Welcome to Cleveland JJ

With the 19th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select... JJ Hickson? OK, so I admit it, Ferry threw a curveball at us with that one, but that does NOT mean it's a bad choice. The more I read and saw of this kid last night, the more I like him. Maybe I'm just talking myself into the pick. But I'll defer to the 'experts' to analyze this since I'm certainly not qualified.

The draft reviews are streaming in and it seems like we are getting some favorable marks from ESPN and SI.com. However, sportsline.com and nbadraft.net are not big on JJ. Locally, Bill Livingston, MSB, and David Lee Morgan weigh in on the newest Cavalier. Who knows how it will turn out, but I'm not jumping off a building this morning. I think Hickson will be just fine wearing the wine and gold uniform. And I'm excited that we finally have a guy that likes to dunk the ball and isn't named LeBron. Since he wasn't in New York last night and you may be curious to hear from him directly, here's a phone interview with Hickson courtesy of cavs.com.

Is Hickson ready to rock the rim at the Q?

Windhorst Update: Of course his analysis was missed last night, but more importantly, it sounds like his condition may be improving.

Tribe Update: The slumpbuster was at it again last night (and no, that has nothing to do with Mark Grace). I'm talking about Cliff Lee, who just stops losing streaks this season. Last night was the fourth 3-game losing skid that Lee has personally ended, to go along with a 7-gamer as well. He is still firmly on course to be the AL starter at the All-Star Game in a couple of weeks with his improbable 11-1 record and 2.34 ERA. Lee added 11 strikeouts to his already impressive resumé last night. The Tribe avoided the sweep with a 4-1 victory over the Giants. The team will continue interleague play tonight against the Reds with CC Sabathia on the mound and me in attendance. Maybe my last chance to see the big guy in person in a Tribe uniform? We'll find out soon...

Edit: I just realized that the Tribe is currently tied for last place in the Central thanks to Kansas City's five-game winning streak. Yes, I've been avoiding even glancing at the standings for a while now. This is the first time the Indians have been in last place this late in the season since 1993 - when they were still in the AL East and the Central didn't exist. Wow, what a year!

Get Well Soon Windy!

Before I delve into anything else today, I wanted to take a moment to wish Brian Windhorst (by far the best Cavs writer in the world) a speedy recovery. I had been wondering about the lack of updates on his blog recently, and yesterday TrueHoop confirmed that he is pretty sick. Then I read this this morning and realized how serious his situation really is. BW, you're in our thoughts and prayers and we're pulling for you!!!

I was really looking forward to seeing what Brian had to say about tomorrow night's draft. There are a lot of different directions the Cavs can take over the next 24 hours or so. I'm sure there will be some trade opportunities out there so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out. Although Danny Ferry says don't expect any major changes. Mary Schmitt-Boyer answers some Cavalier draft day questions. And here's a decent overview of the current Cavaliers as they stand the day before the draft.

Tribe Update: The Indians lost another one last night to old friend Omar Vizquel and the San Francisco Giants, 3-2. More of the same problems for the Tribe - quiet bats and bad bullpen work. I have no statistical evidence to back up this claim (really I'm too lazy to dig for it right now), but I swear our bullpen leads the league in giving up 'insurance' runs late in games. It seems like every time either of the Raffys or Masa Kobayashi come in for the 7th inning or later with a one-run lead it always ends up getting worse. Then our anemic offense really has no chance at a comeback. Truly depressing.

Tribe fans still love #13

The Indians and Giants will be at it again tonight with the ridiculously overpaid Barry Zito (see why I'm advocating a Sabathia trade?) going against Jeremy Sowers. Also, Larry Dolan supports Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro.

A Little Life Left?

Maybe we shouldn't give up on these Indians yet. Bud Shaw certainly thinks it's too early for that. The Tribe didn't get the sweep against the Dodgers yesterday, primarily thanks to Paul Byrd's horrific first inning of work (gotta love hearing Vin Scully's voice in that clip!). But they did gut out two nice extra-inning wins on Friday and Saturday. And I think we've finally found our power-hitting DH to stick in the middle of the order. Now that was a bomb.

Byrd didn't have it in the 1st, but lasted 7 innings in the LA heat

That now makes three out of four series wins for the Indians, but still just a 10-11 record in June. Yes, the sweep in Colorado was awful, but they are still somehow only 6.5 out of first. More concerning to me is the fact that they are now 1.5 games behind the Tigers, who seem to have finally found themselves. The Tribe will enjoy an 0ff-day today and then welcome old friend Omar Vizquel back to Cleveland.

Cavs Update: LeBron hosted his annual bikeathon in Akron over the weekend and raised $150,000 for local charities. And this week, we'll turn our attention towards Thursday night's draft. Here's an overview to get us started. More details to come throughout the week. All I know right now is please, no Kosta Koufos.

I'm pretty sure 330 is not an area code in New York...

Gladiators Update: The Gladiators are in the playoffs after a 47-35 win over Columbus on Saturday night. They will host a wild-card playoff game at the Q next Monday vs. the Orlando Predators. I will likely make my Arena Football fan debut for this one!