As a Cavs fan, I love the trade, just because it finally rids them of Larry Hughes. Hughes is a good guy but he was a disaster on this team. Bill Simmons agrees, as he now claims the Cavs should be the favorites in the East:

As for the other big trade this week, kudos to Danny Ferry for somehow getting four of the best five players in an 11-player trade. That has to be some sort of record, right? I already made the case for Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West helping the Cavs in my Trade Machine piece Wednesday (scroll down to trade 4A), but the Chicago guys pushed the deal over the top for me. First, Drew Gooden needed to go — he was too inconsistent and too much of a bonehead, and we neared the point when a fed-up LeBron might punch him in the face during a game about three months ago — and Joe Smith gives the Cavs steadier minutes and reliable production with those minutes. (Maybe Smith’s ceiling isn’t as high as Gooden’s from game to game, but when you have LeBron you need consistency from the rest of the guys more than anything else.) Second, the fact Ferry was able to trade an overpaid guard who actually drove a frustrated Cavs fan to create a site called www.heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com and update it every day … I mean, even if you got back a dead body for Larry Hughes, it would have been a moral victory.

Instead, the Cavs got back the Artist Formerly Known As Ben Wallace, someone who stopped being an elite rebounder and shot-blocker about three years ago, but someone with playoff experience and the ability to defend bigger guys like KG, Shaq or Duncan. He certainly makes more sense for the 2008 Cavs than Larry Hughes did. Anyway, I thought the Cavs could win the East before this trade, simply because none of the Eastern teams have someone who can match baskets with LeBron in a close game. Now? They’re the favorites. Look, I love the Celtics, I watch them every game, it has been the most enjoyable season in 15 years. … But a playoff series almost always comes down to one question as long as both sides are relatively equal:

Which team has the best guy?

Well, LeBron is better than anyone else in the East. So if you were beating Cleveland this spring, it was happening because your supporting cast was significantly better than LeBron’s supporting cast. That’s why this trade was so dangerous for Boston and Detroit; it shortened the sizable gap between guys 2 through 12 on Cleveland and guys 2 through 12 on Boston and Detroit. Now LeBron has four shooters who have shot 40-plus from 3-point range at least once in their career (Wally, Delonte, Boobie Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic), three seasoned rebounders (Wallace, Smith and Anderson Varejao), a scoring center (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) and, best of all, no Larry Hughes screwing up everything. LeBron is in a much better place than he was last year, and what’s even more frightening is that he has been playing out of his mind since last April. I know the Celtics are 41-11, and I know the Pistons have been there a million times … but still, how could you bet against LeBron in the East when he’s playing like this?

As a Cleveland fan, I know exactly what it’s like to suffer heartbreaking losses. Until recently, Boston fans had their share as well.

ESPN’s Bill Simmons is a well-known Boston fan, and he does a great job capturing the agony and bewilderment that one feels after these kinds of losses. Of course, he focuses on Eli’s big play on the last drive, which reminded me of many of John Elway’s heroics against the Browns.

With that said, I never thought the Patriots would lose. I thought they’d be tested, I thought the game would be great … but lose??? You could point out 10 different instances when the Pats blew a chance to make a monster play or put the game away, and you could point out all the different times the Giants caught a break or had a ball bounce their way, but really, everything you need to know about Super Bowl XLII happened on the Miracle Play To Be Named Later — you know, the third down on the do-or-die drive when Eli Manning ripped himself away from the entire Patriots defensive line (THEY HAD HIS JERSEY!!!!!!) and threw a pass that hung in the air forever like one of those sports movie passes, and even though David Tyree and Rodney Harrison had an equal chance of getting it, Tyree jumped a little bit higher, hauled in the football, trapped it against his helmet and somehow held on while Harrison was doing everything but performing a figure-four leg lock on him.

Here’s another great paragraph from his column.

Speaking of Brady, if the Patriots had finished 19-0, I planned to start my column with a scene from the Patriots’ postgame party. Through some mutual friends, I had arranged to hang out with Brady’s crew for what promised to be a laid-back celebration in somebody’s hotel room, probably no more than 15-20 people since Brady’s circle is surprisingly and refreshingly small. Because it was a rare chance to catch Brady in an unguarded moment — and an important moment at that — I spent most of Friday and Saturday thinking about that first paragraph and all the different ways it could start. I kept seeing Brady sitting in a chair with his right ankle encased in ice, quietly sipping a bottle of champagne with a satisfied smile on his face, and Gisele would be there, and everyone would be recapping 19-0 and remembering the incredible season. I liked the thought of a famous person celebrating a historic night in such a totally normal and relatable way. And that’s what it will remain. A thought and only a thought. It never happened.

