President Barack Obama is in Ohio today, so if you only have nine at your local Y, holler at him, he might run.  And in honor of Mr. President stopping by the Buckeye State, I thought I'd re-post an old You Tube clip of the Flyin Hawaiian doing what he did way back when on the hardwood of Honolulu:

I wanted to shout out the good people over at Penguin Publishing for taking the time to send me out a review copy of the new Shooting Stars book, written by LBJ and Buzz Bissinger.  I got it Saturday...and now that all football has ended for a few days...and Tuesday is upon us...I am looking forward to flipping through from cover to cover.  A book review will follow in the coming weeks...

I have heard this RUMOR now from multiple people, and I do not know for sure that it is true, but there are people saying that Mo Williams supposedly played QB this past weekend in the Saturday Co-Ed Recreation Division of the Cleveland Plays Flag Football League, played at Clark Fields in Tremont. 

According to the rumor mill, most likely sent into high speed by post game beers at the Treehouse,  he played in an early morning game on Saturday, and kept a low profile by wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses.  Now I'm like you, once I heard the hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses part I thought it was complete bs, but at the same time, the people I have heard this from don't really have a habit of making things up, and have absolutely no reason to do so in this instance.  Nevertheless, I thought I'd throw this RUMOR out there to see  if anyone who was there could lend any credence to it or not.

If it is true, I really don't have a problem with it all.  I think it would be kinda cool if he's in the Cleveland Plays League, if in fact he is.  I know people will point to the possibility of injury, but this is a co-ed league, and he is a world class athlete, I really don't think he would be able to get himself hurt out there.  Besides, if it is true - and I am not pretending to know if it is or not - its not like he's in a Westlake parking lot doing wheelies on a motorcycle.   Either way though, if you're in that league, keep an eye out Saturday morning for the sickest co-ed Flag Football QB you have ever seen...it might be Mo Williams under that hoodie...or maybe just a dairy salesman named Jay.

I received an unconfirmed text message from a former CWRU lineman indicating that LeBron James was in the house for the Brownies game earlier today, and was dressed in Browns Gear for the occasion.  I'm still waiting on a picture to confirm. What is confirmed however, is that he did receive a standing ovation from the sell-out crowd during the first half, and gave a couple of pounds to the heart amidst chants of MVP. 

If he was rocking Browns' gear, I will go ahead and interpret the gesture to mean, 'I love Cleveland and will never leave.'  I might be a little biased, and he may not have meant that specifically, but at least its a better sign than his choice of Cowboys apparrel for last year's opener.  The Browns may have even been inspired by the support early, jumping out to a 13-10 lead at halftime, but then reality hit them across the face like a sledgehammer in the second.

On another note, tough weekend of football for northeast Ohio Notre Dame fans...such as myself.  ND loses to Michigan in the final seconds, OSU steals a defeat from the throes of victory against USC, and former Golden Domer Brady Quinn looked a lot like last years version of Derek Anderson in his '09 debut...great to have football back in Cleveland I guess.

If you haven't read the Cleveland Frowns post on LBJ's NPR interview with Terry Gross as of yet it, is worth checking out.  The podcast to the interview is linked up in the post, and as typical, the Frownies put together a solid collection of thoughts and analysis in the assembly of an ideastream that Diane Rheems would be proud to call her own: LBJ on NPR 

The Cleveland Cavaliers did not announce plans to play a regular season game in Akron next year, but I think they should.  One regular season game a year, starting in 2010-11, on December 30th...which just happens to the birthday of a certain somebody.  No, not Tiger Woods.  While this game in and of itself may not inspire LeBron to pick up the contract offer that has sat on the table since July 18th - and sign on the dotted line - it would certainly catch his attention.  And that game, 'LeBron's Birthday Game Live from Akron, Ohio'  would be quite an event.  Even if only 5,500 people could be there to witness it.

