Browns lose after playing one of their best halves of the season, leading, 17-7, at halftime.

John Kuntz, The Plain DealerCoach Pat Shurmur (left), quarterback Colt McCoy (right) and the Cleveland Browns went 0-2 against the Cincinnati Bengals this season.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For the second time this season, the Cleveland Browns lose a winnable game to the Bengals, dropping this one, 23-20, in Cincinnati.

The Browns played one of their best halves of the season to lead, 17-7, at halftime. The Bengals, though, made the biggest plays when they counted the most, just as they did to win the season opener in Cleveland, 27-17.

Defeat includes many culprits. What was the biggest reason for the Browns' loss, making them 4-7 with five games to go?

We aren't focusing on one play, such as long snapper Ryan Pontbriand's poor hike that messed up Phil Dawson's late field goal try with the game tied, 20-20. Yes, that denied Cleveland a chance to re-gain control. It doesn't make Pontbriand feel any better that the kick wasn't a gimme, from 55 yards and against the wind. Earlier, Dawson had made a 54-yarder, with the breeze at his back.

Nor did the Browns lose just because two Bengals' rookies -- quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green -- connected on a 51-yard pass on a third-and-eight play, setting up the game-winning field goal.

There had to be a bigger reason, from an overall playing standpoint, in a four-quarter game.

Before preparing for the title game, look for Michigan State and Wisconsin to be well-represented in the Big Ten postseason awards, and for Ohio State's Braxton Miller to be freshman of the year.

View full sizeMorry Gash, Associated PressWisconsin's dynamic Montee Ball has gained 1,622 yards on the ground this season and 259 in receiving yards, scoring 34 touchdowns for the Leaders champion Badgers.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mark Dantonio was the Big Ten's coach of the year last season when his Michigan State Spartans where, as Dantonio said, "the odd man out." Now the Spartans are in the Big Ten Championship and in control of whether they reach the Rose Bowl, and Dantonio should be the coach of the year again.

That's what the inaugural Big Ten title game in Indianapolis will feature on Saturday, the Big Ten's best coaching job against the two most logical candidates for Big Ten offensive player of the year -- Wisconsin running back Montee Ball and quarterback Russell Wilson.

The Big Ten will reveal its postseason awards and All-Big Ten teams at 7:30 Monday night on the Big Ten Network, and the two best teams will be rewarded. Ohio State should be reminded of what might have been.

At 6-6, the Buckeyes probably finished about where they deserved. But they beat Wisconsin, one title game participant. They lost just 10-7 to the Spartans in a game so long ago, on Oct. 1, that it ended with an ineffective Braxton Miller being pulled for Joe Bauserman in the fourth quarter.

Now Miller almost certainly will be named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, joining previous OSU freshmen award winners Robert Smith, Korey Stringer, Orlando Pace, Andy Katzenmoyer, Maurice Clarett and Terrelle Pryor.

It's hard to imagine Miller not winning, but the Buckeyes probably won't have a ton of representatives on the All-Big Ten teams. Defensive lineman John Simon has a good shot at the first team, though the defensive line class, as usual, has several strong candidates. Fellow defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins has a chance at the second team. Offensively Mike Adams could be a first-team tackle, though his five-game suspension may be taken into account by some voters. Mike Brewster could get consideration, though there are some pretty good centers in the Big Ten.

There aren't as many dynamic offensive players, with Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins my third-place choice behind the Wisconsin duo. Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson would have been my No. 4, knocked out of the top three by his league-high 14 interceptions. While Wilson gained more of the early Heisman attention, Ball's absence against Michigan State after getting hurt in the second quarter showed how much the Badgers miss him. He got my vote over Wilson almost in a toss-up.

The coach vote really has just two candidates: Dantonio and Michigan's Brady Hoke. My third-place vote went to first-year Minnesota coach Jerry Kill, who started the season by having his team play to the wire in a 19-17 loss to a USC team clearly among the best 10 teams in the country, and finished it off by pulling out of a tailspin to, in the last five weeks, beat Iowa and Illinois and play Michigan State very well in a seven-point loss.

Hoke, taking a Michigan team that was 7-6 a year ago to a 10-2 record and potential BCS bid in his first season, while also ending the seven-game losing streak against Ohio State, is hard to argue against. But Michigan State isn't so established already that a division-winning season should be overlooked, and the Spartans did beat the Wolverines head-to-head and finish one game ahead of them in the Legends Division.

