The following is a list of players from Ohio schools who were selected in this past weekends’ NFL Draft. All draft pick data is courtesy of our friends at Pro Football Fans.

• 1st Round - New York Jets - #6 - Vernon Gholston - DE - Ohio State
• 3rd Round - St. Louis Rams - #65 - John Greco - OT - Toledo
• 4th Round - Denver Broncos - #108 - Kory Lichtensteiger - C - Bowling Green 
• 4th Round - Buuffalo Bills - #114 - Reggie Corner - CB - Akron
• 4th Round - Denver Broncos - #119 - Jack Williams - CB - Kent State
• 6th Round - Miami Dolphins - #176 - Jalen Parmele - RB - Toledo
• 6th Round - Indianapolis Colts - #205 - Pierre Garcon - WR - Mount Union
• 6th Round - Baltimore Ravens - #206 - Haruki Nakamura - S - Cincinnati
• 7th Round - San Francisco 49ers - #214 - Larry Grant - OLB - Ohio State
• 7th Round - Detroit Lions - #216 - Landon Cohen - DT - Ohio
• 7th Round - Cincinnati Bengals - #244 - Angelo Craig - OLB - Cincinnati
• 7th Round - Chicago Bears - #247 - Kirk Barton - OT - Ohio State

A few of the undrafted free agents from Ohio schools that we have found include:

• CB Andrew Hawkins - Toledo - Cleveland Browns
• LS Ryan Senser - Ohio - New Orleans Saints
• RB Kalvin McRae - Ohio - Kansas City Chiefs
• CB Jerrid Gaines - Miami - Cleveland Browns
• P Brett Kern - Toledo - Denver Broncos
• WR Jabari Arthur - Akron - Kansas City Chiefs
• DE Collin Ferrell - Kent State - Indianapolis Colts

• 1st Round - #9 - Keith Rivers - OLB - USC
• 2nd Round - #46 - Jerome Simpson - WR - Coastal Carolina
• 3rd Round - #77 - Pat Sims - DT - Auburn
• 3rd Round - #97 - Andre Caldwell - WR - Florida
• 4th Round - #112 - Anthony Collins - OT - Kansas
• 5th Round - #145 - Jason Shirley - DT - Fresno State
• 6th Round - #177 - Corey Lynch - S - Appalachian State
• 6th Round - #207 - Matt Sherry - TE - Villanova
• 7th Round - #244 - Angelo Craig - OLB - Cincinnati
• 7th Round - #246 - Mario Urrutia - WR - Louisville

Find all of the 2008 NFL Draft picks online at Pro Football Fans!

• 4th Round - #104 - Beau Bell - ILB - UNLV
• 4th Round - #111 - Martin Rucker - TE - Missouri
• 6th Round - #190 - Ahtyba Rubin - DT - Iowa State
• 6th Round - #191 - Paul Hubbard - WR - Wisconsin
• 7th Round - #231 - Alex Hall - DE - St. Augustine’s

Find all of the 2008 NFL Draft picks online at Pro Football Fans!

Unlike their in-state rivals from Cleveland, the Cincinnati Bengals had much work to do as the 2008 NFL Draft began today. Marvin Lewis’ team has many holes to fill with defensive worries and an unhappy superstar WR. The Bengals selected Keith Rivers, a OLB from USC with the 9th pick of the 1st round and followe with Jerome Simpson, a WR from Coastal Carolina, with a 2nd round pick, the 46th pick overall. Cincinnati has 8 picks remaining to be made for Day #2 of the 2008 NFL Draft including two 3rd round picks, two 6th round picks and two 7th round picks, many of which will likely be used to improve the Bengals’ defense and add depth.

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A season ago the Cleveland Indians went 0-6 against the New York Yankees in the regular season. Apparently the Indians wanted to make sure that did not happen again in 2008. As the Yankees came to town on Friday night, Cleveland fought off the New York long-balls with a couple of homeruns of their own in a 6-4 win. The Indians followed today as they took a 3-0 lead over the Yankees only to see New York tie the game before Victor Martinez played hero in the bottom of the 9th. With the bases loaded in a tied game Martinez lined the game-winning hit to left field as Cleveland has won both games one and two in this four-game home series.

While Jeremy Sowers started and was impressive, he allowed 3 runs in 5 and 1/3 innings and should have fared better as Jorge Posada’s 3-run triple was misplayed in LF. But in the end Jensen Lewis and winning pitcher Masa Kobayashi proved to be the key as the two shut down the Yankees’ bats to put the Indians in place for the victory.

Fans can find a great selection of Cleveland Indians hats, New York Yankees apparel & more online through DFN Sports and network sites!

