Sweet weekend for Ohio

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By now everyone knows it, and everyone not from the best state in the union (look it up) is most likely a bit sick of hearing about it. But the fact remains, a full one quarter of the Sweet Sixteen are Ohio teams! Some were expected to be here, some are not huge surprises. And some are #13 seeds that beat Michigan. Either way, it's all sweet.

It's a damn shame that Cleveland State, Dayton, or Akron couldn't have joined this party. But nonetheless it's a good time to be from Ohio. And from the Big Ten, too. The Big Ten makes up a quarter of the field remaining as well.

To be honest, the field looks as good as can be hoped for some of the teams. Sure, OU could end up looking like a collection of dwarves fighting Andre the Giant in North Carolina, but with UNC starting point guard Kendall Marshall suffering a broken wrist, "..So you're saying there's a chance!" (200 to 1 odds to win the tournament, I hear. That seems a bit low to me...) And the Cincinnati/Ohio State winner will have a good look at the Final Four, facing either Wisconsin or a weakened Syracuse team in the round of 8. Xavier, on the other hand, has to get through Baylor just to get a look at Kentucky. (If, of course, Kentucky doesn't lose again to Indiana.)

Great quote from Mark Titus, famous Ohio State blogging basketball legend and of course, @ClubTrillion on Twitter. He wrote on Grantland, as part of his twenty NCAA observations...

7. The Big Ten is 9-2 and the state of Ohio is 8-0

As a proud alum of the only Big Ten school located in Ohio, let me just take a second to politely say, "Suck it, every other state and conference."

Love it. The dream still lives for an all Big Ten or Ohio Final Four.But that means the Bobcats need to do some work.

James "too tough" for concussions, but re-aggravates fake injured elbow

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LeBron James looked like a real tough guy last night in the Heat's win over the Suns.  Sort of. He collided with Grant Hill when both were going for a loose ball and took a shoulder in the head for his efforts. He supposedly was shaken up, but stayed in the game after some well rehearsed theatrics (such as laying prone on the floor.)

Earlier in the game, he took a hard foul and landed on his elbow. The "same elbow (he) hurt in Cleveland."

Oh yeah, that one.

Why do I even feel the need to remark on this bozo down south? Because like an old episode of I Love Lucy, it's so familiar and makes me think of old times...overexaggerated injuries, fake ones, what's next? Perhaps hiding a razor blade underneath his pads to make a little cut should someone touch him when he drives the hoop? Dear sir, it's hard to get sympathy when nobody likes you, so please stop trying.

UNK74THMD 

It's official, Leave It To Beaver reruns are on more often than Duke

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When Pete Gillen is right, he's right, but in this case he's wrong. I just looked and sure enough, Leave It To Beaver reruns are on way more than Duke this week.

YDUNK74THMD 

Browns' fans feel a draft, and shiver

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"You ain't a bad lookin' man, Mr. Garrison.."

If there's one thing Browns' fans have learned during this free agency period, it's that you can't call GM Tom Heckert a liar.

Heckert said last week that the franchise would not make a big splash in the market. The NFL's high-priced free agent bazaar opened on Tuesday at 4 p.m., and true to their word, the Browns weren't waiting to rush inside with checkbook in hand.

It seems the Browns are sticking to their plan, whatever that may be. The team certainly isn't sharing trade secrets with the public. However, one can surmise by the last two off-seasons of inactivity that the Browns are trying to build almost exclusively through the draft. With so many holes to fill, grabbing a good-if-not-spectacular player off the wire won't make enough of a difference to be worth the cap space. Or so the theory goes.

Hopefully Buckeyes show up in March; Sad that Gus Johnson won't

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Nam Y. Huh, AP

Since I've lived in Chicago for the past four years, I've been to dozens of Cleveland games here. Between Tribe games at US Cellular Field and even Wrigley Field, to primo seats at half court for TGiM's half court half-ender versus the Bulls in the playoffs (and a ton of regular season Cavs-Bulls games) to top row seats for the Browns-Bears post Halloween game (with our very own Ryan taking grief in his full Bernie Kosar uniform) and even a preseason game.  Hell, I've even dragged myself to see the Blue Jackets spanked by the Blackhawks a few times.

Last night I had the opportunity to see the Buckeyes keep their Big Ten championship hopes alive at Northwestern. By "the opportunity," I mean I could pay $30 for "obstructed view" uppper deck seats in what could be a very loud 'arena," but is really a glorified high school gymnasium. Nonetheless it was finally good to see the Bucks in person this year.

And really good to see Jared Sullinger come up big, with 22 points and 19 rebounds, his first double-double in five games, and of course two huge points at the end which proved to be the game winners. Ohio State (not unlike the Cavs last nght at MSG) did everything they could to blow this one, but managed to hold on after the Buckeyes blew a twelve point lead with six minutes to play.

Let's hope this bodes well for Ohio State now that we're in March. The sad part is, Gus Johnson won't be part of CBS' coverage this year. That's a national tragedy.  His call on the tying three (second video below) was epic as usual. Jared's game winner is the first video below the break.