So Dantonio is the pick. He can hope that he someday stops winning awards because people just assume the Spartans are supposed to be good. But he remembers last year when the Spartans finished in a three-way tie for the Big Ten title, with a win over Wisconsin and without playing Ohio State, and the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl and the Buckeyes to the Sugar Bowl while MSU was the "odd man out" of the BCS process. Now Michigan State is trying to repeat that Big Ten title.

"I think this speaks to the foundation we're building here, to the culture being established here at Michigan State in terms of winning championships," Dantonio said Sunday on a conference call. "We're trying to get back to the point were this becomes a staple of what we're trying to do every single year."

This week's best national games

1. No. 13 Oklahoma (9-2) at No. 3 Oklahoma State (10-1), Saturday, 8, WEWS Ch. 5: Weeks ago, this looked like it would matter much more, with a spot in the BCS title game on the line. Now it's just for the Big 12's spot in the Fiesta Bowl. It should be a heck of a shootout though, matching two of the top four offenses in the nation that combine for 1,110 yards and nearly 83 points per game.

2. No. 1 LSU (12-0) vs. No. 12 Georgia (10-2) at Atlanta, Saturday, 4, WOIO Ch. 19: Does this SEC Championship really matter? The BCS National Championship is likely set no matter what happens here, with Alabama and LSU rematching regardless of whether the Tigers win or lose. A 1-loss LSU team, with the tough schedule it has played, might still be No. 1. Georgia has won 10 straight, but against not very tough competition.

3. No. 5 Virginia Tech (11-1) vs. No. 21 Clemson (9-3) at Charlotte, Saturday, 8, ESPN: In the ACC Championship, the overrated Hokies face the only team that beat them, with the Tigers winning, 23-3, at Virginia Tech on Oct. 1. But now Clemson has lost three of its last four, while Virginia Tech has won seven straight, three by four points or less.

4. Connecticut (5-6) at Cincinnati (8-3), Saturday, Noon, ESPN: Believe it or not, a BCS berth is on the line here. If Cincinnati loses, then Louisville, in the clubhouse at 7-5 overall and 5-2 in the Big East, will earn the conference's BCS spot. If Cincinnati wins and West Virginia loses at South Florida on Thursday, the Bearcats go the BCS. If Cincinnati and West Virginia both win, the BCS standings will decide the bid, and West Virginia almost certainly would come out on top.

5. UCLA (6-6) at No. 8 Oregon (10-2), Friday, 8, WJW Ch. 8: The first Pac-12 title game features the Bruins because USC actually won the Pac-12 South by two games but is ineligible because of a bowl ban. So we get this game, with Oregon a 30-point favorite against a team likely to fire its coach, Rich Neuheisel.

6. No. 24 Southern Miss (10-2) at No. 7 Houston (12-0), Saturday, Noon, WEWS Ch. 5: A more than solid matchup for the Conference USA Championship. A Houston win would clinch a BCS bid for the Cougars. A Southern Miss win would allow Boise State to earn the automatic BCS bid that goes to the highest-ranked non-BCS team in the top 12.

This week's best Big Ten game

1. No. 11 Michigan State (10-2, 7-1) vs. No. 15 Wisconsin (10-2, 6-2), Saturday, 8:15, WJW Ch. 8: The inaugural Big Ten Championship features a replay of the conference's game of the year -- the Spartans' 37-31 Hail Mary win on Oct. 22. Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said he still thinks about the play and always will. With the Rose Bowl on the line, the Badgers can wipe away the memory at least a little bit.

Michigan remains two spots out of BCS eligibility entering the last week of the regular season, but next weekend's games will likely move the Maize and Blue up.

View full sizeJulian H. Gonzalez, Detroit Free PressThe celebration is probably still going on in Ann Arbor, but Michigan still needs a little help to reach a BCS game for the holidays.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Michigan isn't into a BCS bowl quite yet.

To be eligible for an at-large BCS selection, a team must finish in the top 14 of the BCS standings. Right now, the Wolverines are No. 16. But that's for now, as the path to the top 14 isn't very difficult.

No. 14 Georgia faces No. 1 LSU in the SEC title game and is expected to lose, obviously, but the Wolverines need to move up one other spot. No. 13 Michigan State and No. 15 Wisconsin will meet in the Big Ten title game, and expecting the loser to fall behind Michigan isn't necessarily assured, but likely. Too many voters will penalize the title game loser for the loss, even though, for instance, Michigan State beat Michigan head-to-head in a game that wound up determining the Legends Division winner. It may not be fair, but it's how it often works.

Since there is some doubt, Michigan should also root for No. 3 Oklahoma State to beat No. 10 Oklahoma, likely knocking what would be the three-loss Sooners behind Michigan as well.

