Written by Andrew Clayman

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Rather than checking up on which mediocre, undrafted fantasy players are currently the top names in Cleveland sports (welcome to the party, Derek Lowe), this week’s Star Power Rankings will instead turn the clock back a bit—to the fall of 2007—for a little perspective on just how far we’ve fallen.

Yeah, a lot can happen in four years. You can earn a college degree; lose all your hair; meet, date, marry, and divorce a gal. Or, if you’re a Cleveland sports fan, you can say your farewells to virtually every star player the Browns, Cavs, and Indians had managed to produce in the late Aughts. This isn’t sour grapes, mind you. This is just an intriguing study in rapid personnel turnover.

As we begin the month of November, 2011, with a dormant basketball team and an essentially dormant football club, it’s worth remembering that this seemingly endless parade of mediocrity is actually a more recent phenomenon than it may seem. Just four years ago, as you packed away your Halloween costume for another year, things were looking mighty promising in the Cleveland sports universe. The Cavaliers, coming off their first ever Eastern Conference Championship, were getting ready to begin a new season with a championship-or-bust mentality. The Indians, despite a disappointing collapse against Boston in the ALCS, looked primed to be a contender for years to come as the hot stove heated up. And on the lakefront, the upstart Brownies were on a surprising roll of their own, showing some offensive firepower behind the unlikeliest of gunslingers.

All things considered, it should come as no surprise that the Cleveland Sports Power Rankings were far more pleasant to look at back then, as well (had they existed), as the standout players on the city’s three winning teams battled one another for talk radio acclaim and holiday-season jersey sales. If you’re having trouble seeing through the fog of frustration to this fairly recent era of pre-recession optimism, allow me to bring things into focus. Here is a special Cleveland Sports Power Rankings Rewind: the top 25 men vying for local sports supremacy on November 2, 2007. To reiterate, a lot can change in four years…

Key: OP = On-field Performance, LR = Local Recognition, NR = National Recognition, M = Marketability

 Cleveland Sports Power Rankings: November 2, 2007

#1 LeBron James 40.0
Forward, Cavaliers | OP: 10, LR: 10, NR: 10, M: 10 | Current Rank: --
A few months removed from the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance, the 2007-08 Cavaliers started a new season with unfinished business on their minds. LBJ had failed to get his ring against San Antonio, but he had long since reached a perfect 40.0 Star Power Rating— giving him an icon status only rivaled locally by the likes of Feller and Brown.

#2 CC Sabathia 37.0
Starting Pitcher, Indians | OP: 9, LR: 10, NR: 9, M: 9 | Current Rank: --
Seven seasons into his career, Carsten Charles had finally learned to pitch as well as he could throw, and the Tribe ace reached new heights with a 19-win season and a Cy Young Award. His failures in the 2007 ALCS against Boston, however, left some work to be done.

#3 Grady Sizemore 36.5
Center Fielder, Indians | OP: 9, LR: 10, NR: 8.5, M: 9 | Current Rank: #15
At just 24, Grady seemed to have all the makings of monster career in front of him. In 2007, he combined 24 homers with 33 steals, made a second All-Star appearance, won his first Gold Glove, and played in all 162 games for a second straight season. Today, his future is a giant question mark, with the Tribe declining what once looked like a no-doubt option for 2012.

#4 Braylon Edwards 35.0
Wide Receiver, Browns | OP: 9, LR: 9, NR: 8.5, M: 8.5 | Current Rank: --
Easy to brush under the rug now, but by Halloween in 2007, we had happily forgiven #17’s Michigan roots and brash attitude, thanks to a Megatron-like 9 touchdown catches in the first 7 games of the year (by comparison, ALL Browns wideouts have 4 TDs combined through 7 games in 2011). If only for a moment, a Wolverine had won over Cleveland.

#5 Travis Hafner 35.0
DH, Indians | OP: 8, LR: 10, NR: 8.5, M: 8.5 | Current Rank: #14
2007 was certainly a step back for Pronk statistically, but his superhuman ’05 and ’06 seasons had set a pretty high bar. By season’s end, Hafner still managed his fourth straight 100 RBI season, with few realizing he’d never approach that mark again.

#6 Zydrunas Ilgauskas 34.5
Center, Cavaliers | OP: 7, LR: 10, NR: 8.5, M: 9 | Current Rank: --
Like Hafner, Big Z had seen his usually reliable production decline a bit in the 2006-07 season. But he also started at least 78 games for the fifth straight year— no small miracle considering the foot surgeries that had plagued his early career. Ilgauskas’ decade with the once woeful Cavs had also made him a truly beloved figure and a focal point of the team’s Eastern Conference Championship celebration.

