Leadoff with Lee 8.28.14

-Over the last 5 days, the trending topics on Facebook and Twitter have been the following: Lebron James, Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns and Josh Gordon. With all of attention Cleveland has been getting, you would think we were sitting on top of the world right?

WRONG!

After 23 days of waiting, we learned yesterday afternoon Josh Gordon's appeal of his suspension was upheld and will now sit out the entire 2014 NFL season. Now Josh Gordon and his legal team have every right to file for a temporary restraining order against the NFL, and if granted will allow him to play football while the matter is handled in Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas. But in the statement released by the NFL, the said "When the season is over, the NFL will determine when he's eligible to apply for reinstatement." So basically it's stating in my opinion, "File a lawsuit against us and we will make sure you never play in the NFL again." But if Gordon wins in the court of law, his case will be used to change the NFL drug policy and collective bargaining agreement. I'm sure Josh Gordon's legal team is exploring all legal options available to them.

-The Indians 3 game winning streak came to an end as the White Sox defeated the Tribe 3-2 at U.S. Cellular Field last night. Ace Corey Kluber pitched 6 1/3 innings, gave up 9 hits, 3 earned runs while striking out 8. Michael Bourn went 2 for 4 on the night. The Indians did manage to get 7 hits total for the game, but couldn't take advantage to score when they had runners in scoring position. Sox pitcher Hector Noesi improved to 8-9 on the season. Carlos Carrasco will get the start tonight as the Tribe looks to bounce back with a win tonight against the "Pale Hose".

-The Ohio State Buckeyes released their depth chart yesterday and out of the 22 positions, 7 of them are up for grabs. The main battles are for running back (Ezekiel Elliot, Rod Smith or Curtis Samuel), halfback (Dontre Wilson or Jalin Marshall), cornerback (Eli Apple or Gareon Conley), center (Chad Lindsay or Jacob Boren), safety (Vonn Bell or Cam Burrows), and left guard (Joel Hale or Bill Price). It seems as if Urban Meyer will have a nice rotation of players at key positions until someone has a breakout game or week in practice.

-Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers agreed to a 5-year contact extension that will keep him in L.A. through the 2018-2019 NBA season. Rivers is also the president of basketball operations for the Clippers. New Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said, "Not only is Doc one of the best coaches and executives in the game, but he continually embodies the hardcore, committed, and resilient character and winning culture that the Clippers represent."

Leadoff with Lee 5.1.14

-Over the past few days the sports story that everyone has been talking about is Donald Sterling vs. The NBA. Or should I say Donald Sterling vs. The World. I have heard people make the statements, being outraged that Sterling is being forced to sell the L.A. Clippers about comments he made in the privacy of his own home. The problem is he is just a one of 29 other owners which has it's own governing body and by-laws. Sterling's comments fall under conduct that is detrimental to the league. And under this by-law, he has agreed to not make such comments in which he did. Now you may ask how can the league force him to sell his team? It's going to take a 3/4 majority vote to oust him as owner and from preliminary opinion, he will lose the vote 29-0. If Donald Sterling refuses to accept any offers or bids for the Clippers, the NBA has the right to take ownership of the team and sell it to an appropriate bidder/bidders and or management group. What about the minority owners of the Clippers? They will receive fair compensation once the sale of the team is complete.

Who wants to buy the Clippers? The following names have been floated around as heading a management group. P.Diddy, Dr. Dre, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya and even Oprah Winfrey. Do you see a common theme with people I mentioned? They are all minorities. To think, how shitty Donald Sterling must feel to have to sell his team to a minority. Do I feel bad for Sterling? Hell no! He is going to sell his team for over $1 billion dollars, when he only paid $12 million for the team in 1981. Who do I feel bad for? I feel bad about the players who played for him, Doc Rivers and his coaching staff, the front office personal, the Clippers organization as a whole, the city of Los Angeles, America's youth and last but not least, my OWN kids. Yes my kids are half black and half white and this is 2014. They, nor anyone should have to deal or experience racism. You are entitled to your opinion about people regardless if they are black, white, gay or straight, dog or cat. But if you are a public figure like Donald Sterling, you deserve everything you are about to lose. But I will leave you with this, "EITHER LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME ALONE".
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-The San Antonio Spurs take a 3-2 lead over the Dallas Mavericks with a 109-103 victory. The Mavs Vince Carter has been on fire, looking like he's in his 2001 Toronto Raptors form, scoring 28 points points. Dirk Nowitzski added 26 points and 15 rebounds for Dallas. San Antonio had a great overall team game. With 5 players in double digits, led by Manu Ginobli with 23 points. Tiago Splitter had 16 points and 12 boards. Tim Duncan added his piece by scoring 15 points with 8 rebounds. A critical Game 6 in Dallas is coming up for the Mavs, as they look to hang in this years playoffs on Friday.

