If you've paid attention to today's Buckeyes' notes or tomorrow's for that matter, you will read mention of a DVD that Ohio State Buckeyes' Coach Jim Tressel gave his players to motivate them for their game against the LSU Tigers come Monday night.

In what will be a mystery, a portion of the video made its way to YouTube. You can click here if you want to see it. The DVD was a total of ten minutes long, only the first three appear through that link.

It's essentially ten minute of national media types saying "Hey, Buckeyes: you suck!" I'm sure Camp Tressel would have rather not this been made public, but it's a delicious little tidbit that makes this interesting.

Arrived in New Orleans today after getting up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 and staying at the Cleveland Sheraton Hopkins last night because of the first snowout of '08. Happy New Year from Old Man Winter, now take THIS Northeast Ohio.

In New Orleans it's a balmy 44 and I can only laugh as the locals chatter while their teeth click together because it's so cold. Ummm…yeah…come visit Northeast Ohio. Initial impressions of this city? I haven't been here in almost 20 years and given that I spent a lot of time on Bourbon Street, the memory is a bit hazy.

But the first thing I noticed upon taking my taxi ride in were the billboards heading into downtown. What distinguished them from say the boards in Northeast Ohio? Booze, beauties, gambling and, well, beauties. Devastated by Hurricane Katrina a couple of years back, it would seem that New Orleans has little problem with getting to the heart of what makes America tick. And for those individuals out there who prefer to live with their heads in the ground, a glaring reality of tourism and life in America is that sin sells.

Of course, sin has always sold in this part of the South, a kind of paradox if you ask me given the strong religious roots all of the Deep South has. Bourbon Street has never been for the puritanical. What I do remember, however, is that it wasn't this glaring when I was here before.

Is it a problem? Not for me. And I'm certainly sure that more than a few fans of the Hawaii Rainbows and Georgia Bulldogs enjoyed their share of sin. Good for them.

It's 2008 and we've been hearing about the upcoming election for a year now. We're all stressed by gas prices, the drag on the economy caused by the virtual collapse of the housing market. Hell, I've learned what my mother meant when she told me more than once to not be in a hurry to grow up.

Some say that football and sports in general are taken far too seriously in this country. They may be right. But perhaps, just perhaps, we take life too seriously and never really stop to enjoy it. This is why I believe I have a dream job. Six days in NOLA - what I hope to be a great football game between the OSU Buckeyes and LSU Tigers and a little sin. Will there be stress involved? Yup, in the form of work and writing my butt off. Heck, I might even blog everyday. But what I do know is that I will also blow off some steam after a busy work day. Gee, did I mention there's a Harrah's Casino not more than a five minute walk from my door?

Sin, gotta love it.

After watching the first half of the Cavs' game at a local Winking Lizard, I got in my car to listen to halftime stuff on their flagship station only to discover that the Browns had reached a deal with now former Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis.  How do I contain my enthusiasm?

Normally my gauge of local sports is my favorite watering hole, Scalpers in Mayfield Heights.  I walked in tonight, grumbling about Lewis' acquisition and my Wednesday night bartender Joey D. was ecstatic over the Browns' news.  This is what it's come to - mere desperation.

That's where Cleveland Browns fans are right now.  Lewis rushed for a massive 1132 yards on 314 carries for a whopping 3.6 yards per carry.  Hello!!!! What's mesmerizing about that?  What's significant about it?  The fact that the yards were actually in the positive?

What I like less about this one-year signing is what it possibly portends.  Could the Browns be tipping their hand with respect to the 2007 draft?  If so you can guess what General Manager Phil Savage and his fellow gurus are thinking:

With Lewis we have a viable, touch running back.  There's no need to draft Adrian Peterson out of Oklahoma.  We have a running back, now let's get a quarterback.  What?  You thought Charlie Frye was the answer?  And that's what scares me.

Notre Dame's Brady Quinn has made little secret of his desire to play for the Browns and apparently, after the recent NFL Combine in Indianapolis his stock has been very much on the rise.  Quinn apparently made all the throws and exhibited a wonderful aptitude for the Wonderlic I.Q. test.

My problem?  In big games, he doesn't really show up.  The Ohio State Buckeyes cooked his grits in the Fiesta Bowl more than a year ago and the Louisiana State University Tigers nailed him in this year's Sugar Bowl.  He's got happier feet than those penguins in the movie Happy Feet only it's a less likable feature on him. 

Taking Quinn would be a reach on a team that has far too many other holes than at QB - even with Frye there.

It's said that coveting is a bad thing.  Apparently Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner covets JaMarcus Russell, that's the word that came from the lips of WKYC (Channel 3) news anchor Romona Robinson Monday night.

In a phone conversation, Lerner said that he would love to see Louisiana State University quarterback who lit up Notre Dame in this year's Sugar Bowl in a Cleveland Browns uniform.  The thought of it made me wretch.  Made me cry.  Made me want to root for the Stillers.  OK, so it's not quite that bad.  And it's not because Russell wouldn't look great in a Browns jersey.  It's because it would seem that the Browns haven't learned anything.

Remember 1999 when they wasted the opportunity to trade down, gather more picks and build the team the way it should have been?  Football games are won at the line of scrimmage with big men groveling like beasts of burden to gain or protect precious yardage.  The Browns could have easily traded down and built the future the way it should have been - on the offensive and defensive lines. Instead they took Tim Couch and - by the way - they didn't bother to build a line that could protect him.

With this current O-line do we dare believe it would be any different with Russell?  The Browns will choose third or fourth in the upcoming draft.  The best thing about that is the teams ahead of them - Oakland and Detroit - both need quarterbacks.  Russell will likely be taken by one of them.  What's scarier is the prospect of the team wasti…errrr…trading selections to move up to get him.

Lerner has been knocked for his laissez-faire attitude when it comes to the Browns.  Personally, I wish he'd not said anything about who he liked in the upcoming draft.  He said that he has a qualified team in place to make draft decisions for him.  Let's just hope they are independent enough to not let that statement influence their thinking.  If they are not it appears that coveting, in this case, is definitely a bad thing.