#7 Victor Martinez 34.0
Catcher, Indians | OP: 9, LR: 9, NR: 8, M: 8 | Current Rank: --
Pronk and Sizemore might have still had the bigger fan clubs, but astute baseball fans knew that Victor Martinez was the key to the Tribe’s ALCS run in ’07, posting a .505 slugging percentage and hitting over .300 for a third straight year-- all while handling the various headcases in the starting rotation.

#8 Kellen Winslow Jr. 33.5
Tight End, Browns | OP: 8, LR: 9, NR: 9, M: 7.5 | Current Rank: --
As with Braylon Edwards, Cleveland fans started warming up to the much maligned motorcyclist/soldier Kellen Winslow midway through the ’07 season, as the Browns won three straight to round out October. K2 was on his way to a 1,000 yard season—still the only one of his career.

#9 Kenny Lofton 33.5
Outfielder, Indians | OP: 7, LR: 10, NR: 9, M: 7.5 | Current Rank: --
Much like the Jim Thome script from 2011, a 40 year-old Kenny Lofton returned to Cleveland in an August waiver wire deal and played quite well. More importantly, though, Lofton actually helped spark a Tribe pennant run, cementing his legacy as an all-time fan favorite. Lofton was granted free agency on October 30, and he would exit this list for good once it became clear that his career was officially over.

#10 Jamal Lewis 32.5
Running Back, Browns | OP: 7, LR: 8, NR: 9.5, M: 8 | Current Rank: --
The 28 year-old ex-Raven didn’t generate a ton of fanfare when he joined a Browns club he’d spent six years terrorizing. But after racking up 216 yards on the ground in that infamous week 2 shootout with Cincinnati, Jamal Lewis convinced Cleveland he still had some Star Power left.

#11 Fausto Carmona 31.5
Starting Pitcher, Indians | OP: 9, LR: 8.5, NR: 7.5, M: 6.5 | Current Rank: --
After a disastrous rookie season, a 23 year-old Carmona wound up finishing fourth in Cy Young voting in 2007, and many felt he had out-aced CC Sabathia for much of the year. His win over New York in the ALDS “bug game” looked like a coming out party, but it’s a level of success Fausto has never approached since.

#12 Anderson Varejao 31.0
Center/Forward, Cavaliers | OP: 7.5, LR: 8.5, NR: 7, M: 8 | Current Rank: #16
The Brazilian’s whirling dervish style and boundless energy off the bench made him one of the x-factors of the 2007 postseason, and his career highs in games played, points, and rebounds indicated great things to come as the 2007-08 season got under way.

#13 Brady Quinn 30.0
Quarterback, Browns | OP: 2, LR: 9.5, NR: 9, M: 9.5 | Current Rank: --
Despite falling to pick #22… despite looking ugly in the preseason… and despite holding a clipboard during the regular season, Brady Quinn still had a Tebow-ish following in the Cleveland Sports universe by the fall of 2007, even as the Browns QB situation seemed to get an unexpected new solution in the form of…

#14 Derek Anderson 29.5
Quarterback, Browns | OP: 7.5, LR: 9, NR: 6, M: 7 | Current Rank: --
Rather than ushering in the Quinn era, the somewhat shocking (though completely reasonable) trade of Charlie Frye after week one paved the way for the insanely unlikely Pro Bowl season of Derek Anderson. On this date four years ago, D.A. had the Browns at 4-3 and already had SEVENTEEN touchdown passes to his credit. Yes, you were impressed. Stupid.

#15 Josh Cribbs 29.5
Special Teams, Browns | OP: 7, LR: 8.5, NR: 5.5, M: 8.5 | Current Rank: #1
Still used almost exclusively on special teams at the time, Cribbs was just on the verge of exploding into the public consciousness with his record breaking kick return numbers. In the fall of 2007, he was still somewhat of a local folk hero, with some fans insisting the former Kent State QB would be an improvement over Anderson or Quinn.

#16 Mark Shapiro 29.0
General Manager, Indians | OP: 9, LR: 7, NR: 7.5, M: 5.5 | Current Rank: --
Still more respected nationally than locally, it was hard for even the most die-hard Shapiro haters to bash the man’s work after the low budget Tribe came within a win of the World Series. Meanwhile, Manager of the Year Eric Wedge still didn’t crack the Power Rankings.

