The Cleveland State Vikings will be hosting crosstown rival John Carroll in an exhibition basketball game tonight to start their season. The Vikings are coming off their most successful season in over 2 decades with their run in the NCAA Tournament last season. The Division III Blue Streaks will be a good tune-up for Gary Water's men coming in the season as the 2nd ranked team in the nation in their division.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. You can score a free t-shirt by heading down early and also have a chance to see a live broadcast of STO's All Bets Are Off which will host the centerpiece of a pregame party sponsored by Rascal House.

Here is more information from CSU:

I heard a lot of jokes about the Browns' bye week. My favorite was John Telich's line: "The Browns were 20-point underdogs to bye week."

It was genuinely pleasant not having to worry about them. As painful as it is, in our racket we must watch because we might have to talk about them.

The Browns are sadder than a country song and after reading Randy Lerner's exclusive email interview with Tony Grossi in The Plain Dealer last week I have not one iota of hope. Randy is a very nice person, very likeable, but the poor fellow is clueless about football and he admits it.

In 11 years now the Browns have not had a general manager who had a track record. The only actual general manager was Phil Savage. It was his first crack at the position and he failed.

That's why the name Ernie Accorsi generated excitement. The same with Mike Holmgren. Too bad the Dolan brothers didn't get the Browns. They went up to $500 million but Al Lerner's pockets were bottomless with all the money he made on credit card interest rates. The Dolans' football man was Don Shula. The old Miami Dolphins coach was past his prime, but at least he had a prime.

Zenyatta, under jockey Mike Smith, made history today in the Breeders Cup Classic. Facing male horses for the first time the mare improved her record to an eye popping 14 wins in 14 tries. The only question is whether she bagged horse of the year honors today. Fellow female, filly Rachel Alexendra, will also be in the running for horse of the year honors as she became the first female winner of the Preakness since the early 1920's and defeated all comers throughout the year. Rachel's connections opted not to run on Polytrack surface because they feel that it is not true surface of American horse racing.

Here is Zenyatta's impressive performance from earlier today:

Trick shot master B Manley has released another video following his viral trick shot video that caught the attention of Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Shaquille O'Neal. After months of delays, it looks like the $1,000 challenge by the Cavs big man may be finally ready to happen.

The YouTube video description reads:

don't worry, HORSE game w Shaq is still on, but he is probably one of the busiest dudes in sports, hopefully we can have it out by Thanksgiving. we'll keep you posted.

Sources tell me that the big HORSE game will be a "go" this month after months of setbacks. O'Neal doesn't think that the footage is real but may be in for a rude awakening. After B Manley takes care of business with The Diesel, he wants a shot at fellow Cavs superstar LeBron James.

The Cleveland State mens basketball team made a major investment in their program this season by putting in some major upgrades to their locker room. Among the upgrades include:

-18 New Wooden Lockers
-Flat Screen TVs and Video Cabinet
-Padded Carpets
-Dropped Ceilings
-Increased Shower and Restroom Area
-Lighting Upgrade
-Magnetic Dry Erase Board for Diagramming Plays

The program has raised $85,000 for the new rooms which is half their goal. If you would like to contribute to the program and reward the players and future players of the rising Vikings you can call Mike Dolsak at 216-871-9714 or visit this website.

I wasn’t planning on writing again until this weekend. My plan was to get through tonight’s circus in New York and then recap the week from the comfort of my couch on Sunday. But I’m far too angry to let this go. Don’t worry, I’ll keep the rant short.

On Tuesday, the Cavs continued the trend of starting off games like they are taking a siesta. They got routed by the hapless Wizards and quickly found themselves in an 18 point hole. This is a red flag. Mike Brown is not properly preparing his team for these games. Acting like these games don’t matter isn’t working!

Luckily they cranked up their defensive intensity and destroyed Washington over the next three quarters to get the win. Smiles all around and horseplay ensued. Seemed like old times! I thought they had turned a corner. Everyone did. Now they were going to go on a run, right?