A loose timeline, featuring way too much worthless, trivial information no one really cares about, of the trip to Philadelphia, where the Cavaliers won for the 7th straight time at the Wachovia Center, 100-95...

We left for Philadelphia Thursday around 4:20 p.m.  Arrived at the hotel somewhere around 6:15.

Brian Windhorst of the Plain Dealer called earlier in the day, wondering if anyone had dinner plans.  It became an event at a sports bar hot spot near the hotel.

Austin Carr knew of the place, kind of.  He asked  the hotel doorman where the “Americana” was.  Doorman had no clue what A.C. was talking about.  Austin described the “Americana.”  Doorman said, you mean “The Public House?”  Austin said, “Yes, that’s it.”  Americana.  Public House.  Easy to get that confused.  I love A.C.

In attendance at 6:40– the FSO crew featuring Fred McLeod, Austin Carr, Dan Sevic, Carl Patterson and Bob Zink.  I waited for Brian, who was going to be a bit later, along with members of the Cavs communications department.  By the time the second wave arrived, the other gents already had food.  But service was a nightmare.  After 15 minutes without seeing the waitress to order a refreshing beverage, she finally came by to pick up cash from the other fellas.  We asked to order, she said she’d be right back.  Ten minutes later, inspired by a craving for Italian food and no sight of the waitress, the four late arrivals took off for Maggiano’s. 

The four of us had a delicious dinner at Maggiano’s.  Way too much food, a little too late in the evening.  We arrived around 8:00, ate, and Brian drove us back to the hotel.  In my room around 10:15, and spent the rest of the evening preparing for the game, and watching television.  “Family Guy” is terribly inappropriate, but extremely funny.

Went to bed around 1:00.  Woke up at 4:30 feeling like I was pregnant, wondering why I ate everything I ate at dinner.  Woke up again at 6:00. 

After getting wake up calls at 8:25 and 8:30, got out of bed at 8:50, still wondering why I pigged out so late the night before, and made my way to our informal 9:00 production meeting in the lobby.

Discussed plans for the big show.  Back to the room around 10:00, still feeling crummy.  Laid down for about 45 minutes until a cell phone call snapped me awake for the day.  Please remind me not to go out with the boys for Italian food past about 6:00.  And please remind me not to eat so much next time.

Worked on goodies for the telecast until about noon, then – get this – went downstairs and joined co-workers at brunch.  Yeh, I know.  But I only had coffee, fruit and toast. 

Sat with Joe Tait at brunch.  I always enjoy his company, and I’m thrilled that he tolerates mine.

Back to the room at 1:00.  Spent a few hours working on the game, and the classic car show project I’ve mentioned before in this space.  Trying to find some advertisers wise enough to take advantage of this special opportunity. If interested, please call the Fox Sports Ohio offices, and ask to leave a message for me.  Fran will get me your info.  Thank you very much.

At 2:40, went down to the fitness room for a little, fun, torture, whatever it is.  I try to workout every trip, and almost always do, but figured I really had to after the night before.  And I don’t even drink.

The fitness room was a Cavalier staff convention – assistant coaches Hank Egan and Bryant Moore, athletic trainer Max Benton, equipment manager Mark Cashman, and assistant strength and conditioning coach Ken Sneed.  I seem to run into these guys at about this time in fitness rooms – we all work out, get cleaned up and hop on the bus for the arena.  Same schedule, I guess.  Austin works out every morning.

At 4:30, bus leaves the hotel for the arena. It was a smaller bus than usual, forcing more doubling up in seats than usual.  The bus also made the most unusual, extremely loud sound, on a regular basis.  Sounded like someone was using a giant straw, trying to get the last bit of milkshake out of a giant cup. The sound was coming from inside the bus.  The driver didn’t seem to care.  We arrive around 5:00 despite the straw-milkshake sound.

Once we arrive at the arena, it’s a pretty busy hour and a half or so before the start of our “Cavaliers Live” pregame show.

Things I did before the pregame show at 6:30:

-       Interviewed Sebastian Telfair for the pregame show.

-       Took part in group interviews with LeBron James and Mike Brown.

-       Taped the second segment of the game open using a soundbite from LeBron talking about the Cavaliers injuries.

-       Had off-camera conversations with World B. Free, Leon Powe and Anthony Parker for information to use in sideline reports during the telecast.  None of it made the air.

-       Gawked at the 76ers Dance Team.

At 6:32, did my first hit in our “Cavaliers Live” pregame show.  It was on Leon starting in place on Antawn Jamison.  After that, went to the media room and had a salad for dinner.  Really.  Still bouncing back from the night before.

At 6:55, did my final hit in the pregame show.  Director Carl Patterson came up with an idea that worked well.  We used the infamous Allen Iverson’s comments about practice, followed by a graphic of LeBron’s very different comments about practice from the day before. 

7:00 – Gametime. During the game, I take notes, stick my head in every Cavs huddle during timeouts, do an occasional report, interview a player if the Cavs are leading at halftime (they were, so it was Anthony Parker) host the first segment of halftime, interview an assistant coach at halftime, and interview a player for the postgame show if the Cavs win.  They did – it was Jamario Moon.