If the Wolverines are eligible for a BCS bowl, they'll almost assuredly be picked. If Georgia beats LSU for the automatic SEC bid, and LSU and Alabama are still No. 1 and No. 2 and locked into the title game, the SEC would get three bids. But in every other case, conferences are limited to two bids. That will help Michigan here.

"I think we have a good football team," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said after Saturday's 40-34 win over Ohio State when asked about BCS possibilities. "Somebody else will make that decision."

Actually, the system will make most of the decision. While the Wolverines aren't in now, they should be by next week and ready to make their first Sugar Bowl appearance since losing to Bo Jackson's Auburn team, 9-7, on Jan. 2, 1984.

Play will begin on Christmas if new deal is ratified in time, as most observers expect. The 66-game schedule would be followed by playoffs that could run through June 26.

Joshua Gunter, The Plain DealerAnderson Varejao -- here dunking over the New York Knicks' Amare Stoudemire -- and the Cleveland Cavaliers could be playing regular season games in the last week of December.

NEW YORK, New York -- The NBA regular season would run through April 26 and require teams to play at least one set of back-to-back-to-back games if a new labor deal is ratified in time to start on Christmas.

The league posted an outline of what the schedule would look like on its Twitter pages Sunday. The plan is a 66-game regular season, ending about 10 days later than usual. The last possible day of the NBA finals would be June 26, two weeks later than the championship series ended last season.

Teams would play 48 games within their conference and 18 non-conference games. No team would play on three straight nights more than three times.

Teams will not make a visit to every city in the other conference.

Back-to-backs might also be played during the second round of the postseason.

The loss ends the Zips' season with a 15-4-2 record, as Akron reached the round of 16 for a fourth consecutive year.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –- A first-half goal by Giuseppe Gentile proved to be the only score of the night as Charlotte ousted Akron, 1-0, Sunday in the third round of the NCAA men's soccer tournament.

The loss ends the Zips' season with a 15-4-2 record, as Akron reached the round of 16 for a fourth consecutive year despite losing seven starters to the pro draft after last year's NCAA championship season. It was Akron's fourth shutout loss of the season.

With the win, Charlotte (15-4-2), which improved to 9-0 at home, advances to the NCAA's Elite Eight where it will face the third-seeded Connecticut Huskies, who defeated James Madison, 3-0, earlier in the day.

The 49ers' only goal came in the 25th minute when Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year Gentile buried a cross from Jennings Rex into the top right corner of the net. It was the first time the Zips had allowed a first-half goal this season.

Akron, which out-shot Charlotte, 11-6, for the match and 7-3 in the second half, had a number of chances but couldn't finish. Its best opportunity came in the 63rd minute when DeAndre Yedlin crossed a ball into the box from the right flank. Darren Mattocks, who finished the season with 21 goals in 22 matches, put a head to it but Charlotte goalkeeper Klay Davis flicked it over the crossbar and out of play.

News, notes and leftover tidbits about the Buckeyes and the Big Ten.

View full sizeNeal C. Lauron, Columbus DispatchWith 14 catches in 12 games, OSU tight end Jake Stoneburner tied Corey "Philly" Brown for the Buckeyes' team lead in receptions in 2011.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- News, notes and leftover tidbits about the Buckeyes and the Big Ten:

The Buckeyes did add one new face on Sunday -- Florida high school receiver Ricquan Southward changed his oral commitment from Miami to Ohio State, becoming the 16th pledge in the OSU class.

Although it could seem like a direct result of the Urban Meyer news, the Buckeyes had been laying groundwork with Southward, making an early offer and bringing him in for a visit. Current receivers coach Stan Drayton, a former Florida assistant who sources have said would have the chance to stay on a staff led by Meyer, has strong Florida recruiting ties and had been dealing with Southward, who plays at Lakeland High School.

"There was a comfort level there," Lakeland receivers coach Will Bahler told the Lakeland Ledger.

As for Meyer himself, there was no official announcement from Ohio State regarding his hiring. That still is expected to come sometime this week, maybe as early as Monday. ... Jake Stoneburner and Corey "Philly" Brown lead the Buckeyes with 14 catches this season. In two games, DeVier Posey has seven. So Posey retains a slim chance to take over the season receptions lead with a big bowl game. ... Ohio State has thrown the second-fewest interceptions in the Big Ten, with five. Wisconsin has thrown four.

Big Ten Bits

To no one's surprise, Illinois fired coach Ron Zook on Sunday after seven seasons, and in the end, maybe it should have happened sooner.

