Listen to This

..apparently the Worm..the NBA drag queen..and Mr. Carmen Electra was almost sporting a Cavs uniform last season.

According to Rodman's agent, Darren Prince, after several conversations with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, "We were expecting nothing less than an offer for a 10-day contract within 48 hours."

Eventually..no offer and Gilbert cut off communication.  But now..will the Cavs consider picking up the greatest rebounder of my lifetime once more? 

According to Prince, Rodman views James as "an up-and-coming Michael." 

"We'll fly ourselves out there," Prince said in a telephone interview.  "We just want an open invitation to come in and show what he can still do. . . . Bring him in on a non-guaranteed contract. We'll run that risk."

But Danny feels differenty and states, "We have no interest but wish Dennis the best."

Now that would be an interesting pickup.  Not sure how much playing time he will get, but if Anderson actually is injured for a period of time, this might not be a bad idea.  But in reality this is probably as likely as Carmen joining the Cavalier Girls (umm.yea that would be awesome).

interesting note here..the last owner interested in Rodman was none other than Mark Cuban, and even though things didn't work out in Dallas, Cuban said he didn't regret the move and thought Rodman still might be able to play in the league.  But Mr. Businessman wasn't just talkin about the Worm's skills..he knows Rodman can sell tickets and Cuban and dollas go and in hand. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As reported in the comment field of the previous entry..the Tractor did NOT pass his physical with the Nets thus the Nets don't have to sign him for the upcoming season.

But the question remains..can he come back to the Cavs and will the Cavs even have enough cash to pay him?  Well if Finley doesn't go to Miami, Damon Jones stays downsouth and then we might have to trade fora PG.  So then..we have cash, but if we blow all our dough on Damon I doubt we can afford Tractor.  Time will tell. 

So Le really is catching on..

So this past weekend, Bobby Labonte sported a cartoon image of the King on his hood during the Bristol race. 

quoted from this article: 

"Although we could think of better driver matches for James - Sadler for his basketball skills and Martin for his familiarity with hip-hop culture (Martin listens to rap music. Seriously.) - the promotion apparently made sense because both men are sponsored by the same soft drink company. Labonte also might have considered changing his name to "LeBobby" for the promotion, but people probably would have thought he was (gasp!) French."

WOW...

I mean the kid is only 20 years old..

Other points of interest regarding this PowerAde pimped out car:
-Coca-Cola officials say that recent data shows that 74% of all NBA fans are also NASCAR watchers.  (anyone else having a hard time believing this)
-Coca-Cola flew in James to see his first live NASCAR race. "I really like the look of the race car," James said in a statement. "But I'm thinking we need to add some new rims."

Adios

Peace out Punk..

Now that is some amazing news to begin the day.  I don't think we have heard the last of the 7-game wonder, but hopefully the Browns aren't the team who takes the next chance.


update on Anderson:
Varejao returns to Brazil next week for medical tests on a right shoulder injury which I reported on last week.  He returns to CLE next Monday to see the team doctors. 

"It hurt a lot when my shoulder came out, but it's part of the game," said Varejao, who was dressed in street clothes Friday to watch Brazil play against Panama.

Crap..

Oh no..looks like the Wild Thing isn't going to be struttin his Brazilian flow across downtown Cleveland for some time. 

Last night Team USA (non NBA) took on Brazil in a highly anticipated showdown.  Hmm..now, I was just in Brazil and the basketball I watched their was awful, sad even, but apparently they don't put the good stuff on the telemundo.

So the game..5 lead changes in the last minute with Team USA prevailing on 3 free throws in the last second.  So the US of A won and brought home the glorious FIBA Tournament of the Americas trophy (not even close to the greatest trophy brought home to mom).

So why in the world am I mentioning this..well let me tell you.  Something very uncool went down as not only did Anderson "best hair in the NBA" Varejao miss a 3 pointer to end the game, but the Wild Thing left the game with an apparent right shoulder injury with 3 1/2 minutes to go.  Doh..

Reports from the game say, "The team doctor is reviewing the injury. We will know (Thursday night) the extent of the injury," Brazil coach Lula Ferreira said.  So yes, today is Friday, but I am not seeing any updates around the web or on the Cavs website.  We shall see..

Concerning our PG situation..we continue to wait on Damon Jones, but at least Ferry isn't putting all his airballs in one bucket.  This week we have the following PG's working out with the Cavs:  Frank Williams (Knicks), Junior Harrington (Hornets), JR Bremer (Ohio native who had a brief stint with the Cavs), and Chet Mason (rookie free agent). 