As I’ve mentioned before, Jamario is a hoot.  Don’t know if anyone has ever noticed, but I always stand on the right side when I’m talking to someone – left side on your television screen.  The reason why – I wear my earpiece in my left ear, and you try to avoid having that ear face the camera.  But Jamario, always switches up on me, and moves to the right side before we do an interview.  I brought this up during the interview, explaining he’s the only guy who ever moves on me, and asked him what’s the deal.  This is priceless.  Jamario said he’s right-handed, so he’s sure he does a better job of grooming the right side of his face, so he wants that side facing the camera.  After going back and forth, we agreed both sides of his face are equally as good looking, but we should run a fan text poll to let the real judges decide.

After every road game, I participate in Mike Brown’s press conference.  Mike is always cordial, thoughtful, and sometimes insightful.  Even though he’s  a young coach, he’s mastered the art of saying a lot of words that you can actually use, that actually give you some information  about the game, without saying anything that he’d ever  possibly regret later.  It’s a skill, and Mike’s very good at it.

I then hung around the Cavaliers locker room to help out the hardest working man in show business, Fred McLeod.  After he talks with players for our “Cavaliers Live” postgame show, he often interviews a player for Cavs.com.  It was..  (insert drum roll here)….  Jamario Moon.  I played camera boy. Jamario sat on Fred’s left, thus showing the left side of his face.  So much for Jamario’s “being right-handed means better grooming on the right side of the face” theory.  Shockingly, Jamario was quite entertaining, and somehow during the interview, was able to put on his shoes and socks without Fred, or camera boy, noticing.  Well, he was a Harlem Globetrotter.  Watch the interview and see if you can see when he did it.

Hopped on the second bus, and went to the airport for an extremely bouncy flight back to Cleveland.  While on the plane, I wrote most of this blog, had half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some carrots and celery sticks. 

Arrived in Cleveland at about 12:15.  Made it home before 1:00, where I found our Honda minivan with the sliding door open, and the interior light on.  Nice work family.  Also found that the mountains of snow in our driveway and on our back porch were almost completely gone.  Amazing what 33 hours of warmer temperatures can do.

Next stop, Detroit.  Leaving Monday to do the whole thing all over again, but with a more sensible dinner, and a quieter bus, I hope.

On a plane bound for Cleveland, after the Cavaliers 92-85 loss in Milwaukee...

An interesting opportunity for the Cavaliers against the Bucks that they couldn’t quite pull off.  Mike Brown announced before the game that he had decided it was time to give LeBron James a rest.  I can see that.  He’s averaging 39 minutes a game, and hadn’t missed a game all year.  The Cavs have just one more game until next Friday – Monday against San Antonio – and Mike said he might sit LBJ in that one too.

So...with LeBron out, it was time for other Cavaliers to step up, to show off, to shine, you get the idea.  Antawn Jamison did --  30 points and 11 rebounds in 40 minutes.  Delonte West did – 27 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds in 32 minutes.  He was outstanding.  All the other Cavaliers?  Uh, not so hot.  No other Cav had more than the seven points Mo Williams scored, and it took Mo 17 shots to do it.  He didn’t get to the free throw line, on 3 of 17 from the field.

As Austin Carr said during the telecast, one other Cav needed to put up some points.  Just one, and the Cavs probably get the win.

It took a while for the offense to get going without LeBron.  In fairness, when you take away the guy that makes the offense click, you should expect offensive problems – like 14 points and 29% shooting in the first quarter.  Interesting though, that the two guys who put up the points for the Cavs are the two guys who are very good at creating their own shots.  Other than Delonte and Antawn, it seemed as if the Cavs were waiting for someone – that would be LeBron -  to set them up.  If the Cavs had to play numerous games without LBJ, I’m sure many of the problems we saw against Milwaukee would improve.

Fred McLeod told me that LeBron has talked about Delonte’s amazing physique, how he’s always in great shape, and can show up after missing time and just be good to go 35 minutes at peak performance.  When a guy like LeBron is amazed about another guy's physique and physical capabilities, well, that’s really saying something.

I like the Bradley Center.  Pretty basic building, but nice.  It was louder than usual, however.  Sound system louder, not fans louder.  Not good for sideline boy who’s trying to listen to Fred, Austin and producer Bob Pennell through a little earpiece.  But hey, we all have our work issues, don’t we.  It helps that I stick an ear plug in my other ear during game action.

Some hypnotist was the halftime entertainment at the Bradley Center.  Had people hopping around like goofballs, doing really silly things.  Do I believe they were really hypnotized?  No.  Did I make sure I didn’t watch when the guy supposedly put the people under, so that I didn’t end up like all the folks in the TV sitcoms who are hypnotized by mistake and end up acting like a chicken for the rest of the day?  Yes.

I haven’t seen the Red Panda perform for a while.  She’s the lady on a very high unicycle who puts bowls on her foot then flips them on her head.  Who hasn’t done that.  I miss her very much.

Mike Brown and Bucks coach Scott Skiles have the same birthday, March 5th.

Flashing back to the game – the Cavs had a real shot to beat Milwaukee, a team that has now won 9 of 10 games, and 15 of 19, and the Cavs didn’t have LeBron, Shaquille O’Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Daniel Gibson.  Oh, this could be a fun playoff run.

My partner John Stealey and I have started shooting our classic car show that will be appearing on FOX Sports Ohio starting in May – “Cruisin’ Ohio presented by Best of Show Automotive.”  We’ll be visiting car shows, cruise-ins, and car collectors, talking to folks about their classics.  A few Cavaliers own classic cars and have said have they’d be happy to be in the show.  Look for the show beginning Monday, May 17th at 8:00.  It’ll run six times a week for 20 weeks, until late September. My 1964 Galaxie 500 may even make an appearance.