It will rank as one of the ultimate choke jobs. The Patriots go 18-0, dominating most of the way, only to lose the Super Bowl to the Giants on a touchdown drive at the end of the game. I guess the 1972 Miami Dolphins get the last laugh.

Also, I heard a lot of talk about Tom Brady being better than Joe Montana. He has more years left in his career to make that argument, but he isn’t there yet. It’s funny how mortal Tom Brady looks when a defense can put pressure on him.

Fast Company explains the rise of Yahoo! Sports as a force on the web.

BusinessWeek reports that Notre Dame’s lame football team is putting a real dent in NBC’s revenues.

The rest of us can just smile.

They lead SportsCenter with the Red Sox no-hitter over the Michigan meltdown.

Gary Sheffield continues to demonstrate that he’s a complete idiot. He’s claiming that Latino players are easier to control than black players, and that’s why fewer blacks are playing Major League baseball.

LeBron James answered all the critics with one of the greatest performances in NBA Playoff history.

LeBron James used one of the most spectacular performances in playoff history to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to the verge of their greatest season.

James’ career playoff-high 48 points — including 29 of his team’s final 30 — carried the Cavaliers to within a win of the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history with a 109-107 double-overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night.

James made a go-ahead layup with 2.2 seconds left and Detroit’s Chauncey Billups missed a shot in the lane on the ensuing possession.

LeBron was coasting in the first half of the season and took some heat, and he’s always taking crap from critics trying to put down his game. Thursday night he showed that he is one of the great ones.

You knew it would happen. Kobe Bryant has an incredible scoring streak, and now some idiot posing as an analyst writes the obligatory column saying that Kobe Bryant is a better player than Michael Jordan. What do you expect from an organization that employs Skip Bayless?

Warren Buffett attended a Cavs game on Sunday to watch his friend, LeBron James, play. LeBron has said he wants to be the first “billionaire” athlete, and it looks like he’s very serious about this. Lebron sought out Mr. Buffett to get advice and learn about investing, and Buffett has embraced the relationship.

Jason Whitlock weighs in on the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant debate, arguing that Durant needs to learn to distribute the basketball and make his teammates better. If he does, he can be the next Larry Bird. If not, he’ll be the next Glenn Robinson.

On ESPN2’s “Cold Pizza,” sports analyst resident moron Skip Bayless predicted last week that the Bears would win. Rather than own up to his dumb prediction, Bayless made the claim this morning that the rain is to blame for Chicago’s loss. Yep, the cold weather team from Chicago was hurt by the rain and the dome team from Indy had the advantage.

We’ve reached the point where ESPN is trying way too hard to generate controversy and ratings. Bayless is an idiot and ESPN should not be giving him a forum. This morning he was matched against Greg Anthony, an excellent basketball analyst who made Bayless look like a fool by challenging his stupid rants.

Will this be the season that makes everyone give up on the BCS in favor of a playoff system? One can only hope. While Ohio State is the undisputed #1 team in the country, there is little consensus on which team should be #2.

Despite Michigan’s loss to Ohio State, Michigan is hanging on as the #2 team in the BCS standings. Their lead over #3 USC, however, is very small. Thus the Trojans will likely leapfrog Michigan if they can win their remaining games against Notre Dame and UCLA. Michigan doesn’t have any more games, so the Wolverines don’t have any more opportunities to impress the voters. Also, if USC loses and Florida wins the SEC championship, the Gators will also have the opportunity to leapfrog Michigan. I won’t even bother discussing scenarios for Arkansas and West Virginia.

Those arguing in favor of Michigan are focusing on the three-point margin of defeat in their road game against #1 Ohio State. Those arguing against Michigan can focus on the three Ohio State turnovers that made the game close. Without a couple of errant snaps by Ohio State’s center, the Buckeyes could have won that game by three touchdowns. They torched Michigan’s celebrated defense for 42 points and over 500 yards.

Neither USC nor Florida has been overly impressive this season, but each will have impressive victories on their resumes if they can win out. It’s hard to argue that they should not get a shot at the Buckeyes.

Of course, this mess makes it clear that college football needs a playoff. Urban Meyer’s opinion on the matter is probably shared by many:

Florida coach Urban Meyer said Sunday a rematch between Michigan and Ohio State would be cause for immediate change to the BCS.

“If that does happen, all the [university] presidents need to get together immediately and put together a playoff system,” he said. “I mean like now, January or whenever to get that done.”