In a world in which Kansas coach Turner Gill and Akron coach Rob Ianello were fired this weekend after two seasons on the job, Zook had a fair ride in Champaign. One game probably bought Zook the extra time: the upset of No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus in 2007. That victory turned a solid season into a great one for the Illini, as they wound up in the Rose Bowl, finishing 9-4 after getting throttled by USC, 49-17. But it was still a Rose Bowl, and it did a lot to wipe out the 2-9 and 2-10 records in his first two seasons and the 5-7 and 3-9 records that followed.

Last season brought Zook's only other bowl appearance, a victory over Baylor in the Texas Bowl. Now Zook won't be around for another bowl trip, after the Illini started 6-0 to gain bowl eligibility and then finished on a six-game losing streak. The Illini helped contribute to maybe a false assessment of Ohio State this season as well, since the Buckeyes' win in Champaign was Illinois' first loss of the year, when they were a ranked team.

At the moment, it looked like a pretty solid win for Ohio State. In hindsight, it's not all that impressive. But who knows? Maybe if the Illini had beaten Ohio State that day, Zook would have been saved again. ...

With Purdue's win over Indiana on Saturday, 10 of the 12 Big Ten teams are bowl eligible, all but 3-9 Minnesota and 1-11 Indiana. The Big Ten has eight bowl agreements, and if Michigan does grab a second BCS bid, that would make nine bowl homes.

The team likely to be left searching for a bowl would be Illinois, but the Illini would probably find a home with some bowl with unfilled slots from other conferences lacking six-win teams. ... In the end, the Legends kicked some Leaders' tail this year. In the 18 cross-division games in the new setup, the Legends Division (Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Northwestern, Minnesota) went 12-6 against the Leaders. Ohio State didn't help the cause, losing all three of its games to Legends teams -- Michigan State, Nebraska and Michigan.

Cleveland State (2-3) shot only 33 percent from the field and lost to Cornell, 79-59, at the Wolstein Center Sunday afternoon in women’s basketball. Cleveland State hit 23-of-68 field goal attempts, and was just 5-of-24 on three-point attempts.

Cleveland State (2-3) shot only 33 percent from the field and lost to Cornell, 79-59, at the Wolstein Center Sunday afternoon in women’s basketball. Cleveland State hit 23-of-68 field goal attempts, and was just 5-of-24 on three-point attempts.

CSU senior Destinee Blue scored a career high 26 points, and had a game-high nine rebounds.

The Big Red is now 2-4.

LSU's LaSondra Barrett summed it up in a sentence. “[Samantha Prahalis] and Tayler Hill pretty much killed us,” she said.

In this Oct. 13, 2011 file photo, members of the Ohio State women's basketball team, from left, Darryce Moore, Aleksandra Dobranic, Samantha Prahalis and Martina Ellerbe pose for a photo during an NCAA college basketball media day in Columbus, Ohio. With the graduation of Jantel Lavender, Ohio State is facing a new season without the the Big Ten's best center on the roster. (AP Photo)

Columbus – LSU's LaSondra Barrett summed it up in a sentence. “[Samantha Prahalis] and Tayler Hill pretty much killed us,” she said.

Prahalis scored 28 points and flirted with a triple double and Hill added 23, including a critical high-bouncing 3-pointer, to lead No. 18 Ohio State past No. 20 LSU, 77-68, on Sunday night in women's basketball.

Prahalis had eight points and an assist in a 12-4 second-half run that gave the Buckeyes (5-0) the lead for good.

“We weren't aware of where Sammy was, giving her some quality looks – and she knocked them down,” said Lady Tigers coach Nikki Caldwell.

Hill scored 19 of her 23 points in the second half.

There had been nine ties and eight lead changes when the score was tied, 48-48. That's when Prahalis took over.

First, she hit two free throws at the 9:28 mark for a lead that the Buckeyes would never relinquish. After Hill followed an Amber Stokes steal with two foul shots, Prahalis hit consecutive 3-pointers, the first on a kick-out pass from Darryce Moore and the second on a quick stop-and-pop from Hill while trailing a fast break.

Then she drove and fed Kalpana Beach (Westlake) for a bucket inside and a 60-52 lead.

Prahalis finished with eight rebounds and eight assists, falling just short of her second career triple double.

“She's a great player,” Hill said of her 5-7 running mate at guard. “She's the smallest player on the court, but she has the biggest heart.”

LSU fought back to cut the lead to 62-56 only to have Prahalis hit a step-back jumper in transition, then feed Stokes on a break for a 66-58 advantage with five minutes remaining.

