Friday's Buckeye Bits

Good Friday morning, everybody! It's been a heck of a first week with Buckeye Bits, and the first week of the off-season comes to a close today as well. Football may be over, but there is still plenty of Ohio State sports to watch.

Sunday, the men's basketball team tips at 4:30 against the Hoosiers at the corner of Lane and Olentangy. Vengeance shall be the word of the day, as the Buckeyes lost in Bloomington, as well as earlier this week in Champaign. Of course, last night the Hoosiers were shocked by Minnesota, 77-74. If you aren't going to the game, watch it on CBS.

If you like your Buckeye sports a bit colder and bloodier, the Puckeyes will face off against Michigan at 7:30 Friday at the Schott, and again Sunday at 5:05. The Sunday matchup is in Cleveland, in the Frozen Diamond Faceoff in the Indians' Progressive Field. Friday's game will be shown on the Big Ten Network, and the big game Sunday will be on Fox Sports Ohio. Jeff Svoboda has an excellent writeup on Buckeye Sports Bulletin. No word if Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn will be in attendance.

Parker and Davis, Cavs, Dethrone The "King"

LeBenedict and his crew came to the Q once again to take on our beloved Cavaliers, which ended in a comfortable margin. For the Cavaliers, that is. So, for now, Cleveland can party all the rest of the day today, as Bosh and Wade also were taken down, in front of a crowd that acted like we were in the playoffs. This win really helped them with that 26 game losing streak they had not too long ago.  Go Cavs!

Cavs 2010-11 Season Preview and Predictions

REALLY Rise Up

Regular season play begins Wednesday for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and while there has been a considerable drop in interest (and expectations) in the franchise, I am very excited about the upcoming season. You see, the rebuilding process has already begun on the North Coast, and this season will determine how long that process will take, and how successful it will be. There are a lot of new players on the team, and much to discuss in terms of potential trades, so let's jump right in.

As I have established in previous articles, I am usually irrationally optimistic about my favorite sports teams, and the Cavs are no different. Experts and regular fans see nothing but doom and gloom because the Cavs lost the 4th best player (Kobe, Durant, Wade), largest ego, and biggest diva in the league. However, I see one of the youngest teams in the league with a HUGE trade exception to use, and whose veterans could potentially bring in more youth or draft picks later in the season. I feel like a lot of people think the Cavs simply "lost" Lebron, but that could not be farther from the truth. So my first order of business is to clear up that misconception and explain why losing Lebron was, dare I say it, good for the franchise.

What Does it Mean to be a "Fan"?

This guy is a real Cavs fan.

Now that I have lured you in with a funny picture, I have a deeper question that has been on my mind (the title does kind of give it away). Above my desk at work I have various posters and pennants of my favorite teams, Cleveland Cavaliers included. When someone new walks near my desk and notices said posters, they almost always ask "Are you still a Cavs fan?" I was so surprised by this the first time it was asked that I almost didn't know what to say. Of course I am, why wouldn't I be a Cavs fan? "Well, Lebron is gone and they are going to be pretty bad now" is the response I most often get when I defend my choice of NBA teams (I PROMISE, this is not an article about Lebron, trust me).

By now, I get pretty annoyed when somebody asks me that question. I do not have a bunch of Lebron posters on that wall to indicate that he is my favorite player (there are no Lebron images allowed in that office). In fact, there are exactly zero player-specific pictures, just images and logos of the teams. This has got me to thinking, does the average, casual sports fan follow teams, or follow players?

Cavs New Coach/Possible New Big Man

Update: Byron Scott agrees to 4 year deal.

It's going to be a busy July 1st for the Cavs. Fox Sports and ESPN are reporting that Byron Scott will be named the Cavs new head coach some time today. Scott formerly coached the New Jersey Nets to two consecutive finals appearances in 2002 and 2003 and the New Orleans Hornets from 2004-2010.

I am hoping he will be leader the Cavs need to take them to the next step. Now they need is a PG, SG and F/C

Speaking of Forwards and Centers, Brain Windhorst of Cleveland.com talks about the possibility of a double sign and trade with Dallas involving Shaq and Brendan Haywood as well as other FAs the Cavs have contacted.

Your Weekly Sports Mash Up

According to this report, Brian Shaw is the next Cavalier coach, with or without Lebron James. I've never been a huge fan of this, but I would rather have Byron Scott coaching the Cavs. Also, Scott's agent sent a congratulatory email to Shaw that was pretty lengthy. Nothing is official, but just about. I guess we will see if Lebron stays with this choice of coaching. For those of you who want info on Brian, he was the assistant coach to Phil Jackson for awhile and is his "most trusted" assistant.

The Cincinnati Reds are still doing well, leading the NL Central along with a win over the defending NL Champions, the Phillies, 7-3 last night. St. Louis won as well, so our lead is still a half game. Tonight, Mike Leake, the outstanding rookie, pitches against Joe Blanton.

Chris Henry died with brain damage. Multiple hits to the head, which happens many times in the NFL, can lead to damage such as that.

Surprise! Inside The Shoe is looking for another football writer! You need to be active, and have a gmail account. There are other things we need to talk about as well, so if you are interested in this, please email me  at insidetheshoe2009@hotmail.com

Live On Channel 5

Well Cleveland fans, get your fill of your sporting needs. SB Nation Cleveland has opened, and I'm on the staff as the Buckeye correspondent. So head on over there as we are live starting now! Awesome.

Rising up.

You may have noticed recently that SB Nation started coming out with regional sites. So far, they have 6, notable ones with New York, DC, Chicago, Detroit. Of course, Ohio will have one starting June 17 called SB Nation: Cleveland. It will have all your basic Cleveland sports, Browns, Indians, Cavs, and the Buckeyes will be there as well. I have been offered to cover the Buckeyes. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! This doesn't mean anything to you, the reader. I just wanted to let you know, so that you could head over there from time to time and check it all out. Plus, if were lucky, who knows, we might become the SB Nation blog. Either way, it will have little to no effect on this blog, so posts will remain the same.

Who's better? Seriously.

Finally, the Lakers steal another one from the Celtics, leading the series 2-1..damn. I really just can't stand the Lakers. They're like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Michigan (where do you think they got those colors?) all combined into one horrific team. They do win championships though, and that's more than Lebron has done yet.

Stephen Strasburg is a stud. There, I said it. I really thought he would come into his debut, and choke..maybe give up 5-6 runs, out in the 3rd or 4th inning. No, instead, he threw 14 strikeouts, pitched 7 innings, and only gave up 2 runs. I mean, he didn't even walk 1 batter. At all. The Reds lost again last night, moving their losing streak to 2. Seems like their back to their old ways. Hopefully they will get out of it. Chapman is said to be very close to moving up to the majors. Thank god.

Your POW.

It's time again for the POW, which means the Spring Finals will finish the offensive series Saturday. This picture was due to last nights final collapse of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Once again they fell short of their goal. Now speculation is that Lebron will be leaving us for good. The thing I don't understand about the Cavs are the last minute and a half, they trotted up the court, half-heartedly shooting 3's and missing by a mile. Even when Mo Williams was shooting his hardest, he didn't make them. This is it, Lebron, it's decision making time. If you would like to suggest photos for the POW, please send them to insidetheshoe2009@hotmail.com and we will get them in!