There’s no doubt that the Cleveland Gladiators’ 3-0 start to the 2008 Arena Football League season made co-owner and Cleveland legend Bernie Kosar smile. But there’s also no doubt that Bernie is disappointed with the 0-3 record since that fast start. The Gladiators, a franchise that went just 2-14 while in Las Vegas in 2007, are 3-3 heading into their game @ Los Angeles on Satrday night and are looking to pickup a win over the Avengers (3-4). Afte scoring more than 60 points per game in the 3 win to start the season, Cleveland has averaged just 47 in the 3 losses while allowing over 63 ppg.

Fans can find the 2008 AFL scores & Arena Football standings online at Pro Football Fans where they also preview and recap all of the great Arena Football action each week, and now AFL fans can also find AFL hats & gear including Cleveland Gladiators merchandise.

Leading 4-3 heading into the 9th inning against Boston, the Indians looked to be in control with closer Joe Borowski on the mound. But Boston rallied in the 9th as former Indian Manny Ramirez took Borowski deep to left for his 3rd homerun of the season to lead Boston to a 6-4 win in Cleveland. For JoeBo, it was his 2nd blown save in 4 chances this year, and there’s no doubt that the sports talk stations in Cleveland will be ripping him yet again. While Cleveland Indians apparel has been a popular item in stores and online in 2008, the Tribe’s 5-8 start will not make retailers happy unless the Indians can improve and turn their season around.

Early in the 2008 season, there are two things that are very clear with the Cincinnati Reds. First, they need to figure out how to deal with having two left-handed 1st basemen and second, how to improve their roster against left-handed pitching. These two items seem to be a significant problem for Cincinnati, but also both could be “fixed” by one single roster move.

A manager can only do so much with what they are given, and Reds’ manager Dusty Baker has a bit of an issue on his hands. Young 1B prospect Joey Votto made the opening day roster for Cincinnati despite the fact that the Reds also have Scott Hatteberg under contract in 2008. Votto has started the season strong batting .320 with 2 HR and 5 RBI through 10 games while Hatteberg is hitting .190 with 0 HR and 2 RBI in 10 games while getting 4 ABs fewer than the younger Votto. So statistically, it’s clear in the early-going that Votto is the better choice. The Reds are reportedly shopping Hatteberg, and despite his solid clubhouse presence and veteran leadership skills, I think it’s time to hand the job to Votto.

As for the lack of hitting against left-handed batters, the Reds’ lack of offensive depth and right-handed hitters is clearly hurting this team. Edwin Encarnacion continues to struggle batting just .171 through 35 ABs which maks things worse, and the Reds have even gone as far as sitting both Hatteberg and Votto down as Jeff Keppinger got the start at 1B on Sunday @ Pittsburgh. But Cincinnati needs to make a move to get another right-handed bat on the 25-man roster, and AAA Louisville does not look to have the solution.

A review of the AAA team leads me to think that a deal is likely the Reds’ best option to get new blood into the franchise. Jolbert Cabrera and Jerry Harriston, Jr. both bat right handed and both are hitting over .400 at AAA, but both are primarily 2B and Brandon Phillips is not going anywhere for the Reds. With AAA not looking to be the best option, the best-case scenario is if the Reds could get a marginal prospect or relatively equally-skilled 1B who hits right-handed to replace Hatteberg. Either way, both of these issues need to be resolved if the Reds want to contend in 2008.

Two days ago, after the Reds had dropped 2 straight to draw even at 4-4, the worry was that Cincinnati was wasting good pitching thanks to a less-than-stellar offensive output. Two days later, the Reds are 6-4 after back-to-back wins @ Milwaukee as the Reds outscored the Brewers 16-5 in the two games. After a 12-4 win on Wednesday night, Aaron Harang pitched the Reds to victory allowing just 1 run in 8 innings to pick up his first win of the season.

With the win, the Reds now sit in a 3rd-place tie with the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, just 1.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. Cincinnati travels to Pittsburgh (3-5) to face the Pirates in a 3-game series beginning on Friday evening @ 7:05 pm ET as Edinson Volquez looks for his second win in a s many starts.

The Cleveland Indians announced today that they have come to terms with the #2 starter, Fausto Carmona, to a 4-year $15 million deal with incentives and added years. Coming off a 19-win season where Carmona was 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA, Carmona has started strong going 1-0 in 2 starts with a 0.69 ERA in 2008.

Carmona’s deal includes a $750,000 signing bonus and guarantees him $500,000 in 2008, $2.75 million in 2009, $4.9 million in 2010 and $6.1 million in 2011. The Indians have options for $7 million in 2012, $9 million in 2013 and $14 million in 2014.

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