“I was feeling it, and [my teammates] were finding me,” the Buckeyes' lone senior said. “I just happened to have the hot hand tonight.”

Ohio State will be tested by Florida State at home and at No. 12 Oklahoma in its next two games.

“Each one of us stepped up a little,” Prahalis said of the win against LSU. “It was a good team win. I'm happy with everyone.”

A red-shirt sophomore linebacker at the time with Ashland University, Skoczen took a blow to the head during a practice drill that rendered him numb from the neck down.

Dale Omori, Plain Dealer fileSt. Edward football players Cory Skoczen (18) and Tarik Raed linger on the field and console each other after their 7-3 loss to Warren G. Harding Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006, at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

"Whatever happened to . . .?" is a weekly series updating some of the most newsworthy and interesting local stories covered in The Plain Dealer. Have a suggestion on a story we should update? Send it to John C. Kuehner.

Today, we answer this question:

Whatever happened to Cory Skoczen, the 2007 St. Edward High graduate and standout football player who suffered a spinal cord injury during football practice at Ashland University in 2009?

The 22-year-old Berea man has recovered and is in good health, but he never played football again.

It was a scary time, for sure. A red-shirt sophomore linebacker at the time, Skoczen took a blow to the head during a practice drill that rendered him numb from the neck down. He was flown by helicopter to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland where he was wheeled into an emergency room with bright lights overhead and about 20 people gathered around.

"I guess I was a little more in shock than anything," said Skoczen.

The doctors determined that Skoczen suffered a spinal cord concussion. Nothing had broken, he said, but "my spinal cord did like a wave effect down the spinal canal."

Skoczen lay paralyzed in a hospital bed for about four days until his fingers began to tingle on a Friday afternoon, Skoczen said. By that evening he could wiggle them.

It would be two to three months before he could walk normally again.

"My legs came back much slower than my arms did," said Skoczen, whose St. Ed Eagles went 9-2 his senior and were nationally ranked.

At Skoczen's six-month check-up, his doctor told him that he had made a phenomenal recovery, but he wasn't encouraging Skoczen to return to football. The nature of the injury suggested that he might be susceptible to something similar happening again.

Nevertheless, Skoczen trained as if we were going to play the following year, but about a week before camp was to start, he told his coaches that he was hanging up his pads. It wasn't worth the risk.

"I'm lucky to come out as well as I did," Skoczen said.

Skoczen stayed with the team as a student coach in 2010 working with the linebackers.

"It was hard, seeing people running around and hitting," he said. "Especially game days. Game days were the worst."

Later, he served as an intern in the school's athletic department. He once went to Michigan to represent Ashland at a women's basketball tournament.

"He was pretty good about channeling his energy into what he was doing with his internship and things like that," said assistant athletic director Al King.

Skoczen graduated this past May with a degree in sport management and a minor in business. A former Ashland football player helped land him a job with a Wisconsin company that performs reconstruction after disasters, he said, but after going through a four-week training period in Madison, Wis., Skoczen decided it wasn't for him.

He returned to Greater Cleveland and worked with former St. Ed's teammate Ben Rios building in-ground pools. Lately, he's been hauling furniture for an executive moving company.

Meanwhile, he's preparing an application for the Navy's officer candidate school.

Skoczen takes nothing for granted any more. Not after knowing what it's like to be flat on your back, unable to even give yourself a drink of water.

"You wake up and put your feet on the floor, that's good day," he said.

Your first look at the business world today.

Associated PressOn Nov. 14, surrounded by NBA basketball players, Billy Hunter, right, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association Billy Hunter, right, speaks to the media as Players Association president Derek Fisher, left, listens during a news conference in New York. NBA owners and players reached a tentative agreement early Saturday to end the 149-day lockout and hope to begin the delayed season with a marquee tripleheader Dec. 25.

Yani Tseng just completed one of the most dominating seasons in women's golf history. Shouldn't she be Sports Illustrated's “Sportsman of the Year”?

AP PhotoTaiwan's Yani Tseng has dominated the LPGA Tour for the past two years.

Yani Tseng just completed one of the most dominating seasons in women's golf history, which raises three simple questions:

1. Shouldn't she be Sports Illustrated's “Sportsman of the Year”?

2. Whatever happened to American sports dominance?

3. Yani who?

Yes, Yani Tseng.

