Here's today's sports listings on TV and the radio for the Cleveland area.

Associated PressQuarterback Eli Manning and the New York Giants visit the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game, which will be televised on WJW today at 6:30 p.m.

CLEVELAND, Ohio

Today on the air

(Click on to links for more team or event information)

EXTREME SPORTS

3:30 p.m. Winter Dew Tour, WKYC

GOLF

8:30 a.m. Volvo Champions (tape), Golf Channel

4 p.m. Humana Challenge, Golf Channel

7:30 p.m. Mitsubishi Electric Championship, Golf Channel

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Noon Penn State at Indiana, Big Ten Network (Game preview)

2 p.m. Milwaukee at Cleveland State, AM/1220

(Plain Dealer and cleveland.com Cleveland State coverage)

2 p.m. Lehigh at Lafayette, CBS Sports Network

2 p.m. Wisconsin at Illinois, Big Ten Network (Game preview)

4 p.m. Northwestern at Minnesota, Big Ten Network

6 p.m. Virginia Tech at Virginia, ESPNU (Game preview)

8 p.m. Drake at Northern Iowa, ESPNU

NBA

1 p.m. Boston at Washington, NBATV (Game preview)

NFL PLAYOFFS

3 p.m. Baltimore at New England, WOIO (Game preview)

6:30 p.m. N.Y. Giants at San Francisco, WJW (Game preview)

NHL

12:30 p.m. NHL, Washington at Pittsburgh, WKYC (Game preview)

SOCCER

10:30 a.m. Manchester United at Arsenal, WJW

TENNIS

7 p.m. Australian Open, round of 16, ESPN2

9 p.m. Australian Open, round of 16, ESPN2

3:30 a.m. (Monday) Australian Open, round of 16, ESPN2

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Noon Rhode Island at Saint Louis, CBS Sports Network

1:30 p.m. South Carolina at Vanderbilt, ESPNU

2 p.m. Ohio State vs. Illinois, AM/970

(Plain Dealer and cleveland.com Ohio State coverage)

2 p.m. Eastern Michigan at Bowling Green, SportsTime Ohio

2:30 p.m. Texas Tech at Iowa State, Fox Sports Ohio

3 p.m. Iowa at Penn State, ESPN2

3:30 p.m. Maryland at Duke, ESPNU

4:30 p.m. Colorado at Arizona, Fox Sports Ohio

5 p.m. Louisville at Georgetown, ESPN2

6 p.m. Minnesota at Nebraska, Big Ten Network

6:30 p.m. Washington State at California, Fox Sports Ohio

8:30 p.m. Memphis at UAB, Fox Sports Ohio

The storied career of "JoePa" included 409 wins in 46 seasons and two national championships.

APThe family of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has confirmed his death at age 85. The legendary coach was being treated for lung cancer, which was diagnosed in mid-November.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Joe Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that scarred his reputation for winning with integrity, died Sunday. He was 85.

His family released a statement Sunday morning to announce his death: "His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled."

"He died as he lived," the statement said. "He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."

Paterno built his program on the credo "Success with Honor," and he found both. The man known as "JoePa" won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and two national championships. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.

"He will go down as the greatest football coach in the history of the game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after his former team, the Florida Gators, beat Penn State 37-24 in the 2011 Outback Bowl.

Paterno's son Scott said on Nov. 18 that his father was being treated for lung cancer. The cancer was diagnosed during a follow-up visit for a bronchial illness. A few weeks after that revelation, Paterno also broke his pelvis after a fall but did not need surgery.

Paterno had been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for what his family had called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with The Washington Post. Paterno was described as frail then, speaking mostly in a whisper and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted at his bedside.

"As the last 61 years have shown, Joe made an incredible impact," said the statement from the family. "That impact has been felt and appreciated by our family in the form of thousands of letters and well wishes along with countless acts of kindness from people whose lives he touched. It is evident also in the thousands of successful student athletes who have gone on to multiply that impact as they spread out across the country."

The final days of Paterno's Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.

It was because Paterno was a such a sainted figure — more memorable than any of his players and one of the best-known coaches in all of sports — that his downfall was so startling. During one breathtaking week in early November, Paterno was engulfed by a scandal and forced from his job, because he failed to go to the police in 2002 when told a young boy was molested inside the football complex.

"I didn't know which way to go ... and rather than get in there and make a mistake," he said in the Post interview.

Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator expected to succeed Paterno before retiring in 1999, was charged with sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years. Two university officials stepped down after they were charged with perjury following a grand jury investigation of Sandusky. But attention quickly focused on an alleged rape that took place in a shower in the football building, witnessed by Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time.

McQueary testified that he had seen Sandusky attacking the child and that he had told Paterno, who waited a day before alerting school authorities. Police were never called and the state's top cop later said Paterno failed to execute his moral responsibility by not contacting police.

"You know, [McQueary] didn't want to get specific," Paterno said in the Post interview. "And to be frank with you I don't know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it."

On the morning of Nov. 9, Paterno said he would retire following the 2011 season. He also said he was "absolutely devastated" by the abuse case.

"This is a tragedy," the coach said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

But the university trustees faced a crisis, and in an emergency meeting that night, they fired Paterno, effective immediately. Graham Spanier, one of the longest-serving university presidents in the nation, also was dismissed.

According to Lanny Davis, an attorney retained by the trustees as an adviser, board vice chairman John Surma regretted having to tell Paterno the decision over the phone

The university handed the football team to one of Paterno's assistants, Tom Bradley, who said Paterno "will go down in history as one of the greatest men, who maybe most of you know as a great football coach."

Thick, smoky-lens glasses, rolled up khakis, jet-black sneakers, blue windbreaker — Paterno was easy to spot on the sidelines. His teams were just as easy to spot on the field; their white helmets and classic blue and white uniforms had the same old-school look as the coach.

Paterno believed success was not measured entirely on the field. From his idealistic early days, he had implemented what he called a "grand experiment" — to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field.

He was a frequent speaker on ethics in sports, a conscience for a world often infiltrated by scandal and shady characters.

His teams consistently ranked among the best in the Big Ten for graduating players. As of 2011, it had 49 academic All-Americans, the third-highest among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision. All but two played under Paterno.

"He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man," former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. "Besides the football, he's preparing us to be good men in life."

Paterno certainly had detractors, as well. One former Penn State professor called his high-minded words on academics a farce. He was criticized for making broad critiques about the wrongs in college football without providing specifics. A former administrator said his players often got special treatment compared to non-athletes. His coaching style often was considered too conservative. Some thought he held on to his job too long. There was a push to move him out in 2004 but it failed.

But the critics were in the minority, and his program was never cited for major NCAA violations. However, the child sexual abuse scandal prompted separate investigations by the U.S. Department of Education and the NCAA into the school's handling.

Paterno played quarterback and cornerback for Brown University and set a defensive record with 14 career interceptions, a distinction he boasted about to his teams all the way into his 80s. He graduated in 1950 with plans to go to law school. He said his father hoped he would someday be president.

When he was 23, a former coach at Brown was moving to Penn State to become the head coach and persuaded Paterno to come with him as an assistant.

"I had no intention to coach when I got out of Brown," Paterno said in 2007 at Beaver Stadium in an interview before being inducted into the Hall of Fame. "Come to this hick town? From Brooklyn?"

In 1963, he was offered a job by the late Al Davis — $18,000, triple his salary at Penn State, plus a car to become general manager and coach of the AFL's Oakland Raiders. He said no. Rip Engle retired as Penn State head coach three years later, and Paterno took over.

At the time, the Lions were considered "Eastern football" — inferior — and Paterno courted newspaper coverage to raise the team's profile. In 1967, PSU began a 30-0-1 streak.

But Penn State couldn't get to the top of the polls. The Lions finished second in 1968 and 1969 despite perfect records. They went 12-0 in 1973 and finished fifth. Texas edged them in 1969 after President Richard Nixon, impressed with the Longhorns' bowl performance, declared them No. 1.

"I'd like to know," Paterno said later, "how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969?"

In this Jan. 1, 1983 file photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno takes a victory ride from his players after defeating Georgia 27-23 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, to win the national championship.

A national title finally came in 1982, in a 27-23 win over Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Penn State won another in 1986 after the Lions picked off Vinny Testaverde five times and beat Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl.

They have made several title runs since then, including a 2005 run to the Orange Bowl and an 11-1 campaign in 2008 that earned them a berth in the Rose Bowl, where they lost 37-23 to Southern California.

In his later years, physical ailments wore the old coach down. Paterno was run over on the sideline during a game at Wisconsin in November 2006 and underwent knee surgery. He hurt his hip in 2008 demonstrating an onside kick.

An intestinal illness and a bad reaction to antibiotics prescribed for dental work slowed him for most of the 2010 season. Paterno began scaling back his speaking engagements that year, ending his summer caravan of speeches to alumni across the state.

