I got a lot of sports news to talk about today, mainly because it's been a great weekend for Northeast Ohio, and an interesting weekend for the rest of the country. Baseball's final day of the regular season is today, and the playoffs are finally beginning to shape up.

Boxing- Pavlik Defeats Taylor for Middleweight Title- (Vindy.com)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Over the past seven years, Kelly Pavlik has emerged as one of the best middleweights in boxing.

On Saturday night, he emerged as the best.

Using a flurry of punches in the middle of the seventh round, Pavlik backed up WBC middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in the corner and blasted him to the ground. With 2:14 left in the round, referee Steve Smoger halted the fight, making the South Sider the new WBC and WBO champion around midnight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

"I'm out of words," said Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs), holding two belts. "It's huge."

Pavlik is from Youngstown, which is right down the street from where I live. Kelly is a hometown hero, and he's brought some glory back to a city which used to be known for breeding great fighters. He looked to be in trouble in round 2, but fought his way back to victory.

Golf- U.S. Takes President's Cup, But Weir Tops Woods- (ESPN)

MONTREAL -- The United States won the Presidents Cup. Mike Weir gave Canada quite a consolation prize.

The Americans won enough of the singles matches Sunday to capture the Presidents Cup for the second straight time, giving them an international victory in cup competition for the first time since 1993.

That didn't stop the relentless cheers that rocked Royal Montreal on a spectacular autumn day, especially when Weir won the final two holes to beat Tiger Woods and send his country home feeling like a winner.

Woods is an amazing athlete, and he's still the best golfer on the planet. The big news out of this should be the U.S. victory, not the Woods loss. Tiger is absolutely dominating, but he's not unbeatable.

Football- Browns Stun Baltimore, Beat Ravens- (ESPN)

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Picked on for years, the Cleveland Browns finally gave a black eye to one of the NFL's biggest bullies.

Derek Anderson threw two touchdown passes, Jamal Lewis ran for one against his former team and the Browns, considered the 98-pound weaklings of the rugged AFC North, surprised the Baltimore Ravens 27-13 Sunday.

I'm an all-around Cleveland sports fan. Did you think I could skip this one? The Browns could be 3-1 right now, if they would've been able to get off a game-winning field goal vs. the Raiders last week. That FG was blocked. This is a team that's going to beat expectations. Can anyone say 8-8?

Baseball- Indians Best Royals, Finish 96-66- (MLB.com)

Laffey breezed through his first four innings before giving up a trio of singles to Justin Huber, Tony Pena and Joey Gathright in the fifth. The last of those drove in a run to make it 3-1.

The Royals later manufactured a run off reliever Tom Mastny in the seventh to cut the Tribe's lead down to one. But Ben Francisco's RBI double added an insurance run in the ninth, closer Joe Borowski held on for his league-best 45th save and the Indians headed home and into the glare of the ALDS against the Yankees on a winning note. They wrapped up the regular season with a 96-66 record, tying the club's sixth-best mark for wins in a season, set in 1996.

Once again, I can't miss touting a Cleveland win. The Indians finished with an identical record as the Boston Red Sox, at 96-66. Unfortunately for the Tribe, Boston won the Season Series to secure best record in baseball. That means that the Indians will have home field vs. the Yankees but will start the ALDS on Thursday, forcing them to use 4 pitchers instead of 3 in the series. I'll get to playoff predictions pretty soon.

Baseball- Mets Lose, Phillies Win, and the NL East Belongs to Philadephia- (MLB.com)

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies led, 7-0, before taking the field, thanks to Tom Glavine's first-inning meltdown at Shea Stadium.

Fellow baseball senior citizen Jamie Moyer had no such difficulty, soft-tossing the Phillies to a 6-1 win over the Nationals on Sunday, securing their first National League East title and playoff appearance since 1993.

The Phillies walked into the game knowing the Mets were falling, so all they needed was a win. They got the win, and completed one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history. The Phils were down 7 games at one point in September. Now they're playoff bound. The Phils join the Cubs & Diamondbacks as Division Champs in the National League.

Baseball- Padres and Colorado Bound for a One Game Playoff- (MLB.com)

MILWAUKEE -- Needing one win to ensure a trip to the 2007 postseason for the third straight year, the Padres jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning but ultimately fell to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, 11-6, in the final game of the regular season.

The loss means the Padres are headed to Colorado -- a winner over Arizona on Sunday -- for a one-game playoff at 4:37 p.m. PT on Monday to determine the National League Wild Card winner.

Now, it's about time for me to make playoff predictions. This is one of those places where I'm going to be openly biased and make predictions that'll earn me ridicule for weeks and weeks to come. There's also a remote possibility I'll be dubbed a genius.

Baseball- Right on the Right Official Predictions

NL Wild Card:
Rockies over Padres in NL Wild Card Playoff

ALDS Showdowns:
Red Sox over Angels in 5 Games
Indians over Yankees in 4 Games

NLDS Showdowns:
Cubs over Diamondbacks in 5 Games
Phillies over Rockies in 4 Games

Championship Showdowns:
Indians over Red Sox in 6 Games
Phillies over Cubs in 6 Games

World Series:
Indians over Phillies in 6 Games

So now, I'm completely open to criticism, insults, and jokes about me being a biased Cleveland fan that would've picked a 96-66 Indians team vs. a team that won 162 games if it was possible. Yes, I'm that biased. That's my sports thread, get talking.

The Cleveland Indians have been a hard-luck team for years upon years. They were dominant in the 90s, but couldn't seem to get that ring. This year, the Indians have overcome the odds, beat the teams in their division over and over again, and have clinched the American League Central Division title. They are the second team to clinch a playoff berth (Boston clinched last night), and the first team to clinch their division. It's Tribe Time Now!

I'm just going to throw out some essential reading for any Cleveland sports fan, or heck, any baseball fan. In case you aren't watching the 2007 Cleveland Indians, you have three things to be impressed by:

The Team

The Fans

The Future

Here's a few random thoughts that I've thrown together to get some discussion going on the site tonight...

I'd feel bad, but the truth is, I don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan.

Craig is resigning, so the Republican Party can let out a collective sigh of relief. I am pretty happy that the party worked to force him out so quickly.

Watching the Indians, both on television and win percentage. I've been using Protrade while watching the game, which is a pretty cool tool. Then again, it had the White Sox at 94% win probability in the 8th before the Indians put 6 on the board and won 8-5.

Bill's appeal for help getting to GOE III is still at the top of his site. Now that my finances and situation is in order, you should pop over there and kick a few bucks his way if you have the means. It's going to be an amazing event.

Woohoo! Biased news organizations spouting propaganda! Any surprises?

Barry Bonds*- 756
Hank Aaron- 755
Babe Ruth- 714
Willie Mays- 660
Sammy Sosa*- 604
Ken Griffey, Jr.- 589
Frank Robinson- 586
Mark McGwire*- 583
Harmon Killebrew- 573
Rafael Palmiero*- 569