I have been getting emails, tweeks, notes, calls, and pings all day asking me about the newest addition to the Cavs, Shaquille O'Neal. 

First of all let's address the nickname.  I am going with The Big Cuyahoga (on fire once again), and he can wear any number he wants (who's going to say no) other than 23 or a moon paw print (those are taken).

This addition is really a testiment to Danny Ferry and the basketball people for finding a relative unknown diamond in the rough who can really help us right away.*

It is a really unique and rare opportunity to bring in a player of Shaq's caliber.  I am  excited to see how his presence, experience and play positively impacts our team and me.

This trade is all about our continued commitment to get better and further our pursuit of a championship.

The deal makes us better for the upcoming season and also maintains our flexibility for the seasons after that as well.

We will still look at additional ways to improve our team on the court this season.

Numerous areas of our business reached franchise record levels this past season and we expect to maintain that high level of success off the court moving forward. Shaq brings an exciting new dynamic to our team and we expect that to help build positively off of the strong team performance last season.**

--Dog

* Actually I wrote this yesterday about whoever we draft, but it still seems to apply

** All of the rest of this blog is actually team talking points.  I found when I use these points, the blog nearly writes itself.  This is all part of my on-going test of the blog award committee....to see if they just give me awards willy-nilly, or if they actually look for quality.  We shall see.

Summer camping continues, today in North Ridgeville and Painsville.  "Villes" are  appearantly all the rage.

I am testing the blog award panel to see if cut and paste self-plagurized blogs by me will win awards.  We all know my normal blogs win.....but do the blogs that are near duplicates of previous blogs win?

See all the North Ridgeville Photos

--Dog

When the fine folks in Corporate Sales call and ask if I would swing out to Cold Stone, the dates, times, day of the week, and any other details don't matter.  Yes I will go.  Turns out it was in Painsville or Mentor (ice cream confuses me)

As it turns out I was right (as I normally am), nothing much mattered outside of me being at Cold Stone.

There was a bunch of stuff going on, including a birthday party (which was the reason I was there), a table with 6 people sitting outside eating ice cream (and 3 of them were named Brittany), and Ahmaad was taking photos like there was no tomorrow.  And did I mention I was at Cold Stone.

So there I was at Cold Stone wrapping up my appearance when the ladies behind the counter invited me back (actually I jumped over the register) to make my own.  Right there, at Cold Stone.

While behind the counter, at Cold Stone, I made myself a Rocky Road on a very cold stone (thus the name, me thinks).

Special thanks to whoever in Corporate Sales decided to make this appearance really count and invite me to attend, at Cold Stone.  It was delicous.

Right there....at Cold Stone.

See all the Cold Stone Photos Here

--Dog

Summer camping continues, today in Pepper Pike and Rocky River.  Alliteration is  appearantly all the rage.

I am testing the blog award panel to see if really short blogs by me will win awards.  We all know my normal length win.....but do the blogs with less than 50 words?

See all the Rocky River Photos.

--Dog

It is summer camp time.  That means hundreds of potential future Cavalier Players are learning hoop skills in gymnasiums across Ohio (and Pittsburgh).  How fun. 

I actually like the camps....I get to play hoops (typically I dominate, but I don't like to brag) with the kids and sign some autographs. 

However, there is one downside.

While many of these kids could be potential future Cavalier Players....I thought about it today....some of these rugrats could end up as potential Wizards, Nets, Raptors, or Pistons.  We are potentially training the enemy!  And here I am acting all nice to them, giving them autographs and wristbands.....and some day they might come back, armed with the valuable insight FROM OUR CAMPS!

Of course this is an outrage.

At this time, I have no answers.  No way to weed them out.  No way to figure out who is the Manchurian Center of the future, let alone the less-friendly movie-spoof named Manchurian Point Guard.

Without the ability to pinpoint (and defeat) these potential enemeies of the future, I am forced to take photos with everyone.  It's all fine until I realize that I could be hugging a young Kobe or Rasheed (gasp).

This could come back to haunt us all.

Here are the photos of the campers in Akron today....future Cavs players and future opponents all included.

--Dog