Then a receiver bowled over Paterno at practice in August, sending him to the hospital with shoulder and pelvis injuries and consigning him to coach much of the season from the press box.

"The fact that we've won a lot of games is that the good Lord kept me healthy, not because I'm better than anybody else," Paterno said two days before he won his 409th game and passed Eddie Robinson of Grambling State for the most in Division I. "It's because I've been around a lot longer than anybody else."

Paterno could be conservative on the field, especially in big games, relying on the tried-and-true formula of defense, the running game and field position.

"They've been playing great defense for 45 years," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said in November.

Paterno and his wife, Sue, raised five children in State College. Anybody could telephone him at his modest ranch home — the same one he appeared in front of on the night he was fired — by looking up "Paterno, Joseph V." in the phone book.

He walked to home games and was greeted and wished good luck by fans on the street. Former players paraded through his living room for the chance to say hello. But for the most part, he stayed out of the spotlight.

Paterno did have a knack for joke. He referred to Twitter, the social media, as "Twittle-do, Twittle-dee."

He also could be abrasive and stubborn, and had his share of run-ins with his bosses or administrators. And as his legend grew, so did the attention to his on-field decisions, and the questions about when he would retire.

Calls for his retirement reached a crescendo in 2004. The next year, Penn State went 11-1 and won the Big Ten. In the Orange Bowl, PSU beat Florida State, whose coach, Bobby Bowden, left the Seminoles after the 2009 season after 34 years and 389 wins.

Like many others, he was outlasted by "JoePa."

Remembering Joe Paterno:
• Sign and view guest book

The circumstances at the end of Joe Paterno's life should not obscure his entire record. He was a control freak, like most coaches. He also was an idealist, unlike many.

Associated Press filePlayers carry Joe Paterno off the field on Nov. 6, when Paterno got his 400th win as Penn State's coach, 38-21 over Northwestern.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Joe Paterno was never one to greet news he couldn't control with frank expressions of admiration for the free press. The controlling factor in his personality was typical of most successful coaches.

Paterno, who died today at 85, was also fully capable of using that trait to squeeze the nerve straight out of a kid reporter. I know. I was the reporter.

In 1974, my first of three seasons on the Penn State beat, a telephone interview with running back Jim Eaise turned into a series of monotone answers. The kid reporter finally asked if it was a bad time and if he should call back when Eaise was feeling better.

"No, it's just that I'm kind of down. I've been benched," Eaise said.

"For Cefalo?" the kid newshound said, his sudden eagerness for a big story almost surely clear to the downcast Eaise.

"Yeah, Jimmy starts this week," said Eaise.

Jimmy Cefalo, later a decorated wide receiver at Penn State and in the NFL, was a highly recruited, blue-chip running back from the Scranton, Pa., area. He was also a freshman in 1974. Paterno had never started a freshman in a game before.

The sometimes uninspiring midweek "phoner" I was assigned before every game to do at the Philadelphia Inquirer suddenly became a big deal, necessitating a call to Paterno to confirm the story.

Paterno was just "Joe" then. He hadn't been on the job as head coach a decade yet. The "JoePa" nickname with all its connotations of benign paternalism had yet to be coined.

"Who told you Cefalo will be starting?" stormed Paterno.

A good reporter never gives up his sources. Yet the same slight pressure that causes cheap plaster to come apart had the same effect on me. I have never, ever been so craven as I was then.

After a reiteration of the demand by the fiery Paterno, I said, defensively, "The guy you benched."

"Jim Eaise is a senior, and he knows better than to say that to a reporter," Paterno ranted.

I was 26 years old and had been cowed by the anger of a man who would become a legend. It is certainly no excuse. But it was an example of the force of his personality.

"Well, it wasn't off the record," I said, "and I'm going to write it."

Paterno hung up. Five minutes later, he called back. "You got that story fair and square. You run with it," he said.

Paterno didn't announce the lineup change after practice that day, as many spiteful coaches would have done. He allowed the source-outing kid reporter to have his morning with a major scoop.

The incident left me so remorseful for all the punishment laps and sit-ups Jim Eaise probably had to do that day at practice that I have never come close to caving in before an angry player, coach or manager since.

By the time I returned to the beat for the 1981 and 1982 seasons, after six years of covering the NBA, Paterno had become a major national presence. In 1982, he would win his first national championship, beating Herschel Walker's Georgia team in the Sugar Bowl. I wrote the paper's game story on it.

By then, too, Paterno was becoming JoePa, the legend. Although he had a wide streak of self-righteousness, he genuinely did care about his players, every bit as much as Woody Hayes did at Ohio State.

The self-righteousness came out with his so-called "Grand Experiment," Paterno's insistence that players could both gain yards and graduate. The caring came out in his belief in the philosophy of a college coach in loco parentis, meaning "in the place of a parent." Paterno became a father figure to many of his players.

With the surrogate parenting came a sincere concern for the players' education. Paterno had played quarterback at Brown. He remembered fondly the all-night "bull sessions" in the dorms, when Paterno, an English major with a taste for the classics, and his Ivy League colleagues discussed weighty books.

He always hoped, despite the declining standards of the public high schools, that his players, too, would sit around in the wee hours, discussing Aeneas' mission to become the founder of what became imperial Rome and other things. Brooklyn Prep once gave him, as an award, a statuette of Don Quixote, tilting at windmills.

There was always a tension in Paterno, between dewy-eyed dreamer and sharp-eyed realist, between a controlling personality and a desire for fairness. It was even there in his angry first conversation with me about the lineup change in 1974 and in his contrite call a few minutes later.

The football eventually became secondary to what he hoped would be a legacy of humanitarianism. Paterno's record in the Big Ten, with one outright and two shared championships (both with Ohio State) was not what had been expected. I once argued that Paterno's early years at Penn State made him and his teams the first Boise State, an outsider rising to national prominence.

His overall legacy will always be tarnished for failing to do more in loco parentis after learning his trusted aide, Jerry Sandusky, had been accused of sexually molesting children. It cost him his job and his stature as the face of Penn State, and it probably contributed to his dramatic decline in health.

It was not the way a good man should leave a life in which he did so much to enhance the circumstances of others. Paterno lost sight of his mission then. It should not make us forget the decades in which he honored it.

On Twitter: @LivyPD

When judging the teams in the AFC Championship based on whom they beat, Baltimore's record more impressive than New England's.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Pre-game notes and observations from the AFC Championship Game ...

Checks and balances: New England has been tabbed as the favorite over Baltimore today, but a check of their results this season paints a different picture.

The Patriots (14-3) did not beat a single team that finished the regular season with a winning record. They were 0-2 in those matchups, losing to (12-4) Pittsburgh and the (9-7) Giants. The Patriots defeated Denver in the divisional playoffs after the Broncos had gone to 9-8 with their wild-card victory.

The Ravens (13-4) were 7-0 against winning teams. They beat (12-4) Pittsburgh and (9-7) Cincinnati twice, (9-7) Tennessee, (10-6) Houston and (13-3) San Francisco. Then they beat Houston again in the divisional playoff.

Patriot bits: This was the second year in a row the Patriots earned the No. 1 AFC playoff seed and the fourth time in the past nine seasons ... Since Robert Kraft purchased the Patriots in 1994, New England's 211 overall victories are first among NFL teams, ahead of Pittsburgh (201), Green Bay (200), Indianapolis (183) and Denver (174) ... New England's defense ended the regular season ranked 31st in total yards. That would be the lowest-ranked defense ever to appear in a Super Bowl. The Patriots were 15th in scoring defense.

Raven bits: The Ravens helped the AFC North produce the best record this year in games outside division, 25-15 ... The Ravens, who won here in a 2009 wild-card game, are 7-4 on the road in post-season games. Those are the league's most post-season road wins since 2000.

Ocho outo: Receiver Chad Ochocinco was made inactive by the Patriots. He was excused from practice during the week after his father died. Fact is, Ochocinco hasn't been a major player all season. He had only 15 receptions and one touchdown. Ochocinco played only one snap in the Patriots' playoff win over Denver.

Paterno's critics will say he stared a defining life moment in the eye ... and blinked. That is true. But it's also true that Paterno represented much of what can be right about college football.

View full sizeGene J. Puskar, Associated PressMany Penn State students and area residents gathered at the statue of Joe Paterno outside of Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., on Sunday, shortly after official word of his death was released.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When Joe Paterno died, I thought of this: We're never as good as we are in our best moments -- or as bad as we are in our worst.

Or we're never the wonderful person that our dog or best friends believe -- or the evil one that our enemies claim. In the bag of life that we carry around, there is a lot of stuff. Not all of it smells sweet when we take it out and examine it in the light of history.

In his final interview before his death at the age of 85, Paterno considered the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal at Penn State and said, "It's one of the great sorrows of my life ... I should done more."

