In case you didn’t know, and how could you have missed it?!, the city of the Burning River has gained an Arena Football team. Bernie Kosar bought into the Las Vegas team and immediately moved it to Cleveland. Why, exactly, I don’t know. Maybe he’s counting on Browns fans to not draw the correlation between a 50 yard field and higher scoring.

In a presser today, the team announced their branding. They are to be known as the Cleveland Gladiators. Bernie Kosar’s official reasoning:

Kosar, a part owner and president of the franchise, said in a statement released today that the name “epitomizes what I felt like taking the field every Sunday.”

Now granted, I don’t exactly follow the AFL (does anybody follow Arena Football?), but it’s not to hard to figure out that the real reason. The team was already named the Gladiators. In fact…

New Logo…

Old Logo…

So in actuality, they can save a ton of money by taking the existing bumper stickers and sticking a piece of electrical tape over the… thingy on the G.

In a game that can only be seen with a clear view of the southern sky (which sounds like a great album name for some indie lo-fi band), The Green Bay Packers play the Dallas Cowboys for a battle of NFC supremacy. Both teams are 10 and 1. Everyone expected the Cowboys to be there. The Green Bay Packers, though, are just as shocked as anybody (and to think, I drafted Brett FAHRV as my backup Q in Fantasy).

But fans of the Honolulu Blue may want to consider heading out to the sports bar tonight, and they’ll want to wear their cheeseheads. Here’s why (and for credit, I heard this on Sean Baligian’s show).

If the Packers beat Dallas tonight, they have the inside track on home field advantage. Assuming that GB and the Cowboys then win out up to the last week of the schedule, the Pack has that locked up going into their regular season finale against Detroit. That game then becomes meaningless for The Cheesiest, and the Lions can stay above water, they could use that game to get themselves into the playoffs.

Now, there’s a lot of assumptions there. First, that the Packers don’t slip up elsewhere (and they shouldn’t, the rest of their schedule is vs. Oakland, @ St. Louis, and @ Chicago). Secondly, that the Lions can win at least 2 games leading up to the final week. That means playing the game of your life against Minnesota (…it could happen. Purple Touchdown Jesus isn’t 100%, and Chester Taylor can be mortal at times), and taking care of business against KC.

Now you’re pissed that you can’t see the game. Sorry.

• Pistons 109, Cavs 74 - If there’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’, then what happens when there is no team, and the ‘I’ goes away?
• Toledo Dropped to 1-5 - Oh goodie, I’m going to be on the air when the Rockets play Pittsburgh.
• And the Commissioner’s Trophy Goes To… - Can they really call it the ACC-Big 10 Challenge if there is no challenge?

And I really didn’t mean to stop updating so soon yesterday. I was kinda preparing the “On Tap” for yesterday and published it early. I think by the time I get in the groove here I’ll proabably have 2 or 3 posts per day… Give me a break, I’m still feelin’ this crap out, alright?

• NBA: Cleveland @ Detroit - LeBron Hellsing and his merry band of fictional monster slaughterers march into the Palace. Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace can be the guys from the movie From Dusk Till Dawn.
• College B-Ball: Toledo @ UNC-Wilmington- Don’t look now, but the head coach of the Seahawks is actually a UNC-Charlotte grad. OOOOOOOOOOOOH
• Kinda Scritpted TV: Mythbusters - Another Pirate Themed Episode? SpectaculARRRR.

I joked earlier today about LeBron carrying the Cavs past the Celtics… well, kinda. LeBron put up 38 for his 7th straight game scoring 30+. 11 of those came in overtime. He then put a wooden stake through Kevin Garnett’s heart and beheaded the vile Ray Allen.

But King James did have his knights help him in this one. Making up for his paltry 4 rebounds was Drew Gooden and Big Z, they combined for 27 boards on the night. If I carry out the theme from earlier, I guess that means Gooden and Igauskas… stuffed garlic down Paul Pierce’s throat? I don’t know.

The win makes Cleveland’s 4th straight, and I’d like to think that the Cavs have finally found their groove, with or without a particular afro on the team.