But what about Snow..is he really good enough to start?  great question..well, no matter who we pick up this offseason, their will be an open competition for the job.  I could deal with Snow if his stat line was 15 assists and 2 points, but if Damon Jones heads to the CLE, I can't imagine Snow has a chance. 

That's it for now..remember the time is near..

True Video Games

Thx to my buddy Paul, fellow Sox fan and lonely Celtics fan, he most awesomely hooked up this nugget from Boston.com on the All-Time Greatest Sports Video Game EVER. 

Yes, that's a huge task, but honestly the guy who put this together, Chris Rattey, knows what's up.  He put together a bracket and matched many of today's games vs. the games of old.  Currently, we are in the second round and it's anyone's ballgame.

So why I am posting this now you ask..well this link made its way from my buddy Paul to the desk of SBL and now bam..an interview with Boston.com's Chris Rattey on SBL.  And seriously, this is awesome.  If you appreciate classic video games, this should be right up your alley. 

Check out the interview here. 

Notice a great point being made when asking if Tecmo Super Bowl counts when considering Tecmo Bowl in the tourney or do you simply rely on the original game..hmm..deep thoughts folks. 

Enjoy..


oh and by the way..not sure if people have seen this but a good friend of mine runs a site..oh you might have heard of it..it goes by the name of TecmoSuperBowl.com.  Yes, isn't it good to know a kid runs it instead of oh let's say Tecmo.. 

Screw the Wild Card

so well...wow..go Tribe..

The team of the future is now.  7 runs in one inning.  5 homers last night.  5 wins in a row.  Tied for the Wild Card.  Damn gina. 

The Indians tore up the Devil Rays last night - the same opponent who last week were taking us to school.  Victor, Broussard, Coco, Grady, and big game Jhonny all went yard.  It was our 8th road win a row and we are now a cool 13 games over .500.

Lou Pinella said it best with, "They've got some talent over there.  A good young ballclub.  They're right in the hunt for the postseason."

Even Coco's bat came alive after his miserable 0 for the last 12, not too mention his 0-for-5 with 7 stranded runners on his own bobblehead night last Saturday.

Also, check this random tidbit out:
Aaron Boone, who played three seasons at USC, passed a reporter in the Indians clubhouse who was wearing an Ohio State University T- shirt.  

"Put your pompoms away," Boone said with a laugh.

ahhh...college football is back..

Update Action

Will we even have a backup PG when the season starts?  Rumors of a three-way anyone.  Apparently the nomadic Larry Brown wants Eric Snow.  And apparently D-Fish is heading to the Cavs from Golden State..um yeah.  This trade needs a little more substance, but you never know.  On top of possibly acquiring Snow, the Knicks are probably gonna pick up Flop (Diop for some) thus continuing their strategy of picking up a washed up scrub from every team in the league. 

So all we can do is wait for Michael Finley..yes Finley, b/c if he heads south to Miami then we have a very good chance of picking up Damon Jones..

 will both be sporting wine and gold next season

Oh come on Tractor..first McGinnis (which was a relief), but not you. The NYPOST reports Tractor wants to be a Net. 

Check out this Cavs unofficial All-Time teams from their website.  Make sure you check out the One-Time team.  I think it's been at least a decade since I heard the name Tyrone Corbin.  Also, Ferry makes an appearance on a list..take a wild stab at which at was..

the King

regarding LeBron's court case..

Dobbins tried to establish the popularity of a documentary on James.

"You've got to admit you're a popular guy?" Dobbins asked.

James paused, then said, "If you say so." The remark drew smiles from the courtroom.

 sup Akron

Hmm..

As all of you have noticed the LeBlog hasn't been up to par as of late..and I am sorry for this.  After switching jobs a few weeks ago, work has left me with more..well stuff to do. 

Currently, I am in negotiations with a few vendors who are looking to buy the LeBlog and take it over.  But I have a different idea if the dollar amount isn't quite what I want..

more details to follow..


for now..quality reading.

Sup Tribe

So how bout them tribe..

A clean sweep of the pathetic Tigers (real tough),  2/3 vs the Yanks (damn you Giambi), and an amazing 9th inning comeback last night..damn gina. 

I mean first off Detroit sux and for them to think they have a ballclub that can compete is absurd.  They can take their streaky Chris Shelton's and shove it.  Bonderman might be good, but he's on the Tigers..sux for him.  So without wasting another breath on that club, we came oh so close vs the Yanks as my buddy Aaron hit up all 3 games.  He said the first two were sweet, but damn Giambi killed us in the third.  I questioned if he had been tested yet and read he has been 3 times and passed.  Still..the yankees suck. 