He knew about it in 2002, told his boss ... and went back to coaching his team. Sandusky had left his staff in 1999. Part of Paterno believed others were better equipped to handle the mess.

The other part just wanted it to go away.

Paterno's critics will say he stared one of those defining life moments in the eye ... and blinked. He had a chance to make a powerful statement, but backed away and pushed the problem upstairs. That is true.

But it's also true that Paterno did represent so much of what can be right about college football. He had no major NCAA violations, and seemingly countless academic all-Americans. Thousands -- yes, thousands -- of players who came into contact with him at Penn State swear by him -- compared to only a few who swear about him.

Paterno came to State College in 1950 as an assistant coach. He became head coach in 1965, and remained so until the Sandusky scandal hit last November. He turned down contracts from the NFL and huge offers to coach other universities. He never played the "I'm gonna leave game" to secure a better contract. He lived in the same modest house for decades. He was listed in the phone book. Nearly everyone in State College could find his house or had run into him somewhere around town.

Paterno had one of the cheapest contracts among major college football coaches. He didn't care much about money, and gave away millions from his speaking fees and other endorsements back to the school.

Just as it's fair to say that he should have done more when learning about Sandusky, it's also correct to insist that in many other occasions -- he did more than the right thing. He did the noble thing.

Perhaps one of his biggest mistakes was coaching too long. In the last decade, his assistants were doing most of the heavy lifting. He was more than a figurehead, but was not the Joe Pa of even the middle 1990s.

In the last few years, he often was in the press box during games because he had sustained physical injuries to his knee, hip and pelvis when players ran into him on the sidelines and during practice. It seemed his body was trying to tell him something.

In the end, it's safe to say that Joe Paterno was a great football coach at Penn State, but not a saint. His life is far more good than bad, but like all of us, he also had some regrets that pained him until his final day.

The victory marked the halfway point of the conference race and was the Vikings' best effort of the season.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Throughout the season, Gary Waters has said, "the game is easy for us" when Aaron Pogue is able to play for Cleveland State. That proved to be the case Sunday afternoon, as the Vikings breezed to an 83-57 victory over the Milwaukee Panthers before 3,235 fans in the Wolstein Center.

The much-maligned Pogue, who only played seven minutes and absorbed four fouls two nights earlier against Green Bay, delivered 11 points, six rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes against the Panthers, controlling the paint while opening room for the Vikings to knock down seven of 13 3-pointers against a team that held opponents to 25.0 percent behind the arc.

"When we're shooting the ball well, the game is over, because we're going to defend you," Waters said.

CSU held the Panthers to 35.3 percent shooting. The Vikings never trailed, leading by eight points at the half, 36-28, and the outcome was never close after the break.

"The second half we were flat out flat," Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter said. "It wasn't working on both ends tonight. We've had a very tough weekend."

Key to the attack was junior forward Tim Kamczyc, who made all four 3-pointers he took and pointed directly to Pogue as the reason he was able to ready, aim and fire.

"Having an inside presence like Aaron, often, I'm left on an island by myself," Kamczyc said.

The victory marked the halfway point of the conference race and was the Vikings' best effort of the season.

"Our focus was there from beginning to end," said guard Trevon Harmon, who led six Vikings scoring in double figures with 15 points. "We made an emphasis on good shot selection today."

Not only was CSU making its 3-pointers, but the Vikings shot 63.5 percent overall. At one point in the first half CSU made 10 of 11 shots, and opened up the second half turning a 36-28 lead into a comfortable 51-30 cushion by making seven of their first eight shots.

"We executed as well as we could execute at times," Waters said. "They followed the game plan."

The victory tied CSU (17-4, 7-2) for first place with Valparaiso (14-7, 7-2) although Valpo holds the head-to-head tie-breaker. The Vikings have only one game this week, but it is a big one at Youngstown State (11-8, 6-3), a team that defeated the Vikings earlier this season. YSU is tied with Butler and Milwaukee for third place.

"Very big," Waters said of the game's importance. "They are going to be confident. They think they can beat us again."

Feeling good: According to the Cleveland State players, the race is on for second place.

"We have a new saying," Pogue said after scoring double figures (11 points) for just the second time this season. "It's 'no mas.' No more losses this season."

Pogue stayed out of foul trouble in Sunday's first half, which ultimately allowed him to play 21 minutes, the most he has played in the last four contests. He was active, tipping rebounds to teammates, and explosive on dunk attempts.

Pogue credited working up a sweat on the court two hours before the game.

"That was real big," he said. "That played a big part in it, and I'm going to continue doing that. I believe I can do a little bit more for this team."

Along with the team mantra, Pogue now also has one for himself: "Play focused, play physical, play strong."

Say what? Milwaukee knew it wasn't their day early in the second half. Following a steal and 3-pointer from guard Kaylon Williams to cut CSU's lead to 18, he was whistled for a technical as he beat his chest and back-pedaled down the court screaming "let's go, man." The Panthers looked at the officials incredulously while the Vikings just shook their heads and smiled.

Afterward, Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter said Williams was not trying to show up the official. "I don't think he even looked at him."

Did you know? After 21 games only twice has CSU had a better record at this stage in the season. They were 18-3 last season and in 1985-86. ... CSU scored 44 points in the paint against Milwaukee, and outscored the Panthers, 23-13 off the bench.

Urban Meyer considered the late Joe Paterno a friend and mentor.

View full sizeAP file"I was a coach that really admired him and followed him," Ohio State's Urban Meyer said of his fondness and respect for Joe Paterno. "Any chance I had to visit with him, I'd wear him out with questions. I was always trying to learn from him."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the new Ohio State coach, the late Penn State coach was a friend and a leader in how to run a football program.

"I think he is the model of compliance, he is the model for academic performance and demanding achievement by his players, and I don't think those things will ever be matched," OSU coach Urban Meyer told The Plain Dealer on Sunday, after former Penn State coach Joe Paterno died at age 85.

"I was a coach that really admired him and followed him," Meyer said. "Any chance I had to visit with him, I'd wear him out with questions. I was always trying to learn from him."

Meyer and Paterno, as well as their families, became close in recent years during winter outings sponsored by Nike. Asked if they every discussed Meyer succeeding Paterno at Penn State, Meyer said there had been some private conversations between the two.

On the field, they faced each other once, when Meyer's Florida Gators beat Paterno's Nittany Lions, 37-24, in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, 2011. It was Meyer's last game at Florida and Paterno's last bowl game, and Meyer called the opportunity "a great honor."

"I like being around him, enjoy visiting with him, and spending time with him," Paterno said of Meyer in a conference call before that bowl game. "We have spent some time talking on occasion about coaching philosophy and some of the problems that we have."

At that time, it was known that Meyer was coaching his last game at Florida. But Paterno was planning to continue, and he did into the 2011 season.

"When I was Urban's age, I had a couple opportunities to leave, do some other things," Paterno said at another news conference before the game. "But when I was his age, I was just a short little Italian with a long nose. I didn't have a lot of opportunities. He's a big, good-looking guy. He's a really good family man. He's got a lot of things he can do. He's making some decisions which I'm sure are not easy for him, but he's making them. I admire him and respect him for what he's doing."

Before joining the Buckeyes, Meyer took a year off after six years at Florida -- 13 percent of the 46 seasons Paterno spent as the head coach at Penn State.

"I'm not sure you'll ever see that again. There's so much turnover now and people are in and out of jobs, and the media and fans get tired of you," Meyer said. "I think that's unbelievable, and it will never happen again."

Meyer, who considers former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce as his greatest mentor in the game, called Paterno one of his closest friends. He said his greatest lesson from Paterno was "Always just do right."

"I was brought up that way, following the rules," Meyer said. "I think the reason we got along so well because he knew we had similar beliefs in our respect for college football."

Paterno's reputation and legacy was altered by the last three months of his life, as accusations of child abuse surfaced against former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky. Paterno's role in what was or was not reported in the scandal came under scrutiny.

This was Meyer's response to how the Sandusky situation should be placed into the context of Paterno's entire life and legacy: "First thing, your thoughts and prayers are for the families if all that stuff did happen," Meyer said, "and two, he's the greatest college football coach in the history of the game."

The Ravens give away the AFC title, sending the Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl in 11 years.

View full sizeWinslow Townsend, Associated PressA shocked Billy Cundiff walks off the field as New England's Niko Koutouvides celebrates after Cundiff missed a 32 yard field goal in the closing seconds of Sunday's AFC Championship.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots usually storm into the Super Bowl in convincing, decisive fashion. This time they backed in, and were lucky to move on.

The Patriots reached the Super Bowl for the fifth time in 11 years when the Baltimore Ravens had a game-winning touchdown taken away and a game-tying field goal miss wide left. Those plays happened in the final 22 seconds and will be re-lived in Baltimore during a long off-season. Ravens coach John Harbaugh called it "a stunning loss at the end."

