There’s snow place like home for Indians

The Cleveland Indians made history on Tuesday night. Not since the likes of Willie Mays Hayes, Roger Dorn, Pedro Cerrano and Rick “The Wild Thing” Vaughn were the stars of the team had the Indians played a “home” game in Milwaukee. If you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about, “Major League” filmed its baseball scenes at the since-demolished County Stadium, the former home of the Milwaukee Brewers. The only person with an outside shot at reprising his old role is Brewers announcer Bob Uecker, who played Indians’ play-by-play man Harry Doyle. He won’t, but wouldn’t it be great if he did? “Sizemore goes back. He’ll need a rocket up his — to catch that one. That’s baby’s out of here.”I guess it does make sense that the Indians played the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim via Orange County in association with California,” who never seem to know where they are anyway, so Cleveland Indians of Milwaukee didn’t sound too weird to them for the two nights.Seattle didn’t seem to mind the snow in Cleveland too much, openly celebrating when Friday’s game got canceled with Paul Byrd one strike away from completing five no-hit innings that would have made the game official and given Cleveland a 4-0 win. The M’s didn’t take the field again until Monday, when Jeff Weaver got smacked around to the tune of a 14-3 beat down at the hands of Boston. Chalk it up to a case of “when you mess with the Indians, you mess with Pedro Cerrano, and when you mess with Cerrano, you mess with Jobu.”

WRITINGS ON THE WALL:NO CHERRIES FOR PACMAN in 2007

Cue the ’80s video game sound effects, because Titans cornerback Pacman Jones just caught a case of ghost poisoning and will have to miss all of 2007. Actually, it’s because Commissioner Roger Goodell threw the book at him and suspended him for his growing familiarity with police officers. Jones has had no less than six run-ins with the law since 2005. But was it right for Goodell to suspend Pacman for the whole season? You bet, and it’s good to see that the NFL’s head honcho clearly sees a problem with his league that many in the media aren’t taking seriously enough. Pro football players getting in trouble with the law has become all too common, and despite these items being reported, it still seems that the popular consensus is that the NBA has a worse image problem. Sure, the NBA isn’t squeaky clean either, but the NFL’s problems have gotten way out of control, and it’s good to see Goodell “make it rain” on Jones’ parade.

$tock Watch

BULL MARKETALEX RODRIGUEZ

A-Rod leads the Major League in home runs and RBI. He also became the first Yankee to hit six home runs in his first seven games. He must be the talk of the town in New York. Actually, scratch that. Once he strikes out a few times, he’ll be on the fast track to being the most hated man in America again.

BEAR MARKETWASHINGTON WIZARDS

As if the Michael Ruffin incident wasn’t bad enough (see YouTubin’), the Wiz will be without both of their All-Stars after losing Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler for the season within days of each other. Washington has built up a good enough resumé (playing in the Eastern Conference this season wasn’t a bad start) to make the playoffs, but there’s no doubt NBA fans will miss their fix of Hibachi.

CHANNEL SURFING

Spurs at Mavericks (Sunday, 1 p.m., ABC): Could this be a preview of the Western Conference Finals? Not if the Phoenix Suns have anything to say about it, but these are arguably the two best teams in the NBA right now going head-to-head on national TV right before the playoffs start. These teams create classics just about every time they play.

Padres at Dodgers (Sunday, 8:05 p.m., ESPN): Half of last year’s NL playoff teams clash in an excellent pitching duel: Chris Young vs. Jason Schmidt. Come for the pitching, stay to envy the SoCal weather.

NHL Playoffs: If you’re the type that likes rooting for underdogs, why not flip on the NHL playoffs. Imagine the power you have with the remote in your hands. By turning on Versus on any given night, you could instantly double the ratings of a playoff hockey game. Remarkable! It could also be a good way to cure any March Madness hangover you might still be experiencing. The NHL Playoffs are never short on exciting moments and thrilling overtime games. Plus, think about it … one of these days you could tell your grandkids that you were one of five people awake to see the Sabres take down the Islanders in triple-OT at 2:30 a.m.

YouTubin’Clip of the Week

See the video atyoutube.com/villanovansports

Watch this video and settle the “what’s more unbelievable?” debate. With just seconds remaining, the Wizards’ Michael Ruffin, trying to get the clock to expire, throws the ball up in the air. The terrible toss came down quickly enough for Toronto’s Morris Peterson to catch it and make an off-balance 3 at the buzzer to force overtime. And yes, Washington lost the game.