They say that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. With the leap year calendar just three days away from March, that’s exactly how the 2012 Trade Deadline played out for the Columbus Blue Jackets. After a couple weeks of speculation regarding Rick Nash and a trade that sent Jeff Carter to Los Angeles, the Blue Jackets ended up with one minor deal on deadline day, sending Sami Pahlsson to Vancouver for a couple of fourth round picks.

Since Rick Nash’s availability was made public, he was the apple of every contending GM’s eye. After receiving a list of five teams (San Jose, Los Angeles, Boston, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs) that Nash would waive his no-trade clause to go, the Blue Jackets went to work trying to get an acceptable package of players and/or draft picks for the face of their franchise.

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Welcome to another edition of the Cleveland Sports Video Grab Bag-- the only column that scrounges through Youtube’s vast VHS junkyard in search of precious artifacts from Browns, Cavs, and Indians lore. This week, we recklessly dig up the past with an eye to the present, as our found footage includes such timely references as MLB Spring Training, NBA All-Star Weekend, and TCF’s preferred reader of the month, Quincy Morgan!

First up, we join the Cleveland Indians as they arrive in Arizona to gear up for a new season. Only, in this case, it’s a grainy, black-and-white version of Arizona, and a much more colorful version of the Indians. That’s because it’s 1954, and the Tribe has championship aspirations-- led by manager Al Lopez and one of the great pitching staffs in baseball history, featuring Mike Garcia, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, and a fella named Feller.

The clip below is from an old ’50s newsreel that’s now in the public domain, making it one of the few baseball videos that the backwards-thinking MLB copyright police haven’t had removed from Youtube. While the NBA, NFL, and NHL have all recognized the intrinsic value of fans promoting the games’ histories through video sharing and other new forms of social media, Major League Baseball—the American sport with the biggest historical archive to pick from— has remained shockingly obtuse in that department. Almost nothing earns their “expressed written consent,” be it a famous World Series highlight or fifteen seconds of a meaningless Brewers-Indians game from 1988. If you post it, they’ll find it. And if they find it, they will take it down angrily and say, “That Brook Jacoby footage belongs to us!!!!” And sure, the law is on MLB’s side. But the next generation of sports fans might not be, as football and basketball continue to be the far more progressive, “plugged-in” sports for the ADHD nation.

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Chipping away.

That became our mantra during an ill-fated guys’ trip to Tucson last year to watch some NCAA first round basketball action. This was one of those events where Murphy was our travel agent, and between flight delays, cancellations, and my failure to obtain a rental car in a sold-out market, what resulted was a travel day from hell to start our weekend.

At first, everything seemed fine. At the airport early, check. Rest of party coming in as scheduled. Murphy was lulling us into a false sense of security like free candy from a van. But then things started going wrong, and when they went wrong, they went wrong in a hurry.

Our flight was cancelled, and flights to Phoenix were simply not available. We found a way to get there through El Paso, which is like the moon only less habitable, but our passage from El Paso wasn’t guaranteed. It was at this time that I realized I hadn’t booked a car. Huge problem. The Phoenix to Tucson route isn’t as easily navigable as you’d think, and the options for doing it were pretty nonexistent. This became a full logistical planning nightmare, on top of the six hour delay we were experiencing.

What we would up finding was some kind of commuter bus that was overcrowded, overheated, and aromatically unpleasant. Like public transportation in Pakistan fused with a baby’s soiled diaper. At this point one of our party, Maynard, drolly said the now infamous term “chipping away.” Meaning, yeah, this is a clusterfuck, but we're heading in the right direction. It was humorous, and gave us an optimistic outlook, because, yeah, we may not know how we’re getting home from the bus depot (hell, at that time, we had no idea we weren’t going to be kidnapped, raped, enslaved, and/or murdered upon arrival). But we did know we were getting closer.

The taxi that was supposed to meet us? Didn’t arrive. Getting a taxi at 1 AM? Difficult. One shows up! Chipping away. Drives us the wrong way. Get back on the right track. Chipping away. Finally we make it and can enjoy the beer we've been hauling - the sweet sweet taste of victory beer is the best taste ever invented. The journey was brutal, but keeping perspective throughout helped us to survive.

This is exactly how I view the Cavs. As recently as three years ago, we had a smooth path to not only a title, but a dynasty, all mapped out. We were going to have the epic boys weekend. But then “the decision” happened, and we realized there was no good way to get to Tucson and some shithead forgot to rent a car, and we needed to rework the whole thing.

The Cavs are clearly chipping away. Who can’t love the way Irving plays, especially in the fourth quarter? Definitely going in the right direction. Some people get upset at the wins we get every now and then as they hurt our draft stock. But as long as we don’t make the playoffs, I see those as chipping away. Showing heart, beating good teams, coming through in the clutch – I am happier those things happen, because it shows we’ve got something real to build on. Yea, the cab is taking us in the wrong direction, and yeah, we're still not sure the cabbie is really a cabbie and not a deranged axe murderer, but we’re in a cab, and that’s better than being stranded at Jett’s Wildcat at 2 AM. And though this season is often as unpleasant as the Pakistani diaper form of commuting, we’re at least chipping away and heading in the right direction. Good win over Detroit, a spirited comeback against New Orleans, we’re chipping away at respectability. And someday soon, hopefully, we can open the beers we’ve been hauling around for the past few years and have that weekend we sorely deserve.

Anyway, off to the questions.

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Rampant speculation continues as to where Rick Nash’s destination will be on or before February 27. The prize of this year’s trade deadline, Nash has submitted a list to the Blue Jackets of what teams he would accept a trade to. The contract extension he signed after the 2008-09 season included a “no movement clause”, which means that Nash would have to give his seal of approval to any possible trade.

According to multiple sources, Nash’s list includes the Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Not all of these teams match up well with the Blue Jackets needs, but there is always the outside chance of a third team being involved in any transaction. The Blue Jackets have also been having extended discussions with the Philadelphia Flyers. Nash would have to approve a trade with any team, including the ones on the list he submitted, so there may be other teams that he is willing to go to and just did not include them.

Operating under the pretense that the Blue Jackets would try to acquiesce Nash’s request before looking at other opportunities, let’s examine why the five teams on Nash’s list would be interested and what the Blue Jackets could reasonably expect in return for their franchise forward.

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