After a hiatus, I'm back ...

I started doing this blog as a project for a course I was taking in school, but now that the class has finished I decided I'd get back to updating at it. It gives me some therapy and a place to vent for all things Cleveland sports. There's a lot to vent about in this town - like a professional (allegedly) football team going 32 days ( ... and counting) since last scoring an offensive touchdown.

I'll sum up the last three games since my last post this way: For those fans that applauded when Derek Anderson went down with an injury, how happy are you now? Watching Ken Dorsey play quarterback is one of worst sites I have ever seen.

Which leads me to my this question - and I can't believe I'm saying this - but why not let Bruce Gradkowski give it a whirl these last two games. His career quarterback rating of 65 blows Dorsey's 2008 rating (34.0) out of the water. He's young enough (25) that he could potentially be a back-up in the league. We've seen enough from Dorsey to know that even in an emergency situation, he's not capable of doing the job. Perhaps Gradkowski is? These games are essentially meaningless so we may as well see what we have.

(If you would have told me when the Browns broke training camp that Bruce Gradkowski was going to be our best option at quarterback, I may have wished to hibernate for a year and come back in time for the 2009-10 season. Bruce Gradkowski: best option? Let it sink in.)

With that being said, February 12th is right around the corner. Pitchers and catchers will report to Goodyear, Arizona for the Tribe's inaugural spring in the desert. Among those suiting up for the Wahoo's will be newly acquired Kerry Wood.

Wood, who will take over the closer's role, was 34 of 40 in save chances last year for the Chicago Cubs. He posted a 3.26 ERA while striking out 84 in 66 1/3 innings. He has a chance to be the first hard-throwing closer for the Tribe since Jose Mesa held that title from 1992-1998.

Last season, the Tribe blew 20 saves, tied for tenth fewst in the league. Not bad, until you consider that they only had 51 save opportunities. Essentially, 39% of the time Eric Wedge called on someone to close the door, they failed. Wood only failed 15% of the time in '07. If he converts in 85% of his chances in 2008, we'll take it.

And finally, speaking of being successful 85% of the time you go out, the Cavaliers are right around that mark (current winning percentage: 84%) with their terriffic 21-4 start.

Unfortunately, the Celtics have been terriffic as well, jumping out to a 24-2 record and a 2.5 game lead on the Cavaliers for homecourt advantage in the postseason. Now were still under the 1/3 mark for the season, but we saw last year just how much that homecourt can mean in the playoffs.

I found it interesting that in the playoffs, the home team wins 66.2% of the time. No NBA franchise, not one, has a winning record on the road in the playoffs.

As it currently stands, the Cavaliers would have that homecourt advantage in the first two rounds, but Boston would host the Eastern Conference finals. The Cavs are 13-0 at home as opposed to 8-4 on the road, emphasizing that there's no place like home in the NBA.