It was likely that the Blue Jackets were going to make a splash one way or another during the first trade deadline for President of Hockey Operations John Davidson and new General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen. They did exactly that on Wednesday. The Blue Jackets acquired Marian Gaborik and two prospect from the New York Rangers and traded Steve Mason to the Philadelphia Flyers. For Gaborik, the Jackets gave up Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore, and a sixth round pick. For Mason, the Jackets acquired goaltender Michael Leighton, who will serve as the backup goaltender, and a third round pick.

Gaborik seems to have fallen out of favor in New York City. He has just 19 points in 35 games and just six goals in his last 33 games. The Blue Jackets are a team in desperate need of talent and Gaborik gives them some. Over 757 career games, Gaborik has 333 goals and 333 assists. He had a no-trade clause, which he waived to allow the deal to happen. Perhaps the best part of the deal is that the Blue Jackets kept all three of their first round draft picks.

Gaborik is signed through next season for $7.5 million.

Derick Brassard never blossomed into the player that the Blue Jackets thought he would when they took him in the first round of the 2006 draft. Derek Dorsett will be a great energy guy for the Rangers, who are in need of players like that who can give a big effort on a nightly basis, but the Jackets have plenty of players in that role. Also, Dorsett is out until the playoffs with a broken collarbone. John Moore could be a loss for the Jackets, but they have very good depth in terms of young defensemen, so he became expendable.

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This is one installment in a team effort by The Cleveland Fan, highlighting the top local sports figures by jersey number. Please weigh in with your thoughts, in the Boards. As David Letterman would say, “For entertainment purposes only; please, no wagering.”

Paul Brown was a man that seemed to always know what he wanted, but better yet, he found ways to get those things.  "Nobody touches Graham", his offensive lineman would chant as they broke the huddle, and it wasn't often that they did, en route to Championships in their first five seasons of existence.  Weldon "Hum" Humble wasn't there for all of them, but played a significant role in three of them.

You'll have to forgive the native of San Antonio for not helping the Browns in 1946; he was at Rice University for the second time, leading the Owls to an 8-2 season that ended with a victory over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.  The Orange Bowl is played in Florida, and that just happened to be where the namesake of the Cleveland Browns was on vacation at the time.

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The NHL is rapidly approaching the final month of its condensed regular season and the April 3 trade deadline is already less than a week away. The Western Conference standings are ridiculously tight, while the Eastern Conference playoff picture looks quite a bit clearer. Every team in the Western Conference enters play on Thursday night with either 15 or 16 games to play, so the race for the postseason is on.

One of the most exciting parts of the NHL season is the trade deadline, but this season could be a lot different. Two of the biggest trade chips, Brendan Morrow and Jarome Iginla, have already been traded and both have been traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the Western Conference, the #9-#14 seeds are within six points of the eighth seed, the final playoff slot in the conference. In the Eastern Conference, the #9-12 teams are within five points of a playoff spot.

The issue for the teams on the outside looking in is that it’s nearly impossible to jump over teams with so many overtime games and every game being played within the conference. Of the 243 games that have been played in the Western Conference through March 27, over 27 percent of them have gone to overtime, which means both teams get at least one point in the standings. With more than one out of every four games going to overtime, and the teams bunched together in the standings, a lot of teams still have a chance at the playoffs, but the road to get there is full of obstacles.

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Sadly, we live in a degraded age of college basketball. The first weekend of the 2013 NCAA Tournament has been proof enough, with arenas around the country reverberating with the harsh sound of shots banging off backboards and clanging off rims. It’s been competitive but it’s also been ugly. When a 13^th seed (LaSalle) can make three field goals and shoot under 20 percent in the second half and still win a game, you know it’s ugly.

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