I thought I would try to watch an Indians game again, well at least more than a couple innings even if it got to the usual 6-1 opponent lead by the third inning. So far as I’m writing this the Indians bats have come alive and they are leading 8-3, but it’s wayyyyyy early. There is still that thing called the bullpen waiting in the wings. I’m guessing win or lose the Indians and A’s players will want to escape from Progressive Field like smooth criminals before the MJ tribute fireworks show starts.

Here are some things that caught my script, and after this season, black and blue “I”:

-There is still some incentive to watch Indians games. STO is giving away Browns tickets during the Oakland series.

-It’s weird to see Jason Giambi on this A’s team. He’s not the star he once was but in my opinion he’s literally and figuratively too big for a small market team like Oakland, he looks out of place.

-To a lesser extent, the same can be said for Nomar Garciaparra.

-Changing gears a bit, good news for Columbus Blue Jackets fans as Rick Nash signed an 8 year, $62.4 million extension to remain in C-Bus earlier today.

-The am/pm and ESPN voice-over guys must be related in some way.

Shaquille O'Neal lived up to his larger than life persona as he was welcomed to Cleveland with a press conference earlier this afternoon. The star brought an embarrassing picture of Danny Ferry from his playing days when the two met in an awkward way on the court. As for his goals for the 2009-2010 Cleveland Cavaliers, well that is all business. The 37 year old stated:

"My motto is very simple. Win a ring for the King."

The 15 time all star also broached a subject that will heat up as the year goes on. On LeBron James, who can become a free agent next year, O'Neal stated:

"He's an intelligent young man. Sure he is going to do the right thing. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Ferry have given him the world right here. If we do what we came here to do, everything will fall into place."

Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas is hosting a celebrity fishing derby on July 18th. The event is being held at the Westlake Rec Center and runs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

If you want to enter you better act fast. The fishing derby is limited just 200 kids and you must register ahead of time. You can do so online by following this link or by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE

Each child entered will receive a free fishing rod and shirt. The day of fun also includes food and entertainment.

The Eric Wedge and Mark Shapiro era in Cleveland can be summed up pretty well from the well-known quotation from Charles Dickens "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". The Cleveland Indians were up 3-1 on the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 ALCS and looked poised to win their first championship since 1948. The Tribe pulled a major league choke job and lost the next 3 games, falling in the series to the eventual World Series Champs. It had at one time looked like the Indians would take the mantle as one of the top American League teams for years to come.

Artwork by Tom Galmarini. Click image to view larger.

In a shock move Monday, the Milwaukee Bucks announced that they would not re-sign power forward Charlie Villanueva. This set off quite a ruckus locally as most fans assume he will soon be a Cleveland Cavalier. The NBA free agency officially begins at midnight on July 1.

It’s worth noting that the Cavs’ situation is way more complex than most fans can appreciate. Everyone wants to win now, but everyone also wants to have a team set up to jump at a major free agent in 2010 like Chris Bosh. Danny Ferry has to figure out if he wants to do both and if so, how to do it.

Shaquille O’Neal is coming to Cleveland and now you can join in Shaq-Mania by purchasing a jersey. The NBA official store has officially stocked the Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. Shaq will wear #33 with the Cavs.

The replica outfit of the star cost $44.99 and can be purchased by
following this link .

We here at The Cleveland Leader an exciting new addition to our team. Tom Galmarini has agreed to do some drawings for the site. When I caught up with the old friend earlier this week, the big news around the Northcoast was Shaquille O'Neal coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers so the native of Middleburg Heights decided to draw portraits of Shaq and LeBron James to give a glimpse of what to expect of his work that will focus on Cleveland Sports.

The 32 year old Galmarini is now living in South Carolina but still proudly wears the (often painful) badge of being a Cleveland sports fan on his sleeve. He's a 2000 graduate of the Columbus College of Art & Design, where he majored in Illustration, and is currently working on a Master's degree in the field. You can find out more about him on his Twitter account @tgalmarini.

The City of Cleveland annually now pays $202,700 more in property taxes on Browns stadium as the Browns pay the city to rent the stadium all year.

Isn’t that some kind of generosity or maybe gross corruption?

Although Browns Stadium is owned by the City of Cleveland it must still pay property taxes because it is used for private business. The Browns are owned by the Lerner family.

The city pays a total of $452,724 in taxes on the Stadium land. The land is valued at $5,588,170 for tax purposes. The market value of the land alone is $15,966,200, according to the County Auditor’s Real Property Information.

And we keep giving away lakefront land for pennies.

The city pays the property tax only on the land, not the stadium built during the administration of Mayor Michael White. The stadium has - as Progressive Field and Quicken Arena have - been tax exempted by state law. The law was lobbied in Columbus primarily by White and County Commissioner Tim Hagan in the early 1990s.

The Lerner family paid nothing for the land and nothing for the stadium. Nice work if you can get it. And they could.

We can thank Mayor White for this gift-giving generosity.