The Ravens were in the enviable position of being a seven-point underdog even though they knew they had the superior roster. But the miscues secured the Patriots a 23-20 win and a ticket to Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLVI.

The Patriots were able to win despite quarterback Tom Brady (239 passing yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions) getting outplayed by his oft-disrespected counterpart, Joe Flacco (306, two TD, one interception).

"I sucked pretty bad today, but our defense saved us," Brady said on the celebration podium on the field.

The Ravens not only blew a supreme defensive effort, they positively gave the game away at the end.

In what could have been a career-defining game, Flacco was able to overcome two bad plays in the fourth quarter -- an interception on a floater for tight end Ed Dickson and a brain-locked throwaway on a fourth-and-6 gamble from the Ravens' 33 with 2:46 to go.

Given one last chance with 1:44 left, Flacco moved the Ravens from their 20 to the Patriots' 14 in seven plays. On second-and-1, Flacco threw on the mark to Bedford's Lee Evans over safety Sterling Moore in the right corner of the end zone. Evans failed to secure the ball. Moore chased and lunged to knock it out, seemingly a split-second after Evans' left toe -- and second foot -- touched the ground. The Ravens celebrated on their sideline. But the officials ruled incomplete.

The scoring replay rule would have brought an automatic replay review, but only if the play was ruled a touchdown on the field. Harbaugh could not challenge the play because it came with less than two minutes left. Anything under two minutes should be reviewed by the replay official. But a review never came.

If that play occurred in a Super Bowl, the NFL would have spent all night to get it right.

"I tried to get their attention," said Harbaugh. "I thought it would be looked at. I was surprised it wasn't looked at. That's the way football goes. [The call] might have been fine. I'm not saying anything [about it]. If we had made another play or two, we would have won the football game."

Or at least sent it to overtime.

After an incomplete pass, Harbaugh sent out his field-goal unit. He didn't use his final timeout to settle his team. The set-up looked a little rushed, but the placement on the right hashmark was good. Billy Cundiff's 32-yard field goal try was not. He pulled it horribly left.

More noted for his booming kickoffs out of end zones across the NFL, Cundiff slumped at the end of the regular season on field goals, missing from 37 and 36 yards over the final three games. Those were his only misses in 22 attempts less than 40 yards until Sunday.

"It's a kick I've kicked a thousand times in my career. I just went out there and didn't convert," Cundiff said.

"I just told him it's going to be OK," Harbaugh said. "Everybody has a tough moment now and then."

The Patriots sure seemed destined to lose. They failed to capitalize on great field position early and settled for field goals three times after moving inside the 20.

The Ravens tied the game twice, and then took their first lead, 17-16, when rookie receiver Torrey Smith took a quick out pass from Flacco, shook off Moore and sprinted 20 yards down the sideline, lunging for the pylon. Cundiff's second field goal increased the lead to 20-16 as the third quarter wound down.

Brady never looked sharp, and finished with a 57.5 passer rating. Baltimore controlled Brady's potent, two-tight end offense, keeping Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez out of the end zone even though they combined for 12 catches for 153 yards. Gronkowski was knocked out of the game late in the third quarter when his left knee was bent on a hit by Baltimore safety Bernard Pollard, but he returned.

The Patriots also lost starting cornerback Kyle Arrington in the second quarter, which created a mismatch of Anquan Boldin against converted Kent State quarterback Julian Edelman. The Ravens didn't capitalize on that until the last drive.

The Patriots scored touchdowns on a seven-yard run by Benjarvus Green-Ellis and a one-yard vault by Brady on fourth down on which he was nailed in the back by linebacker Ray Lewis, causing his legs to flip over his head. That touchdown early in the fourth quarter moved New England ahead, 23-20. After Flacco's interception four minutes later, it looked as if the Patriots would coast to Indianapolis.

The stadium scoreboard showed Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith who sang the National Anthem, slapping five with Patriots owner Robert Kraft as one of his group's hits, "Dream On," blared over the loudspeakers. Though the Patriots turned over the ball on Brady's greedy deep throw interception on the very next play, the song choice proved prophetic for the Ravens.

Upsetting the Patriots on their home field with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line?

Dream on.

On Twitter: @TonyGrossi

Joe Paterno would no doubt have made a dramatic courtroom witness. But legal experts said his death will have little or no effect on the criminal or civil cases to come out of the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal.

Associated Press fileIn this Aug. 6, 1999, photo, Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky during Penn State Media Day at State College, Pa. In a statement today, retired Penn State assistant coach Sandusky, who faces child sex abuse charges in a case that led to the firing of Paterno, says Paterno's death is a sad day.

PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Paterno would no doubt have made a dramatic courtroom witness. But legal experts said his death will have little or no effect on the criminal or civil cases to come out of the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal.

"Obviously, you're taking away a great deal of the high-profile nature of this case, because it deals with Joe Paterno's football program," said Jeffrey Lindy, a criminal defense lawyer involved in a clergy-abuse case in Philadelphia. "But with regard to the legal impact of his death, there is none."

Paterno died today at 85, two months after former coaching assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with molesting boys and two university officials were accused of perjury and failing to report child sex-abuse allegations against Sandusky to police.

The criminal case against the two university officials may even become more streamlined without Paterno in the mix.

Former university vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley are charged with failing to report to police what graduate assistant Mike McQueary said he told them in 2002: that McQueary saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in a locker room shower.

McQueary first told Paterno, who said he reported it to Curley and Schultz the next day. The administrators told the grand jury they were never informed that the allegations were sexual in nature.

With Paterno's death, though, a jury is free to focus not on what Paterno knew or did, but on the defendants' actions.

What McQueary told Paterno "was a distraction, and now that that part of the case is really gone, it will focus much more on his interaction not with Paterno, but with the Penn State officials," said Duquesne University law professor Nicholas P. Cafardi.

McQueary is also the more crucial witness in the case against Sandusky, who is charged with abusing 10 boys, at least two of them on the Penn State campus.

Paterno testified for just seven minutes last January before the grand jury. He gave only vague answers -- and was never pressed -- when asked what he knew about anyone accusing Sandusky of molesting boys.

"Without getting into any graphic detail, what did Mr. McQueary tell you he had seen and where?" Paterno was asked, according to the grand jury testimony read in court last month.

"Well, he had seen a person, an older -- not an older, but a mature person who was fondling, whatever you might call it -- I'm not sure what the term would be -- a young boy," Paterno replied.

He was asked if he ever heard of any other allegations against Sandusky, who had been the subject of a lengthy campus police investigation four years earlier after a mother complained Sandusky had showered with her young son at the football complex.

"I do not know of anything else that Jerry would be involved in of that nature, no. I do not know of it," Paterno said, adding, "You did mention -- I think you said something about a rumor. It may have been discussed in my presence, something else about somebody. I don't know."

Paterno's grand jury testimony cannot be used in court, because the defense never had the chance to cross-examine him.

"His passing deprives folks from finding out, directly from his lips, exactly what he knew and when he knew it, and what he did or didn't do. But the reality is, sometimes those things can be proved by other means," said Jeff Anderson, the St. Paul, Minn., lawyer who filed the first civil case against Penn State on behalf of a Sandusky accuser.

It's not unusual for a witness to die or become infirm before trial, especially in child sex-abuse cases, which can take years or even decades to surface. In Philadelphia, prosecutors won the right to question 88-year-old retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua on video last year to preserve his testimony before the spring trial of three priests and a church official. Bevilacqua suffers from dementia and cancer.

Prosecutors never got the chance to preserve Paterno's testimony, given his surprise cancer diagnosis and rapid decline after they filed the charges Nov. 4.

His Penn State career started long before coaches' multimillion dollar salaries, before "fire so-and-so.com" web sites. No Division I coach won more games (409) or had a longer run at one school.

Associated PressPenn State coach Joe Paterno walks off the field following warmups, prior to the Nittany Lions' 34-24 win at Northwestern on Oct. 22.

There will never be another coaching career like Joe Paterno's.

His time at Penn State started long before coaches were pulling down multimillion dollar salaries, before fire so-and-so.com web sites and win-now-or-else attitudes at programs that have rarely contended for championships.

No Division I coach won more games (409) or had a longer run at one school than Paterno.

It's hard to fathom a coach staying at a power program such as Penn State for even 20 years these days, let alone the 46 seasons Paterno led the Nittany Lions.

Coaches who come to define not just a team but a school, Hall of Famers such as Bear Bryant, Tom Osborne, Bo Schembechler, Bobby Bowden and Paterno, seem to be going the way of the wishbone and tear-away jerseys in college football.

"Look what's happening," Bowden told The Associated Press on Sunday, hours after Paterno died at the age of 85. "Coaches getting fired in two years. Coaches making a million dollars here and they get $2 million and they leave. They break a five-year contract. You've got unloyalty at both ends."