#17 Joe Thomas 28.5
Left Tackle, Browns | OP: 8, LR: 8.5, NR: 7, M: 5 | Current Rank: #6
Though he was the actual first pick of the Browns in the 2007 draft (and maybe the best one of the expansion era), Thomas was still lost a bit in the background of the Brady Quinn drama. As his rookie season unfolded, though, it became clear that Thomas was indeed a core piece worth building around—and his 2011 contract extension sealed that sentiment.

#18 Boobie Gibson 28.5
Guard, Cavaliers | OP: 7, LR: 8, NR: 6.5, M: 7 | Current Rank: --
The rookie with the very stupid nickname already looked like a solid second round steal, but his hot shooting in the 2007 playoffs (in which he nearly doubled his season PPG) made Gibson a star on the rise. Or so it seemed..

#19 Joe Jurevicius 28.0
Wide Receiver, Browns | OP: 6.5, LR: 8, NR: 6.5, M: 7 | Current Rank: --
Along with being a sure-handed third down receiver, Joe was a native Clevelander, so he naturally won over the Pound in a hurry as a free agent signee in 2007. By October’s end, Jurevicius had also caught 3 Derek Anderson TD passes, and there was absolutely no reason to think they’d be the last of his career. But they were.

#20 Kamerion Wimbley 27.0
Defensive End, Browns | OP: 7, LR: 7.5, NR: 5.5, M: 7 | Current Rank: --
Coming off a very strong, 11-sack rookie season in 2006, Wimbley got a little more attention out of the gate in 2007—which was a good and bad thing. He was now a top-20 Cleveland sports figure, but he was also targeted more on the field, as his sack totals were halved and his star power faded.

#21 Paul Byrd 26.5
Starting Pitcher, Indians | OP: 7.5, LR: 7, NR: 6, M: 6 | Current Rank: --
He wasn’t exactly lights out in 2007, but the 36 year-old journeyman was the classic gamer—using smarts, junk, and pinpoint control to win 15 regular season games and the series clincher over New York in the ALDS. He’d be a firesale victim by the middle of 2008.

#22 Jhonny Peralta 25.0
Shortstop, Indians | OP: 7, LR: 7.5, NR: 6.5, M: 4 | Current Rank: --
Never the most electrifying player in the world, Peralta did combine with the equally not-super-popular Casey Blake to form a pretty productive left side of the infield in ‘07. Still just 25 years old, Jhonny rediscovered his power stroke a bit that year, tallying 21 homers in the regular season and 2 more against Boston in the ALCS.

#23 D'Qwell Jackson 24.5
Linebacker, Browns | OP: 7.5, LR: 7, NR: 4, M: 6 | Current Rank: #13
The youngster out of Maryland started to break out in his second season, eventually leading the team in tackles despite missing several games with another in a long line of injuries.

#24 Jake Westbrook 24.5
Starting Pitcher, Indians | OP: 6.5, LR: 7.5, NR: 5.5, M: 5 | Current Rank: --
You’ll notice that Cliff Lee wasn’t on this list, just as he wasn’t on the 2007 postseason roster for the Tribe. Meanwhile, old reliable Jake Westbrook—despite missing the first half of the ’07 season—returned to be a difference maker in the playoffs, just as he was this year for St. Louis. Westbrook beat Boston in Game 3 of the ALCS and kept the Indians within a run in Game 7 before Rafael Betancourt imploded in the seventh inning.

#25 Asdrubal Cabrera 24.0
Second Baseman, Indians | OP: 6.5, LR: 6.5, NR: 4, M: 7 | Current Rank: #5
At just 21, the future Tribe shortstop was a late season callup at second base. And along with the old vet Kenny Lofton, Cabrera helped light a fire under the Indians that got them on the doorstep of the World Series. He hit .283 in 45 games with a .775 OPS and just one error in the field.

In review then, only SEVEN of the top 25 Cleveland sports stars from just FOUR years ago are still among the top 25 today, and that's counting Grady Sizemore, who may very well have played his last game as an Indian. This isn't so much a criticism of this town's various Dolans, Lerners, and Gilberts, nor a larger statement on the plight of the mid-market sports town. Nope, it's just a strange circumstance brought about as much by misfortune and injury as economics and egos. All told, Cleveland's CSP (Composite Star Power)-- which I'm going to go ahead and say is the sum of the Star Powers of everyone in the Top 25-- has dropped from 768.5 in November of 2007 to 658 in November of 2011. That's about a 14% drop in star depth. If there's a lesson to be learned, it's that it's mighty damn difficult to establish a dependable star player-- hence the much discussed "Curse of the TCF Banner." If there's a postscript to that lesson, it's that we really ought to appreciate when we've got ourselves a bonified star-- not just the "Chosen" kind, but the veteran big man, big play receiver, and workhorse starting pitcher, as well.