(Before we get going here, first an admission: In the past 25 years, I don't think I've watched 25 minutes of the LPGA Tour. I have a longtime aversion to several sports on TV – most golf in general, NASCAR, MLS, the NHL, the WNBA and, of course, Dick Vitale – so I'm more likely to curl up to a documentary on chutney consumption than I am to the Kraft Nabisco Championship.)

This year, Tseng was No. 1 in scoring average, driving distance, birdies and rounds under par en route to her second consecutive Player of the Year award.

She had seven LPGA victories – with 14 top-10 finishes in 22 events – plus she won four other titles worldwide. Tseng captured two majors, giving her five since 2008; by comparison, Nancy Lopez won three majors in her entire career.

Tseng is 22 years old.

She makes Tiger Woods look like Carl Spackler.

Now, if it were up to me – though I can't remember the last time anything was up to me – Tseng would be the clear choice for SI's Sportsman of the Year.

(Before we go any further, another admission: Sports Illustrated is unlikely to listen to a word I say. In 1992, the magazine hired me to write a weekly column; as it turned out, I turned in a column every week, and every week an editor said, “Uh, this stinks.” That lasted a year. Then, a couple of Aprils ago, SI.com started running Couch Slouch, but after six months, they decided it also wasn't up to their standards. If I penned “The Great Gatsby,” those folks would reject it in favor of a Peter King treatise on decaf double mocha.)

If Tseng is somehow denied Sportsman of the Year, it might be, frankly, because she's not American enough – well, actually, she's not American at all; she's from Taiwan. As a rule, we prefer our sporting icons to talk like us and look like us and be one of us – sure, Tseng has a home in Florida, but, hey, an immigrant is an immigrant.

And I hate to be overly cynical here, but Sports Illustrated's not going to sell too many extra copies honoring a low-wattage foreign athlete. Heck, the best chance for a Taiwanese woman to make an SI cover would be if she either changed her name to Kardashian or if she were blonde and buxom and it was the swimsuit issue.

In fact, Tseng's ascension largely defines the LPGA's inability to captivate more of its U.S. base. LPGA heroes once were the likes of Kathy Whitworth, Pat Bradley, Betsy King and Amy Alcott; now it's a steady dose of Se Ri Pak, Na Yeon Choi, Ai Miyazato and Amy Yang.

On the LPGA money list this year, 26 of the top 35 golfers were from abroad – of late, an LPGA leaderboard reads more like a Korean phone book. What's the solution? Watching the presidential debates, I half-expect to hear someone suggest that maybe the LPGA needs to build a border fence.

The LPGA's plight mirrors the larger one in sports: The United States is no longer a superpower.

We do not dominate the Olympics in the manner we once did. We're giving up ground in golf and tennis and boxing. Other nations are closing the gap in even the most American of games, baseball and basketball. Yes, we're still No. 1 in football, but then again, the rest of the world prefers futbol.

To be sure, I'm more concerned that we've lost the edge in technology and education than in track and field. However, in the meantime, I just hope we're big enough to honor and celebrate the greatness of Yani Tseng, even though, I confess, I'm not planning to watch too much of her too soon.

(OK, here's a final admission: If they ever put miniature golf back on TV – oh, how I love Putt-Putt – my TiVo will be working 19 holes a day.)

Ask The Slouch!

Q: I need a new couch for my family room. My wife found one that she says is the perfect color and style to match the room; I found one that is large and comfortable, and it comes with built-in cupholders and a pouch that holds the remote and snacks. What should I do? — Barry Jirousek, Seven Hills

A: Just find some cups that match the room.

Q: Has anyone ever told you that you have trouble distinguishing between fact and fiction? — Roger S. Brown, Willow Bend, W.Va.

A: Remnants of dating Michele Bachmann in the summer of ’77. Or was that Rush Limbaugh?

Q: If the NBA season had been completely lost, would tattoo shop owners have been eligible for a federal bailout? — Jim Sleeth, New Palestine, Ind.

A: Pay the man, Shirley.

Q: If coaches with losing records like Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini can get jobs as football experts, shouldn’t you be producing, directing and hosting “The Marriage Ref”? — Paul Buch, Bayonne, N.J.

A: Shirley, I just found an agent!

You, too, can enter the $1.25 Ask The Slouch Cash Giveaway. Just email asktheslouch@aol.com and, if your question is used, you win $1.25 in cash!

Norman Chad is a freelance writer in Los Angeles.

The news first reported last week is official two days after the Buckeyes ended the regular season at 6-6.

APUrban Meyer: Coming home to Ohio.

Join us for a live Browns chat today at noon with The Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi. The Browns lost to the Bengals on Sunday. Was this game progress or was it just another tough loss? How much of a difference did Peyton Hillis make for the Browns? We'll answer those questions and more.

