Antonio Pittman, and "Now that's more like it!"

Two topics for me today (other than the Ted Ginn rumor blowing up, that is...my little 70-hits-a-day blog has had over 1,700 hits in the past 48 hours.

First, Antonio Pittman. I think he's going to stay at Ohio State. He's "the man" next year if he stays, instead of being an excellent player who gets 4th or 5th billing on a team of superstars, like he was this season. Plus, I'm not convinced he's ready for the NFL. I know he's got the capability, but he hasn't yet been the centerpiece like most high-profile NFL running backs have had to be in their college years. Just my opinion.

Next, I liked what I saw on Saturday. Both Ohio State and the Cavaliers won, and they both looked good in their wins.

The Buckeyes went up early and stayed in the lead until late in the second half. Tennessee is a ranked team (FINALLY we got to play one of those at home), and when they fought back to take the lead, I feared the worst. But the Buckeyes would not fold, and when trailing with under a minute to play, they asserted themselves against a very good Volunteer defense. After a horrible week to be a Buckeye, our boys made us proud to wear the scarelt and gray again.

Ohio State stays at home for the rest of the week, taking on Northwestern (10-7, 0-4) on Wednesday night, and Iowa (10-7, 2-1) on Saturday night. The Bucks should win both games, and probably won't have a challenge until the take on 15-4 Michigan State the following Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Cavs needed a huge lift to their spirits after getting defeated so easily at Phoenix. But the Clippers are one of the best NBA teams at home, and they were not going to go quietly.

You knew LeBron James would come up big, as he always does. He pumped in 28 points to go with 6 boards and 6 assists. But when you want to challenge for a title, you need support for your superstar. Z and Eric Snow gave us just that kind of support, as they scored 20 and 18 points, respectively. Hell, even the Wild Thing pulled down 12 rebounds to lead both teams. That kind of teamwork needs to be executed nightly. If we can play like that, I'm confident in this teams' chances.

The Cavs hold a 1.5 game lead over the Pistons in the Eastern Conference as we near the end of the first half of the season. They are at Seattle and at Portland on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Sonics are a dismal 14-25 and only 10-9 at home. The Blazers are slightly better at 15-23 overall, and a shocking 8-11 at home. The Cavs should be favored in both games, but Portland scares me because it's the back end of two games in two days. The Cavs do not perform well on the 2nd game in 2 days, going 3-7 under said circumstances.

Frankly, I look for this week to be good to both the Buckeyes and the Cavs.