-The Toronto Raptors narrowly escaped Game 5 with a win over the Brooklyn Nets, 115-113. The Nets put up 44 points in the 4th quarter, but could not complete the comeback victory. Kyle Lowry had a great game, dropping in 36 points. DeMar DeRozen added in 23. Joe Johnson led the Nets with 30 points. This series heads back to Brooklyn for Game 6 on Friday with the Nets trying to stave off elimination.

-Behind 21 points from Jeremy Lin, 20 from Chandler Parsons and 22 points and 14 boards from Dwight Howard, the Rockets will see another day. Houston edged out the Portland Trail Blazers 108-98 in Game 5. Wesley Matthews had 27 and Damian Lillard chipped in 26 for the Blazers. Game 6 will be Friday in Portland.

-The Angels defeated and swept the Tribe yesterday 7-1, losing their 6th game in a row. The Indians have only scored 13 runs in their last 6 games. The Indians had 3 hits in the final game with the Angels and also had 1 error. The Tribe seem out matched in the first month of this season. It's a matter of time when Tribe manager Terry Francona makes a change in the starting lineup as well as shake up the pitching rotation. The Indians don't want to repeat last years efforts and squeak into the playoffs with only 10 games remaining in the season.

Leadoff with Lee 4.25.14

-Former Ohio State Buckeyes cornerback Bradley Roby was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with OVI. Roby was reportedly found passed out in a parking lot behind the wheel in Columbus. It was has not been disclosed if the keys were in the ignition. When approached and questioned by Columbus police, Roby was cooperative and submitted to a field sobriety test. His BAC was recorded at .008 which is considered to be intoxicated in the state of Ohio. After being booked by Columbus Police, Roby was released on a personal bond. He is due in court today and most likely will plead not guilty, until his lawyer can get additional facts concerning his arrest. Bradley Roby is expected to be a first round draft pick in this years NFL draft. So the bigger question should be will his stock go down after this latest incident? Please note Roby was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assult in Indiana last July. Urban Meyer suspended Roby for one game last season. Those assault charges were later reduced in a plea bargain to disorderly conduct.

-Call him "Complete" Corey Kluber! Kluber improves his record to 2-2 and led the Indians to a 5-1 win over the Kansas City Royals yesterday afternoon. Kluber had a complete game while recording 11 strikeouts, 0 walks, while only throwing 101 pitches. Carlos Santana got his bat going in the 5th inning, hitting a double. Michael Brantley followed up with with a single, scoring Santana. Royals pitcher Bruce Chen walked Ryan Raburn, then Yan Gomes singled to load the bases. David Murphy comes up and hit a single of his own scoring Brantley and Raburn. Asdrubal Cabrera smacked a double to left. The Tribe won the series against Kansas City winning 3 out of 4. And return to .500 evening their record to 11-11. They will travel to San Francisco to open against the Giants. The series starts today with game time being 10:05pm.

-The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Indiana Pacers 98-85. Jeff Teague led all scorers with 22 points. Kyle Korver added 21 points for the Hawks. Lance Stephenson led Indiana in scoring with 21 points. Atlanta holds off the top seeded Pacers to seize a 2-1 advantage in the series. Game 4 will be Saturday at 2 PM in Atlanta.

-The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the Memphis Grizzlies, to take a 2-1 series lead. Despite Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook's efforts (both had 30 point games), it just wasn't enough. Game 4 will be Saturday at 9:30 PM in Memphis.

-The LA Clippers held on to win against the Golden State Warriors 98-96, after a controversial no foul call in the final possession for the Warriors. Blake Griffin had 32 points, while his teammate DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 22 rebounds. High scorer for the Warriors was Klay Thompson with 26, while Steph Curry poured in 16 points and 15 assists.