I started thinking about this possibility when the Cavs announced plans to play their intrasquad scrimmage in Akron on October 3rd.  Sure I know, its just a scrimmage, not a real game, but could a regular season game from the JAR be possible? With the LeBron sweepstakes underway, the Cavaliers would be wise to take advantage of anything and everything that the city of Cleveland offers LBJ- that other cities can't - specifically Cleveland's exciting nightlife, its bustling urban center, Tower City, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the fact that it is only 45 minutes north of his hometown. 

On the back-end of a 10-city worldwide promotional tour for the MTAG movie, LeBron James found time to sit down earlier today with Good Morning America in promotion of his new book: Shooting Stars.   A different kinda busy than he was last offseason to be sure, but at least nobody can accuse this guy of just laying around.  The interview is below:

via YouTube

While on the topic of the Shooting Stars book, I would like to issue an apology to the co-author - Buzz Bissinger - for the following comments I made yesterday in regards to not being offered a preview copy of the book:

"...while the good people over at Gray and Company sent me a complimentary copy of the Franchise...Buzz Bissinger's people didn't get a chance to mail out a preview copy to some hack blogger.  Probably thinks I can't read. So in the meantime, the excerpts below are from people who can, and have"

I probably should have just assumed that the book only came out yesterday, and really why would they send me a copy any sooner?  Anyways, I felt kinda bad when the good people over at Penguin Press contacted me today, and offered to send me a review copy of the book.  I appreciate it, and look forward to reading it.  And as I did also say yesterday, I will reserve judgement on it until I do. 

I plan to reserve judgement on the book Shooting Stars - co-written by Buzz Bissinger and LeBron James - (which hit bookstores today) until I have saved the $26.95 necessary to purchase the book.  Because while the good people over at Gray and Company sent me a complimentary copy of the Franchise - which is a must read and I find it hard to imagine that this book (SS) will come close to it - Buzz Bissinger's people didn't get a chance to mail out a preview copy to some hack blogger.  Probably thinks I can't read.  So in the meantime, the excerpts below are from people can, and have:

'Shooting Stars,' LBJ takes control of the narrative - Karen R. Long, PD:

"No one in high school deserves to be compared to Michael Jordan," James writes, "and no one in high school could be expected to withstand the pressure of such comparisons. We had become bigheaded jerks, me in particular, and we are to blame for that, but so are adults who treated us that way and then sat back and smugly watched the self-destruction."

LeBron's Unnecessary Biography - Henry Abbot, Truehoop:

"A press release says it's "a story of friendship, perseverance, humility, the transcendent power of teamwork, and the realization of almost-impossible dreams."  It may or may not be that, but it's certainly a bold assertion of James' right to gloss up his own early life, and to charge you $26.95 to have him tell you stories that have for the most part already been told elsewhere."

Book Review: Shooting Stars by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger - Hoopinion:

"Shooting Stars, the LeBron James autobiography co-authored by Buzz Bissinger, is a consistently alienating read--the story of a 24-year-old African-American midwestern product of the Akron public school system and the basketball industrial complex told in the first-person by a 54-year-old white northeasterner who spent his formative years at Phillips Academy and the University of Pennsylvania."

My fantasy football draft was last night, so my primary focus of the evening was preparing team Stepien Rules for a title run in the Big Time Game Boards league, and I am a little light in the posts department for this Friday before Labor Day.  However, I did have two quick things for you, and neither of which are a reference to LeBron James' contract talk with Tom Withers.  We have about twelve more months to cover that breaking news. What I did want to do was both preview the posts for next week -breaking down a few other Cavs rotation questions: the role of Jamario Moon, along with the playing time battles between D-Block and JJ, as well as Boobie Gibson and Danny Green - and review the rotation question posts from this week:  

Question 4 - Going Big or Going Small

Question 3 - How To Manage Shaquille O'Neal's Minutes

Question 2 -  Who Makes Active Roster 

Question 1 - Cavaliers Game One Starting Five