(Plain Dealer Ohio State beat writer Doug Lesmerises reports that Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer says Paterno was the "greatest college football coach" in history; Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto writes that Paterno's life was more good than bad, but with painful regrets; Plain Dealer columnist Bill Livingston writes that Paterno was tough, but cared deeply about his players and Penn State football; an Associated Press report that Paterno's death doesn't interfere with the legal process in the sexual assault charges against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky)

The 82-year-old Bowden was nudged into retirement two years ago after 34 seasons at Florida State. Paterno was fired during a chaotic week in November after his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was charged with sexually abusing children.

He found out about Paterno's death when he arrived home Sunday morning after coaching a charity game between former Florida State and Miami players. Former Hurricanes coach Howard Schnellenberger, who retired from Florida Atlantic after this past season at the age of 77, was coaching the Miami squad.

Bowden and Paterno became friends over the years partly because, as they grew older, they could relate to each like few other coaches could.

"We'd sit and talk and discuss a lot of NCAA questions," Bowden said. "Those were great memories. My wife Ann and Sue (Paterno's wife) got along real good together too."

Bowden said he'd written a letter to Paterno "not too long ago," but hadn't spoken with him for some time.

"Bobby always thought so much of Joe," Ann Bowden said. "He was just a unique character. Joe was very strong and outspoken. He and Bobby were different in a lot of respects. He'd been there a longer time and he was stronger, more forceful, said what he thought. Bobby guards himself a little bit when he says something."

With Schnellenberger's retirement, Kansas State's 72-year-old Bill Snyder is the oldest active coach in major college football.

Snyder has spent 21 seasons with the Wildcats, but even that was interrupted by a three-year retirement when he hit a rough patch.

After Paterno was fired, Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer became the longest-tenured coach working in the highest level of Division I football.

"College football will miss Joe Paterno," said Beamer, who is 65 and has been leading the Hokies since 1987.

The next-longest continuous tenure among current coaches belongs to 60-year-old Mack Brown, who has been at Texas since 1998.

"I think that the changes in communications and media (changes that of course accelerated Joe's termination once the grand jury indictments were issued) create a level of scrutiny and pressure that will make 10 years at the same FBS school rare," Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said in an email.

Some of Notre Dame's greatest coaches (Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz) only lasted around a decade, but lately the storied program has been emblematic of the revolving door many schools have on the football coach's office.

Brian Kelly is Notre Dame's fourth head coach since 1997; its fifth if you count the days-long tenure of George O'Leary. As for Kelly, Notre Dame is his third job since 2004, though he was climbing the ladder from Central Michigan to Cincinnati to one of the most celebrated football schools in the country.

Even elite top-notch programs get used as steppingstones these days.

Alabama's Nick Saban left Michigan State for LSU, where he won a national title in 2003. He then bailed on the Tigers for the Miami Dolphins before landing at Alabama and winning two national championships for the Tide in five seasons.

"I think the cycles for head coaches will be shorter, much as we've seen in pro sports," West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck said.

At 60, Saban looks as if he could easily put in another 10 years in Tuscaloosa. But with a salary approaching $5 million, why would he want to? Paterno only ever made about $1 million a year, by the way, relatively modest by today's standards.

"Coaches are making so much money that if they're successful they can retire early in life and if they're not successful the school is going to get rid of them real quick," Bowden said. "It's not likely we're going to see anybody last as long as Joe and myself."

Penn State basketball, which visits Ohio State on Wednesday, is looking for a turnaround under first-year coach Pat Chambers.

View full sizeAndy Colwell, The Patriot News/AP"He just wanted basketball to be successful, really wanted to give us what we needed to be able to compete in the Big Ten on a daily basis," Penn State basketball coach Pat Chambers said of Joe Paterno.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Penn State basketball program is starting over this year, in every way.

So even in a season filled with Big Ten upsets, even in a year when Illinois, last week's momentary conference front-runner, had to be expected to lose some games no one anticipated, the Nittany Lions' 54-52 victory over the No. 22 Illini on Thursday was a shocker.

At that point in the murky Big Ten race, it was the last-place team beating the first-place team. It was also the first win over a ranked team for first-year Penn State coach Pat Chambers, who previously went 42-28 in two seasons at Boston University without beating an opponent in the top 25.

After losing all-time leading scorer Talor Battle among four starters from last season's NCAA Tournament team, and seeing coach Ed DeChellis leave for Navy, this had the feeling of one of those 2-16 type Big Ten seasons for the Nittany Lions. And it still could. But at 10-11 overall and 2-6 and tied for last in the Big Ten, Penn State is probably ahead of schedule going into Wednesday's game at Ohio State.

Wearing last-minute black ribbons procured after the team was told of the death of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno on Sunday morning, the Nittany Lions took a two-point at the half against No. 11 Indiana on Sunday but eventually lost, 73-54.

"He just wanted basketball to be successful, really wanted to give us what we needed to be able to compete in the Big Ten on a daily basis -- in recruiting, in games, facilities, any amenities -- he was all for it," Chambers said of Paterno in his postgame news conference after the loss.

With an energetic new coach in Chambers, who has a solid reputation as recruiter, and within the context of a university and sports department that also has a football program starting over, the future for the Penn State basketball team may not change much. But the Nittany Lions may have a fighting chance to turn around their fate.

In 1965, the year before Paterno took over the football program, Penn State's basketball team went 20-4 and made the NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round to Princeton. It took 26 years for the Nittany Lions to make the tournament again, winning one game as a No. 13 seed in 1991. Penn State made the tournament again in 1996, 2001 and last year.

That's five NCAA Tournament appearances in 46 years. Ohio State, for instance, made the tournament 19 times in that same stretch.

In the 46 seasons of Paterno's tenure, the football program had 40 winning seasons, five losing seasons and one .500 year. In those 46 seasons, the basketball program had 22 winning seasons, 22 losing seasons and two .500 years.

It's hard to imagine Penn State beating the Buckeyes on Wednesday. But right now, another bright spot or two over the next two months would be enough for the Nittany Lions.

Indiana coach on assistants: The Hoosiers' win on Sunday broke their three-game losing streak, after they were upset by a point at Nebraska on Wednesday. On his radio show on Monday, Indiana coach Tom Crean made some points that could be viewed as related to the Buckeyes after losing to Ohio State last Sunday.

According to Dustin Dopirak of the Bloomington Herald-Times, Crean talked about assistant coaches before games "hob-nobbing with national media members."

"I don't have a group of guys that are grandstanders, that are looking to get an article done about them," Crean said, as part of his response while praising his assistants. "I've got a group of guys that are really, really hungry to make the team better. That's game night."

Crean never mentioned Ohio State or any team by name. But it's probably fair to remember the comments and add them to the OSU-Indiana rivalry.

In many ways, Tim Kamczyc is a classic Cleveland State player.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Once upon a time, Tim Kamczyc was a star quarterback at Strongsville, good enough to attract some small college scholarships.

Once upon a time, Kamczyc dreamed of playing Division I basketball, even when no offers came along.

And once upon a time, Cleveland State coach Gary Waters had an idea -- Kamczyc could walk-on as a red-shirt freshman, practice but not play, and then earn a scholarship. Do it the hard way. Just as the Vikings have done since Waters arrived six years ago.

Once upon a time, games such as Sunday's 83-57 CSU victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee were just a dream for Kamczyc. The 6-7 power forward shot the ball four times, and made them all. Make it 4-of-4 from 3-point range, after being 4-of-5 from the field in Friday's victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay.

He has made 15 of 16 shots in the last three games. In that critical 76-69 victory at Butler, it was 17 points next to Kamczyc's name. That was his career high, until two days later when he scored 18 at Valparaiso.

Not bad for the former walk-on who spent his first season on the scout team. He scrimmaged against the likes of Cedric Jackson, Joe Latas, Chris Moore and George Tandy. That team went to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

All he did was practice, not easy for a kid who scored 26 points a game as a senior.

View full sizePD file"There were some people who said that I should have gone to play football," Cleveland State forward Tim Kamczyc said of his early struggles. "But I really wanted to do this."

"That was a tough year for me because I never stepped on the court [during a game]," said Kamczyc. "There were some people who said that I should have gone to play football. But I really wanted to do this."

This is even better than he's expected. Not only did he earn the scholarship after his first season, he has been a starter for the last two seasons. He's grown from a practice player to a defensive specialist to a key part of CSU's share the ball (and shots) offense. In Sunday's decisive victory, six players had at least 10 points, but none more than Tre Harmon's 15 points.

Kamczyc is shooting 60 percent from the field, 44 percent on 3-pointers and averaging 10 points a game. This is a team where no one averages more than 12, a team that lives off forcing turnovers and racking up floor burns while building a 17-4 record, tied with Valparaiso for first place in the Horizon League at 7-2.