Oh and last night..wow.  For those of you who aren't aware, KC took a five-run lead into the 9th, but that didn't seem to phase the Tribe.  We scored 11 runs..yes 11 runs amongst 14 batters.  Big Game Jhonny hit another HR..which now a days is no surprise at all.  8 of the runs were unearned given they had 3 errors in the inning.   Just to rip on another team in the Central besides the pathetic Tigers, the Royals are one loss shy of the longest skid in franchise history. 

Check out this comment from Boone, "It was pretty wild in the dugout. It was a pretty exciting atmosphere. It was like a little kid's feeling. We were giddy. You can't believe what's happening."   Did he say giggidy??

Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "I've never played, managed or coached a game like that. To see a big-league game like that is unheard of. I've never seen anything like that. I hope I don't see it again."  Only bad thing on the night is that I have Mike MacDougal on my fantasy team..ouch..he allowed 7 runs (5 earned) while recording just two outs in the ninth. 

So the Tribe is 13-5 since July 22..not bad..not bad at all. 


Side Notes:  For the past few days I was out of town in Red Sox nation, but actually received some Tribe love.  These massholes def knew the Tribe were turing the corner as aballclub and agreed next year we were a team to mess with.  I mean granted it's this year and we should only care about the now, it takes time and at least we are on our way.  Overall, nice to know the team we used to beat up in the late 90's is once again feelin the fear..

ahh..

and we're back..sorry been out of town and in training for work. 

luckily it's been a quiet week for Cavs as the only true news is the announcement of our season schedule, which states we are playing 32 games on TV (ESPN 10 times, TNT eight times, ABC five times and NBA TV nine times).  We open the season on Nov. 2 vs the Hornets at the logoless Quicken Loans Arena.

In terms of our free agent acquisitions, it seems we are waiting until next week's amnesty deadline.  It seems Damon Jones is also waiting as nothing has been reported on his signing and that the Heat won't make any decisions until after Aug. 15.  But the question is..will we wait for Damon or keep on the pursuit?

The Cavaliers are hoping to schedule visits this week for free-agent point guards Dan Dickau, Steve Blake, and Jannero Pargo.  Pargo and Blake are restricted while Dickau is an unrestricted free agent.  With insanely sick college baller Chris Paul playing for the Hornets this fall, Dickau def won't see too much time.  Same story with Pargo as Chris Duhon should start at PG for the Bulls.  And the Wizards..well they have a full team of PG's so basically all 3 of these guys are options, but the goal is Jones. 

But as the ABJ states, if the Cavaliers end up with one of these 3 players, Snow would most likely start.  Cavaliers coach Mike Brown is expected to give Snow a chance to win the starting job in training camp no matter which point guard is signed.

One side note:  it seems ESPN soon might have a rival (in the TV market at least), which still doesn't affect their reporting, but hey it's a start.

A True Adventure

check out this truely Leamazing story in Gilbert's & Brown's pursuit of Cavs big man Z as he and his wife were leaving for vacation from LAX..this was definetely the highlight from Tuesday's news conference..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The idea was hatched by Ferry, who remained in Cleveland while the team took part in a summer league in Las Vegas.

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and his family had flown in from Detroit to watch, and the morning they were scheduled to leave on their private jet, Ferry proposed instead that the Gilberts push back their departure to the evening.

Dan Gilbert and Brown would then fly to Los Angeles for some surprise last-minute bonding with the Cavs center who had yet to make up his mind about returning to the team.

Never mind that Brown had his 8-year-old son along and had to leave him with Gilbert's wife and children, whom he had just met.

"If something happens, we're going to tell mommy it's Danny Ferry's fault," Brown told his son.

Gilbert and Brown took off from Las Vegas and landed at a private airfield in Los Angeles, where they were stunned to run into Seattle SuperSonics owner (and Starbucks magnate) Howard Schultz, who had just landed in his private jet. Gilbert knew the Sonics had some money to spend, too, and he was panicked Schultz also was hunting down Ilgauskas. After a few minutes of conversation in which neither side revealed its intentions, Schultz got into one car, while Gilbert and Brown piled into a car right behind.

The next few minutes were straight out of the movies, with Gilbert all but yelling, "Driver, follow that car." At the last critical juncture, Schultz's car went straight, while Gilbert and Brown's car took a right turn that would take them to LAX.

