It might be a safe assumption that most Oberlin students, if not active followers of athletics in their respective home states, at least know the names of some of the professional sports franchises. We reside in Ohio, however, for the greater part of four years. You have trouble, you say, mustering any shred of support (or respect) for the Cincinnati Bengals? You have trouble mustering any shred of an idea of who the Bengals might be?
Well, I don’t blame you.
Believe it or not, it has been a fairly eventful year in Ohio sports so far. Thus, I offer a primer, for one of two basic reasons: that you might now understand that the Cavaliers disparaged by the men at the counter at the hardware store are not simply misguided horsemen, or that you might now be able to relate the score of the Browns-Steelers game to the soccer dad who asks an unwitting Java Zone employee, since you watched it instead of the 49ers.

Cleveland Browns
The Browns are Cleveland’s NFL franchise, more preferable to root for than the Cincinnati Bengals, because, well, they don’t suck quite as much. By finishing the season with a 9-7 record and making the playoffs as a wildcard, this season the Browns finally gave professional football fans in Ohio some excitement. The team previously went 12-36 since returning to Cleveland in 1999. Indeed, their playoff bid marked the first time since the 1994 that an Ohio NFL franchise made it to the postseason, when the original Browns got there, a nine-year drought. (Considering that they remained in Ohio the entire time, that also says something about the Bengals.) However, the Pittsburgh Steelers knocked the Browns off in the first round Jan. 5. Remarkably, the 36-33 loss was the third time this season they came up short by three points against the Steelers.

LeBron James
An 18-year-old senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High in Akron James and his high school basketball team make small college athletics look sort of like the local elementary school. His team, the Fighting Irish, is ranked first in the country by USA Today, has been showcased multiple times on ESPN and ESPN2, travels across the country for games and receives oodles of national attention. Some of their games have even been broadcasted on pay-per-view by Time Warner for $7.95.
Why all the fuss? James, the top-ranked high school player in the country, has wowed everyone, including NBA scouts, with his talent over the last few years. He almost certainly will declare for the 2003 NBA Draft, in which he has been projected as the first pick. Additionally, over the past few weeks much controversy has arisen regarding his status as an amateur athlete. First there was the issue of his birthday present, a $50,000 Hummer H2, which his mother gave to him via what was discovered to be a legitimate loan. Then the more serious issue of James’s acceptance of two retro jerseys valued at $845 surfaced. On Jan. 31, the Ohio High School Athletic Association ruled James ineligible for the rest of the season, citing bylaws stating that an athlete forfeits his amateur status by “capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value,” more specifically gifts valued at over $100 each. The saga continued Feb. 5 when Summit County Judge James Williams temporarily blocked the state ruling which stripped James of his eligibility, allowing him to rejoin his team for three of his four remaining regular season games and the playoffs. The star high school player will face another hearing Feb. 19. Stay tuned.

Division I Football
Most Oberlin students weren’t in Ohio for one of the state’s greatest recent sports moments Jan. 3, when Ohio State University defeated the then number one-ranked University of Miami Hurricanes 31-24 in double overtime in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. This gave the Buckeyes the school’s and the Big Ten’s first national championship since 1968. The team’s perfect 14-0 season set an NCAA record for most wins in a season, warranting coach Jim Tressel’s selection as National Coach of the Year.

Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers, Cleveland’s NBA franchise, may negate all the glory Ohio State football and the Cleveland Browns have brought to the state with their NBA-worst record of 10-40. Averaging 90.7 points per game, but giving up 100.8, the Cavs have already had one coach this season, promoting assistant Keith Smart after firing coach John Lucas Jan. 20. Smart has gone 2-6, a slight statistical improvement over Lucas’s season record of 8-34. Regardless, it’s not looking like a playoff year.

Division I Basketball
Among Ohio’s Division I college basketball teams, the mid-majors tend to dominate. Kent State of the Mid-American conference and Dayton of the Atlantic 10 have had the most success so far this season, with record of 16-2 and 15-3 to date.