"Tim will be a success because he plans and takes the long view," said Waters. "When we recruited him, we talked to Tim and his parents about what he could do academically if he red-shirted a year, then played four years for us."

Waters meant more than an undergraduate degree. "We said he could get a master's," said the coach.

Kamczyc already has graduated with a 3.3 grade point average and a degree in international business. He is taking a graduate business course. Next season, he will be the only senior on the Viking roster, and it will be his third year as a starter.

"If everything works out right, I'll have my master's by the end of my senior year," he said.

For Kamczyc, it probably will work out. Hard work is nothing new to him.

Fair or not, Irving knows what he says and who he says it to will be scrutinized.

View full sizeChuck Burton, Associated Press"I wasn't really worried about filling LeBron's shoes or filling that void," Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving says as he prepares for Tuesday's game against James and the Heat in Miami. "I was worried about being the best rookie I could be."

MIAMI -- Kyrie Irving sat playing video games in his family's New Jersey home on July 8, 2010, the night the Cavaliers' last No. 1 overall draft pick told a national television audience of his intentions to leave Cleveland for the Miami Heat.

Although the teenage point guard had gotten to know LeBron James from his Akron summer camps, it wasn't reason enough to tune into The Decision, he said. Irving had no ties to Cleveland and no idea how his future would become indirectly shaped by the events of that evening.

"When he made his decision I was going into my freshman year [at Duke]," Irving said. "I was just worried about being the best freshman I could be. That's all I was really concerned about."

There are many things the promising rookie can control during his time in Cleveland, ranging from work ethic to a willingness to lead the franchise's rebuilding effort to whether he re-signs with the Cavaliers. But how his pre-existing relationship with the superstar who broke Cleveland hearts is perceived by fans is out of his hands.

In the past few years, James has connected with many NBA prospects through his invitation-only camp in Akron. Had Irving and fellow rookie Tristan Thompson -- represented by James' longtime friend Rich Paul -- gone to any of 29 other teams, their friendships with the Heat small forward would be viewed through a different prism. But because it's Cleveland and because of the history, Irving understands the increased level of sensitivity.

Fair or not, Irving knows what he says and who he says it to will be scrutinized.

"Honestly, I'm always aware this is Cleveland and I'm always aware of the fans and the fan support and everything will be magnified times a hundred," he said. "But my personal preferences are who I am and they are not going to change."

Irving and Thompson will face James and the Heat three times between now and Feb. 17, beginning in Miami on Tuesday night. Neither hides their relationship with the league's two-time Most Valuable Player, nor his desire to end the Cavaliers' three-game losing streak at James' expense.

"Me and LeBron's relationship is pretty close -- he's like a brother to me," Thompson said. "But at the same time it's a business and we're going to Miami and trying to win a game. The whole friendship thing is out the window when we get on the court."

James said he has known Irving since the point guard was in ninth grade. The new face of the Cavaliers leads the club in scoring (17.4 points) and assists (4.9) and is an early front-runner for Rookie of the Year, an honor won by James in 2004.

"It's been great to see him continue to get better over the years and do the things he's doing in Cleveland right now," James said. "I'm happy for him.

"We talk a lot. Right now he's learning on the fly being a rookie. But he has veterans around him" -- James cited Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, Daniel Gibson and Anthony Parker -- "and all those guys help him out."

During the pre-draft combine, Irving acknowledged that James advised him during a difficult freshman season, talking to him almost every week in an effort to buoy his spirits as he sat out with a toe injury. He was never "officially" recruited, Irving said, to join James' marketing company, LRMR, nor his agent, Leon Rose, of Creative Artists Agency. The 19-year-old signed instead with agent Jeff Wechsler.

Irving and Thompson say they don't worry about how their ties to James are viewed because they weren't with the organization when he left it. They may have to deliver doughnuts to the veterans before every home shoot-around, but they don't carry the LeBron baggage.

"I think most fans understand that you can't, I guess, fault a kid because I wasn't here at that time," Thompson said.

Irving said he's approached his first season unencumbered by thoughts of being the man who followed the man. He just hopes to return the Cavs to contender status as soon as possible.

"Honestly, there's nothing to juggle for me personally," he said. "It's just Kyrie Irving coming to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sorry for speaking in third person, but that's really how it was. I was just trying to create my own path.

"I wasn't really worried about filling LeBron's shoes or filling that void. I was worried about being the best rookie I could be. I set my own goals and on that goal list was never 'Be like LeBron.'"

After beginning the season with six wins in 12 games, the relatively young Cavs have been reminded in their last three games how tough the NBA can be -- losing by 10, 39 and 27 points, respectively.

John Kuntz, The Plain DealerCavaliers guards Kyrie Irving (2) and Daniel Gibson (1) are baffled by a foul call during Cleveland's 114-75 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After beginning the season with six wins in 12 games, a relatively young Cleveland Cavaliers team has been reminded in its last three games how tough the NBA can be -- losing by 10, 39 and 27 points, respectively.

Those things happen in the NBA, especially to rebuilding teams.

A report on the blog "WaitingForNextYear," though, highlights some concern about the Cavs' play in their last three games:

If you are an organization that is trying to rebuild a team and culture after setting the record for the most ever consecutive losses in NBA history a season before, you cannot allow this recent trend of non-competitiveness continue. It has to stop. The Cavs are going to lose games this year because their talent isn’t really too good. They’ll probably lose a lot of them by season’s end, and that’s not the problem. In some ways losing right now is beneficial in a big picture sense, but the unwillingness to compete, fight, or try on a nightly basis isn’t. Things could get much worse here too if that doesn’t change quickly.

Plain Dealer and cleveland.com Cavaliers coverage includes Tom Reed's "Days of Wine-n-Gold;" his game story on the Cavs' 121-94 loss to the Hawks on Saturday night in Atlanta; his "Hey, Tom!;" his Cavaliers Insider; his NBA Insider; Mary Schmitt Boyer's NBA rookie ratings; and, "Terry Pluto's Talkin;' " and more. 

The Cavaliers play a road game against the Miami Heat (11-5) on Tuesday night, then return to Cleveland to host the New York Knicks (6-10) on Wednesday night.

About the Cavs

Former Cavaliers all-star center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, now a special assistant to Cavs general manager Chris Grant, will likely have his number retired by the Cavs this season. Part of Bob Finnan's NBA notes for the News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal.

After a second straight blowout loss, Cavaliers forward Antawn Jamison is disappointed in the team's play. By Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Rookie power forward Tristan Thompson will have his left ankle looked at on Monday, news included in a Cavaliers report by Bob Finnan for the News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal.

Cavaliers notebook by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal.

Cavs lose to the Hawks. By Joe Gabriele for nba.com/cavaliers.

Hawks bounce back from a loss with a rout of the Cavaliers. By Chris Vivlamore for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Despondent Lee Evans felt he let his teammates down by not securing a catch in the end zone that would have sent the Ravens to the Super Bowl.

View full sizeWinslow Townsend, Associated Press"To be honest with you, I felt like I had it, but it came out," Baltimore receiver Lee Evans said of being stripped by Sterling Moore in the end zone in the final minute Sunday. "I mean, I don't really know how to put it in words. The most disappointing part of this is that I feel I let everybody down."

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- His receiver teammates showered, dressed and patted him on the back on their way out of the locker room. An hour after Baltimore's 23-20 loss to New England, Lee Evans was still in football pants and cleats, staring deep into his locker.

Evans, of Bedford, blamed himself for not securing Joe Flacco's throw in the end zone with 22 seconds left in the AFC Championship Game. It should have sent his team to the Super Bowl instead of the Patriots.

"To be honest with you, I felt like I had it, but it came out," Evans said in hushed tones long before Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith left him alone. "I mean, I don't really know how to put it in words. The most disappointing part of this is that I feel I let everybody down."

Evans didn't drop the ball, but he didn't pull the ball in, allowing New England defensive back Sterling Moore to swat it out.

It appeared that Evans' second foot touched the ground right before Moore's play. The Ravens initially celebrated, then several players threw their helmets at a wall behind their bench when the play was ruled incomplete. Nobody in the locker room complained that a replay review should have taken place.

Evans was acquired by Baltimore to fill out their suspect receiving corps. After seven non-playoff seasons in Buffalo, this was his chance to reach football's ultimate game.

"This is the greatest team that I have been on, and I feel like I let everybody down," Evans repeated. "It's hard to sit here and accept how or why things happened, but it's the reality. It was a great pass by Joe and it was just a pass that was not completed by me. Nobody else can take the fall for that."

When a second and third group of reporters approached Evans, he politely declined to talk more. A Ravens public relations official then asked Evans privately if he would talk to a reporter from his hometown and he deferred again.

Title fight: New England coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady each looked like they'd been in a street fight after the game.

"That was obviously a draining game, but great to come out on top of it like we did," Belichick said. "A back and forth game, three [New England] turnovers. Usually not a good way to plays these games, but fortunately we were able to overcome it."

