will pick some dudes, Mel Kiper will give us an utterly pointless "B" draft grade, and none of it will matter until games start.

As for the Browns schedule, I've cautioned readers in the past about reading the tea leaves of an NFL schedule given the league's yearly volatility in won-loss totals, so let's not fret over the clubs we see on the Browns' slate. If you're going to worry about one team on the sked, it should be the Browns, because we are not good. Not as bad as NFL.com originally opined, but probably not good.

Lots of hard-hitting analysis from me there, I know. To summarize:
1) The NFL Draft is boring.
2) Don't bother trying to interpret the Browns' strength of schedule.


Buckeyes
Not much going on in Buckeyeland with the cagers and and gridironers in off-season, though Figgs did inform me of a key lacrosse victory the Buckeyes posted over the weasels recently. I actually don't know if it was "key" or not, but it was over michigan, so I'll take it.

At trivia last night, I saw a couple of disconcerting things. One was a replay of last year's Game, and my hatred for that idiotic eating thing that can't-tie kept doing has only magnified over time. It is so stupid. I can't wait to see him eating turf and crow next year.

I also saw a michigan scrimmage, which is just horrible. michigan vs michigan? Who am I supposed to hate more? Shudder.

Downtown Report before the Madness

A while ago, I ranked the months of the year for sports fans and March only came in 9th. With as much excitement as is currently going on, especially in the world of hoops perhaps I need to revisit that low placing. Or maybe sports is just that good that even a solid month like this doesn't quite measure up.

This past weekend was a very good one for fans sharing my rooting interests, which I assume includes you, the reader. Friday saw the Cavs knock off the juggernaut Thunder in Oklahoma City and the Buckeyes pull away late from Purdue in the Big 10 tourney, while Akron and Ohio advanced to the MAC final. Saturday saw Ohio State absolutely paste a hapless michigan club and the Bobcats claim the MAC tourney crown. It's halftime right now of the Big 10 Championship game between the Buckeyes and the Michigan State Spartans, and I've already seen the Pittsburgh Penguins clobber the Boston Bruins today. It's been solid. Let's go a little more in depth.

Big MAC Attack
Ha, more like big hack attack with that kind of punnery.

The Mid-American Conference tournament was once again held in the Q here in Downtown Cleveland - I'd hoped to attend the semifinal games on Friday night but unforeseen circumstances kept me away. Nevertheless, I caught the last two Akron games on TV and was happy with the overall result. Ohio edged Akron by a point in Saturday's final to claim their second MAC title in three years (the 2010 one also at the Zips' expense). My Mom went to Akron and my sister and Bucko went to Akron, so I couldn't have hand-picked a better championship.

Even more broadly speaking, what I like best is the utter domination of this event by Ohio schools in this and recent years. Ohio schools have claimed the past eight championships (three for Ohio, two each for Akron and Kent State, one for Miami) despite comprising just half of the conference's membership. Look at the 2012 bracket below to see the damage the teams from the Heart of It All inflicted on the rest of the league. Three of the four semifinalists were from the Buckeye state, and Bowling Green was the only one of the six eliminated by a team outside of the state. Thanks for coming out, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois schools. And while I'm here, hey Central Michigan, guess what, Carnegie Mellon still has cmu.edu and you're never going to get it.



Penguins
I realize this is a bit off-topic for the usual interests of this blog, but I'm a big fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and things have been really good for the Flightless Fowl of late. Even without Sidney Crosby for 60 games this season, the Penguins have rattled off nine straight and puled to within two points of the East-leading Rangers. Today I got to watch them pummel the Bruins, and I think we all appreciate the enjoyment of seeing a Boston team go down in flames. The hockey playoffs are always really quality action, and it's so much better when one has a rooting interest.

Cavs
The Cavaliers have settled into a fairly comfortable mediocrity, hanging around the playoff conversation but never really giving you the sense that they'll grab one of the East's lower seeds. I think the playoff experience would be good for a young team, but not essential for their development, which will still take a few more years.

After a recent six-game skid, the Cavaliers pulled off a highly surprising two-game road sweep in Denver and Oklahoma City and finished off the weekend with a high-scoring home win over the Houston Rockets. Seriously, who saw that coming? The keys to the trip, and any recent successful play by the Cavs, have been Kyrie Irving and Antawn Jamison, especially with Anderson Varejao still sidelined. Irving saves his best for last, notching 10 points in the 4th including the game-winner against Denver and making a series of clutch drives and finishes to stave off the Thunder two nights later. Oklahoma City was a ridiculous 17-1 at home coming into the game, and the Cavaliers simply outplayed the home Thunder to spring the upset. It wasn't some sort of fluky shooting performance (OKC hit on 49% compared to the Cavs' 42%), and they only got 30 combined from Irving and Jamison. They just took care of the ball, rebounded, and outworked the Thunder on D. Simple as that. Coach Byron Scott deserves a lot of credit, I think, for the mentality he's installed to the team, even if it does occasionally waver.

