Cleveland State basketball opened tonight. They put a hurtin' on John Carroll in an exhibition game. In years past, this was a regular-season game, but Carroll looked so bad, maybe both teams agreed to put this into the "doesn't count" category.

There wasn't a whole lot to learn from this game. Oh, the pep band wasn't there. Concession prices seemed stable from last year. Male cheerleaders are present (they still don't do much heavy lifting). And my free parking pass still sucks, as I can't seem to park close and when it's cold, I'll take street parking every time. But from the basketball perspective, it's tough to get a true reading.

Cleveland State owned the boards. They didn't attempt that many 3-pointers. Assists and steals were way up. John Carroll had 24 turnovers and shot 21% from the field, so again, tough to measure Cleveland State's ability.

CSU wins, 81-33, and the regular season starts on Saturday against the Golden Grizzlies of Oakland.

Meal of Links

The best current TV theme songs. "Dexter" is good because you can make up your own words. "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" also make it. "Doctor Who" is Number One, but I don't watch it.

Lots of women love Barack Obama. Now you can have him inside of you. (I'm guessin' NSFW)

Will General Motors die? I go back and forth on this one. The web of the auto industry weaves around so many other industries, I think it would be catastrophic to the region if they are allowed to fail. Even something seemingly unrelated like advertising companies would be hugely affected. However, if they built better cars and could compete on their own, the government wouldn't have to bail them out. It's really a tough call.

Exercise Yard

Josh Cribbs hops on the "some players quit" train. How about someone hopping on the "we don't have a lot of talent on defense and we suck" train?

I'll be honest, I didn't see a whole lot of guys quitting last Thursday. But I did see a tired, limited defense hanging on against a team with no running game they should have beat.

The word "quit" is used way too many times in sports for my taste. It tends to disguise the real issues on these teams.

Visitor

15 Across: Pop singer Lavigne (5 letters) Answer: Avril