Brady, who threw two interceptions, had a passer rating of 57.5 and was hit hard in the back by Ray Lewis on a one-yard vault for a touchdown. On the televised interview on the field, Brady opined that he "sucked pretty bad today." He softened his self-criticism in the interview room.

"As a quarterback, you never want to turn the ball over," he said. "You want to hit the open guys. You want to capitalize when you have open receivers. I wish I had done a better job of that today."

Philosophical words: Lewis refused to categorize Sunday as the toughest loss of his 16-year career.

"Absolutely not," he said. "I've been in this business too long for this to be the toughest loss ever. Is it a tough loss? Absolutely.

"Someone is going to feel like this tomorrow and somebody is going to feel like this in two weeks in the Super Bowl and whoever wins it, it's their year and that's the fact. That's the irony of sports. There is a winner and there is a loser and when you lose, you have to suck it up like a man and as a man you've got to keep moving."

Flacco's day: The Ravens came away from the loss hoping critics of Flacco finally get off his back.

Singed by criticism by teammate Ed Reed at the start of the week, Flacco completed 22 of 36 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once. Flacco's attempt to pull out the win, or at least send the game into overtime, was thwarted by Evans and kicker Billy Cundiff.

"Joe Flacco showed that he's a top-five quarterback in this league," said running back Ray Rice. "Joe droves us today and I would just appreciate it if some of the people that criticized him lay off of him now. That's my quarterback. We are going to be here for a while."

Linebacker Terrell Suggs said, "You all saw what he did. We knew he was an outstanding player. He silenced his critics, but he has to realize they are going to be back next year."

Flacco refused to accept personal vindication in the losing effort.

"Somebody lost. It was us. We left it all out there. We've got to be proud of that and move on," he said.

On Twitter: @TonyGrossi

For more Cinesport video, go here.

Mock draft after mock draft over the next three months. Links to more Browns stories.

Associated PressNumerous mock drafts have the Browns selecting Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III with the fourth overall pick.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns, coming off their 4-12 season, won't play another game that matters for about 7 1/2 months.

The NFL draft, though, will occur much sooner than that, on April 26-28, to be exact.

There will be, what, thousands of mock drafts? On draftcountdown.com, Scott Wright has the Browns using their first first-round draft pick -- No. 4 overall -- to select Baylor's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Robert Griffin III.

Wright, with his projected Browns' pick, writes, in part:

“RG3” is a dynamic playmaker with the ability to beat teams with either his arm or legs and could have the type of career that Michael Vick was supposed to. Not only is Griffin an outstanding athlete with a rare skill set for the position but he also earns high marks for his intangibles such as intelligence, work ethic and leadership ability. There are some legitimate concerns when evaluating Griffin as a pro prospect, ranging from a lack of ideal height, unorthodox throwing mechanics and the need to adjust to a pro style system at the next level, but the positives clearly outweigh the negatives. Based on the value chart that teams use it would cost the Browns their second round pick to move up a couple of spots and ensure they get Griffin, which is a relatively small price to pay for a potential franchise signal caller.

Plain Dealer and cleveland.com Browns coverage includes Tony Grossi's "Hey, Tony!;" answering readers' questions about the Browns; "Terry Pluto's Talkin;' " and more.

Also, Grossi was in Foxborough, Mass., to cover and write about the New England Patriots' 23-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game. Grossi also writes his AFC Championship Insider.

Post patterns

It's unfair to compare circumstances for first-year head coaches Pat Shurmur of the Browns and Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers, writes Jeff Schudel for the News-Herald and Lorain Morning Journal.

Former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano remembers longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who passed away on Sunday morning.

Around the NFL, by Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository.

Analyzing the Browns' tight end situation. By Fred Greetham for Scout.com's Orange and Brown Report.

The Browns need to acquire Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn. By Craig Lyndall for the blog "WaitingForNextYear."

A 2011 Browns position review: offensive line. By Matt Florjancic for clevelandbrowns.com.

A report on NFL free agent running backs. By Andrew Brandt for the National Football Post.

Upgrades the Browns must make via the draft. A Bleacher Report slideshow.

Eli Manning and the Giants will face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.

View full sizePaul Sakuma, Associated PressSan Francisco's Kyle Williams fumbles as he is hit by the Giants' Jacquian Williams during a punt return in overtime of Sunday's NFC Championship. New York recovered, setting up Lawrence Tynes' game-winning field goal.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The New York Giants have their own Super Bowl formula: in overtime and on the road.

And with Lawrence Tynes' foot.

Eli Manning directed one short, final drive and Tynes kicked a game-winning 31-yard field goal in overtime, sending the Giants to the Super Bowl with a 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game on Sunday.

In another tight one in this decades-old postseason rivalry, both defenses made key stops before New York capitalized on another costly mistake by San Francisco.

Manning and the Giants will face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis as 31/2-point underdogs. The last time the teams met for the NFL title, 2008, the Giants ended the Patriots' bid for a perfect season.

Tynes had a hand, er, foot in getting the Giants to that one, too, kicking the game-winning field goal in overtime at Green Bay.

Devin Thomas put the Giants in position by recovering his second fumble of the game after Jacquian Williams stripped the ball from fill-in return man Kyle Williams, who also fumbled earlier to set up a New York touchdown.

"It's my second NFC championship game, my second game-winner," Tynes said. "It's amazing. I had dreams about this last night. It was from 42, not 31, but I was so nervous today before the game just anticipating this kind of game. I'm usually pretty cool, but there was something about tonight where I knew I was going to have to make a kick. Hats off to Eli, offense, defense. Great win."

Manning went 32 of 58 for 316 yards and two touchdowns in his record fifth road playoff win, New York's fifth in a row overall and fifth out of six.

A 12-point underdog in the 2008 title game, the Giants battered Brady and got a late-minute TD pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress to win their third Super Bowl.

Five months after declaring he is in the same class as Tom Brady, Manning will get another chance to outdo Brady on the NFL's biggest stage. He outplayed Aaron Rodgers and the defending champion Packers last week, then fellow former No. 1 pick Alex Smith and upstart San Francisco the next.

Victor Cruz set the tone with eight of his 10 receptions in the first half and finished with 142 yards

"It's just been a tremendous effort by all of us, man," Cruz said. "We understand that any one of us can get hot at any moment. As long as we're all on the same page and just playing together, man, we've got a great group of guys."

Vernon Davis caught touchdown passes of 73 and 28 yards and wound up with three catches for 112 yards for the NFC West champions, who went from 6-10 a year ago to a 14-4 contender and ended an eight-year playoff drought.

He scored the game-winner from 14 yards out last week as the 49ers stunned Drew Brees and the favored Saints, 36-32.

Thirty years after their dynasty began under the late Bill Walsh, another former Stanford coach -- Jim Harbaugh -- got the 49ers this far with his "Who's got it better than us? No-body!" chant that caught on so well with the players and city.

"It will be a tough one. It will take a while to get over," Harbaugh said.

The only other time these two franchises faced off in the conference championship the game finished in memorable fashion. On Jan. 20, 1991, Roger Craig fumbled with the 49ers leading, 13-12, late in the fourth quarter and the Giants went on to win, 15-13, to deny San Francisco a chance at a third straight Super Bowl title. New York then beat the Bills to capture its second Super Bowl.

These teams met six times in the playoffs between the 1981 and '94 seasons with the winner going on to win the Super Bowl four times.

For more Cinesport video, go here.

It is looking like the Pac-12 is a one-bid league for the NCAA madness, no matter what happens in the conference tournament.

View full sizeRick Bowmer, Associated PressDavid Wear reflects the state of UCLA and the Pac-12 Conference these days, as the once-powerhouse league is now pained and frustrated.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- There is bad, then there is "are you kidding me?"

Put the Pac-12 Conference under the latter statement, as that league is currently giving a very bad name to left coast hoops. So bad, that right now it is very much looking like a one-bid league for the NCAA Tournament, no matter what happens in the conference tournament.

The NCAA selection committee almost always comes under fire for some teams put in and left out. But look for a loud and long mid-major backlash if the Pac-12 even gets two participants.

Understand, the Pac-12 is the ninth-ranked league in the country. Traditionally, the big six conferences -- ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC -- fall in some order behind each other in RPI standings. But according to Sunday's RPIRatings.com, the nation's No. 6 league is the Mountain West, followed by the Atlantic 10 and Missouri Valley, all considered mid-majors and all with multiple teams ranked in the RPI Top 50.

The Pac-12 only has No. 37 California in the RPI Top 50. Last season, the lowest team from one of the Big Six leagues to get an at-large NCAA bid was No. 67 Southern Cal. The Trojans were the last of four Pac-12 teams to make the cut. There certainly won't be four teams this year. If the league does somehow get two, the second almost surely would have to go through the first-round play-in games.