View full sizeChat live with Tony Grossi every Monday at noon.

Join us for a live Browns chat today at noon with The Plain Dealer's Tony Grossi.

The Browns lost to the Bengals on Sunday. Was this game progress or was it just another tough loss? How much of a difference did Peyton Hillis make for the Browns?

You can jump in the chat room and ask your questions as well as interact with other users and respond to Tony's remarks, or you can just listen. The chat will also be made available shortly after its completion in mp3 format.

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They’re giddy in Columbus, absolutely beside themselves that the man they call Urb has come home to save Ohio State, writes Sporting News columnist Matt Hayes.

By Matt Hayes
Sporting News

AP PhotoUrban Meyer won two national titles at Florida, and he'll be expected to bring the same type of success to Ohio State.

They’re giddy in Columbus, absolutely beside themselves that the man they call Urb has come home to save Ohio State.

Let me be brutally honest: Ohio State didn’t really want Urban Meyer as its next head coach. It wanted the thought of Urban Meyer.

Because the Meyer they think they’re getting is long gone.

The Meyer they think they’re getting is the same man who was lying on his bedroom floor two years ago, the stress of coaching and recruiting and nonstop football crushing his chest and sucking the very life from his weak body.

The Meyer they’re getting is the man who called off a retirement, returned to the game, tanked a season and left the best job in America because he was burned out and needed to spend time with his family.

Then spent time doing his ESPN thing over the last year.

Let me be brutally honest, again: If Meyer truly needed to get away from football and “be with his family,” he would’ve walked away completely and definitively. Instead, he kept his toes in the pool by doing ESPN “work” of traveling to different programs and “interviewing” coaches—while learning from various staffs while the cameras were off.

If you don’t think Meyer was preparing for this very moment, you’re the same guy who thinks Ohio State has institutional control.

Now think again, Ohio State fans, about the Meyer hire.

Are you getting the game’s best coach; the guy who turned around Bowling Green, who led the first non-BCS team (Utah) to a BCS bowl, who won two national championships in six seasons at Florida? Or the guy who left Gainesville with serious health issues, then came back because he couldn’t leave the game, then got out of Dodge when it was obvious the greatest player in college football history wasn’t around anymore?

I’m just not buying the burned out excuse. When coaches are burned out, they leave the game for years—if not forever. They get away from it; they find something else to fill the void.

Meyer did none of that. He stayed as close to the game as he possibly could without actually calling plays and recruiting players. Until he signed his gig with ESPN, he still had an office at Florida and was “helping” (whatever that means) with the transition of new coach Will Muschamp.

Let’s not dance around this. Urban Meyer wasn’t burned out, and that leaves us with two undeniable facts: Meyer has health problems, and Meyer walked away from a program with every imaginable advantage of winning when the going got tough.

How else can we look at it?

That means Ohio State has thrown millions at a coach who could be forced to walk away at any moment because of health issues. And that the Buckeyes are regrouping after one of the greatest runs in school history by gambling on a man who may or may not be completely invested.

Meyer is an Ohio native, a former Buckeyes assistant and a man who reveres everything Woody and three yards and a cloud of dust. He’ll tell whoever wants to hear that this is his dream job; that he simply couldn’t walk away from the game.

Let me be brutally honest one last time: Meyer told a Miami radio station a few years ago that Notre Dame has always been his dream job. And he has walked away from the game twice.

This is the same coach who months before the 2011 season began was telling his former assistants that Penn State was the job he coveted—if JoePa were to leave. Once that job became radioactive, the backup plan fell into place.

Urban Meyer is a football coach, which means Urban Meyer has an ego. All coaches do. That’s why Meyer is coaching again.

Not dream jobs, not a native Ohioan returning home, not the draw of competing in the new Big Ten with its SEC-style championship game.

It’s pure ego.

Think again about the Meyer hire, Ohio State. The coach you think you’re getting is long gone.

"As usual, the Browns choked in the second half. Won the first half, lost the second half and the ball game. They simply don't know how to play two halves of football back-to-back in the same game. In the final analysis, Cincinnati's players made plays and our players choked. The coaches choked. Another choke job by an incompetent organization that is fundamentally flawed from top to bottom." - joenotafan

View full sizeAP Photo | Tom UhlmanPat Shurmur and the Browns came away with a loss against the Bengals on Sunday.

