I know this might be coming at a bad time with the Cavaliers on a courageous one-game winning streak but what I feared the most coming into this season has become a reality.

I figured the Cavs would open this season in a fairly respectable fashion, coming out swinging showing the world they weren’t just sidekicks to LeBron James.

They played hard, played with pride and played with heart to make up for their lack of talent.

Although, how long can you make up for a lack of talent?

At one point, the Cavs were 5-3.

Now, they’re 8-19.

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By Nick Carrabine

To say Thursday night’s Cavs game against the Heat was a disaster would be a monumental understatement.

It was really sad on various levels.

I don’t even want to actually go into discussing the game other than the fact I’m extremely disappointed that many of the players were seen joking around with LeBron, hugging him and generally not showing enough passion or enthusiasm about the game as the 20,562 fans in that arena did.

The sadness for me kicked in hours before I even left my house to go to the Q. Just listening to the national and local media hype up the game was sad simply for the fact of the matter that this was a town for the past five years that looked forward to games in May and June, not the 18th regular season game in December.

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By Nick Carrabine
NCarrabine@News-Herald.com

I'm sitting in third, just two games back from first place. Can I take over with my final 10 picks to become my league's college pick'em champ?

Tough games to pick this week:

• Auburn (2) at South Carolina (18) +5. The Gamecocks have been playing great football this season, and I expect that to continue this weekend. They lost at Auburn earlier in the season, but I think they'll best the Tigers on Saturday.
• Florida State (20) +4 at Virginia Tech (12). The Hokies haven't lost a game since Sept. 11. The Seminoles have been winning or losing closely all season -- other than when they were blown out at Oklahoma on Sept. 11. This will be a hard-fought game, and I see Florida State coming out on top.
• Northern Illinois (24) at Miami (OH) +17.5. As an Ohio Bobcat, I can't pick the RedHawks. The Huskies had better win this one, even though they've been given a huge point spread.
• Oregon (1) at Oregon State +16.5. The Ducks also have an incredible point spread over the Beavers, but they're ranked No. 1 for a reason. Say it with me: Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!

-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com

About five months ago, LeBron James sat in front of an ESPN camera, a phony interviewer and stared an entire nation in the eyes and uttered the following words:

“I’m taking my talents to South Beach.”

On Thursday night, he’ll be taking his talents (which this year boast his worst field goal percentage, scoring average and rebounds per game since his rookie year and a career low three-point percentage) back to Cleveland where us Cleveland fans will once again be spoiled to watch him play.

Remember Cleveland fans, he’s only had three bad games in his career.

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By Nick Carrabine
NCarrabine@News-Herald.com