Jason Lea, a staff writer and frequent book blogger for The News-Herald, has been crafting videos encouraging people to pick up a book and read. But he's getting a little personal in his latest creation.

Warning: This video is not for the bitter or weak Cleveland sports fan.



This makes my heart hurt.


--Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com

That is all.


--Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com

I was out to dinner with my boyfriend at a sports bar/restaurant during the 2008 draft. As soon as the Cavs picked J.J. Hickson, he had to drop his conversation with me to text and call a handful of his friends, all of them wondering "Who is this guy?"

Two years later, he's showing you just who he is -- and that is someone who is able to step up when two key players are out and others are running into foul trouble or just can't get past the defense.

I'll admit that I don't follow basketball, nor do I know much about it. But I enjoy watching the Cavaliers -- when they're doing well. When they're struggling, I get the Cleveland cardiac thing going on. Such was the case during today's game, when the Cavs couldn't get ahead of the Celtics. The bright point in the first half of the game was definitely Hickson.

I'm glad to see that he has developed and really become an integral part of the team.

-- Cheryl Sadler
CSadler@News-Herald.com

Last week’s games kept us on the edge or our seats and drowsy each morning after.

If we didn’t know this season was a special one, we found out during that West Coast trip, chock full of games the Cleveland Cavaliers surely would’ve blown last year. They’re 53-13, and surprisingly starting to look back at the Boston Celtics. But now is certainly not the time to get comfortable.

Sure they swept the triumvirate of the L.A. Clippers, Phoenix and Sacramento, but they did so with habits that won’t get the job done this week. The Cavs are prepping themselves for a DEEP (and hopefully “In Da Q”) playoff run, and their upcoming opponents give them a great opportunity to see what they’re working with.

Orlando visits tomorrow, with dominant big man Dwight Howard and a stable of three-point shooters in tow. The Magic’s much-improved point guard Jameer Nelson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury earlier this year, but the team has replaced him with Rafer Alston, a competent point who can make shots and lead a team. The Cavs need to bring their primetime defense to this matchup of beasts in the East.

Sure that sounds like an obvious statement for this game, and really any other. But it needs mentioning, since the Cavs played nothing that resembled D, interior or perimeter, during their Westside swing. They turned it on late in two of the three games, and really relied on monster performances by LeBron James and Mo Williams to outscore the opposition.

The Portland Trailblazers, who come to town on Thursday, won’t stand for that simply because they’re a much more balanced team than the those three Western Conference counterparts or the New York Knicks, who the Cavaliers edged last night. On Saturday, Cleveland takes on the Atlanta Hawks, the fourth-place team that is more than capable of winning a big one (see the Cavs’ loss to them in December for evidence).

All of this is concerning since Cleveland hasn’t fared well against top-tier teams for most of this season. However, in the REAL ‘Season of Dreams,’ Cleveland seems to get “it.” You could see it on James’ face after each win last week — he wasn’t satisfied with a W. Instead he wanted to figure out how to stop smallish guards from waltzing in the lane. He also wanted rookies like Sacramento’s Jason Thompson to stop getting easy slams.

Cleveland should be alright. Just think, at this time last year the team was adjusting to a new roster and attempting to put it all together for the stretch run. This time, the guys know each other and work well with one another, and that will only help in the coming months.

This week will be fun, for sure. We’ll all ‘witness it,’ and without having to stay up until 1 a.m., too.

-- Brandon C. Baker
Photo: The Associated Press