"As usual, the Browns choked in the second half. Won the first half, lost the second half and the ball game. They simply don't know how to play two halves of football back-to-back in the same game. In the final analysis, Cincinnati's players made plays and our players choked. The coaches choked. Another choke job by an incompetent organization that is fundamentally flawed from top to bottom."

"The CBA screws the Indians and other mid-to-small market teams. For years their best strategy has been spending bigger in the draft and international signings. Now, that spending is curbed. Expect the gap to only grow wider between the haves and have-nots in the next decade." - BadBeck

View full sizeChuck Crow | The Plain DealerWill the restrictions on paying draft picks in the new CBA hurt the Indians?

"The CBA screws the Indians and other mid-to-small market teams. For years their best strategy has been spending bigger in the draft and international signings. Now, that spending is curbed. Expect the gap to only grow wider between the haves and have-nots in the next decade."

"While Baron Davis does weigh down our salary cap, we are a better team with him. Do you guys remember the second Heat-Cavs game from last year? We only won that because Baron willed us to it. He inspired everybody to play better. And it would be great for Kyrie to learn a thing or two from Baron. Davis has his problems, but he's got talent and he's smart. In the past, he'd normally just get lazy, but I think he's headed upwards, especially with the passing of his grandmother. Those kinds of things change a man." - severanceholla

View full sizeScott Shaw / The Plain DealerBaron Davis helped the Cavs beat LeBron James and the Heat the second time they visited Cleveland.

"While Baron Davis does weigh down our salary cap, we are a better team with him. Do you guys remember the second Heat-Cavs game from last year? We only won that because Baron willed us to it. He inspired everybody to play better. And it would be great for Kyrie to learn a thing or two from Baron. Davis has his problems, but he's got talent and he's smart. In the past, he'd normally just get lazy, but I think he's headed upwards, especially with the passing of his grandmother. Those kinds of things change a man."

Browns did have some solid performances in loss. Who's your pick?

APCincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) fumbles as he is sacked by Browns defensive end Jabaal Sheard during the first half Sunday's game. The Browns recovered the fumble.

The Browns suffered another tough loss on Sunday in Cincinnati. Rookie receiver A.J. Green went over the middle, made a leaping catch over Cleveland cornerback Joe Haden, then kept going for a 51-yard reception to give the Bengals a 23-20 victory over the Browns.

The Bengals (7-4) used Mike Nugent's 26-yard field goal with 38 seconds left to take their first lead of the game, for the deciding points.

The surprising Bengals stayed right behind Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the AFC North with their latest comeback, this one forged by their rookie big-play combination.

It was a familiar outcome for the intrastate rivalry. Cincinnati has won 12 of the past 15 games and six of seven at Paul Brown Stadium. Only 48,260 showed up at the 65,500-seat stadium to see the Bengals win.

The Browns did, however, have some players who performed well. Which Brown do you think had the best day in Cincinnati?

Drops are not McCoy's fault, PD reporter says, but better accuracy can help eliminate the problem. Watch video

Cleveland, Ohio - Welcome to today's edition of Starting Blocks TV, hosted by Plain Dealer reporter Bill Lubinger, as your usual hosts, Chuck Yarborough and Branson Wright, are off today.

The Browns took another hard loss Sunday, 23-20 at Cincinnati. Despite the defeat, the Browns did have some players who stood out. Which Cleveland player do you think had the best performance against the Bengals? That's the question in today's Starting Blocks poll.

Today's guest is Plain Dealer reporter Dennis Manoloff, who has thoughts on that question. Dman also talks about the play of QB Colt McCoy; and he says that even though the drops are not McCoy's fault, he can help the situation by being more accurate and hitting his receivers with better throws.

SBTV will return Tuesday.

Did the Browns make progress Sunday or did they lose a game they should have won? What impact did Peyton Hillis' return have on the offense? Plain Dealer Browns beat writer Tony Grossi answered those questions and more in his weekly podcast.

View full sizeJohn Kuntz | The Plain DealerPeyton Hillis returned to the field for the Browns on Sunday afternoon.

Did the Browns make progress Sunday or did they lose a game they should have won? What impact did Peyton Hillis' return have on the offense?

Plain Dealer Browns beat writer Tony Grossi answered those questions and more in his weekly podcast.

Among other topics discussed:

• What did you think of Colt McCoy's performance on Sunday?

• What's going on with Ryan Pontbriand?

• Could Chris Ogbonnaya move ahead of Montario Hardesty next season if Hardesty can't get back on the field?

• If the Browns finish 4-12 or 5-11, does anyone pay the price for that by losing their job?

You can download the mp3 or listen with the player to the right.