I gotta get me down to the Q again soon to see Kyrie and the gang. Speaking of #2, I heard a great radio promo he did for The Alan Cox Show: "Hi, this is Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and you're listening to a show I've never even heard of, The Alan Cox Show." Brilliant.

Browns
Responses to the Redskins trading with the Rams to nab the #2 spot in the upcoming NFL Draft, presumably to choose Baylor QB Robert Griffin III, elicited a lot of response in the Cleveland sports community, including a total freak-out from The Cleveland Fan's twitter feed because the Browns didn't trade up.

My take: three first-round picks and a second-rounder is too much. And that's all I have to say on the matter.

Buckeyes
The Big 10 Championship game just ended, and as you undoubtedly know, OSU wasn't able to capture their third straight Conference Tournament crown, falling to a very good Michigan State squad today. On the bright side: michigan has NEVER won the Big 10 Basketball tournament (their '98 "win" was vacated).

Who decided that all the Big 10 Championships need to be contested in Indianapolis?

It certainly would have been a nice trophy to add to the shelf, but the stakes of today's game were mitigated by the fact that OSU was probably locked into a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament regardless of the outcome of today's contest. Plus, I'm not going to sit here and complain about a 27-7 season, a share of the Big 10 regular-season championship, and a runner-up finish in the tournament. Another outstanding season for Thad Matta and his Buckeyes. All Matta has done in eight seasons at the helm is go 215-63 and lead the team to five regular-season Big 10 titles, three tournament championships, two Sweet Sixteens, and a National Runner-up.

And now, of course, we focus on the NCAA Tournament. I have fewer teams than in some past years - Ohio and Ohio State are my two where past years included Pitt, Akron, and Cleveland State - but the tourney is always a good show. A couple of thoughts here on the event:

1) The "going dancing" and "Big Dance" thing has to go. It's played. It isn't a dance. It's a basketball tournament. No one is going dancing. They're playing basketball.

2) Hey NCAA, please stop calling those two play-in games the "first round" and the actual first-round games the "second round." It's ridiculous, and you're only confusing people. Call it the Preliminary Round or something. You have to see how stupid this is.

3) During the annual monstrously self-righteous hand-wringing about the BCS system for college football, this tournament is always held up as a paragon of the "right way" to determine a champion. Indeed it is a positive that the basketball championship is contested in a much more politics-free manner, but is it really the best way to have the best team win the title? Do we like that a team can work all year and lose to a hot-shooting mid-major who they'd beat 9 out of 10 times? Granted, that's exciting, but it lacks the fairness of a series system like the NBA and NHL have. Such a system would be improbable for college hoops, but before genuflecting too much before the NCAA basketball tournament, let's recognize that it's not an optimal way for the best teams to contest for the crown.

4) I'm not filling out a bracket this year, and not just because I'd rather keep that $10 in my pocket (I would've cashed in big two years ago had Baylor toppled Duke in their Regional final). I'm doing so because I prefer to enjoy the games and choose my rooting interests independent of a group of haphazard predictions I've made.

Plus, I think that filling out brackets encourages some bad fan behaviors. One of them is telling other people who you did or did not have in your bracket. NO ONE CARES ABOUT ANYONE ELSE'S BRACKET. We really don't. It also produces this phenomenon where people root strongly for a particular team solely because they've picked that team, whereas I may have a legitimate interest in that school. It's so fucking annoying when I'm psyched for an OSU game and I have to hear some jackass rooting for Gonzaga or some shit over the Buckeyes just because of their stupid bracket. Weak. So no bracket for me again, just basketball.

5) President Obama: you are a busy man. Do not spend any of your valuable time filling out a women's bracket. It's totally irrelevant.

6) I'll once again reiterate my St Patrick's/NCAA tournament proposal, even though I don't expect it to gain much traction. I base it on three facts:

1) The tournament costs employers $1.8 billion in lost productivity.
2) No one knows for sure that St Patrick was born on March 17, and we observe other birthdays (King Jr, President's Day) on days other than the actual known date.
3) There are no major holidays on the calendar between MLK and Memorial, by far the biggest gap in the calendar.

So let's be smart. The third Friday of March is St Patrick's Day and it's a Federal Holiday. Employers can condense the productivity losses from those two days into one day, workers get a day off during the February-March-April stretch, and everyone gets to watch the games. Who loses?

Tribe
Guess what, you guys? Baseball is coming back!

I love the rhythm of sports here - just as the NCAA tournament excitement is dying down baseball kicks right in. FCF and a cast of thousands are bucking past year trends in 2012 and skipping the Opening Day game. Why? So we can go to the second game, which is on a Saturday and should offer more open seats both at the bar and at the game. I'm already psyched.