Interestingly, the Pac-12's iconic program, UCLA, is having an astoundingly bad season. The Bruins are 10-9, 3-4 with an RPI of 142. Since 1991, UCLA -- the home of John Wooden, Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- has had several lean years, including three seasons (2003, 2004, 2010) outside the Top 100. But now the Bruins are threatening to end the season outside the Top 150.

Arizona has been the best program in the league for years. But the Wildcats as of Sunday had an RPI of 72 with a record of 13-7, 4-3 and was sixth in the Pac-12 standings.

Are you kidding me?

Lackluster BracketBuster: It will be interesting to see the BracketBuster pairings ESPN comes up with this season. Butler, Siena, George Mason, Kent State and Utah State, among others, are traditionally well inside the Top 100 RPI. Not this season. All are in triple figures.

That could potentially leave the likes of Murray State, Cleveland State, Long Beach State and Iona with some relatively unknown dance partners -- perhaps South Dakota State, Weber State and Missouri State.

While the overall BracketBuster pool is large, it still does not include teams like Harvard (RPI 50), Middle Tennessee (55), Denver (69) or Norfolk State (76), all Top 100 RPI teams that could really add some spice to the pairings.

It's just speculation, but the elite matchups appear to be No. 24 St. Mary's at No. 19 Creighton and No. 12 Murray State hosting powerful but unranked Wichita State.

The Akron Zips (12-7, 4-1/RPI 65) are in prime position to possibly land in one of the televised BracketBuster games. They are a good road team, and with MAC crossover games this week at Ball State (12-5, 4-1) on Wednesday and Central Michigan (7-11, 2-3) on Saturday, the Zips could be 14-7 by the time pairings are announced on Jan. 30.

Potential matchups for the Zips could be Davidson, Oral Roberts, Weber State or South Dakota State. The first three of those teams are leading their respective conferences.

On the Horizon: The second round of HL play begins this week. The Vikings play at Youngstown State at 7 p.m. Saturday night. Milwaukee (13-8, 6-3) starts the second half with three straight at home -- Butler (12-9, 6-3), Valparaiso (14-7, 7-2) and YSU (10-8, 5-3). The Panthers have to take advantage before playing five of six on the road. The only home game in February will be against Cleveland State.

MAC attack: Crossover games offer several key matchups. Ohio (15-4, 3-2) and Buffalo (10-6, 3-2) are home to Western Michigan (9-10, 3-2) and Eastern Michigan (9-10, 4-1).

Eastern, under first-year coach Rob Murphy, has taken to playing at a slowed pace in order to keep 7-0 DaShonte Riley and 6-9 Jamel Harris on the court. The Eagles have scored over 60 points only once in MAC play, and that was in overtime.

WMU has been ravaged by injuries and having to play its first seven non-conference games on the road. Now relatively healthy, the Broncos have won three of their last four games.

Kent State (12-6, 2-3), a team in need of a break, looks to get one Wednesday as the Golden Flashes host Northern Illinois (2-15, 1-4), which did not get its first Division I victory until upsetting Central Michigan two weeks ago.

Indians great reminded doctor of James Cagney, or Humphrey Bogart, or one of those other great actors from the 1930s, who spoke in clipped, important phrases.

View full sizeRussell Lee, Special To The Plain DealerDr. Mikkael Sekeres treated Cleveland Indians great Bob Feller for leukemia before his death on Dec. 15, 2010, at age 92. Sekeres recalls the Hall of Fame pitcher as a respectful man who spoke in clipped, meaningful phrases similar to 1930s movie stars such as James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart.

(Editor's note: Bob Feller received word that he had been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame 50 years ago this month. It's been about 13 months since Feller passed away at age 92 from leukemia, as his primary physician during treatment, Dr. Mikkael A. Sekeres of the Cleveland Clinic, recalls.)

Dr. Mikkael A. Sekeres

Special to The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bob Feller made an annual pilgrimage to Cooperstown, N.Y., and generously promised me that I could go along to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his induction into the Hall of Fame -- if I could help him live long enough to make it.

I was first called about Feller one morning when I was attending on leukemia service at Cleveland Clinic. I didn't know it at the time -- the message on my pager told me to contact another doctor about a "VIP hospital admission." The internist on the other end of the phone started the conversation by asking, "Do you know who Bob Feller is?"

How could I not? As a Yankees fan growing up in the 1970s in Red Sox territory -- a situation that scars a person for life on the inside -- my DNA had been recoded to produce waves of nausea at the mere mention of any Yankees slayer.

So, sure, I knew about Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove and "Rapid Robert" Feller. I had read about him in books and had seen old news clips. Heck, 15 years after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame -- 30 years after he pitched a no-hitter against the Yanks -- my friends and I tried to imitate his rollicking windup, with its impossibly high kick, as if then we, too, could throw a ball 105 mph in Little League.

I had heard he was ornery. At 92, having spent most of his life reflecting on his accomplishments, a public spectacle wherever he went in Cleveland, he deserved the privilege. But when I walked into his hospital room, he quickly stood up to shake my hand, smiled at me and said: "Doctor, I think we have a problem here. We need to fix it."

I immediately thought of James Cagney, or Humphrey Bogart, or one of those other great actors from the 1930s, who spoke in clipped, important phrases. Not ornery -- just from another era that few people recognize, or appreciate, anymore.

View full sizeJohn Kuntz, The Plain DealerBob Feller's final Opening Day first pitch came on April 12, 2010 at Progressive Field.

We tried to fix his leukemia. He stayed in the hospital a few days until we could confirm his diagnosis, and daily rounds with him stretched longer and longer as he educated us about his life.

Most of the residents in training hadn't heard of Feller before meeting him, but they revered him by the time he left. He also charmed the nurses -- oh, did they get mad at me when I discharged him!

After that, I had him to myself, in the quiet of an examination room, regularly, for months.

I tried to steer conversation toward his health, but the attempt was often futile -- I think he recognized just how desperately I wanted to hear his stories, and he obliged, always with the same respect that started our relationship -- standing as soon as I entered the room and concluding our meetings with, "Well, I know you are a busy man and have a lot of patients to see. I thank you for your time."

It was as if God himself leaned down to me, the peasant on the street, to say, "Hey, thanks for taking the time to pray for sustenance."

So, what exactly did Feller teach me? The Iowa farm boy came to Cleveland, at the time, a great metropolis, in 1936, at the age of 17, for the princely sum of $1 and a baseball signed by the Indians. He stayed at a boarding house in East Cleveland.

There, he came to know a man in his 80s who had served in the Union army -- yes, Feller had a direct connection to the Civil War. Take that, Ken Burns!

He pitched against legendary hitters such as Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams -- "None of them liked the inside pitch ... that was the secret" -- befriended Lou Gehrig's widow, and confided to me that she didn't like Babe Ruth all that much because he was too much of a playboy.

He did what men of his generation did -- he interrupted his life, at its peak, to fight for his country in World War II. He showed me pictures of the USS Alabama, the ship on which he was stationed. He met generals and presidents, but talked most fondly about the people he knew in his beloved Cleveland.

When I asked him about his symptoms related to chemotherapy, I always made sure to check how the Indians had played the previous night -- if they lost, which occurred all too frequently that year, his medical complaints were magnified.

"I've lived a good life. I have no regrets," he told me near the end. He had decided against further chemotherapy, and he wanted to leave the hospital he had again entered for hospice.

The landscape of that magnificent right arm now included islands of bruises and the occasional sprout of an IV line.

I didn't want to let him go, this sweet man, my connection to the baseball I had only read about, to wars past, to an era that had few remaining members. I tried to talk him out of it. Then he leaned forward in his bed to shake my hand.

"Well, I know you are a busy man and have a lot of patients to see. I thank you for your time."

Mikkael A. Sekeres, M.D., M.S., is director of the leukemia program at Cleveland Clinic.

Representing the Strongsville Skating Club, Tomasello is a first-year Junior Men's skater.

View full sizeLonnie Timmons III, The Plain DealerTroy Tomasello was seventh after the Junior Men's short program Sunday night at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif. The long program is Tuesday.

Parma 17-year-old Troy Tomasello was seventh after the Junior Men's short program Sunday night at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif. The long program is Tuesday in HP Pavilion.

Tomasello drew the 12th and final skate. Skating to music from "The Three Musketeers" his total score was 53.90. He had one fall on a triple jump.

Timothy Dolensky of Kennesaw, Ga., skated first to music he composed and set a high bar with a 63.20. Two-time Novice Men's champion Nathan Chen is second at 63.15.

Representing the Strongsville Skating Club, Tomasello is a first-year Junior Men's skater. He was a two-time national qualifier in Novice Men and placed eighth last year.

Tomasello, a Normandy senior, was the Eastern Great Lakes Regionals champion and qualified for nationals by placing second at the Midwestern Sectionals last November in Fort Collins, Colo.