SPORTS COLUMNS

Articles, Reports & Commentary by Plain Dealer Sports Writers & Columnists

Among the questions he answers:

- With the injury to D.A., how will the Browns figure out who their starting quarterback will be in 2009?

- What position should the Browns target in the draft?

- Will the Browns look to hire a 3-4 coach again or will system be irrelevant?

- How much credit does Mike Brown deserve for the Cavs fast start?

- Do you expect Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract to be traded?

+ much more

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Roadell Hickman/The Plain DealerIf Ben Wallace's 7.2 rebounds per game average was extended over a full 48-minute contest, he would rank seventh in the NBA. Healthy so far this season, Wallace is back to being the high-energy defender the Cavaliers hoped for after last season's trade.

The previous generation wanted to hover like Dr. J.

After a turnover, point guards in the generation before that had to answer the taunting question, "Who do you think you are? Cousy?"

Ben Wallace, "Big Ben," patrolman of the paint, doom-toller for the unwary, wanted to be ... who?

"As a kid, I wanted to be L.T.," he said.

That would be of the NFL's L.T.

The connection is evident. Lawrence Taylor, a Pro Football Hall of Famer at outside linebacker, brought such mayhem to offensive schemes that it became foolish to try to block him on blitzes with a running back. Teams actually stationed an extra tackle in the backfield, and L.T. still came screaming in like something with a smokestack, iron wheels and fire box.

The Fawcett Stadium P.A. system carries the last muffled bar of the national anthem to the players huddled inside the locker room. It's the cue for the head coach with the nine state titles at the school with a serious seven-year itch for another one to begin talking.

Time to crowd in tight, between the lockers and the blackboard where the Greek word "arete" and the translation "habitual excellence" is scrawled.

Within a few seconds, Chuck Kyle has explained how his St. Ignatius Wildcats will leave the locker room, some of them for the last time. They will follow behind the American flag brought to school Thursday from Iraq by former player, Mike Merletti.

"He brought that to us to make sure we realize that commitment and sacrifice pay off," Kyle said. "He learned that. He learned it here . . . That's why it means something."

As high school coaches do every weekend, Kyle is working the room, but he avoids the football-is-war triteness. Nothing outside what he calls their "box of intent," the opportunity right in front of them, gets mentioned let alone belabored.

Not the years that have passed since the last state title in 2001. Not the 9-1 record in state championship matchups. Not the few hundred football alums who came to the Thanksgiving Day practice two days earlier.