He’ll probably feel the same way if USC and Florida both win out but USC gets the #2 ranking over Florida.

The BCS works great when there are two teams who rise above the rest of the pack. The Ohio State/Miami match-up and the Texas/USC match-up from recent years come to mind. For that reason, the BCS is better than the old system that prevented these games from taking place. But in most years, the selection of the #2 team is very difficult. Fans deserve a playoff system.

Everyone is talking about Rutgers, and they certainly deserve a ton of credit for a great season, but this week’s BCS standings are a joke. If you look at the computer rankings, somehow Rutgers is ranked #2 by the computers:

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the week belongs to the new No. 6 — Rutgers. The unbeaten Scarlet Knights shocked many observers with a 28-25 comeback win over former-No. 3 Louisville. Rutgers was down 25-7 at one point in the second quarter before rallying with 21 unanswered points.

The computer rankings seem to love the Knights. The computers have Rutgers second behind Michigan and ahead of Ohio State.

Who are the morons who created these computers? Rutgers ranked over Ohio State? Are you kidding me? Ohio State would probably crush Rutgers by 20-30 points.

Fortunately, the computers only count for 1/3 of the BCS rankings.

Please, give us a playoff system.

If you like picking games during the NFL season, you’ll love the Ultimate Survival Pool. I’ve played the past couple of years and it’s a blast. The object of the game is to pick the winner of only one NFL game each week. NO POINT SPREADS CONSIDERED. If the team you pick wins in that week, you survive to the next week. If your team losses or ties, you are eliminated. Once you have selected a team, you can’t pick that team again for the rest of the season. The entry fee is $100.

Coming off a dominating win over Notre Dame last season in the Fiesta Bowl, the Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked #1 in the coaches preseason poll. Defending national champions Texas is ranked #2, followed by USC and Notre Dame tied for the #3 spot.

Ohio State has to overhaul its defense with the graduation of several stars, including the entire starting linebacking trio of A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel. But the Buckeyes have talented players waiting in the wings, and they return nearly all of their key players on offense, including quarterback Troy Smith and wide receiver and return specialist Ted Ginn Jr., both Heisman Trophy candidates.

Defending national champion Texas (13-0) is second after receiving 11 first-place votes and 1,378 points. But the Longhorns, who won a championship for the ages with a 41-38 triumph over Southern California in the Rose Bowl, have to replace all-everything quarterback Vince Young, who left after his junior season and was drafted third by the Tennessee Titans.

This sets up another huge matchup between the Buckeyes and the Longhorns, this time in Austin on September 9th. Both schools deserve huge credit for scheduling games in back-to-back seasons.

What a terrible way to start the World Cup. The Czech Republic easily beat a listless US squad 3-0. The Americans are in trouble, as they face the tough Italians next. Italy handled Ghana 2-0 in its opening game. Bruce Arena needs to make some changes.

Something happened on Roger Federer’s quest to become the greatest player in tennis history - Rafael Nadal. The French Open has been a roadblock for many great players, and the same thing is happening to Federer. Now he has a true rival to contend with after dominating tennis over the past several years.

This is great for tennis. It was a great match. Now let’s see if Nadal can become a force on other surfaces as well. At twenty years old, he can continue to improve.

This is the matchup everyone was waiting for - Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal playing for the French Open title. Men’s tennis is in desperate need of a high-profile rivalry to reinvigorate the sport, and this match could be the beginning of a great one:

For Federer, the pressure is self-imposed. He has already won the other three Grand Slams — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open — but the French Open will always remain the most difficult because the clay negates his power game. If Federer wins Sunday’s final, he not only will hold all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously but also will be halfway to a calendar Grand Slam, not accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.

Those close to Federer say he wants this one very badly. The fact that he has now won 27 consecutive Grand Slam matches, second on the all-time list to Laver’s 29, suggests it is possible.

Nadal is playing for history, too. He has never lost a French Open match; the win over Ljubicic raised his record to a pure 13-0. At the age of 20, he would be the youngest man to repeat at Roland Garros since Bjorn Borg in 1974-75.

Commentators are already comparing Federer to the all-time greats, and a win at the French Open would put him near the top of that list. But Nadal is a great talent and is the best player on clay. It should be a great match.

Host Germany got off to a great start with a 4-2 victory over Costa Rica, while Poland was humiliated by a 2-0 loss to Ecuador. Germany’s offense was impressive, but their lapses on defense could be a cause for concern.

Check out Bullz-Eye.com’s complete guide to the World Cup.