I wasn't surprised to watch the Twins take 2 out of 3 from the Tribe over the weekend. Anytime you face an Indians lineup that features the Humanitarian's Row of Marte (.167), Gutierrez (.213), and Cabrera (.204) in the 7,8,9 holes, you have a good chance of taking the series (and Cabrera's average is inflated due to the hitting tear he's been on over the past few days). Here's what surprised me; entering tonight's action the Minnesota Twins held a half game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.

It's Friday, you're at work and you need the internet to carry you until 5 and into another glorious weekend. Never fear, we're here to spin you 'round the blogosphere. Like a record, baby.

I saw this about Khalil Green breaking his hand at Deadspin. I think everyone should know when an athlete ends his season with an act of stupidity.

If you think that watching a football practice is probably one of the most boring things you can do for a couple of hours, you are so right. I went to Browns training camp in Berea, OH, this afternoon along with a couple of fellow Browns fanatics. We came fired up to see the beloved Brownies getting ready for the upcoming season, and we left bored.

On the plus side, I did get some decent pics.

As the glory of that Norman moment was wearing off, Nancy Lieberman stepped onto the WBNA court last week at age 50 for a game. Needless to say, Nancy's return to the hardwood didn't carry the same sentimental value as Norman's leap back into the limelight, but it did get me to thinking. Maybe we're not witnessing a couple of random moments here, maybe there's a trend starting. If Greg and Nancy can do it in their 50's, others can't be far behind. Here's who we'd like to see prove that 50 is the new 30.

Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre. Brett Favre.

I've been reluctant to admit that Kevin Youkilis is more than a poor man's Casey Blake for most of his career. Maybe it's because the boys at the World Wide Leader were always telling us how great he is. Maybe it's because he doesn't look the part of an everyday major leaguer. Maybe it's because the Red Sox shuffle him around from 3rd to 1st to the outfield. Maybe it's because at the plate, he's best known for his on-base percentage. In my head, he's always been an over-glorified utility player.

So, it's late July and your baseball team sucks. My team, the Tribe, really really sucks. Not like poor Cecilio's Scribe's beloved New York Metropolitans, who lead the NL East by 1 game (although to hear him tell it, they should be competing in the International League). How dare you CS, get back to me about how terrible the Mets are when they drop at least 10 games below .500. Football is still a month away so football coverage currently consists of nothing but endless jibber-jabber on who might be good or who might be bad this year. I don't even waste my time with that crap anymore. We don't know jack sh** until they start playing the games so it's a waste of time to even speculate (by the way, I'm pretty confident that the Browns are going 19-0 this year). There's no Tiger in golf this summer. The Olympics are coming up, but who gives a crap? I guess it'll be entertaining when it gets here, but not that entertaining. So how's a guy supposed to get his sports fix?

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of watching the Tribe take 2 out of 3 from the Mariners, and two things jumped out at me. The Mariners are ridiculously bad, and Ichiro is ridiculously good. I never watch any M's games, so I never realized how amazing Ichiro is. Like your average dude that doesn't live on the left coast, I knew he was damn good, but it was an eye-opener seeing him play a three-game series.

No, not that image problem. There are plenty of 60 year old white men worrying about that. I'm talking about something that's actually a serious problem for the NBA, the refs. We bitch about football refs, baseball umps, and hockey refs all the time. Right now MLB umpires are under fire for a slew of botched home run calls. But, do we ever think that the NFL, MLB, NCAA, or NHL referees/umps purposely tank games?

Long before the Tim Donaghy fiasco broke, my old man refused to watch the NBA because he was convinced that all NBA games are fixed.

The on going steroids in baseball soap opera continues to heap countless questions for print journalists to write about, while the talking heads have a field day with endless, useless banter about the subject. You've all heard the questions: Who cheated? What will we do about the records and stats? Who should or shouldn't get into the hall of fame? I have one question I'd like to have answered, who gives a sh**?

Hello Legend reader, it seems like a good time to spin you around the blogosphere and look at some tantalizing material. First stop is at Steady Burn, where they have a feature about a one-armed roller derby star. I always thought that roller derby was fake, like the WWE. But, it does remind me of when I was a young buck getting into bars on a fake id. There were stories of a great one-armed fooseball player who could beat the pants off of any two-armed counterpart. He was like a mix of this roller girl and Kaiser Soze.

Just in case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians have managed to win a few games and are threatening to climb away from the rest of the AL Central. The Wigwammers have managed to win 3 straight ballgames and 8 out of 10. The starting pitching has been phenomenal and has carried the Indians' scoring challenged offense. The starting rotation gave up their first run in 44 1/3 innings today when Aaron Laffey (who turned in another strong effort) gave up an unearned run in the 2nd inning of the Tribe's 4-2 victory over Oakland. The catalyst for this pitching onslaught? Mr. Cliff Lee.

Through 7 starts, Cliff Lee is 6-0 with 53 2/3 innings pitched, 44 Ks, 4 walks, and a 0.67 ERA. He's given up 4 earned runs all season. His stats are so good right now, they sound made up.

Regular readers of The Legend, know that from time to time, we run a Classic 80's/90's sports posters piece taken from readers submissions of nutty posters like Eric Dickerson Robo-Back. Today's posters lack the delightful cheese factor of their 80's and 90's predecessors, but when some blogger whips up a, Classic Turn of the Millennium Posters, blog post from his grandmother's basement in 2020, LeBron dunking over Garnett last night will be featured prominently.

By now you've heard about LeBron's dunk last night and seen highlights of it. Just in case you haven't:

Between the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, Olympic hotties, and the NFL draft, I haven't kept my eye on baseball stats at all. I was not prepared for the surprises that awaited me when I checked out the AL and NL stats leaders. Yes, I know it is only one month into the season and we shouldn't overreact, but look at some of the names atop the MLB leaderboard. Who are those guys?

Hey, the Rangers Josh Hamilton and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's (LAAsOA?) Casey Kotchman are 3 and 4 in AL batting average! Hamilton,

How often do sports fans get to chant something as fun as "Boston Sucks, Boston Sucks!" in their sportsfan lives? For us folks in Phatlanta, it ain't very often. Granted, the Celtics are more than capable of destroying the Hawks over the course of the next two (and hopefully three) games. But when an 8 seed under .500 backdoors into the playoffs and twice takes down the team with the league's best record to tie a playoff series, the fans can chant whatever they want until the next game tips.

I was in the "Highlight Factory" (cartoonishly- lame nickname, but lots of fun) last night with 20,000 rabid fans, and the only sporting events where I've had more fun have all been Georgia football games that we weren't supposed to win, and they were all enhanced by a belly full of Wild Turkey. At the very least, last night was the best professional sporting event I've ever been to by a huge margin.