First of all, let’s give credit where it’s due. The following is an email from Dan Whitmyer, head basketball writer for VanDelay Sports and occassional Ohio Sports Time contributer. Let us know what you think of the following:

Cavs Trade - Andy, Z, #19 Pick
Indy Trades - Jermaine O’Neal
Why: The Pacers are looking to get rid of O’Neal and start over. Not sure that they’d do this, because they’re not getting a ton of value back, but more of what I’d call mediocre parts… still it’s an ok offer, especially if you keep in mind what the Lakers traded to get Gasol.

Cavs Trade - Wally, Snow, Gibson
Bucks Trade - Redd, Bobby Simmons
Why: I really think this is a possibility… Wally and Snow are expiring, giving the Bucks a TON of room under the cap going into the 09/10 season, and we know how valuable cap room is in the NBA. Also Bobby Simmons has a gawdawful contract and we’d be doing them a huge favor taking him off their hands. Obviously it sucks to lose Boobie, but what can you do?

If not Redd, I’d like to see us make a similar deal to bring in Ben Gordon, or if we don’t make either of the above I’d love to try to get Elton Brand, but I’d prefer getting someone who can knock down some shots over Brand.

What do you think? We’re definitely going to be able to make a mega-deal thanks to Wally and Snow’s huge expiring deals.

Years ago I attended the Ohio Cup series of preseason games between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians - all 8 games. The annual game was held the Sunday before opening day at Cooper Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. After interleague play began in 1997, the Ohio Cup was no more, at least not until the new Ohio Cup Trophy was announced as the award for the winner of the annual 6 games played between the Reds and Indians each year. Watching two of the games live this weekend I witnessed an excitement around baseball in Cincinnati as the Reds completed a 3-game series sweep of the Indians on Sunday.

Coming into the series, both teams had significant momentum. The Reds, despite being in last place in the NL Central, had won 3 straight. The Indians, on the other hand, lead the AL Central and had won 6 of 7 and their starters had not allowed more than one run in any of theose 7 games. Game 1 of the series saw the Indians overcome a 3-0 deficit before tying the game only to see the eventual winning run walked in for a 4-3 Cincinnati win. Saturday’s game pitted Reds’ hard-luck ace Aaron Harang vs. Fausto Carmona and the great pitching match-up did not disappoint. Cleveland broke the 1-1 tie with a run in the 8th and brought in Masa Kobayashi for a save opportunity. But Kobayashi did not record an out as Adam Dunn hit a long homerun to right field for a 4-2 Cincinnati win in Game 2.

Sunday’s game featured the NL and AL ERA leaders as Cincinnati’s Edinson Volquez (6-1, 1.12 ERA) and Cleveland’s Cliff Lee (6-0, 0.67 ERA) matched up. This marked just the 3rd time in Major League history that the AL & NL ERA leader have faced each other during the regular season. Volquez did exactly what he has done all season; pitch 5+ innings and allow 2 runs or less as he allowed 2 earned runs in 6 innings. Meanwhile Lee’s luck was not so good as the streaking Adam Dunn hit one of two homeruns off Lee as Cincinnati won 6-4. Reds’ closer Francisco Cordero picked up saves in games 1 & 3 as he now has 9 saves in 10 chances in 2008.

The two teams will meet once again in the continuation of the new Ohio Cup series in Cleveland on June 27-29. Meanwhile, fans can gear up for the series in Cleveland and buy Cincinnati Reds apparel and Cleveland Indians merchandise online through DFN Sports.

When Brian Kelly took over at UC, it was expected that he would build the Cincinnati Bearcats football program into one that won 10+ games/year and played in bowl games every year. But few expected an 11-win season in his first in Cincinnati. Kelly guided the Bearcats to a 11-3 season in 2007 and looks to build on that success in 2008 as College Sports Fans has released their 2008 Cincinnati Bearcats football preview. UC returns several key members of the 2007 team that saw the Bearcats finish 4-3 in Big East games and 6-0 in non-conference games including a 31-21 win in the PapaJohns.com Bowl over Southern Miss. As excitement builds and more UC Bearcats apparel & clothing appears on fans in Ohio and Northern Kentucky, be sure to follow the Bearcats and all of their Big East rivals in the 2008 college football previews.

The #1 starter for both the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds have both been named to the Pro Baseball Fans’ top 10 active starting pitchers list. Sabathia, the 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner, went 19-7 in 2007 with a 3.21 ERA and 209 strikeouts. Meanwhile Harang, the Reds’ ace, won 16 games for the second straight season.

The Best Starting Pitchers list put an emphasis on the past three years of statistics while factoring in career success. Pro Baseball Fans lists their Top 10 active pitchers basing it on “win-loss record, strikeouts, quality starts, earned runs, and much much more.”

Where did Sabathia and Harang rank on the top starting pitchers in baseball list? Find out today over at Pro Baseball Fans.

30.7%. That was the Cleveland Cavaliers’ shooting percentage in Game #1 @ Boston. This should be the recipe for a blowout, but the Cavs had a chance at the end only to fall to Boston 76-72, giving the Celtics a 1-0 series lead. While Cleveland Cavs merchandise has been a hot seller due to their 4-2 series win in the 1st round over Washington, but the Cavaliers will need to improve on their poor shooting if they want to defeat the Celtics, especially in Boston. LeBron James will have to lead that improvement after having possibly the worst offensive game of his career in shooting 2-19 from the floor and 0-6 from the 3-point line with 10 turnovers. LeBron did play well defensively, holding Paul Pierce in check and in grabbing 9 rebounds and 9 assists, but it was not a typical game for “King James.” Even Kevin Garnett, a player not know as being “clutch,” added two big baskets in the 4th quarter as he scored 28 points in leading the Celtics to the win.

Game #2 will be played on Thursday night @ 7 pm ET in Boston as Cleveland will look to even the series.

LeBron James gets the headlines, but as the Cleveland Cavaliers closed out the Washington Wizards tonight, we can’t just give LeBron the credit. While James scored a triple-double with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, it was the outside shooting of Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson that helped LeBron reach the triple-double and helped lead the Cavs to a 105-88 win in Game #6. Szczerbiak and Gibson combined to shoot 18-32 from the field, 10-19 from beyond the arc, and score a combined 48 points for Cleveland as Wally nailed 6 3-pointers and Gibson hit 4. Only Zydrunas Ilgauskas joined James, Gibson and Szczerbiak in double figured as “Z” added 12 points in 32 minutes.

LeBron played a game that even Skip Bayless would have a hard time criticizing as he shot 8-17 overall, 1-2 from 3-point range, 10-10 from the free throw line and had a playoff career-high with the 13 assists. The triple-double marked the 20th of LeBron’s career and 3rd career playoff triple-double.

> Get Cleveland Cavs playoff merchandise online through DFN Sports.

With the win, Cleveland advances to the Eastern Conference Semifinals where they will face the winner of #1 Boston and #8 Atlanta who will meet in Boston on Sunday in Game #7 of their series. Should the favored Celtics win on Sunday, Cleveland will likely play Game #1 on Tuesday night in Boston. Should the underdog Atlanta Hawks win in Boston on Sunday, Cleveland would host Atlanta on Tuesday night in Game #1 of the semifinals.