Of course, once they arrived at the airport, their problems were just beginning. While en route from Las Vegas, the Cavs had bought them two first-class tickets toHouston because Ilgauskas was arriving from Houston and that plane was making a return trip to Texas. Unfortunately, airport security officials don't take kindly to those who buy last-minute, one-way fares. Brown made it through security relatively unscathed, but he said when he looked back, Gilbert had his shoes - and his shirt - off.

Brown ran ahead to the gate, but Ilgauskas already was gone. When Brown called Ferry to inform him of the mix-up, Ferry told Brown that Ilgauskas was waiting in the international terminal departure lounge. Gilbert and Brown raced out to the roadway, flagged down a Hertz rental car shuttle and asked for a lift to the international terminal.

"No problem," the driver said. "It's about three minutes."

Twenty minutes later, Gilbert and Brown raced off the shuttle and into the terminal. Brown was in the lead, and he stopped to buy some flowers and a balloon that said, "I Love You," a development that made Gilbert more than a little uncomfortable, although it was unclear whether he was nervous about giving those to Ilgauskas or worried that people would think he had given the gifts to Brown. Brown, of course, had intended them for Jennifer.

Eventually, Gilbert and Brown caught up to the couple, and the four sat down and had lunch and a nice visit. It was shortly thereafter Ilgauskas accepted the Cavs' five-year contract offer worth between $55 million and $60 million.

"I truly believe the contact between Dan and Z and myself was worthwhile and really helped in the whole process," said Brown, who also spent some time rolling around on the floor playing with Hughes' children while pursuing the shooting guard.

"But it was an adventure, to say the least."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also of note from yesterday's news conference is that Ferry stated the Cavs primary goal for a SG was in fact Hughes not Redd the Buckeye.  Interesting..

Oh the Scoop

Thanks to my main man Tko9er, also known as my CLE correspondent, the scoop is that Dan Gilbert bought the rights to the name of Gund Arena and is going to change the name to Quicken Loans Arena, a.k.a. The “Q”. 

It will be announced today at 3:15pm. 

UPDATE:  Indeed this information was correct and beat the major aggregators to the punch.

Also an update on our PG situation..apparently the Cavs met with Damon Jones yesterday and made him a significant offer.  According to an article in the Miami Herald, Jones is considering the offer, but hasn't committed to either the Heat or the Cavs..

Little Catch Up

hola..sorry for the lack of updates as life has been hectic, but good news is not too too much happened over the past 3-4 days.  But to begin let's discuss the now finalized collective bargaining agreement.  The salary cap for 2005-06 was set at $49.5 million, which actually was higher than Cavaliers officials had anticipated.  So what's that mean..we now have about $3.9 million left to spend in free agency.  But will that be enough to buy both a backup center and starting point guard? 

There is talk of Dale Davis as our backup center given he is gonna turn down a $1.5 million contract from the Pacers.  He is old, but should do fine as a backup to Z.  In terms of our PG, Denver papers are saying interest is still high that the Nuggets will land Jaric.  Although, Denver might choose to hold onto all their $5 million midlevel exception until Aug. 15, which is the deadline for teams to invoke the so-called amnesty rule. 

What is this rule you ask?  This clause allows teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying further luxury tax on the player's contract.

So back to free agents..the Cavs are also looking at free agents Damon Jones, Steve Blake, & Earl Watson as our starting PG.  Damon was solid for the Heat, b/c well he has a shot, but turned down a $2.7 million option to stay in Miami.  It could work out for us, but he might be lookin for an amount out of our price range. 

Speaking of our price range, tomorrow at noon the NBA says its finally time to start signing free agents.  So looks like tomorrow the Cavs are gonna drop $130 million on Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Also check out these random bits of news:

• Ferry said the player most asked about in trades is Anderson Varejao.  Ferry says he receives a call "almost every day" about the pimp from Brazil.  He isn't going anywhere first cause he is awesome and second I rather not see my #17 jersey go out of style just yet.  Even though reports say Gooden isn't going anywhere, I am not too sure about this.  C'mon..start Anderson..he will give us the defense and rebounding we need in a PF.  Plus either way we have Donyell now so why keep all 3..shall see. 

• Jeff "I'm a punk & overrated" McInnis was picked up by the Nets for a cool $3.5 million a year to backup Kidd.  Pathetic move by the Jigga Man and the Nets.  He is proven that he isn't worth it, but whatever..it's New Jersey.