Thursday Sports' Happenings

Thursday brought about a few local sports' tidbits for Cleveland fans plus some other news around the sports' world. The NBA trading deadline came and went, and the Cavaliers snuck in a couple potentially good trades for the playoff run.

In the first deal, the Cavs acquired slick scorer Ronald 'Flip' Murray from the Sonics in exchange for munchkin PG Mike Wilks, who wasn't much of a factor on the team. The Cavs also include a sack of cash and a 2nd round draft pick to complete the trade. I like this move a lot. Murray certainly isn't a defensive wizard, but he'll provide some great scoring off the bench at SG while Larry Hughes sits out the rest of the year.

The Cavs also acquired former Cav Lee Nailon at the last minute who could also provide a nice bit of scoring off the bench if he plays. They picked Lee up in a deal with the 76ers as the two teams also swapped 2nd round picks. Nailon had a little bit of legal issue this year, but he should still be able to play.

Overall, I like both pickups for the Cavs as it could really help them down the stretch. I don't see this team winning a championship any time soon, but I am hoping they can do some damage in the playoffs this year. Only time will tell.

-In other NBA trade news, the biggest move of the day involved 4 teams. Earl Watson took his defensive ways to Seattle to pair with other PG Luke Ridnour and newly acquired benchwarmer Mike Wilks. The other teams involved: Denver, Portland, and the Kings. Here are the full details since I don't feel like breaking it down: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2341845.

No other big deals went down during the deadline today, but the other big deal was Steve Francis going to the Knicks. Now the Knicks can trot out Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis in the same backcourt. Maybe they'll win a few more now or it will just be a bigger cluster fuck.

-In football news, the Browns departed with oft-injured DB Michael Lehan, and veteran LB/DL Kenard Lang. Lehan was a classic Butch Davis type player: Long on athletic skill and size...with health issues. Actually that's better than some of the other Butch Davis type players who couldn't play the game of football, but the dude wasted a roster spot while injured half of his career here. Good luck elsewhere.

Lang was a failed project. It was one of those situations where if Lang was more selfish and didn't try to drop a bunch of weight and move to LB on the Browns, he probably would have made out better. It just didn't work out for him. He deserves a lot of credit for being a team guy though and I really hope he can rebound somewhere else. He deserves it after sacrificing his original position.

-Sasha Cohen fell and lost out on a Gold Medal at the Olympics. Hear me out: I typically hate the Olympics, but I caught this cutie the other night skating, and was transfixed. She has to be one of the cutest women I've ever seen. Go check out for yourself: http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/5061879/detail.html?ib_oll=Headline.
Needless to say, I found a reason to watch a bit of it since Canada and the US laid a Cleveland steamer in the hockey tournament. The amount of time I watched the Olympics went from 1 hour to 2 hours thanks to Sasha.