Written by Brian McPeek

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The Steelers are Super Bowl champions. Again. Pittsburgh celebrates. Cleveland takes one more roundhouse punch to the face by proxy. On a lighter note, in the lead up to yesterday's Super Bowl, the Cavs pressed their foot down a little harder on the throats of the Detroit Pistons, who are now 12 behind the Cavs, and looking very much like a team whose window of opportunity has slammed shut. Peeks breaks it all down for us in The Weekend Wrap.

Super Blow 

The Steelers are Super Bowl Champions. 

Again. 

You know what that makes me feel? Nothing. Nota single thing. I'm so numb to the perpetual disappointments I can no longer work up the proper indignation in regard to that team or that city. 

Somewhere deep down I hate them. Somewhere down the line that hatred may manifest itself again in words or actions. But right now being a Browns fan is like being a boxer in over his head. We're the guy who keeps getting up off the canvas only to get punched in the face time and time again. The first 10-15 haymakers really hurt. They make you mad and they offend your sense of pride. But every blow that lands after that is worse. Because you don't feel those anymore. You're oblivious to them from a pain perspective.  

Don't misunderstand, those blows you keep taking after you're numb are damaging. They destroy your insides and they scramble your head. They're dangerous in that, because you're oblivious to the pain, you start to accept getting beaten like an egg as if it's your birthright.  

I passed Cleveland Browns Stadium heading downtown on Saturday night with my wife. It made me feel a little bit sick and a little bit angry. Not eager for next fall, not a nostalgic in any way whatsoever. Just a tinge of anger and sadness. 

At least I felt a little something. 

Steelers 27 Cardinals 23. 

Pittsburgh celebrates. Cleveland takes one more roundhouse punch to the face by proxy. 

Buried Alive 

Bring out your dead Detroit. 12 games back in the Eastern Conference Central Division race with just half a season in the books. The corpses formerly known as Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace look like they'd rather be tearing up a bowling alley or smoking their way through a dime bag rather than playing basketball. 

It certainly showed on Sunday in Detroit when the Pistons gave away an 8-point lead heading into the 4^th quarter before falling to the Cavaliers 90-80. That's a rudderless ship that's taking on water. The skipper is too young and inexperienced to stop the mutiny that's forming and age and deterioration of skills amongst the core players certainly isn't helping either. 

It wasn't but a couple years ago that a Cavs-Pistons game was a marquee event. Now Detroit is close to becoming an afterthought in the NBA.  

Couldn't happen to a nicer group of guys. Enjoy irrelevance ‘Sheed and AI. Make sure you get your points and pad your numbers. Beyond that there's not a great deal to look forward to. 

Etcetera

• Much like there's that circle of life thing, there's a circle to sports as well. The NFL season is in the books, the NBA takes over top billing and we're just six weeks away from March Madness cranking up.  

Just as importantly, the Tribe's equipment truck left Friday from Progressive Field and began its trek toward Goodyear, AZ. No surer sign of spring and it's one I look forward to every year. 

That means pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks, pre season games on the radio will soon follow and before you can blink again the real games will begin. 

Sure, when it's all said and done, it might end up being just like chasing away a bad beer hangover with a bottle of Wild Turkey given how things go in this town. But it's all I've got.  
 

Public Service Announcement (With a Sports Theme) 

Some friends of mine are putting on a fundraiser with an interesting grand prize. 

The details: 

Four first row seats to the Cavs vs. Atlanta Hawks afternoon game on Saturday March 21, 2009. A private all you can eat buffet at halftime and a parking pass. The value of the tickets is $1556. Only 500 raffle tickets will be sold for $20 a piece, so the odds are pretty good. The seats are behind the visitor's bench, right next to the Gatorade cooler. The tickets can be purchased at pioacademy.org.

The drawing is on March 7^th and the winner need not be present. You can also email me at the link below if you're interested or have any questions.